'Everyone hated us': Liam Fray on the early days of Courteeners as he celebrates St Jude milestone

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. Fast forward 17 years and the Indie icons are now one of the city's 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.

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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 breakthrough 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! There were loads of people in bands [at that time]. If we were in Liverpool and needed something, you’d get it straight away, but if we were here [in Manchester] you’d really struggle. We felt a bit on our own here, but that makes you a bit more determined."

It was while working part time at the old Fred Perry store on Police Street that the young Liam would write many of the band's most famous early tunes. He said: "It was dead during the week, so I'd sit there playing the guitar.

"I wrote most of the songs there, all the lyrics are on Fred Perry compliments slips. I've still got them."

He recalled how he and bandmate Daniel "Conan" Moores played their very first gig together at The Garratt pub on Princess Street in Manchester.

And how the famous St Jude cover was a portrait of Audrey Hepburn he had been painting at his apartment in Asia House in the city centre. He said: "I think my mum has got it now. I need to get it framed, and get it up in the Hard Rock Cafe," he joked.

Fans also got to her some amusing anecdotes of the band's early gigs. That included the night that The Smiths legend Morrissey turned up to see them play at the Camden Barfly.

Liam said: "I was told someone important was going to watch us, we thought 'is it one of the Gallaghers?' But then I could see this silhouette of a quiff. He [Morrissey] got out and said "hello, are you any good?" I said "yeah come on come up and have a look".

"After that he asked us to play America with him which was pretty nice."

Host Matt Wilkinson also asked about the rumours that Madonna features on St Jude. It turns out she was indeed recording in the same studios, Olympic in London, at the same time as the band were recording it.

Liam said: "I wasn’t there but everyone else says it happened, so there you go. She apparently did the hand claps on No You Didn’t."

Liam told the audience how he still uses the original Fender Stratocaster he bought when he first started out with the band.

He recalled how he had gone to the famous Forsyths music shop in Manchester to buy it but said: "They wouldn’t let you play anything. So I went to Bonecats instead [the Middleton music shop] and he let me have it for £389. And it’s still the one that I have now."

The band made UK chart history last year, when the 15th anniversary edition of St Jude soared to the top of the charts. It became the album with the longest time between release and charting at Number 1 in UK chart history - at a staggering 14 years, 9 months and 14 days since its original release.

Asked by a fan which was his favourite song on St Jude, Liam said Kings of the New Road, which he wrote in his "mum and dad's dining room in Middleton".

He said: "Kings - I love that song, come on I love it."

St Jude by the Courteeners is now available to listen to in Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos exclusively on Apple Music.