Courteeners' Liam Fray speaks ahead of Birmingham concert

The band are on their biggest UK tour to date and have made their new album with regular collaborator Joe Cross. The record is the band's most ambitious yet – hugely confident and supremely hook-heavy.

Frontman Liam Fray says the band are thrilled to still be around. They usually have a direct line to fans, bypassing the music press and TV.

"We're not big, or famous, but we're connecting with just enough people for it to matter. We're an anomaly. When we started we weren't quite laddy enough for the lads and we weren't cool enough for the cool kids. And that's still the case.

"We don't get played on Radio 1. Four albums in, and we've never been on Jools Holland. Nobody outside of Manchester really knows who we are. We've just never fitted in."

Mapping The Rendezvous provided the band with the opportunity to celebrate their decade-long career.

Fray added: "I don't know what to say about our new album, except that we've stopped caring what people think about us.

"Maybe on the last two records, we laboured over certain things. But with this one, if people don't like it, then who cares. We're still making records after nine years and we're at a point where we can do what we want. We've got a strong rapport with the people who come to see our shows. We still challenge them – it's not as if we've made another St Jude or Anna. This record is a party album. There's a lot of going out and a lot of regret. It's fun, if you can call your own record fun. It's going to be a good record to play live.

"After the second and third record can be really difficult because you've got to prove you can sit at the top table.

"I feel like we've weathered that storm and we might be getting a second opportunity. We feel really lucky to be on our fifth album. Back when we started, we did a lot of stuff that we weren't really comfortable with. Like playing the Nokia Green Room for example. What a load of rubbish that was. We were so young and we had no advice from anyone, we went in absolutely blind.

"After that first album drops, you tour for ages and then you realise you've got to churn another out straight away. There's a lot of pressure on bands to do that, and it's a lot to deal with when you're that young. We got lumped in with a load of bands because we came out at the same time, but I actually think we came out at the wrong time.

"People quickly became sick of hearing the word 'indie'. But we were allowed to work at our own pace and, you know, those people who came to our early shows really did change our lives. We still feel fresh and we haven't run out of ideas either.

"We're not done yet."

By Andy Richardson