30 Interesting Facts We Bet You Never Knew About The Courteeners

20 May 2019, 3:50 pm EDT By Ruby Karnick

Courteeners, with five studio albums, was initially formed in Middleton in the year 2006, currently consisting of Liam Fray, Michael Campbell, Daniel "Conan" Moores, Mark Cuppello. In the year 2015, Cappello was replaced by the band's producer Joe Cross. Here some really unique facts about the English indie rock band:

The band members have reportedly known each other since they were ten years old, and are from Middleton, though they attended different schools.
It was Fray, who decided to quit his studies and form a band, after performing acoustic sets as a singer-songwriter around bars and at open-mic nights in Manchester, while studying at University of Salford.
He first recruited his long-time friend Michael Campbell, as drummer, though the latter had never played the drums before. The duo went by the name "Liam Fray," until Moores and Cuppello joined the band.
The gang's first gig was at the Manchester Roadhouse in October 2006, following which they went from strength to strength in Manchester, mainly through a word-of-mouth following, by extensive gigging and publicity through TV.
The band's first debut single was "Cavorting" released by Loog Records on August 6, 2007, which was followed by the second single, "Acrylic" which reached #44 in the UK charts.
Following the success of their single, they were approached by Stephen Street of The Smiths, Blur and Morrissey fame. The next single, "What Took You So Long," peaked at No 20 in the UK charts.
The said song was used for a series of television advertisements circa-Winter 2008 for the UK DCSF - Department for Children, Schools and Families' "Science and Maths" campaign.
Their debut album "St. Jude," reached number 4 in the UK Album chart, which earned the band the inaugural Guardian's First British Album Award, voted by members of the public and The Guardian journalists.
Their most popular single "Not Nineteen Forever," which was released by March 31, 2008, entered the UK chart at number 19, is till date their highest charting single.
The Courtneers made their US debut with a headline show at New York's Mercury Lounge in March 2009, following which they toured the States as special guests of Morrissey on his "Tour of Refusal."

The band played the 2009 Reading and Leeds Festivals on the main stage along with Arctic Monkeys, The Prodigy and Ian Brown, in the United Kingdom.
Their second album "Falcon," which was recorded at ICP Studios in Belgium and produced by Ed Buller, was released on February 22, 2010. The album, which entered at number 6, was well received by the British music press.
The band's single "Cross My Heart and Hope To Fly" made its radio debut on Zane Lowe's BBC Radio 1 show as his Hottest Record in the World.
Lowe, who is said to have been a big supporter throughout the band's career, once again made Falcon's first official single "You Overdid It Doll" - his Hottest Record in the World.
The band performed on the main stage ahead of Paul McCartney's headline appearance at the Isle of Wight Festival on Sunday, June 13, 2010.
The band performed a headline show at Delamere Forest, on July 2, 2011, for which the tickets were sold out within 38 minutes, a record for shows performed in the forest.
With this, the Courtneers became the fastest selling forest act ever since the forest gigs kicked off 11 years ago, breaking the record held by JLS.
Their second single "Take Over the World" from the second album "Falcon" released on April 25, 2010, was featured in the Visa 2012 Olympics advertising.
It was before the release of their third studio album "Anna," that the band introduced themselves as "Courteeners", dropping "The" from their name.
The album "Anna" peaked at Number 1, in the Official midweek UK Chart, but slipped as the week progressed and reached Number 6.

The band's fourth album "Concrete Love," recorded with producer Joe Cross, debuted at number 3 in the UK Albums Chart, marking the band's highest chart entry to date.
The singles - "Has He Told You That He Loves You Yet" and "Small Bones," from the album "Concrete Love," has become the XFM's records of the week.
The band, in support of the album, was supported by a 19-date UK Tour in October and November, including shows at Brixton Academy in London and Echo Arena Liverpool.
Courteeners played one of their biggest headline gigs at Manchester's Heaton Park on June 5, 2015, for which all the 25,000 tickets were sold out in 40 minutes.
The band released "Concrete Love – Extra Love," on November 27, 2015, which was a deluxe expanded edition of their last album "Concrete Love," featuring a new single, their first Christmas song "Winter Wonderland." The single, which got its first radio play on Radio X, was included in the Radio X's "The 50 Best Tracks of 2015" list.
It was confirmed on November 25, 2015, that Courteeners have parted ways with their bassist Mark Cuppello, who was replaced by their good friend and long time collaborator Joe Cross.
In November and December 2015, the band went on a UK tour for 5 consecutive nights at Manchester Apollo, for which tickets were sold out within just minutes.
Following this, 2 additional Manchester dates where the band played for seven nights. They also sold out an extra London show at London Forum and a 2nd Glasgow show.
The band's fifth studio album "Mapping the Rendezvous," was written and recorded in Paris, and is said to have the film "Victoria" by Sebastian Schipper as the lyrical inspiration.
The album was met with mixed reviews, with the NME describing it as "they’ve only made half of a very good album," while the Hotpress claimed "when the band break out of their indie-pop straitjacket, the results can be riveting."