Today, I’m doing an article on another silly made up genre name of mine – “Brexit Rock!”

This basically describes a heavily British strand of rock – ’90s Britpop, ’60s bands such as The Kinks, ’70s bands such as The Jam and The Clash, recent artists like Sam Fender etc. There also many artists that surprisingly have a Brexit flavour in some parts of their discography – I will cover this soon. The genre is inspired by silly “Brexit geezer” videos on TikTok. The type of music in a Guy Ritchie movie!

*also this has nothing to do with the controversial 2016 Brexit referendum – no idea how the term Brexit geezer came about!

A lot of British ’00s bands fall under this label – Arctic Monkeys, The Libertines, Kasabian etc. Even American ones like The Strokes and The Killers do aswell. I wanted to focus on an intriguing band from this period, the Courteeners. Like some other bands, I found them from a “Top Gear Anthems” album years ago!

The band released their debut album in 2008 and have been going consistently ever since. They are a band that does puzzle me with their success, or lack thereof. I believe that if you asked most people in day-to-day life who the Courteeners are, they probably wouldn’t know. You never hear them on the radio etc.

However, if you go to their hometown of Manchester, they are absolutely massive. They have sold out venues like Old Trafford and Heaton Park in minutes, multiple times. They have also become a prominent festival headliner, headlining Kendal Calling last year and Tramlines this year.

This success puzzles me as I don’t feel they stand out much compared to the hordes of other similar bands at that time. They appeared at the tail end of the ’00s indie boom that I just mentioned, and have still managed to have a lot of success.

Their debut album St. Jude is easily their most successful, featuring their biggest hit “Not Nineteen Forever.” Even though it is derivative and doesn’t have a particularly distinctive sound, in my opinion, it’s a very enjoyable and well-constructed album. It’s produced by Smiths and Blur producer Stephen Street, and does feature rather interesting and strong lyrics that are almost Smiths-esque. I feel that frontman Liam Fray’s lyrics are a signature of the band. I wouldn’t skip any tracks.

Their next few albums, Falcon and Anna, are not that great in my opinion. They are rather bland and dull for me. Concrete Love is quite good, with some subtle dance influence, but still not mind-blowing.

*my CD of Mapping The Rendezvous

However, I think that their 2016 album Mapping The Rendezvous is fantastic. Once again it features a melodic yet tough indie rock sound with heaps of high, distorted guitar melodies. Tracks like “No One Will Ever Replace Us,” “The Dilettante” and “Modern Love” are all very enjoyable. “Lucifer’s Dreams” and “Kitchen” have a harder-rocking yet groovy sound.

The album’s centrepiece for me has to be the closer “The 17th.” I would largely say the album is still indie rock. “Tip Toes” has a quirky acid-house keyboard that appears halfway through, which manages to work. However, “The 17th” is a progressive six minute EDM/House inspired banger that I absolutely love. It has a repetitive synth and piano groove that keeps building up, yet never reaches a crescendo. It did take me a few listens to get used to the structure, or lack of structure, of this track.

*the gold disc of my CD

Then, at the three-and-a-half-minute mark, the track finally explodes into an anthemic major key indie rock chorus, typical of the band. The track then quickly simmers back down into the dance groove, before bursting into life once again at the four-and-a-half-minute mark. Instead of repeating the refrain at the three-and-a-half-minute mark, the dance groove reaches a euphoric climax with a rip-roaring guitar solo. It does have a bizarre structure, but it gives the track an experimental and hypnotic vibe that really works.

The piano chords of the song are even the basis of the ballad “Finest Hour” on the album. This once again shows Fray and the band branching out, making the electronic “17th” fit in cohesively with the other rock songs. “De La Salle” is another nice ballad, with lyrics pondering if Joan of Arc ever slipped and sliced her thumb “chopping onions in double home economics.” The only song I’m not so keen on is “Not for Tomorrow,” although it’s not unlistenable with its neat guitar riff.

I do think that “The 17th” is easily the best song the band have done, unlike anything they have attempted before or since. It’s even become a staple of their concerts. I do enjoy the follow-up More. Again. Forever. from 2020. It was also billed as more experimental, but I feel it is pretty standard indie rock. It is less major key than their other work, and more groove based, which I feel does work for this particular record. There are no bad songs for me, and I believe it flows very well. I wasn’t a fan of their last album Pink Cactus Cafe with its lighter indie-pop sound.

In conclusion, “The 17th” proves that the Courteeners can be more interesting than they’re given credit for, and is part of a solid album. I do hope they have some longer and more progressive songs in the future, and keep their harder sound of before, along with the typical melodic sing-along anthems. I don’t think they’re an incredible band, but have some stuff I enjoy greatly. I will likely see them at a random festival one day! Thanks for reading.