Catfish and the Bottlemen | |
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Background information | |
Origin | Llandudno, Conwy, Wales |
Genres | |
Years active | 2007–present |
Labels | |
Members |
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Past members |
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Website | catfishandthebottlemen |
Catfish and the Bottlemen are a Britishindie rock band formed in Llandudno, Conwy, Wales, in 2007. [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] The band's debut album, The Balcony , reached number 10 in the UK Albums Chart and achieved Platinum status on 30 December 2016. [9] The band have toured in South America, Japan, Europe, North America, and Australia performing a wide selection of festivals including Lollapalooza, Glastonbury, Latitude, Falls Festival, Community Festival, Reading and Leeds, T in the Park, Governors Ball, All Points East, Bonnaroo, Splendour in the Grass, and TRNSMT. They won a Brit Award for British Breakthrough Act on 24 February 2016. On 27 May 2016, they released their second album, The Ride , which reached number 1 in the UK Albums Chart and has sold 300,000 units in the UK since its release. On 26 April 2019, they released their third album, The Balance , which reached number 2 in the UK Albums Chart.
Catfish and the Bottlemen, formerly known as "The Prestige", [10] [11] were founded in May 2007, [12] when Ryan Evan "Van" McCann and Billy Bibby began playing guitar together at Bibby's parents home, a bed and breakfast in Llandudno, Wales. [13] McCann's parents also ran a bed and breakfast in Llandudno. [14] Van was a friend of Bibby's younger brother Stephen, which is how McCann and Bibby met. [15] McCann and Bibby were joined by Benji Blakeway on bass as the third founding member of the band. Schoolmate Jon Barr followed shortly thereafter on drums. [16] Bibby, who had been playing guitar since age 10, taught both McCann and Blakeway how to play. [17] In an interview with Sound of Boston McCann noted his dislike for playing covers because of the way his music career began: "When I was a 15 year old and we first started a band, our job Monday to Friday was to play at clubs, playing Beatles covers and Oasis covers. We spent seven years writing our own songs, making our own albums, and people are like ‘play Kanye West!’ We’re like ‘no man, are you crazy?’" [18]
They promoted themselves by playing in support slots to friends' bands, such as Northwich's The Shallow Call, [19] and by playing in car parks after other artists' gigs, including bands such as Kasabian. [16] Steve Lamacq first played an early demo on BBC Radio 6 Music in March 2009. [20] [21] During 2009, Catfish were runners up in the 'North Wales Battle of the Bands', run by Gareth Thomas, having been beaten to the post by another local band The Fides who later closed the Conwy River Festival.
Original drummer Jon Barr was replaced by Bob Hall in 2010. Hall was introduced to the band by North Wales-based producer Russ Hayes who was working with the band at the time. [22]
McCann met future band member Johnny Bond at Ravenstonedale festival in 2011, when the latter was a member of the band Symphonic Pictures. Bond would later join the band in 2014.
The band derives its name from McCann's first childhood musical memory: that of an Australian street busker in Sydney, playing beer bottles strung to a wire who goes by the name Catfish the Bottleman. He was called "Catfish" because of an unusually styled spiky beard he had when he first began playing in 2000. [23] [24] McCann was reunited with Catfish the Bottleman in January 2015 at the studios of Triple J radio in Sydney.
The band signed to Communion Music [25] in 2013, [1] and released their first three singles "Homesick", "Rango", and "Pacifier" the same year.
In 2014, the band signed to Island Records and on 17 March, released the single "Kathleen", [26] produced by Jim Abbiss (Arctic Monkeys, Kasabian, Adele). All the singles were premiered by Zane Lowe and added to the playlist on Radio 1. "Kathleen" ranked at number one on MTV's hottest tracks in April
In the summer of 2014, Catfish and the Bottlemen performed at a number of festivals in the UK and Europe, including Reading and Leeds, [27] [28] Latitude, Kendal Calling, Y Not Festival, Strawberry Fields Festival, T in the Park, Pinkpop, Bingley Music Live, and Ibiza Rocks. They also played at New York's Governors Ball.
On 19 June, the band announced they were to release their debut studio album, The Balcony , in September.
Founding lead guitarist Billy Bibby suddenly and unexpectedly ceased performing with the band in the summer of 2014. [29] He was replaced by Johnny "Bondy" Bond. [30] On 25 July, the band cancelled three festival appearances due to "unforeseen personal circumstances". [31] [32] On 13 August, the band posted on Facebook: "Some of you will have noticed that we have been playing with a different guitarist over the past weekend. Unfortunately, due to some personal circumstances, Billy won't be touring with the band for the foreseeable future." [33]
When asked about leaving the band, Bibby commented, "Well to be honest after Catfish I had no plans. I didn't know what I was going to do. I just started writing songs and it took off from there..." [34] and "I'm proud of what I did in Catfish and what I achieved and everything that came with it, but I'm just looking into the future now with my band and that's all I'm focused on". [35] He later founded a new band, Billy Bibby & The Wry Smiles, in 2015.
