A rock’n’roll sensation from the word go, Danish-Brazilian The Courettes are back with their fourth and best album to date – ‘The Soul Of… The Fabulous Courettes’. And this time, they’re bigger, wider and deeper than ever before as they add more to the blistering ramalama that’s seen them cause pandemonium across the venues, festivals and airwaves of the UK, Europe, USA and Japan. Hitting the sweet spot that straddles garage rock, girl groups, doo-wop harmonies, heartache and all points in between, here The Courettes build on the momentum of predecessor ‘Back In Mono’ with a collection of songs that opens up their sonic scope while confronting dark, emotional matter to reveal ‘The Soul Of… The Fabulous Courettes’.
“We didn’t want to do Back In Mono 2,” stresses drummer Martin Couri.
“We always try to put ourselves into a zone of discomfort, which I think is where exciting things happen rather than just doing the same thing over again,” agrees singer, guitarist and multi-instrumentalist Flavia Couri. “I mean, I know some bands can do that but we don’t see ourselves making the same album for the next 20 years. We thought ‘Back In Mono’ was our best album until this one!”
She’s not wrong. Having evolved with each album release, The Soul Of The Fabulous Courettes draws inspiration from many of the duo’s numerous idols that have only previously been hinted at.
“We wanted to show our love of the Spector Wall Of Sound and Motown,” reveals Flavia. “It was a clear mission and we’ve absolutely nailed it.”
From the glorious opening beats and stabbing fuzz honks of ‘You Woo Me’ to the closing emotional tugs of ‘For Your Love’ via ‘Shake!’’s fuzzed-up urgency and ‘California’’s celebratory warmth, The Courettes have broadened their sound with an increased musical instrumentation and overall sophistication that’s evident in both their sound and songwriting. And crucially, they’ve achieved this without sacrificing any of the rock’n’roll grit that’s been scraped from Flavia’s guitar strings and Martin’s battered and pummeled drums. And aiding them in their quest for sonic perfection are a few guest musicians and back room wizards playing some very specific roles.
“We had La La Brooks of The Crystals singing on ‘California’ and ‘Run Run Runaway’, which for us was totally a dream come true!” enthuses Flavia. “I mean, the voice of ‘Da Doo Ron Ron’, which is for us is one of the best produced songs in the entire universe and this is something that we’re really proud of.”
Further magic was applied by direct connections to the source of all that The Courettes hold dear.
“We asked Darian Sahanaja, who worked on the production of Brian Wilson’s ‘Smile’, to mix the vocals on ‘California’ and ‘Run Run Runaway’, which he did in a Beach Boys style and we really dig it. And we also worked with Richard Gottehrer, who for us is like a songwriter god! He worked at the Brill Building and co-wrote ‘I Want Candy’. A mutual friend played him ‘Keep Dancing’ and he left a message on my phone saying, ‘I love your track and I really dig the lyrics’ and he mixed ‘Keep Dancing’ and ‘Boom Boom Boom´.”
“We also had Peter Kehl and Kasper Wagner from Danish band Black Tornado playing horns on ’Shake!’, ‘Better Without You’ and ‘Stop! Doing That’,” says Martin. “We had a session with them where they played trumpets and a lot of overdubs with tenor and baritone saxophones. That was really cool.”
And joining The Courettes at their own StarrSound Studios in Denmark once again is multi-instrumentalist Søren Christensen who contributes Mellotron, organ, piano and backing vocals while producing the album together with C.T. Levine.
While the music has opened up to include acoustic and 12-string guitars, bass, E-bows, castanets and timpani, so have the kind of emotions that might not ordinarily be associated with The Courettes.
“Because I’m the one most responsible for the lyrics, I actually allowed myself to open up to some personal things,” admits Flavia. “And so that means that our souls are in the album both musically and also lyrically.”
She continues: “We lost both of our fathers. My father died of COVID. But my relationship with my father was non-existent. He abandoned me and my sister. It was a very difficult relationship and it’s not so easy for me to talk about it. ‘I Don’t Want You Back’ and ‘Keep Dancing’ are about his death and how he still has a power over me and bringing me down and what it’s like to break free from that. You know, some parents are cruel.”
“It’s a special subject to sing about and to make pop music out of,” says Martin. “It’s actually celebrating moving on and I think that’s really fantastic. ‘Keep Dancing’ is absolutely smashing.”
“The Soul Of The Fabulous Courettes blends two things,” explains Flavia. “First, of course, are the nods to the soul music and especially Motown, which is pop music the way we like it. But I think for the first time, lyrically, we actually open up to some deeper topics. It’s not disguised as teenage heartache songs anymore.”
Reflecting The Soul Of The Fabulous Courettes, the album’s monochrome album cover was shot by celebrated photographer Søren Solkær, who’s previously immortalised Amy Winehouse, The White Stripes and Paul McCartney among many others.
“It’s such a cool contrast to the pop songs,” says Martin of the cover art, “but it’s also hand-in-hand with the album’s dark themes. He really goes into your soul. I think it’s amazing.”
For all that, The Soul Of… The Fabulous Courettes is an album aimed as much for what’s below the neck as above it, for this is an album that dances through the darkness to celebrate the joy that is living.
“Life is so fragile,” smiles Flavia. “But what are you supposed to do? I’d rather dance.”
And what better album to do that to?
(Julian Marszalek – Mojo, Classic Rock)
Read on for more background stuff on The Courettes…..
The Courettes are a garage duo sensation from Brazil and Denmark!
