They are the new Manchester band who play Southampton this autumn after finishing an arena tour with one of the country’s biggest live acts.
Five-piece The Guest List played Victorious and Reading and Leeds festivals in the summer and are now set to support fellow Manchester act Courteeners after which the Altrincham band headline Papillon on Sunday November 22. Tickets are on sale now from theguestlist.band
But it won’t be the first time members of the two groups have crossed paths, as one of The Guest List’s early gigs took a twist when they played to “about 20 people” in a local pub called The Brooklands Tap in Sale in 2022.
READ MORE: All the big gigs coming up before Christmas in packed Southampton music line-up
“It was there that we were scouted by our manager who came down with Liam Fray, the lead singer of Courteeners,” said frontman Cai Alty, who is joined in the band by lead guitarist Tom Quigley, bassist Sid Wallace, rhythm guitarist Leo Hunter and drummer Angus Gilchris.
“That means Liam saw us in that pub four years before we are going to support them on their 20th anniversary arena tour, which is mad,” he added.
Cai says their recent debut album, Something Real, is about “changing from teenagers to young adults, learning about music, touring, and starting a band,” adding, “each song has its own meaning, but together they represent our experiences of growing up.”
The young band, who sold out The Joiners in April, worked with producer Matias Tellez in Bergen, Norway, over five weeks to record their debut album. “We had just finished our single Plasticine Heart with James Skelly of The Coral, and we were looking for something new, and it made a lot of sense to go with Matias,” said Sid.
Most tracks were ready for recording before the lads travelling to Norway, but songwriter Cai also explained that some lyrics are best left to the last minute.
“Deciding to write in the studio can be the best approach; it forces you to put something definite down on paper, but it can be daunting when you know you have a good chorus, and you don’t want to add a poor verse.”
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