The Last Party

Two things are crucial when trying to break onto the music scene, and even more crucial with a gig slot as brief as this. Without musical substance and the ability to hold, or in this case ignite, a crowd, it’s not worth the effort. The Last Party took full advantage of this at a bustling Ruby Lounge.

With several bands playing, the challenge before even hitting the stage was to keep the crowd enthused. A combination of impact and uniqueness saw to that. Arguably the biggest factor behind this band’s effect, though, was the presence of a keyboard.

It’s so easy to fall into the trap of a generic indie band with guitar, vocals and moody lyrics, but this band stood out. They have their own ideas and it’s a refreshing change to the norm, something which was amplified by the right venue and a buoyant crowd.

Usually humming a tune to yourself is an irksome habit, but opening track Shoot Your Guns has a happy ring to it and doesn’t get annoying. The voice of singer-guitarist Liam Manton, almost reminiscent to that of Stereophonics’ Kelly Jones, suited the overtones of the keyboard, and wasn’t overwhelmed by the volume of supporting instruments, something which too many bands fail on these days.

Next track Olé went down just as well as the first, before Lights Go Down brought the pace down a little with a more melancholic and thoughtful demeanour. Lyrics ‘there goes my head again’ proved really catchy and worked up to an ending which, almost Courteeners-esque, sped up in the finale against the grain of the rest of the tune. This was admittedly a random choice and didn’t work to a huge degree, but the placement of the song in the set and its overall merits were certain winners.

The band followed up with two new tracks Look What Ya Done and New Romantics, two tunes the group had clearly rehearsed properly, and the crowd were still well interested. Maybe There’s Still Time was up next, and is arguably the five-piece’s signature tune. This may later be denied but it did have an anthem feel to it, and was performed with the greatest vigour and pride of the seven-song set. In answer to the name of the song, there was still time, and by the end of this track the watching audience were bouncing off the walls and this was just the reaction it deserved.

Final track 1,000 Smiles left the crowd satisfied and the band clearly happy with a solid shift. They had every right to be. With the right attitude and some luck in publicity, something could happen for this bunch. The next gig won’t tell all, but it’ll be an intriguing one, and well worth a watch. - Quenched Music

Rounding off the end of a busy and exciting first year, ‘The Last Party’ headlined their first show by playing a Christmas/End of Year party at Night and Day Café, Manchester, celebrating much more than the festivities, but to also mark the success of their first anniversary. It’s been one hell of a ride for the band, starting with a chance meeting between lead singer/guitarist Liam Manton and keyboard player Greg Williams at an ‘Arcade Fire’ gig sometime ago. They kept in touch and eventually found themselves conjuring up a plan to craft a new sound that blended old Tamla Motown and the ever changing trends of new music, inspired by bands such as ‘The Doors’, ‘Pulp’, ‘The Cure’, ‘The Smiths’, and ‘The Pet Shop Boys’. Eventually their plan was put into action and the bands name was derived from a personal quote, “To craft songs that would soundtrack the last party on earth.” A true statement of intent. Their fist gig was in November 2010 at The Ruby Lounge and judging from the media reaction that night, it was full steam ahead from there. The amount of exposure and accolades that’d been thrown their way in such a short time has been remarkable. Several outlets of the music press, well known musicians of established bands, being on the bill supporting big acts and being the first band ever to be asked to record for the BBC in their new home have all been part of ‘The Last Party’s’ debut year.



Having only caught the last two or three songs of their set at the ‘All The Young’ gig back in October, I was desperate to see them in full, having been suitably impressed. I didn’t quite catch the name of the band that night, but as fate would have it I ran into Liam Manton at the ‘Hyde & Beast’ gig a month ago. Again, I missed their opening set, but was lucky enough to get talking to him where he invited me to this landmark event, giving me the opportunity to finish what I set out to do.



