AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Catfish and the Bottlemen

Artist:Catfish and the Bottlemen

Song:Longshot

Album:The Balance

Catfish and the Bottlemen have had success mostly as an album and touring band. They have had modest chart success in England and the Indie chart in the US. They play the festival circuit annually. They are from Llandudno, Conwy, Wales. This is a seaside resort town and lead singer and main songwriter Van McCann's parents run a bed & breakfast. McCann and guitarist Billy Bibby started working together at Bibby's home in 2007. McCann was a friend of Bibby's younger brother. They brought in Benji Blakeway to play bass and Jon Barr to play drums. Bibby taught them to play. At first they were called The Prestige but McCann changed it to Catfish and the Bottlemen after buskers he saw in Sydney, Australia as a child. They started playing local gigs. BBC DJ Steve Lamacq played their demo and the band were runners up in a 2009 North Wales Battle of the Bands. Bob Hall replaced Barr in 2010. They signed with the indie label Communion Music in 2013 and released three singles. This led to record deal with Island Records. They are on Capitol in the US. The album The Balcony was released in 2014. The video for Kathleen was played on MTV. Then Billy Bibby left and formed his own band Billy Bibby and the Wry Smiles. Bibby started writing songs and he wasn't going to get the opportunity to record them with Catfish and the Bottlemen. He was replaced by Johnny Bond of the band Symphonic Pictures. They didn't have any hit singles but The Balcony was certified Platinum in England on the strength of their live performances. McCann said in an interview that he had already written enough songs for the next two albums. Longshot was the first single from their 2019 album The Balance. This was their third album. Longshot reached #25 on the British Singles chart so it was their biggest hit to date. Then they couldn't tour during the pandemic. Hall and Bond left in 2021 with Bond Stating that he had to endure "intolerable behavior". They haven't been replaced but the band recently announced they will headline the 2024 Reading and Leeds festivals. Here's Catfish and the Bottlemen performing Longshot on Jimmy Kimmel Live 2019.