COURTEENERS rocker Liam Fray is sick of being compared to Oasis star Liam Gallagher.

The Mancunian, whose band are currently in the Top 10 with debut album St Jude, has been accused of being just as lippy as his namesake following catty remarks about their rivals.

But despite having been inspired by the Gallagher brothers and hailed by U2 and Morrissey as the best British band to emerge since Oasis, the new Liam says he is tired of being tarred with the same brush as his predecessor.

He said: "Some people seem to think we are bad lad bruisers because we are from the north of England, but it is just southern media bias.

"I was inspired by Oasis, though. I remember being in the back of my dad's car when I was 10 and hearing Wonderwall for the first time and knowing that was what I wanted to do. None of our songs sound like Oasis, but people always say that.

"If you see Noel or Liam on the front of a magazine, you are going to buy it because they are funny.

"We are similar because we don't tell lies. There's no marketing campaign around us and no media training, as you can probably tell.

"We have wanted to do this since we were small, so to finally get the record out and for it to do well is buzzing.

"It is everything I have been working towards since I was in nursery. You choose your mates and the social circles and the albums you decide to nick off your pals at school shaped from that. It's an album that has been 22 years in the making."

Meanwhile, he says the fact the band are being criticised means they are already a success - but insists there's no Blur versus Oasis rivalry on the horizon.

Liam said: "As anybody starts to get successful, people try to shoot them down. But if they want to say negative stuff, we will just silence them with good songs."

The band have also announced another UK tour, which sees them play Dundee's Fat Sams (October 6) Glasgow's Barrowland (October 7).

They're also heading to T in the Park this summer for a show on the festival's Radio 1/NME stage on Saturday, July 12.