The four piece band took to the stage, other members being drummer Daniel Moss and bassist Adam Reekie. Manton comes on looking cool, a true Mancunian look, haircut and a rock n roll posture and attitude that oozes self belief. They swiftly launch into opening track ‘Shoot Your Guns’. Manton is fully energised on stage, deftly charismatic, menacing in his body language, making you feel compelled to listen and watch, unaware of what he might do next to hold the audience. It’s evident that he loves and believes in what he’s singing about, and as far as showmen type frontmen go, there are a few better in the new music scene.

The set is captivating, with elements of indie/rock and pop being at the core of the sound. Three songs in and Manton introduces the next song about a journalist who didn’t give them the time of the day, titled, ‘Wrong Place Wrong Time’, I feel that guy might just eat those words now. The set continues and in parts their sound is anthemic with great guitar riffs and support from the rest of the band who are happy to let their lead singer/guitarist steal the attention. Whether by choice or not, this guy was born for it, being the heart and soul of all the bands raw and edgier tracks. They ended with one of the crowds’ favourite, ‘1000 Smiles’, a solemn yet hypnotically uplifting tune that has the audience’s arms outstretched, singing along to the very end, i.e. at The Last Party.

Now that the set had finished, playing to a growing fan base that has supported them throughout the year, it was time for one last song where in true Christmas spirit they played an encore of ‘Slade’s’, ‘Merry Christmas Everybody’, inevitably lifting the crowd into further high spirits as the majority embraced, danced and sang along. ‘The Last Party’ have recently been back in the studio to record an EP that will be released in 2012. There is still work to be done and there are minor areas where improvement can be made, but this is only their first year in the spotlight and with the inevitable gaining of experience that is sure to come, those minor wrinkles will be ironed out. However, that doesn’t stop the momentum gathering at an alarming rate and to echo the words of several other writers out there, ‘The Last Party’ seem destined for great things. - Mudkiss

It must be a great feeling to be able to list legendary musicians such as Clint Boon and The Charlatans as part of your fan base. The Last Party are able to do just that just over a year since their debut, sell-out gig together at The Ruby Lounge just down the road. Front man Liam Manton has the vocal style of fellow Mancunian Ian Brown, and the swagger to match, and it was clear why Johnny Marr had named them “the brightest light in new music”, as they pick up where Oasis and The Inspiral Carpets left off. - Hooting and Howling

Something seems to be happening for Manchester four-piece The Last Party - and it’s all come about rather quickly. Their fourth gig found them supporting local heroes The Charlatans, and after only a total of just eleven shows to date, they’ve built up some regional excitement and gained favourable comments from many, including none other than Mr. Johnny Marr. Frontman Liam Manton came by to talk to Live4ever about the music they make and the buzz it is creating.


Got to say that’s some start the band have made. Tell me how on your fourth gig you got asked to support a band like The Charlatans?

We can’t believe how quickly things are progressing for us to be honest – the support and encouragement we’re getting both locally and nationally is pretty overwhelming. I mean we’re only eleven gigs in (as of July 17th) and it feels like we’ve been around forever, it’s exciting.

That gig came about because we were at Jabez Clegg doing our second gig. It was a bit of an after-party for XFM Winter Wonderland which was happening at the Manchester Academy across the road. A few members of The Charlatans, The View, Mystery Jets and local photographer Craig Barker made the journey over to do DJ sets, I guess they must have liked the tunes and remembered our band name.

A month or two later Craig was organising a fund raising event for the MS Society which he’s heavily involved in. The Charlatans were headlining, and I guess through mutual agreement and a bit of luck on our part they decided to give us a chance.

…and how did the gig go?

I think a bit of history was made that night. We were given a platform to showcase our abilities and more importantly to play our songs to a sell out crowd, and the response we got was phenomenal. There was some pretty influential people in the crowd that night, and by all accounts we made a lasting impression. The next day there was a bit of a surge on all our social media stuff, notably we got an email inviting us to play at the Friends of Mine Festival, which featured some of our favourite bands – we couldn’t believe our luck!

So how come the band have made such an impact so quickly, what’s your secret?

