Catfish and the Bottlemen Make it Big

An indie rock band from North Wales, Catfish and the Bottlemen, has started to make it big time. Currently on their debut album The Balcony, the band has already played at more than 30 festivals throughout Europe and in New York City. Their debut album was released just last September 2014, and they are on their American tour right now. The Balcony was released in the US in April 2014, right after the band played on David Letterman.

The band won the BBC Introducing Award at the BBC Music Awards in December 2014 and performed their hit single, “Kathleen” (what a great name 😉 ). Their single “Kathleen” was ranked at number one on MTV’s hottest tracks in April 2014.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrrcVxnjJO8

The lead singer of the band, Van McCann, was born in Australia and moved to Wales as a child – which explains that nice accent that seems to come out in the band’s lyrics. He formed the band in 2010 with some friends and began by playing Beatles covers in parking lots before other bands would perform. If that isn’t rock ‘n’ roll, I don’t know what is!

The current members are Van McCann, Johnny ‘Bondy’ Bond, Benji Blakeway, and Bob Hall. Catfish and the Bottlemen was recently featured in Rollingstone as one of the ten artists that we need to know for 2015. In the article McCann is quoted described their hit song, “Kathleen is the reason you start drinking,” says McCann. “She’s the one you call at three in the morning despite knowing she’s the reason you went out drinking in the first place. You go around knowing you shouldn’t, and before you know it, she’s got your clothes off. She’s that kind of person that everyone’s been infatuated with — even when they know it’s not the right path.”

The band is currently on tour in the US and are playing at Lincoln Hall here in Chicago this Tuesday, February 24th. Unfortunately, tickets are sold out for that show (because the band is just that good). However, you can see if they are coming somewhere else nearby right here:

http://catfishandthebottlemen.com/us-tour-2/

The band also has their music available on Vinyl, CD, and Spotify as well as iTunes.