The Balcony was released on 15 September 2014. Shortly afterwards, the band also announced a UK tour. The album charted at number 10 on the UK Albums Chart in the week ending 27 September before being certified Silver in the UK on 9 January 2015, Gold on 20 March and ultimately Platinum on 30 December 2016. [36]
They won the BBC Introducing Award at the first BBC Music Awards in December and performed "Kathleen". [37]
The Balcony was released in the US on 6 January 2015. The following day, the band performed on the Late Show with David Letterman .
In an interview with WOW247, McCann said that the band have "three albums written already". He continued to say that "I'm more excited for the second album than the first, because the workload is done now". [38]
At the 2016 Brit Awards, the band won in the British Breakthrough Act category. [39] They then went on to headline Liverpool Sound City in May, their first headline slot at a festival.
On 23 March 2016, the band announced via Twitter and Instagram that their second studio album would be entitled The Ride , which was released on 27 May. On 3 June, The Ride reached number one on the UK Albums Chart with unit sales of 38,000. [40]
On 8 July, Catfish and the Bottlemen played their largest headlining show to date at Castlefield Bowl in Manchester with Vant, Broken Hands, and Little Comets as support. [41]
On 1 July 2017, they headlined the first Community Festival in Finsbury Park, London. [42]
On 8 January 2019, the band released their new single "Longshot", the lead single off their third studio album, The Balance . [43] The album, along with artwork and tracklist, was officially announced on 25 January.
On 13 February, "Fluctuate", the second single from the album, was released. The third and fourth singles from the album, “2all” and “Conversation”, were released on 19 March and 18 April, respectively. The album was ultimately released on 26 April. [44]
In August 2021, Catfish and the Bottlemen headlined the 2021 Reading and Leeds Festival, the first time they had done so. [45] [46] The following month, in September, the band played Swansea's Singleton Park, [47] whilst also playing another headliner slot at the Neighbourhood Weekender festival in Warrington. [48]
It was also announced in September that the band would be supporting Stereophonics at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium, alongside Tom Jones, later in the year on 18 December. Due to 'phenomenal' demand for tickets, an additional date was added for 17 December. Just over a week until the first date, it was announced the gigs would be rescheduled for 17–18 June 2022, due to COVID-19 restrictions in Wales. [49] Weeks before the rescheduled dates, on 3 June 2022, it was announced Catfish and the Bottlemen had pulled out of the gig due to "unforeseen practical issues". [50]
On 29 September 2021, drummer Bob Hall announced via his Instagram that he would be leaving the band. [51]
On 5 June 2022, also via Instagram, Johnny Bond confirmed he had stepped down as a member of the band in March 2021, though he would play the band's scheduled shows later that year. [52]
On 23 November 2023, Catfish and the Bottlemen signalled that the band’s hiatus had ended, announcing they would be headlining the Reading and Leeds Festival in August 2024. [53] [54]
On 16 February 2024, the band teased fans new music for the first time in five years, uploading a short six second clip to their Instagram account. [55] It came just days after fans, signed up to its mailing list, received an email with the subject ‘Thursday 22nd February’ on 12 February. [56] The body of the email included an image of paper with the text ‘Doors: 5pm’ and ‘Showtime: 6pm’, with posters displaying the same text appearing in locations around Manchester that same day. [57]
"Showtime", the lead single of the band's upcoming fourth album, written by McCann and produced by multiple Grammy Awards recipient Dave Sardy, was released on 22 February. [58] [59] The release of the single coincided with news that they would play two new shows in the summer: Cardiff Castle on 19 July and Edinburgh Summer Sessions on 24 August. [60] On 11 July, the band returned to the stage at In The Park Festival in Sefton Park, Liverpool, marking their return from hiatus. [61]
On 19 August, the band announced two stadium shows for the summer of 2025, following a series of teaser images featuring the venues. The shows are set for 1 August at Principality Stadium, Cardiff, and 3 August at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London. These performances will mark the band’s first headline appearances at stadium-sized venues. [62]
On 1 September, the band cancelled their gig at RDS Simmonscourt in Dublin at 6:45pm, 15 minutes before doors were due to open at the venue, promotors MCD Productions issued a statement from the Welsh band announcing that the show was cancelled due to "artist illness". This was set to be the first time they performed in Ireland in 5 years. [63]
On 4 September, the band had cancelled their Australia tour, set to take place between September 4 to September 12, 2024, shown by the announcement issued from "Moshtix" conveying the following statement from the band "Catfish and The Bottlemen want to thank their fans for their support. This weekend they were hoping to still be able to perform but on doctors orders they were forced to cancel their show in Dublin. Due to band illness, the Australian dates this month will also be no longer going ahead. The band were really looking forward to these shows and sincerely apologise to everyone for any inconvenience and disappointment. Thank you for your understanding and continued support". Shortly after this announcement occurred, fans took to social media, with screenshots from Ticketmaster and other ticket sales and distribution companies, showing emails they have received announcing the cancellation of the USA tour set to take place between September 18 and October 27, 2024. [64]
Catfish and The Bottlemen are still set to perform at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff on the 1st August 2025 and London's Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on the 3rd August 2025.