It’s probably a standard response you get to this question, but it’s the one that springs to mind first: I’d say we’re definitely four of the hardest working individuals you’ll come across, and collectively, I think our drive, passion, commitment and ambition is starting to come to fruition. Whilst a lot of bands are out propping up bars and telling people how great they are, we’ll be locked away in our practise room – its not uncommon to be walking through the Northern Quarter in Manchester at 9/10am on a Saturday morning and you’ll hear our sounds echoing through the streets from our lock up. That’s testament to how much we want to be doing this – we’re not afraid to put the hours in.

I think another reason why people are starting to talk about us is because of how well the songs are crafted – I think we’ve found a winning formula; we made sure we had a pretty solid bunch of tunes together before we started telling people who we were, we kind of established our sound, and knew what direction we were going in before we booked a gig. So when we did our first gig, people were surprised – word of mouth is a very powerful thing.

…and the band members themselves, did you all know each other before you put The Last Party together?

Sort of yeah – me and Greg kind of always used to bump into each other at gigs and we’d often see each other at club nights and what not before we decided to get a project together – it’s a small world in the confines of a big city.

Adam (bass) was poached from another band who used to play hip hop covers and I’ve been in bands with Daniel (drummer) since I was about 15 – we kind of lost touch for a while but I suppose certain friends you can always ring up.

Really like the three-track demo you lads have put together – ‘A Thousand Smiles’. It has a great Style Council vibe to it, describe for our readers the sound of The Last Party and the tunes you’ve just recorded?

Thanks – When The Style Council were good they were really good – bizarre direction in some of the videos though! I think if you were to quickly analyse our overall sound you could generalise and say it’s a melting pot of Tamla Motown records, The Smiths, Arcade Fire, The Rolling Stones, Phil Spector’s girl groups, The Doors, and The Pet Shop Boys (Stephen Hague era).

I’d say our songs when stripped back to the rawest form of conception (acoustic guitar and keyboard) are really good, succinct pop songs – verse/chorus /verse/chorus – and then we’ll take the sound wherever we feel the song will benefit in terms of strings arrangements, organ/keys, guitar parts, rhythm section etc – but behind it all, there’s a solid foundation.

The three tunes we’ve just recorded are probably three of our more direct songs. If you come to see us live, you’ll also experience more elaborate compositions, in terms of ‘Lights Go Down’ which is a heart-felt love song which could soundtrack anything from the end of the world to the birth of Christ – it’s just a huge monster of a song, it takes me back every time we play it. There’s definitely good depth and variation in our set – I think that’s another reason people are interested too, there’s something for everybody.

‘She’s Infectious’, if we’re picking the sound apart, drifts between The Supremes and The Doors. There’s a real groove going on between the drums and the bass which you’ll get on a lot of Motown records, backed up by a pounding snare. Although there’s some 60s style organ going on, I’d say the song stays faithful to its pop routes.

‘We Could Be Lovers’ ­- to me this is the ultimate disco love song. Someone at one of our gigs told me it was like Pulp covering The Stooges, which I liked. There’s a bit of a rave style hands in the air moment in there as well – it’s some kind of optimistic love dream.

‘A Thousand Smiles’ – this has always been a favourite of mine, it’s one of the first tunes we wrote. A concert promoter friend of ours said it’s a real festival song – they were probably right. When we played it the FOM festival, there was a touching moment when the people watching us started singing along. I guess it’s one of those songs which is just catchy from the off set – hopefully it can soundtrack a few people’s summers next year.

Are you the chief songwriter in the band Liam? What’s the songwriting process like for you?

No not at all. Me and Greg (keyboards) write the songs together. They’re all generally written in my front room, an idea will develop from either a chord progression, or a keyboard riff and then we’ll club together a bit of instrumental, structure it, work out what sounds we want to have on there, and then we’ll probably spend an hour or two working on the melody.

Once the melody has been sorted, and the songs formed, I’ll usually write some lyrics on the bus to work – and we’ll meet up the next night and pick up where we left off.

I think the reason our songwriting partnership is so fresh, and works well, is because we both have really varied tastes in music – what I listen to, you wouldn’t normally find Greg listening to, and vice versa – it keeps things interesting to have two very contrasting opinions and tastes, but with one common goal.



After making such a great start can you see the band getting signed? What’s Manchester’s music scene like at the moment?

