Underrated Alternative: Catfish

In 2007 two guys names Ryan 'Van' McCann and Billy Bibby began playing guitar together in McCann's parents house in North Wales. These two boys would soon find two more guys names Benjamin Blakeway (bassist) and Jon Barr (drummer) who was later replaced by Bob Hall in 2010. The boys began promtoing themselves by playing in gas station parking lots and small time gigs. They originally were just covering music from other big time alternative rock bands such as Kasabian and Cage the Elephant, almost to the point were they were copying them. “I think we started by ripping them off and, when we got good, tried not to any more" -McCann. Their big break was in 2013 when the Band signed to Communion Records which was run by Ben Lovett, the keyboardest for Mumford and Sons.

In no time the band was rocking the entire UK. With the release of their album "The Balcony" in 2014 they were boosted into the top 10 UK albums. The band was touring the world and I even got the chance to see them live in Milwaukee last year!

The band carries the style of the classic alternative rock but brings a certain uniqueness to their music. One of my most favorite things about the band is the lyrics. McCann brings life to the bands music by providing lyrics that represent past significant events that have happened to the individual band members. Some of the lingo is hard to interpret at first but after listening to the songs a few times through you are able to listen to and follow their stories farely easily.

Fun Fact: The band’s weird name can be attributed to a busker that frontman Van McCann saw on the streets of Sydney, Australia as a kid, when travelling with his parents. The street entertainer – real name Michael Bevan – plays beer bottles and goes by the name Catfish The Bottleman. He still plays to this day, so check him out if you’re down under.