A LOVE of fine food, learning to cook and taking up fishing.

Whilst said partly in jest, none are traits you’d necessarily associate with a band who in its early days grew synonymous with the music of choice for hooded football fans.

The Courteeners have evolved far beyond that initial stereotype, still armed with attitude yes, but with rawness refined.

And the transition has worked.

Third album ‘Anna’, released in February, is a culmination of what has gone before, lead singer Liam Fray, Michael Campbell (drums), Daniel ‘Conan’ Moores (guitar) and Mark Joseph Cuppello (bass) using the reassurance of a strong fanbase in their hometown of Manchester to experiment.

The result, a record ‘given a rock and roll injection’, according to Fray, but also steeped in soaring pop, and a certain amount of tenderness, to temper the testosterone.

He said: “I’ve always tried to write, first and foremost, from the heart.

“It’s got to be honest.

“If you’re honest from the start you’ve got a chance, especially now when there’s a new band every week, and you ask, do they mean any of it.

“With ‘Anna’, we thought it has to be quicker, it has to be harder, it has to be louder’.

“We felt at the end of it, we really couldn’t have done any better, and it seems to have been rewarded.

“People have connected with it and we were so happy with that.”

The sometimes bolshy disposition of debut album St Jude has gone, likewise the ‘mid-pace’ (Fray’s phrase, not mine) of follow-up second release ‘Falcon’.

And with a new image - Fred Perry ditched for denim shirts - to match the fresh sound, have the Courteeners turned ‘sexy’?

“We looked older 10 years ago than we do now," said Fray, who counts The Smiths, The Strokes, and Interpol among his influences.

“It comes with having a bit of a wake-up call.

“We toured the first couple of years like you’d think you are supposed to tour and hit it hard every night.

“I thought, I’m going to break here, it isn’t natural.

“We started to look after ourselves and changed a few things.

“Whether it’s being ‘sexy’ or not I’m not sure. To me, it was just a haircut.”

Whatever the case, it’s a far cry from school days in Middleton when Fray was advised to be a teacher or stockbroker.

Instead, he took on a paper round to buy his first guitar, first learning ‘Supersonic’ by Oasis, and claiming to have never had a lesson since.

If playing came naturally, so too did songwriting, lyrics steeped in his own experiences.

Take ‘Bide Your Time’ on first album St Jude, written about a girl the 28-year-old met on holiday in Turkey.

He tried to ring her, accidentally called someone in his phone book with a similar name, and they embarked on a three year relationship of ‘bliss’.

New single ‘Love With A Notion’, recorded in LA and the third to be released from ‘Anna’ on December 9, is ‘probably autobiographical’, according to Fray, a tale of people in relationships that aren’t going anywhere.

“They fall in love with this idea that ‘I’m really happy, I’m having the best time of my life’, and not taking a step back to think ‘are you’?.”

“It turns into just watching telly together, and it’s like, ‘what are you getting out of it?’.

“I’m basically a modern day agony aunt.”

Next up is a performance at Manchester’s Phone 4 U Arena on Friday, and a warning for fans, with the band planning a break.

“This will be the last time we play for a while,” said Fray.

“I might take up fishing. I’ve bought a camera. I’m going to learn how to cook, all the things you should be doing at 28.

“The acoustic is next to my bed and I’ll always write songs.

"There’s no plan so this could be the last chance to dance really.”

During a performance at the same arena last December, Fray was forced to halt an acoustic part of the set as the crowd chanted his name.

Ex-Manchester United football player Gary Neville later tweeted to say he’d never witnessed such genuine affection from the audience at a concert.

“It’s just embarrassing - you don’t know where to put your face," said Fray.

“It’s mental. I’m thinking I was working in Fred Perry six years ago.

“It wasn’t like I was unhappy in that life but it’s really nice.

“These people like what we do and we love them for that.”

For tickets to Friday’s gig, go to gigsandtours.com.