We’re just taking each day as it comes, it seems every week there’s an exciting development in the TLP camp, be it an encouraging email, a celebrity endorsement, or a gig opportunity. Obviously we want to take this thing as far as we can, and as we grow as a band musically and personally, I’d like to think our success emulates it.

The Manchester music scene is a very diverse place, there are lots of ‘pockets’ of talent if you like, some great singer/songwriters, some really good up and coming electronic acts – there’s something for everybody.

Another fan of the band I believe is Johnny Marr?

Yeah, apparently he thinks we’re the ‘brightest light in new music’, which is a real compliment. People like Johnny are an inspiration – he’s created a legend in terms of The Smiths, Electronic, Pet Shop Boys tracks he played on, yet he always seems to be striving for the next new thing and isn’t scared to say he likes something! I love The Smiths; ‘The Queen Is Dead’ is probably one of my all time favourite albums, but I think his work on some of The Cribs stuff is really impressive as well. The guitar riff on ‘We Share The Same Skies’ is probably the best Ive heard from the Marr-ster!. You’ve got to have respect, I’ve invited him via Twitter to come down and play with us – so who knows. Johnny if you’re reading, you’re always welcome mate!

So what’s next for the band? You played the Friends Of Mine Festival earlier this year, any more similar events to play?

Yeah that was amazing; fifth gig and we’re playing at Capesthorne Hall with the likes of The Cribs, The Buzzcocks, The Charlatans – mental. A couple of us had tickets for the festival anyway, and we were planning on just setting up somewhere and playing, so when we got the invite to play…well you can probably imagine!

We’re at the Cock Rock festival this weekend, Sunday, 24th July at 10.30pm – Bar Stage. We’re going down to London on the 13th of August, doing a show in Camden at The Wheelbarrow, which has had some really impressive people on their stage.

To be honest we’ll play anywhere where we’re welcome, we played in Sunderland the other weekend and that was pretty amazing! The promoters have since asked us back too, which is always flattering. I guess we’ll just take whatever comes our way and keep on keeping on! - Live4ever magazine

Occasionally a band appears out of nowhere and they seem destined for big things right from the off. The Last Party are just that. They're still only a dozen or so gigs into their rather brief existence, but the Manchester based band are already causing quite a stir.

Led by their ever so confident frontman Liam Manton, a man who's not afraid to make a bold statement, the band's even bigger, bolder, up beat sound could be just what the UK indie scene needs to kick some life back in to it. Just four gigs in, The Last Party found themselves supporting The Charlatans, and have since played festivals alongside The Cribs and The Buzzcocks. They've also received glowing endorsements from the likes of Johnny Marr and Clint Boon who expressed "within a year everyone in the country will be talking about that band" live on XFM.

We caught up with The Last Party's Liam and Greg for a chat about the whirlwind year since their formation.


Firstly tell us a little bit about you guys.
Liam: We're The Last Party, a four piece group based in Manchester. It all started probably in June of last year. I'd met Greg a few times at various gigs, and while at an Arcade Fire gig we got talking at the bar. At the time I wasn’t really doing anything musically, but had been involved in a few projects before, and I think Greg was the same (Greg Nods). Anyway, it just so happened that I’d moved into a new place, not far from the venue, and wasn’t shy of inviting people back for drinks, impromptu jam sessions and the like. Greg, along with a few others, came back for some post gig drinks, and we kept in touch.

We decided to meet up one night the next week. I nipped to the toilet and begin hearing these string sounds, and thought “what’s that?” so I run into the other room where he’d wired up one of my keyboards (which has been collecting dust for probably four years) through a guitar amp and was making some insane sounds. I thought Phil Spector had set up shop in my kitchen or something! It just clicked, and we decided not to bother with the usual route of two guitars as Greg’s talent on the keys would just open up a whole world of sounds for us. We wrote three songs that night, two of which are still in the live set and are fan favourites.

After a month or two of solid writing we decided we were ready to get something serious together. I’d drummed with Dan in bands throughout my teenage years, so he was the first person I called. We poached Adam to play bass from a local band, and set off. Our first gig was booked November last year.

