Chicago – The Welsh band Catfish and the Bottlemen are ready to take the U.S. by storm! The indie garage rockers just released their debut album The Balcony, performed on Late Show with David Letterman, and soon will be kicking off a North American headlining tour. (Ed., Best New Bands recently included them in 9 New Bands We Want To See On Tour This Winter.)
Since they were teenagers, Van McCann (lead vocals), Johnny Bond (guitar), Benji Blakeway (bass), and Bob Hall (drums) have been working hard to make their dreams a reality, and it seems these small-town boys are finally starting to gain the recognition they deserve. They may not be playing stadiums yet, but considering they signed with Island Records, won the BBC Introducing Award at the 2014 BBC Music Awards, and have been topping charts around the world, it’s safe to say these U.K. lads are making it big!
Best New Bands chatted with Van McCann shortly before Catfish and the Bottlemen’s wonderful performance on the Late Show. Van talked about writing music, being a working class band, meeting his idol Ewan McGregor, and filled us in on some of his favorite bands. He also left us laughing wildly with a Snoop Dogg joke!
You just released your debut full-length The Balcony in the United States. Tell us a bit about the recording process!
Yeah, we worked with Jim Abbiss… We worked on it for about two weeks. It was done really quickly. We are very much a touring band.
Did you record at all on the road, then? Or was it all in the studio?
No, it was just two weeks in the studio. We just did it all pretty much in one take. All the vocals takes, all the drum takes, all one take. All the accidents and everything. We just wanted it to be really genuine, like you’re listening to a live show, but with better production, you know. We just did it really quick and got in and out because the songs had been written for years, and we wanted to get straight back out again on the road, playing festivals and going on tour. It was an amazing experience, though.
We have to talk about “Kathleen.” The single has been playing on airwaves all across the U.S.
Oh, that’s crazy!
I especially love “Hourglass.” What inspired this song?
I was away from my girlfriend. I was missing her like mad. I ended up finishing the song with her. She wrote a few lines. It’s basically like…umm…a Ewan McGregor song. I love Ewan McGregor. There’s this film called Big Fish, and in it, he’s goes off to the army, and his wife gets told he was killed. He comes back years later, and she finds out he’s not dead. There’s a line it in about the gravity of it, [being] a soldier’s wife, that sort of thing. So basically it’s written from a girl’s point of view, when somebody goes away.
Another favorite of mine is “Tyrants.” Who are these tyrants?
Who are the tyrants?
Yeah, who are they? Are they you guys?
Are they! (laughs) Well, that song I wrote it when I was fourteen. The only reason it got on the album was because it’s the last…umm…we ended with it every single time we [played] for eight years, you know we’ve been going since we were fourteen, so the only reason it got on the album was to say thank you [to fans]… but it’s just about me going to house parties with my best friend. Whenever things would get me down at home, I’d just run away with him, say I’d be going out, and I’d just be with him on weekends and go to mad parties. It’s just a song about being kids and drinking, going to house parties, walking home drunk, and that kind of thing.
Did you guys used to play house parties, when you were first starting out?
Yeah, we used to. I remember when there was a holiday, when I was supposed to look after the house, me and my friends would… [we’d] invite the whole class back in school to the house parties and play in the living room. (laughs) It was fun.
You guys come from a working class background. How has growing up with little means influenced the band and your music?
They way we grew up, it did everything for us really ‘cause we were from the middle of nowhere. No one was ever gonna come find us where we were living, so all the time it was like, we’re gonna have to break down doors, no one’s ever gonna come knocking. The trouble was it was a blessing, as well as a curse, to live as far away as we did, because it taught us if we’re gonna be on the road, we have to get used to being away from home. We’ve got to get used to these long drives and that sort of thing. We literally slept in a van for five years. That’s where we used to sleep, right down the street from the pub. After every gig, we’d get back in. We could only afford to get to the next gig, so we’d sleep there… Somebody in London once told me when we first started out that you can’t be a working class band in music anymore. That really annoyed me. I was like, “You know what, I bet you we can!” He was basically saying, “Stop now, you can’t do it.” Now that we’re getting somewhere, it’s really exciting, and I’m really proud.
You’re named after Van Morrison, who I read you’re a big fan of and listened to a lot growing up. What other artists did you listen to growing up? And what artists have you been listening to lately?
Do you know this band The Streets? It’s like grime. It’s like rap but British. [Mike Skinner] just tells it like it is! He was one of my all-time heroes. Like everyday I listened to ‘em when I was a kid! And the Strokes. I always wanted to be like The Strokes but if they were a stadium band. The Strokes were a big one when I was a kid. Just their attitude and where they came from and everything. I’m mainly listening to The National at the minute, their new album. There’s also someone I like at the moment called Benji Hughes.
Back to Van Morrison, for a moment. Do you have a favorite song or album of his? And have you gotten to meet him?
My favorite song is probably Wavelength. I love that song. It’s actually on the album called Wavelength, which is a good album. I haven’t gotten to meet him. I don’t think I really want to. I just love his music and the passion he has for it, but he is said to be a total nugget. And I don’t really have anything to say to him. (laughs)
You did recently get to meet your hero Ewan McGregor though. I saw it on facebook. What was that like?
Oh my god! My hero! I love him! I just love Ewan McGregor. He is the most interesting and interested person I’ve ever met. All he wanted to talk about was us and our band, and all I wanted to talk about was him. I was like it’s fucking Ewan McGregor! Ewan McGregor is telling me a story! (laughs) And his daughter is beautiful! She’s got his mannerisms, and she’s very polite and very sweet. He’s more than just a good actor. He’s just a really good guy.
After you were born, your parents traveled around Australia with you, and that’s where you first experienced music, when you saw a man playing wine and beer bottles hanging from a fishing line, who goes by the name of Catfish the Bottleman.
It sounds like I totally made that up. (laughs) But you can look it up on YouTube, straight up!
Have you seen him since, considering you named the band after him?
We’ve not been to Australia since, but we’re going to Australia in about three weeks. So we’re gonna go over and try to find him.
Excellent! You’ll have to post a picture on twitter or something. Anything you’d like to leave us with?
What does Snoop Dogg wash his cars with?
What?
With hoes!
Ba-dum-tssshhh! You can catch Catfish And The Bottlemen during their Australian and North American tours. The Balcony is available for purchase on iTunes.
Sarah Hess
After attending The School of the Art Institute in Chicago, Sarah went on to study education at Dominican University, earning a degree in history. When not teaching, writing, or taking in a show, she is most likely to be found with a camera to her eye or hanging out in a darkroom.
You can follow Sarah Hess on twitter at @Sarahhasanh and view her music photography on her website: smhimaging.com.
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