Courting are set to release second album New Last Name at the end of January 2024 and share new single ‘Emily G’. They chat about the record, working with The Cribs, and much more.
Courting collaborated in the studio with Gary and Ryan Jarman of The Cribs, who worked closely with the band on production duties. How did that collaboration come about?
Honestly, it was something we were working on for a while. After we had recorded the bulk of the record, we found time when we were both in the North of England for them to come to the studio and help us build some of the tracks up.
What did they bring to the production process?
We worked together on ‘Throw’ & ‘The Wedding’, and they really helped us to see those songs from different angles. On both of those songs, you can hear us all harmonizing together in the choruses. On ‘Throw‘, we insisted they had to join us in cosplaying as an American pop-punk band for a little bit, we all combed our hair over our eyes and hoped for the best.
What were the main differences between creating your 2022 debut album Guitar Music and New Last Name?
Guitar Music was built to be a little disarming, we wanted to dismantle any previously held misconceptions about who we were as a band at that time. Thanks to that, we felt as though we had a blank page to write this record on. These songs are all a lot more organic and very detailed. It’s the exact album we wanted to write and it’s probably more like a debut than our last one.
The start of ‘The Hills‘! reminds of the speaking clock! But then it goes into a jangly guitar track with a beautiful slowed down riff mid-track before heading off again at pace. Then when the listener thinks its over, its descends into wonderful chaos. Would I be right in thinking that you took the opportunity to experiment on New Last Name, threw off the shackles so to speak?
‘The Hills’ is one of the weirdest songs we’ve ever created. Originally, the midsection was going to have lush gentle percussion but it somehow it ended up where it is now. The song came really naturally to us, we weren’t trying to make songs weirder they just turn out weird. It’s quite emo.
The last track on New Last Name is ‘America‘ and it’s also the longest at around 6 and a half minutes. The scale is pretty epic, can you share a little of the inspiration behind the track?
‘America’ is meant to be an encore to the album almost, played facing away from the audience. It’s meant to be huge, and kind of closes the whole narrative of the record. Although it’s on the sadder side, it’s indebted to a lot of early NYC dance punk in the choruses. We wanted to write a song that was huge in scale but add more melodic sections to ground it.
Courting played a hometown wedding-themed show in February at the 100-capacity Kazimier Stockroom in Liverpool’s city centre, which saw you play new material for the first time. By all accounts you went completely overboard with The Wedding theme! NME reviewed it, describing you as “one of the most innovative and elevated acts of the moment.” How did you enjoy that gig, and I have to ask, why a wedding theme?!
At that time, we had probably just finished writing the song ‘The Wedding’, and it just felt like a cool theme. We wanted to do something to end the campaign of the previous album and signal in the new record a little bit. Weddings, new beginnings, etc etc.
You head out on an extensive tour of UK and EU early in 2024. What’s the best thing about being on the road?
Drinking beers with friends, having a free gym routine built into your day by carrying equipment OR maybe meeting people who genuinely like your songs, which kind of imbues you with a sense of faith about what you’re doing with your life.
New Last Name is released on 26 January via Lower Third.
Fore more information on Courting please check their facebook and instagram.
Courting Tour Dates 2024
February
6 – Portland Arms, Cambridge
7 – CHALK, Brighton
8 – Facebar, Reading
9 – Dingwalls, London
10 – The Rainbow, Birmingham
12 – Brudenell Social Club, Leeds
13 – The Bodega Social Club, Nottingham
14 – YES, Manchester
16 – King Tuts, Glasgow
17 – The Mash House, Edinburgh
18 – The Cluny, Newcastle
19 – The Leadmill, Sheffield
20 – The Joiners, Southampton
21 – Voodoo Daddy’s, Norwich
22 – Exchange, Bristol
March
27 – Paradiso – Amsterdam, NL
28 – Botanique – Rotonde – Brussels, BE
April
1 – Point Ephemere – Paris, FR
2 – L’Aeronef – Lille, FR
3 – L’Ubu – Rennes, FR
5 – Rock School Barbey – Bordeaux, FR
7 – Auditorio CCOP – Porto, PT
8 – Musicbox – Lisbon, PT
9 – Maravillas – Madrid, ES
10 – Heliogabal – Barcelona, ES
11 – Paloma – Nimes, FR
15 – Schokoladen – Berlin, DE
16 – Molotow – Hamburg, DE
17 – Bumann & Sohn – Cologne, DE