Where does the name come from? 
Liam: We struggled for a while coming up with a name. To be honest it got to a point where we’d booked our first gig and still weren’t sure what we were going to call ourselves; the promoter gave us a few weeks to think on it and billed us as “guests". While we were sat around our practice room, Adam, our bassist, was talking about one of our songs. There’s a section of the song where we push it to a euphoric climax, and he was so enthused about this section I remember him waving his arms like a town crier saying something along the lines of “it sounds like the theme music to your last party, the climax.” Something clicked and it stuck. The Last Party.

So if you're providing the soundtrack to 'The Last Party' where would it be taking place and who's providing the drinks and snacks?
Greg: I’d say it’d be on the set of Empire Records. It’s got elements of the Burning Man Festival about it where there’s no rules, no laws, no one cares about anything but having a good time, and people just bring their beer and share it around. Bands would play, people would join in. The impromptu ones are always the best ones.

Liam: What about setting up that set in the first hotel that they check into during Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas? Imagine having a Burning Man style afternoon tea in the foyer and them two burst in? I’d probably have Jedward on a cocktail bar as well.

Greg: Jedward?

Liam: Yeah they could just stand there doing their Johnny Bravo thing.

Greg: Fair enough

Your upbeat sound definitely stands out amongst the masses of moody indie bands. Are you a cheerful bunch?
Liam: I’d like to think we’re a dying breed of optimists. Don’t get me wrong, I love some melancholic stuff, Neil Young’s 'On The Beach' is one of my favourite albums of all time, but that’s not where this band is at. The future for us is bright, and I think that comes across in our sound.

Greg: I’m all for a bit of moody music at the right time, I mean Bright Eyes is probably one of my favourite artists – I’ve seen him live a couple of times already this year, and he can be about as moody as they come. There’s tonnes of really good mellow music out there like Bon Ivor, The Villagers and such, but I just don’t think that vibe would work for our band. I think our sound is pretty true to our personalities.

Liam: I usually start my weekends by 'doing a Jagger'. Every Saturday, usually before we lock ourselves away all day in the practice room, I’ll put on “Miss You” by the Rolling Stones and dance around the living room like a camp nut job. Some people do Yoga, some choose the gym, I usually find doing a Jagger gets my blood flowing. You can’t get more cheerful than that can you?

Who or what are the main influences and inspiration for your stand out sound?
Liam: I suppose there’s some kind of link between the music you listen to and the music you write. I think the reason our sound really works is because you probably wouldn’t find what I listen to on Greg’s iPod and vice-versa. We’re kind of Ying Yang with one common goal and final destination.

Greg: I like bands that utilise texture and present a variation of instruments, bands like Beirut, Local Natives, The Flaming Lips, John Grant, Sufjan Stevens and the Arcade Fire for example. I suppose that’s why The Last Party favour the keyboard vibe; it gives a little bit of artistic freedom in terms of sounds I can manipulate.

Liam: For me it’s all about the song. I’m an advocate of classic pop structures, verse, chorus, verse, chorus. There has to be hooks, melody, meaning. A song should be able to be stripped back down to its barest form, a voice and guitar or voice and piano, and still be as brilliant as when the paint is put on it. I guess I’d say our sound is a kind of melting pot containing a few Tamla Motown records, The Smiths, The Rolling Stones, Arcade Fire, The Doors and The Pet Shop Boys.

The Pet Shop Boys?
Liam: Obviously not the ‘Go West’ stuff, but I picked up a double CD of their hits a couple of years ago and there’s a collection of songs produced by Stephen Hague - fantastic pop tunes.

Greg: I guess you can say what we listen to and are influenced by varies between us, and that kind of helps with our writing. It brings out different elements. You can achieve more than writing alone or with someone who basically likes the exact same stuff as yourself. We feel it works in our favour.

Liam: from doing a little bit of research on you guys you come across as being quite the confident chap. I've found more than one article likening you to certain Mr Gallagher who shares the same first name. Is it hard coming from Manchester and constantly being compared to the great musicians and bands who've gone before you?

