Everyone hated us!

COURTEENERS frontman Liam Fray has spoken about the early days of the Manchester band, and how he felt 'everyone hated us' in their home city.

- DIANNE BOURNE

Fast forward 17 years and the Indie icons are now one of our best-loved bands.

But when they were first starting out, Liam said he was surprised by the lack of support from other bands in Manchester. Instead they found that in the neighbouring city of Liverpool they got more help when they needed it.

Liam was talking about the formative years of the Middleton band at an exclusive album playback of the Courteeners' debut album St Jude in Manchester this week. A select group of fans won tickets to the event at the Yes bar on Charles Street to celebrate the release of the iconic album in Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos.

Liam, in conversation with Apple Music's Matt Wilkinson, said listening to the album now 'feels like the young us! And looking back to the formative years for the band, Liam recalls they were desperately hoping that they would be the next big Manchester act.

Liam was asked by Matt if there was a lot of camaraderie on the Manchester scene. But Liam said they felt that wasn't the case.

He said: "I think everyone hated us!