Not to be confused with 1970s Bristol punk band the Cortinas, the widely tipped Courteeners (from Middleton, Greater Manchester) have followed the Arctic Monkeys path to stardom, selling out venues in their hometown before using the buzz generated to repeat the feat elsewhere. They finish what has been a superb 2007 with a sold out UK tour through December, including their biggest ever home town show at Manchester’s Ritz which, like all their home town gigs sold out on the day the tickets were released.

Appropriately enough for a band whose local and increasingly national prominence has been based on their live shows, ‘What Took You So Long?’ is a sideswipe at the virtual music fan, sat in their bedrooms collecting bands like stamps without really properly engaging with the music. Liam Fray once again demonstrates a lyrical dexterity for both self aggrandisement and self deprecation within once sentence.

Witness his characterisation of self in the beautiful couplet ‘Don’t you know who I am, I’m like a Morrissey with some strings’ which adds to what is becoming a canon fit to stand beside that man himself, one of the band’s key influences. Little wonder that the likes of NME are talking of Fray and his band as ‘blazing a brave new trail into Manchester’s musical future’ whilst The Sun are predicting ‘’The Courteeners will be upgrading to a Porsche in the near future’.

The Courtneeners are currently finishing off tracks, including an anti-fashionista rant called Fallowfield Hillbilly, for their debut album with producer Stephen (Blur, Smiths) Street The band’s debut album is due in Spring 2008.