Liam: People will always make comparisons, it's one of those things; the next great Argentinean footballer will be called “the new Messi” and the next female Prime Minister will be likened to Margaret Thatcher. It’s just the sort of thing you’ve got to accept. History shapes people’s mindsets and can cause people to be develop misconceptions very quickly. But that’s ok, I’m a forgiving soul.

As you probably know from talking to us, and listening to our tunes, we aren’t here to dine out on Manchester’s past. As inspiring and important to us as it is, this band, and myself, are looking to the future. What you’ll find is a lot of new bands from the North West will be so hung up on their ‘roots’ that the badge of honour they carry around with them stops them from moving forward, and they just become a carbon copy of the past, that isn’t us.

I’m not bothered who people liken me to, as long as they listen to our music with no misconceptions and an open mind, and take the songs and the live performances for what they are. I mean, what band in recent history can say their songs contain self-composed string arrangements? Hammond Organs? Trumpets? Four part vocal harmonies? I think we’ve got something special here.

Greg: It’s the ‘done’ thing isn’t it? It’s too easy to compare people to things gone by. If you’re a Doctor called Harold from Greater Manchester, does that mean that you’re going to be a mass-murderer?

Liam: It’s just one of them things isn’t it, same name, same city, same job, people will point and compare. I think I sound more like Rod Stewart than I do any other Manchester vocalist of past or present. I think I’ll invest in some spandex.

Manchester does seem to keep churning out talented bands and musicians, any bands we should be keeping an eye out for?
Greg: There are so many that it can be difficult to keep up with them. Lowline released their debut album last month, and were kind enough to let us share their rehearsal space.

Liam: The city is kind of divided up into little cliques and pockets of people who are too quick to alienate people from outside their immediate circles. A lot of the acoustic singer/songwriters stick together, the more electronic focused acts play the same club nights etc. The lad rock emulators all stick together. We’ve kind of just observed from afar whilst we honed our craft, and then jumped into the middle of it all. Our songs are here to be enjoyed by everybody.

You're only a dozen or so gigs in, and you've already played your first major festival and supported The Charlatans. Whatever happened to playing dingy pubs to a crowd of 12 people and a dog?
Greg: Well, after our first gig people on the scene started talking, and I think a few people were intrigued and made the effort to come to our second one. The thing is, when we play, we give 110% - we’re pretty professional in terms of making sure we sound as good as we can, and Liam gives a proper frontman performance when he’s on stage, so I guess people just warmed to us.

Liam: I think there were a few people from The Charlatans camp at our second gig, and word kinda spread. They were involved in organising a charity night for MS, so when we got the email asking if we were available it was a no brainer, and our fourth gig saw us opening for them. That night we were asked by Sam Gardner, who promotes Friends of Mine Festival, if we'd be interested in a slot the following weekend.

Greg: Another no brainer

Liam: Playing at Friends of Mine Festival was a real honour to be honest – me and Greg always talked about how good certain songs of ours would sound at festivals. Then, five gigs in, we’re at Capesthorne Hall and playing with the likes of The Cribs and The Buzzcocks.

Greg: We’re all for honing our craft and playing pretty much anywhere we can get a gig. I mean, the other week we all crammed into the back of a hire van and played in Sunderland where there must have been 30 people in the audience – but what a night it was!

We hear you've been recording in a church recently with Keir Stewart, how was that? 
Liam: Recording’s always fun, I love hearing songs develop. Keir was at our first gig, he’s worked with some really high profile people, and had some successes. We had a few chats with him before we started recording and our main concern was making sure we can emulate our live sound, which I think is extremely powerful. I think he fancies himself as a bit of a comedian too.

Greg: Dan, our drummer, was pretty insistent that we get the biggest drum sound possible and Keir mentioned that he’d recently done some sessions with Badly Drawn Boy in a church. It gave us a different style of acoustics than anything you can grab from a dead atmosphere like a studio. It really depends what sort of sound you want to go for, and we were enjoying the prospect of getting a natural reverb sound to our drums. We’re really happy with how it worked out.