When reviewing The Balcony , Scott Kerr of AllMusic likened the band's sound to that of Johnny Marr, The Cribs, Feeder and Mystery Jets. [65] According to Ben Homewood of NME , McCann's vocal style is similar to The Kooks' frontman Luke Pritchard. [14] With respect to the musical approach to The Ride , McCann has stated, "I feel like everybody started thinking too outside the box trying to be arty and different. We wanted to stay inside the box." [66]
Following the release of The Balance , Catfish and the Bottlemen came under some criticism for having a "formulaic" approach to songwriting. [67]
Members
Former members
| Current touring musicians
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Ryan Evan "Van" McCann was born in Australia. [68] [15] McCann, Benji Blakeway, guitar tech Josh “Larry” Lau, and former members Bob Hall and Billy Bibby grew up in Llandudno, North Wales.
Bibby, Blakeway, Hall and McCann originally hail from Accrington, [69] Chester, Sheffield [70] and Widnes, [71] [72] respectively. All of which are located within the North of England. They all moved to Llandudno when they were "kids at the age of about 2 or 3". [15]
McCann, along with former member Bibby, attended Ysgol John Bright in Llandudno. Drummer Bob Hall attended Rydal Penrhos School. [73] [74]
Johnny Bond is from North Shields in North East England. [75]
McCann calls himself Van after his and his father's musical hero Van Morrison. [76]
McCann is a supporter of Manchester United, [77] whilst Blakeway supports rival side Liverpool FC. [78]
Title | Details | Peak chart positions | Certification | |||||||||
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UK [81] | AUS [82] | BEL [83] | IRE [84] | NZ [85] | SCO [86] | SWI [87] | US [88] | US Alt. [89] | US Rock [90] | |||
The Balcony |
| 10 | 51 | — | 78 | — | 11 | — | 121 | 9 | 13 | |
The Ride |
| 1 | 6 | 145 | 7 | 33 | 1 | 99 | 28 | 2 | 3 |
|
The Balance |
| 2 | 9 | — | 13 | — | 2 | 73 | 159 | 16 | 31 |
|
Year | Title | Label | Format |
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2009 | Poetry & Fuel | Size |
|
2010 | Beautiful Decay | Size |
|
2013 | Catfish and the Bottlemen | Communion |
|
2014 | Kathleen and the Other Three | Communion |
|
Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Certifications | Album | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
UK [91] | UK Indie [92] | AUS [93] | BEL [83] | CAN Rock [94] | JPN [95] | MEX Air. [96] | US Alt. [97] | US Main. [98] | US Rock [99] | ||||
"Homesick" | 2013 | 182 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| The Balcony |
"Rango" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| ||
"Kathleen" | 2014 | 110 | 11 | — | — | — | 82 | — | 17 | — | 40 |
| |
"Fallout" | — | — | — | 92 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| ||
"Cocoon" | 109 | — | — | 128 | — | — | — | 29 | — | 50 |
| ||
"Pacifier" | — | — | — | — | — | — | 45 | — | — | — |
| ||
"Business" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| ||
"Hourglass" | 2015 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| |
"Soundcheck" | 2016 | 95 | — | — | — | 23 | — | 41 | 11 | 34 | 32 |
| The Ride |
"7" | 81 | — | 133 | — | 46 | — | — | 8 | — | 32 | |||
"Glasgow" | 128 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| ||
"Twice" [101] | 87 | — | — | — | — | — | — | 32 | — | — |
| ||
"Outside"[ citation needed ] | 2017 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
"Longshot" | 2019 | 25 | — | — | — | 11 | — | — | 2 | — | 16 |
| The Balance |
"Fluctuate" | 84 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
"2all" [102] | 57 | — | — | — | 50 | — | — | 7 | — | 39 |
| ||
"Conversation" [103] | 60 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
"Showtime" [58] | 2024 | 49 | — | — | — | — | — | — | 33 | — | — | TBA | |
"ASA" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | The Balcony: 10 Year Anniversary | ||
"—" denotes a single that did not chart or was not released in that territory. |
Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Certifications | Album | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
UK [91] | |||||||||||||
"Tyrants" | 2014 | — |
| The Balcony | |||||||||
"Anything" | 2016 | — |
| The Ride | |||||||||
"Oxygen" [104] | — |
| |||||||||||
"Postpone" | — |
| |||||||||||
"Encore" | 2019 | 64 | The Balance | ||||||||||
"—" denotes a single that did not chart or was not released in that territory. |
Year | Organisation | Award | Nominated | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|
2014 | BBC Music Awards [105] | BBC Introducing Award | Themselves | Won |
2015 | Q Awards [106] | Best Live Act | Nominated | |
2016 | Brit Awards [107] | British Breakthrough Act | Won | |
NME Awards [108] | Best British Band | Nominated | ||
Best Live Band | ||||
Best Fan Community | ||||
Q Awards [109] | Best Track | "Twice" | ||
2019 | Radio X [110] | Best of British 2019 | "Cocoon" | #50 |
"Longshot" | #59 | |||
"7" | #77 | |||
2020 | Triple J [111] | Hottest 100 of the Decade | "7" | #70 |
"Cocoon" | #104 |
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