The Courettes are an explosive garage rock duo from Denmark/Brazil, highly praised by the world’s coolest music magazines. Their first single for Damaged Goods, ‘Want You! Like A Cigarette’, was released in 2020 in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic and received airplay on BBC6 Music in the UK and spins at P6Beat and P4 in Denmark. “This extraordinary 45 marries a super-charged pop top side to a charging, rampaging flip” wrote Kieron Tyler (MOJO). A brand new single, ‘Hop The Twig’, followed in Spring 2021.
Since the blasting debut album Here are the Courettes (Sounds of Subterrania, Germany, 2015), the explosive single ‘Boom! Dynamite!’ (Bachelor Records, Austria, 2016), the thrilling single ‘Hoodoo Hop’, a split with Powersolo (Sounds of Subterrania, Germany, 2017), a shaking live album Alive from Tambourine Studios (Chaputa Records, Portugal, 2017), and the brilliant second album, We Are The Courettes (Sounds of Subterrania, Germany, 2015). Here Are The Courettes and We Are The Courettes were remastered and reissued with new artwork by Damaged Goods Records in July 2021.
Back In Mono, the duo’s third album was released by Damaged Goods Records in October 2021, along with 7” single ‘R.I.N.G.O.’. The album was mixed in Japan by Wall of Sound aficionado Seike Sato and shows the band in top form, with great song writing and Spector-esque arrangements. The album also see them add broader nuances, influences and sound qualities to their garage rock recipe. The tunes are teen-trash-tragedy garage meets The Ronettes and The Ramones in Gold Star Studios’ echo chamber. Fuzz guitars, loud drums, trashy pianos, jingle bells, tambourines and three-minute dance floor garage killers where a Wall of Sound blasts the songs out of the speakers! The album has featured in several high profile albums of the year lists.
The Courettes toured the UK in October 2021 playing a staggering back-to-back 17 shows, picking up rave reviews along the way both online and in all the major UK music magazines. A further single ‘Misfits & Freaks’ was released in February 2022. The Courettes will be returning to the UK for more live dates and a Marc Riley BBC 6Music session in May/June 2022. Stay tuned for more loud as hell Scandinavian rock n’ roll!
To coincide with the band’s summer UK tour in 2022, we released a mini album Back In Mono (B-sides & Outtakes) on 10″ vinyl and CD. This features three new smash tunes – ‘Daydream’, ‘Tough Like That’, and ‘Talking About My Baby’. Also included are three non-album B-sides, freshly spruced up with new instrumentation and exclusive to this release. Making up the eight tracks is the inclusion is a Courettes rarity, ‘So What’, which was previously only available on a split single with The Jackets released on Chaputa Records back in January.
For fans looking to dip into the band’s work but not sure where to start we recommend Boom! Dynamite, a compilation we put out to tie-in with the bands first US tour in Spring 2023. It includes singles, deep cuts from their studio albums, with B-sides and rarities thrown in for good measure! The first pressing was on orange vinyl and limited to 1000 copies only! We’ve since pressed another 1000, this time on purple vinyl!
In 2024 the band released a fourth studio album The Soul of.. The Fabulous Courettes, which saw them explore new souls-influences sounds. Three singles were also released the same year – ‘SHAKE!’, ‘California’, and ‘Keep Dancing’. Remarkably they still found time to play as many live shows as they could, visiting all corners of Europe along with taking two trips to North America.
In 2025 they’ve been having perhaps their busiest yet in terms of live shows. There have been countless shows on the continent plus two UK tours, with another one to come in the Autumn when they’ll be supporting Hugh Cornwell. All that and a debut appearance at Blackpool’s Rebellion Festival!
SELECTED PRESS QUOTES…
“Exuberant third release, a giddying rush of noise”mojo ★★★★★★★★★☆
“Seems like the best record you’ve ever heard. A rock n’ roll sacramentfrom your new favourite band”Classic Rock Magazine ★★★★★★★★★☆
“Sensational good album!”Ox Magazine ★★★★☆
“Just keeps getting better and better”Shindig!★★★★½
“The real sound of now busting through my door, new songs that keep kicking the history forward. I can’t imagine my turntable without The Courettes” (David Fricke, Rolling Stone, USA. For the “We Are The Courettes” album´s liner notes)
“The dynamite just keeps on coming!” Lindsay Hutton (The Next Big Thing, UK)
“Your new favourite band once you´ve heard them!” Marc Mcstea (Louder Than War, UK)
“Unbelievably good songs, top tunes. The COURETTES get along completely without covers and have found their own distinctive sound. Charming, twisting and always danceable.” By Gereon Helmer (Ox Magazine, Germany)
“Crooked girl group love songs fed on a diet of bathtub amphetamines” Henry Hutton (Shindig!, UK)
“The real deal. The most authentic 60’s inspired garage rock since Thee Milkshakes were around”. Lee Cotterell (Vive Le Rock, UK)
“Like amped-up Kinks meets The Sonics in a dark alley” Lenny Helsing (Bananas Magazine, USA/UK)
“The Courettes full-bore attack would do any festival proud”. Kieron Tyler (Mojo, UK)
“The coolest couple of the Reeperbahn Festival” (The Music Minutes, Germany)
“‘60s-style garage band that has the look, the vintage gear, raw production, and actually play with pure fire and intensity. Most importantly, they have SONGS” (Mojo Workout)
Stay tuned for more jungle wildness & loud as hell Scandinavian rock n’ roll!
