Catfish and the Bottlemen and Their Rise to Fame

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The Rise to Fame

7 min readDec 21, 2020

The United Kingdom is known for its history of revolutionary thinkers, artists, musicians, and tendency to shake traditional values and tastes. From the Beatles, Arctic Monkeys, and Oasis, to Iron Maiden and Led Zeppelin, many well known and classic musicians have come from all over the UK and continue to surface among the competitive atmosphere of the music industry. Catfish and Bottlemen is one of the many bands to come from the powerful nation, and although they are not as popular as many of their former successors, such as the ones listed above, they are by far one of the best British bands of the modern era and will continue to progress and will hopefully, one day, be a household name.

Band History:

Tidbit
The Formation
Big Break
Album History

Bandmates:

Van McCann
Bob Hall
Benji Blakeway
Johnny Bond
Larry

Band History

Tidbit

For the first few years of Van McCann’s life (the lead singer and guitarist) he toured Australia with his parents. This was a prolonged celebration after Van was born, the last attempt that his parents gave at trying to have a child. One day, the young Van was sitting outside a café with his parents when he turned to see a man hitting glass bottles strung by wire to make music. This was the moment that he became conscious, as he had become transfixed by the holders of alcohol.

Okay, that’s not true, Van isn’t your typical rockin roll, drug junkie bandmate, but it was his first memory of music. Later, in 2015, he actually got to meet Catfish, the man who had played the bottles. This is where the name Catfish and the Bottlemen was derived from.

The Formation (2007–2013)

The band that is Catfish and the Bottlemen, Oasis with better manners, formed in May of 2007 in Llandudno, Wales, as The Prestige. The indie rock band was formed between Ryan Evan McCann (Van McCann) and William Bibby (Billy Bibby). At the time, both of the kids’ parents owned bed and breakfasts, so they had a free rehearsal space, where they both played guitar. Benji Blakeway (bass) and Jon Barr (drums) later joined, enabling the band to preform with a full set of bandmates. In 2010, Robert Hall (Bob) replaced Jon Barr which completed the iconic lineup that is most well known today. Initially, CatB began their journey as a Beatles cover band.

Big Break (2014)

Even though Van McCann stated in an interview with Bearded Magazine that back in 2013, around the time of what most would consider the year of Catfish’s “Big Break,” he felt like the band’s sound hadn’t evolved and that they were still waiting for their break. In my personal opinion, their sound is still fairly similar to when they began, but their fame has increased exponentially since 2014, the mark of when they started to become popular. Around this time, Jonathan Bond (Bondy) replaced Bibby. Their single Kathleen even peaked at #1 on MTV’s hottest tracks in April of that year. In the year of 2020, their top three songs all have over 80,000,000 listens on Spotify.

Album History

The Balcony
—2014—

Complete with eleven songs, The Balcony is Catfish’s first album that adds to a sum of 37 minutes. It is their most successful album according to Wikipedia’s discography section.

The Ride
— 2016 —

Released on May 26, 2016, The Ride marks Catfish’s second album. The album also has eleven songs featuring “7,” one of the band’s most popular songs.

The Balance
— 2019 —

Surprise, surprise, The Balance has eleven songs as well! Most Catfish fans will say that this is the band’s worst album, but it includes the band’s most successful song, Longshot.

Bandmates

1. Van McCann

2. Bob Hall

3. Benji Blakeway

4. Johnny Bond

Van McCann- Lead Vocals, Rhythm Guitar, and Keyboard

He was born on August 1, 1992 in Cheshire, England.
His birthname is Ryan Evan McCann.
Because of a shortage of space in his parent’s small bed and breakfast, he had to sleep in a linen closet.
When Van was born, the number one song on Billboard 100 was Baby Got Back.
He’s named after Van Morrison, his dad’s favorite musician.
He is a test-tube baby. See “Fallout’s” lyrics.
He feels like he’s “‘well too ugly for cover shoots’” and that he got into the music business because he wanted to “‘make lads bounce, girls blush and ][his] dad feel proud.’”

“Overall, the guy’s humble, funny, and a damn good singer.” ~Julia Rose H.

Bob Hall- Drums and Percussion

He was born on May 24, 1993.
His ethnicity is African-Latin.
He joined Catfish in 2010.
He was a member of Kusogea Nobi Drum Ensemble.

“Hall’s a quiet, reserved, talented, ambitious sounding guy. He’s so quiet that I really have no evidence of my claims, but I’d say it’s a pretty good assumption.” ~Julia Rose H.

Benji Blakeway- Bass Guitar and Backing Vocals

He’s an only child.
He was born on July 25, 1990.
Without even owning a bass guitar, Van McCann and Blakeway, soccer buddies, started a band together. They felt like it.

“I’m pretty sure Blakeway has some hacker friends and has erased all evidence of himself from the internet except for possibly the three articles that I found. Other than that, he seems dependable and is definitely a resilient person to have been a founder of the band, watching as it didn’t grow, faced setbacks, and the era of their journey where they seemed to be hurtling towards a black hole.” ~Julia Rose H.

Johnny Bond- Lead Guitar and Backing Vocals

He was born on August 22, 1989 in Newcastle upon Tyne, England.
He joined Catfish and the Bottlemen in 2014.
My personal favorite line: When Alicia Atout asked about the band’s heartbreak songs in an interview and the process of writing them, Van told her that the songs didn’t come from a dark place, and that he really didn’t notice that side until someone mentioned it. On a plane, Johnny had asked, “Who hurt you, Van? Show me them!”

“Witty, a bit reclusive, and he seems to be the one in the band who has common sense.” ~Julia Rose H.

Larry- Best Friend of Van and Guitar Tech

Larry is the best friend of Van and guitar tech of CatB.
We (Catfish fans) love Larry. He’s an awesome guy and avid Catfish and the Bottlemen supporter, so we support him.

For anyone looking to listen to Catfish and the Bottlemen, but doesn’t know where to start, click here to listen to them on YouTube, here to follow them on Instagram, and here to find their official site. Look down below to see my personal picks of CatB media including their top ten best songs, top five best interviews, and their albums from best to slightly less good.