Ever since I can remember, it’s been Liverpool FC or nothing.
All four of us from The Cheap Thrills are massive Reds. I honestly don’t think it would have worked out if it was any different.
I was introduced to LFC and to football through my family. Liverpool as a city is football-mad, and kids have footy kits on pretty much from birth. I think there is something beautiful in that. It’s almost tribal, and my fate as a Liverpool fan was decided a long time before I was even born.
The 2000-01 season was a very special time, and I remember the buzz around the team and the city. Winning the treble that year showed a lot of us younger fans what it meant to be a Liverpool fan and to enjoy success. I was five or six at the time.
The first game I have a vague memory of going to (and a programme for evidence) was getting beaten in the League Cup against Grimsby during the 2001-02 season. I just remember being freezing and disappointed that we’d lost, but I was made up that I got to sing the Gary Mac song with my dad.
I started going to the match more regularly towards the end of Brendan Rodgers’ stint as manager. Fitzy, who plays bass, and his dad Danny were instrumental in making this possible for me. Danny had got us tickets for Manchester United at home in the FA Cup in 2012.
This was the first time we had our music played by George Sephton, and it was a really special moment being in the ground for it. Now it happens quite regularly, and it’s still a pinch-me moment every time. Me and Fitzy just stood there in the Upper Anfield Road smiling. Thousands of people around us, but none of them knew it was us playing the music we were listening to. I’d love to use this moment to thank George for his unwavering support of local music. Thank you, George!
My favourite game of all time is Barcelona at home in 2019. I worked in the bookies at the time and spent all day hyping up the customers who were putting 4-0 on. I did particularly well on tips over the next few days, with those same customers returning to pick up their winnings.
There was a special feeling around this game. We were 3-0 down against the best team on paper in the world. We, as fans, had a massive job on our hands that night, and I like to think we executed it perfectly. They could have given us the cup right there and then that night. I knew we would go on to win it in Madrid. We went from Anfield straight to MOTEL, a bar in town, and watched the whole 90 minutes again, celebrating every goal like it was live. This was easily one of the best nights of my life.
More recently, we’ve been lucky enough to work with the club on a few different projects. That’s still mad to me, even years later. We soundtracked the European kit release in 2022, meeting our heroes in the Olympia. If you go back and watch it, Mohamed Salah is waving an Egyptian flag that we had up in our studio, and I had a chat with Bobby Firmino about playing the piano. Madness.
We were then asked to provide some music for an LFC Retail campaign. The club wanted to work with us, but the songs we had available just weren’t right, so we wrote and recorded a new song called Home in two days. We dropped everything to get that over the line, and I think it just shows how much the club means to us as a whole.
That night we met John Barnes and played our instruments on the pitch at Anfield. The rain was biblical, and we were on the shoot until 3am! Not many people can say that they recorded a music video on the pitch at Anfield in the wee hours. (Also, we are sorry to anyone in the vicinity of Anfield who heard our song 300 times that night). These two pieces of work have been instrumental in growing our band and our brand, and we are eternally grateful to the club for this.
We recently released our debut album, Keep Cheap. This record is a culmination of everything we’ve worked towards since we were kids, and we’re so proud of it. We’ve used “Keep Cheap” as our motto for years, a phrase that reflects our commitment to doing things on our own terms. It’s played such a big role in shaping who we are as a band, so it feels only fitting that our first album carries the same name.
The album is available on www.thecheapthrills.co.uk, and alongside the album we’re heading out on an almost-sold-out tour of the UK. We just can’t wait to get out there and play our album for the people.
The Cheap Thrills’ debut album Keep Cheap is out now – listen here