Liam: We basically put all the drums down in the church, then the rest of the songs were recorded in Keir’s makeshift home studio. It was a pretty basic set up, but we didn’t mind that, it seemed to bring out the best in us to be honest.

What's next for The Last Party? 
Liam: Well obviously we wanna take our songs down as many new roads as we can, and play to as many people as we can. We’re only 10 gigs in, and I think we’ve made monumental progress. We’ve probably done in these last few months what takes bands a year or two to do, and we’ve done it off our own backs, so we’re just going to continue doing what we’re doing. - Zeitgeist Magazine

Frontmen: some people like them mouthy, some people like them sweet.

CityLife? Well, we couldn’t possibly choose. But we do know this: every time The Last Party’s uber-confident singer and guitarist Liam Manton opens his mouth, we find ourselves hoisting our flag of appreciation higher.

“No one’s gonna get my first album until they buy me a swimming pool,” he declares at the bar of Pin Up, the world’s first 1950s-themed bowling alley, cocktail bar and diner temporarily housed in a marquee in Spinningfields where CityLife meets them for a swift game of 10-pin.

It’s a classic tongue-in-cheek Mantonism. But there’s also a little truth in it. There’s bold ambition in everything he says, even when it’s said for kicks.

Another example? “In ten years time, I want the third album out so I can walk up and down Market Street in leopard print spandex.”

Bassist Adam Reekie explodes into infectious laughter. Drummer Daniel Moss and keys player Greg Williams have to stop their game of table tennis to join in. “I’ll do it,” protests Liam, deadpan. “You’ll see.”

It’s little wonder, then, that record labels are already sniffing round The Last Party. There’s nothing more alluring than self belief, and they know how to use it to their advantage.

One memorable sold-out gig in Camden brought in representatives from EMI and Sony; when they came back to Manchester, Liam Gallagher’s Pretty Green store showered them with freebies and put them on at the King Street store last night.

Already, there’s a number of deals on the table for singles and discussions underway for long-term contracts.

They’ve played fewer live shows than they each have years, but ask Adam where he dreams of playing and he’ll tell you Madison Square Garden; Liam is even prepared to raise that bar further by saying he wants to play there before he’s 25.

With 18 months to go, the clock is ticking.

It’s also unsurprising that Liam is so good at this game. He’s done it before – and messed it up. It could have happened for him twice, first with The Pedestrians and then with The Kings. “I think the driving factor in the other bands was my mouth,” he admits.

“There was a certain egotistical drive. We’d do as little work as possible and want as much fun as possible. With this band, we are here to have fun and reap the benefits that rock ’n’ roll brings, but we are committed.

“The music comes first and we really put the hours in. We thought, ‘We won’t go out and mouth’. We won’t repeat the mistakes I’d made with the previous bands.

“We wanted people to believe in the songs as much as we do. We honed our craft. And if you believe in what you’re doing, people will support you.

“In Manchester people don’t want to champion stuff for fear it might hinder their cause – there’s a lot of us and them in Manchester, but we didn’t want to be part of that. We’ll be friends with anyone. I think we’re creating music for the people.”

With Xfm pitching them as the sound of 2012, other radio stations are jumping on board. Last week, they were the first band to be invited down to MediaCityUK to do a live session from the BBC Radio Manchester Introducing programme.

A swaggering mix of Mod and Motown chords completed by summery synths and melodic rhythms (Adam ‘did a Paul McCartney’ and swapped guitar for bass for the good of the band – and it shows), The Last Party are built on sunny British pop foundations rather than Manchester attitude.

“Everyone we’ve met has been so supportive,” says Liam. “But we’ve done all this with no management, no PR company, no financial backing: this is basically hatched in a bedroom in Ancoats, to a practice room in the Northern Quarter and taken out to stages.

“Our fifth gig was the Friends Of Mine Festival at Capesthorne Hall in May.
To test your songs against a festival backdrop so early in your career and you get a feeling for what’s ahead of you.

“I think every song we’ve got in our set could stand up on big stages. I know that’s a confident thing to say, but I think belief in your songs will guarantee you are being played at the last party on earth.” - Manchester Evening News