Catfish and the Bottlemen

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Catfish and the Bottlemen
Catfish and the Bottlemen at Lollapalooza
Catfish and the Bottlemen at Lollapalooza 2015
Background information
Origin Llandudno, North Wales
Genres
Years active 2007 (2007)–present
Labels
Associated acts
Website www.catfishandthebottlemen.com
Members
  • Ryan Evan "Van" McCann
  • Johnny "Bondy" Bond
  • Benjamin "Benji" Blakeway
  • Robert "Bob" Hall
Past members

Catfish and the Bottlemen are an English[2][3][4][5][6] rock band that formed in Llandudno, North Wales in 2007.[7] They have released two studio albums. Their debut album, The Balcony, reached number 10 in the UK Albums Chart. The band have toured in the UK, Europe, North America, and Australia and have featured in a number of festivals including Glastonbury, Latitude, Reading and Leeds, T in the Park, Governors Ball, and Bonnaroo. They won their first Brit Award for British Breakthrough act on 24 February 2016. On 27 May 2016, they released their second album, The Ride.

Background

Catfish and the Bottlemen were founded in 2007, when Ryan Evan "Van" McCann and Billy Bibby began playing guitar together at Billy's parents home, a bed & breakfast in Llandudno, Wales.[8] Van's parents also ran a bed and breakfast in town[9] and Van was friends with Billy's younger brother, which is how Van and Billy met.[10] Van and Billy were joined by Benjamin Blakeway on bass as the third founding member of the band. Schoolmate Jon Barr followed shortly thereafter on drums.[11] Billy Bibby, who had been playing guitar since age 10, taught both Van McCann and Benji Blakeway how to play.[12] They promoted themselves by playing in car parks after other artist's gigs, including bands such as Kasabian.[11] Steve Lamacq first played an early demo on BBC Radio 6 Music in 2009.[13] Original drummer Jon Barr[14] was replaced by Bob Hall in 2010. Bob Hall was introduced to the band by a mutual producer acquaintance.[1]

Founding lead guitarist Billy Bibby ceased performing with the band in the summer of 2014 and was replaced by Johnny "Bondy" Bond.[15] On 13 August 2014 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."[16] When asked about leaving the band, Billy Bibby comments, "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..."[17] 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".[18] In autumn of 2015, Billy Bibby founded a new band, Billy Bibby & The Wry Smiles.

Ryan "Van" McCann was born in Cheshire, England[1] and spent time travelling in Australia with his parents as child before moving to Llandudno, Wales.[9] 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.[19] Van was reunited with Catfish the Bottleman in January 2015 at the studios of Triple J radio in Sydney.[20]

The band signed to Communion Records 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 their next single "Kathleen",[21] 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 2014.[22]

In summer 2014, Catfish and the Bottlemen performed at a number of festivals in the UK and Europe including Reading & Leeds,[23] Latitude, Kendal Calling, Strawberry Fields Festival, T in the Park, Pinkpop and Ibiza Rocks. They also played at New York's Governors Ball.

On 19 June 2014, the band announced the release of their debut studio album The Balcony, which was released on 15 September 2014. Shortly afterwards the band also announced a UK tour. The album charted at No. 10 in the UK Albums Chart in the week ending 27 September 2014, was certified Silver in the UK on 9 January 2015, and was certified Gold on 20 March 2015.[24]

They won the BBC Introducing Award at the first BBC Music Awards in December 2014 and performed "Kathleen".[25]

The Balcony was released in the US on 6 January 2015. The day after, they 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".[26]

At the 2016 Brit Awards, the band won in the British Breakthrough Act category. They are due to headline Truck Festival in Oxfordshire in July 2016, the bands 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 2016.

Origins

Although formed in North Wales, when questioned on the band's Llandudno origins, McCann responded that, "We lived there but we’re not actually Welsh. Billy is from like Blackburn and Lancashire. Bob is from Sheffield and Benji is from Chester".[4] McCann has also stated that he was born in Cheshire, UK: “Where was I born? Cheshire? Cheshire.”[27]

Musical style

When reviewing The Balcony, Scott Kerr of AllMusic likened the band's sound to that of Johnny Marr, The Cribs, Feeder and Mystery Jets.[28] According to Ben Homewood of NME, McCann's vocal style is similar to The Kooks' frontman Luke Pritchard.[9]

Concert tours

Discography

EPs

Year Title Label Format
2009 Poetry & Fuel Independent CD, digital download
2010 Beautiful Decay Size CD, digital download

[29][30]

Studio albums

Title Album details Peak chart positions Certification
UK
[31]		 AUS
[32]		 SCO
[33]		 US
[34]		 US
Alt.
[35]		 US
Rock
[36]
The Balcony 10 51 11 121 9 13
The Ride
  • Release: 27 May 2016
  • Label: Capitol
  • Format: CD, digital download, vinyl
 — — — — — —

Singles

Title Year Peak chart positions Album
UK
[38]
[39]		 UK
Indie
[40]		 BEL
[41]		 JAP
[42]		 US
Alt.

[43]

 US
Rock

[44]
"Homesick" 2013 — — — — — — The Balcony
"Rango" — — — — — —
"Kathleen" 2014 190 11 — 82 17 40
"Fallout" — — 142 — — —
"Cocoon" — — 128 — 29 50
"Pacifier" — — — — — —
"Hourglass" 2015 — — — — — —
"Soundcheck" 2016 95 — — — 16 45 The Ride
"7" 81 — — — — 35
"Twice" 87 — — — — —
"—" denotes a single that did not chart or was not released in that territory.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ enter The Balcony in search window http://www.bpi.co.uk/certified-awards/search.aspx
  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  26. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  29. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  30. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  31. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  32. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  33. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  34. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  35. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  36. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  37. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  38. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  39. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  40. ↑ Peak UK Indie Singles Chart positions for Catfish and the Bottlemen: "Kathleen": Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  41. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  42. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  43. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  44. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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