There is something wonderfully un-rock-star-ish about Norman Blake. Sitting down to talk about Teenage Fanclub’s 13th studio album, Do Not Dare to Dream, he is just as happy discussing Joy Division, holidays in northern Spain and a fantasy Come Dine With Me line-up as he is the mechanics of making another record after nearly four decades in the business.

That seems entirely appropriate for a band whose longevity has never been about chasing grandeur. Blake admits that when Teenage Fanclub started, the ambition was simply to make an album. One album became two, touring followed, then another record, and another, until somehow they arrived at number 13. Even now, he says, receiving a test pressing in the post is a thrill: putting it on the turntable, lifting the needle and hoping it isn't somebody else's record.

Do Not Dare to Dream arrives with that same sense of uncomplicated enthusiasm. Teenage Fanclub have changed the way they make their records over the years, moving away from the songwriter arriving in the studio with detailed instructions for every instrument. These days, Blake brings in the bones of a song, the band picks up their instruments and works out the arrangement together. They play in the same room, looking at one another, and can get through a song a day.

The result is a record made collectively rather than assembled piece by piece. It also reflects Blake's increasingly personal approach to songwriting. He describes his songs as around 80 per cent autobiographical, with a little reshuffling of characters and embellishment along the way. Writing has become something of a form of self-therapy: a way of making sense of the good bits, the bad bits and everything in between.

That makes the album's title particularly intriguing. Do Not Dare to Dream sounds almost like an instruction to keep your expectations firmly under control, which is a curious motto for someone who has spent nearly 40 years making records. Blake explains that it came from one of the songs and his own slightly sceptical take on the familiar phrase "dare to dream". Blind optimism is all very well, he suggests, but life has a habit of ignoring the script.

Teenage Fanclub, though, have plenty to be optimistic about. Blake is remarkably matter-of-fact about the band's achievements, pointing out that they have never sold millions of records but have done well enough to keep making music, touring and, crucially, finding people who still want to listen. The excitement of releasing an album hasn't disappeared either. If anything, it sounds rather sweetly intact.

Perhaps that comes down to the people involved. Blake and Raymond McGinley have been working together since the early 1980s, while members of the touring team have been around for decades. Blake compares the whole operation to a football team: get the right people, find the right dynamic and let everyone play their part. There is no great rock'n'roll mythology of slammed doors and furious arguments here. They socialise on tour, enjoy each other's company and then go their separate ways when they get home.

That easy camaraderie is there in the way Blake talks about his musical beginnings, too. As a teenager, hearing Joy Division's Transmission on John Peel was enough to send him out to buy the record. Inspired by The Clash, Paul Simonon's bass playing and Peter Hook, he persuaded his parents to buy him a Fender Precision bass and a little Wem Dominator amp. From there came local bands, the Glasgow music scene, a stint touring with The Pastels and, eventually, Teenage Fanclub.

And there is a neat lesson in all of that. Early on, producer Don Fleming noticed Blake was trying to sound a little too much like his influences, throwing in a hint of Dinosaur Jr or Sonic Youth here and there. Fleming encouraged the band to concentrate instead on their harmonies — something that felt more distinctive and more genuinely theirs. Blake listened, stopped doing his best J Mascis impression and started finding his own voice.

It is perhaps the perfect story for Teenage Fanclub. Rather than trying to become something bigger or louder, they figured out what made them themselves and stuck with it.

There is still room for a little silliness, naturally. Asked to choose four guests for a week of Come Dine With Me, Blake initially reaches for Rod Hull and Emu, then Penelope Keith, before settling on The League of Gentlemen and Inside No. 9 stars Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton. It is an impressively chaotic dinner party, and probably one best enjoyed from a safe distance.



Away from the imaginary dinner table, Blake's holiday recommendation is considerably more serene: Galicia and northern Spain, places he fell for through Teenage Fanclub's long relationship with the country. The band even opened for Nirvana on the European leg of the Nevermind tour, playing shows in Valencia's bullring. Decades later, Spain remains a place where Teenage Fanclub have a devoted following, and Blake's recommendation is to head north to somewhere like Santiago de Compostela rather than simply following the crowds to Barcelona or the Costas.

It all adds up to a rather charming picture of a band that has somehow managed to make longevity look less like an achievement to be celebrated and more like a happy accident they are still enjoying. Thirteen albums in, Blake remains excited by the simple things: making songs with friends, watching a new record spin on a turntable and discovering that, astonishingly, people still want to come and see you play.

Maybe that's the real spirit of Do Not Dare to Dream. Despite its slightly gloomy title, there is plenty of life in the idea of continuing to make music simply because you love doing it. And after all these years, Teenage Fanclub still sound like a band that is having a very good time doing exactly that.

TEENAGE FANCLUB - LIVE DATES

Sept 17, 2026 - Dunfermline - PJ Molloys - SOLD OUT
Nov 7, 2026 - Manchester - New Century Hall - Tickets
Nov 9, 2026 - Leeds - Project House - Tickets
Nov 10, 2026 - Newcastle - Boiler Shop - Tickets
Nov 13, 2026 - Glasgow - Saint Luke’s - SOLD OUT
Nov 14, 2026 - Glasgow - Saint Luke’s - SOLD OUT
Nov 15, 2026 - Edinburgh - La Belle Angele - SOLD OUT
Nov 19, 2026 - Cardiff - Y Plas - Tickets
Nov 21, 2026 - Glasgow - SWG3 Warehouse - Tickets

Tickets on sale here.

Do No Dare To Dream is out on October 9. Pre-order here.