At the Guild in Liverpool, Harry Sherriff finds Welsh band Catfish and the Bottlemen looking increasingly towards stadium success
When I started reviewing Catfish and the Bottlemen two years ago, I tried to imagine how big they would make it. The answer turned out to be massive, and the surreal thing for the band from Llandudno is it’s only the beginning. Word is spreading. They have definitely entered the mainstream, and although a UK tour has just finished they still have a busy summer ahead. 100,000 followers on Twitter will double soon I have no doubt. They were playing in pubs eighteen months ago. They’ve just got back from Tokyo and New York! The songs haven’t changed but there’s a different kind of energy to the band. Front man Van McCann can let the crowd finish the lyrics, and they look at home in the big venues. ‘Kathleen’, ‘Cocoon’ and ‘Homesick’ all sounded great , and you can tell it’s a set of songs that took seven years in the making. McCann claims they wrote a couple of albums in that time. but I will believe that when I hear it. What next for the band doing a perpetual UK tour? More in Europe, I imagine, the label are thinking. I doubt the hardest working band going want a rest. Catfish run the risk of crossing over too much. I hope the lads from North Wales stay humble and spend a bit more time in America. Why not? They deserve world domination, and their debut ‘The Balcony’ just went Gold over here. The Little Comets, their support for tonight, tweeted Catfish after the gig: “See you at Wembley 2016.” Depending how the second album goes, I wouldn’t put it passed them. Photos by Marie Hazelwood www.mariehazelwood.tumblr.com