Catfish And The Bottlemen On FIFA Curses, Setting People On Fire And Relentless Touring: Interview
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Van McCann is a walking oxymoron.
Van McCann at their sold-out LA show. (Neon Tommy/Joyce Lee)
He is English, but he’s unfailingly optimistic. In most interviews (including this one), Van unapologetically admits his desire to become the biggest band in the world and sell out stadium shows. He is a bonafide rock star with talent to boot, but he’s got the biggest heart. After a show, he can be seen chatting away with fans and giving everyone hugs as if he had known them forever. He's even offered to buy pints for all his fans after a show. He looks like a small guy, but he’s got a monstrous voice. Even playing shows day in and day out can’t stop the Welsh born singer from growling through their hits throughout their set and thrashing his guitar about on stage.
READ MORE: 'The Balcony' By Catfish And The Bottlemen: Album Review
At just 22 years old, he and his band, Catfish And The Bottlemen, made up of bassist Benji Blakeway, guitarist Johnny Bond and drummer Bob Hall, already have a few feats under their belts. They just ended their second stint in America at SXSW this week after a long, sold out tour around the country. This is the band’s first time playing in the states since they released their debut album, “The Balcony,” in the states after an overwhelming reception in their native UK. Before that, they played tons of sold out shows in Europe and the UK, had two singles feature in this year's FIFA game and scooped up the BBC Introducing Award at the first ever BBC Awards.
This summer, after they finish their imminent, sold out UK tour, the band are due to run the festival circuit all over the world. Stateside, they'll be at Bonnaroo Music Festival alongside Mumford And Sons and play a string of East Coast shows.
Recently, I had the chance to chat with Van before they played a sweaty, fun and energetic show at the Troubadour where Van revealed the reasons for his positivity, his passion for his art and his FIFA “curse.”
READ MORE: Catfish And The Bottlemen: Show Review
INTERVIEW:
NT: How are you guys? How are you liking LA, have you have In-n-out burgers yet?
Van: It’s been great, it’s the best! And yeah, I’ve had In-N-Out, it’s great! They can’t beat me mum’s burgers though, they’re the best.
NT: How did the band come together, what’s the story here?
Van: I met our bass player Benji when we were in school together. Our drummer (Bob Hall) lives next door to me, but I didn’t know him till we grew up, so he joined the band. And Bondi our guitar player was in a band that I loved growing up, so I snatched him up and put him in the band!
NT: So Van, I started listening to you guys last April, when Kathleen was Zane Lowe’s “Hottest Record," but I really got into y’all after the album was released in the UK because of your overwhelming gratitude for everyone’s support and your positivity. English bands I usually interview are usually very self deprecating, how do you stay so positive and ambitious all the time? What motivates you?
Van: Well…I think the people you’re talking about aren’t in it for the music, you know what I mean? Well, I don’t know actually, it’s wrong of me to say that cause people have their lives and their own problems and that but I just don’t worry, man. I have wanted to be in a band my entire life and I want to take over the world, and I’m trying to do that now. I think it’ll be a couple of years before I can take in what’s going on around us, you know what I mean? It’s crazy…it’s great. Today I woke up in L.A. and the suns out and I’m a million miles away from home. Where I come from, if we ever talked about this, and doing stuff like this back at home, people would just laugh at us, you know what I mean? It’s an absolute dream come true. It’s easy for us, we come from nothing, and we just have to push on for people who pay to see us and buy our album and all that, it’s easy. They pay good money to see us, so they expect something big from our band. We can’t come out and be miserable.
NT: Got it, and I’ve also seen from your Facebook posts that you want to buy your mom a jacuzzi?
Johnny Bond and Van McCann in sync on stage. (Neon Tommy/Joyce Lee)
Van: I haven’t got her one yet! I’m not rich enough, I can’t afford it [laughs]. She’s worked her whole life and my mom and dad spent a lot of money trying to get me. [Ed. note: Van is a 'test tube baby,' and his parents moved to Australia to have a child through IVF and fortunately had success on their third and final attempt.] She’d work two jobs at the same time. But no I haven’t got any money, if I did I’d give it up to me best mate, buy him t-shirts and that. Money is nothing to us, so the jacuzzi thing is part joke part serious, but I mean I would buy her a jacuzzi if I can.
NT: Have you splurged on anything since you’ve been in a band?
Van: No, well, yeah, well…anything over $20 is big to me! I’ve lived off of five pounds, which is you know, like a pack of cigarettes and a burger. I’ve lived like that for five years, six years, anything over that is a bonus to us. A splurge to us is something like 30 quid on a pair of shoes you know what I mean? I mean I can buy 20 cigarettes instead of ten now you know what I mean? We’re happy, we can afford fags more.
NT: You guys seem like a bunch of pranksters, and you guys have been touring a lot, are there funny tour stories you can share?
Van: Funny tour stories…we set Larry [Van’s best friend and CATB’s guitar tech] but I can’t tell ya why. On stage…in sound check…in San Diego, but I can’t tell ya why. He’s a maniac, he’s a jackass, he’s a walking jackass!
NT: Van, I also read that you’ve written 300 songs? Care to elaborate?
Van: Yeah, I’ve got a couple hundred songs written. I’ve wanted to be the biggest band in the world and fill stadiums. We want to play 20, 30 songs that are all good. If I’ve got hundreds, and the first ten are bad, then I’ve got another ten, and another ten, and another. I sent in a hundred of them for the record, and 15 of them got picked but none of them were scrapped. Everything that I write our label seems to like and everything we’ve put out our fans seem to like, they’re digging it. And uh, am I writing for other people? Nah, no, I’m not good enough [laughs].
NT: If there was a movie that’ll be made about the band, who would play each one of you?
Thrashing on stage. (Neon Tommy/Joyce Lee)
Van: The Rock, Dwayne Johnson. That’s it, the Rock.
NT: And regarding your flawless but surprising Kanye West “Live Lounge” cover... do you dabble in rap, cause you pulled it off really well!
Van: Why thank you very much! Well they want us to pick from a playlist and they didn’t have anything from rock and roll groups besides the Arctic Monkeys. It's hard to do the songs cause nothing [on the playlist] really sounds like us. So I just chose Kanye’s song cause I like that record. I can’t be a rapper though, I’m a skinny white rag you know what I mean [laughs]. We picked The Black Keys to go with it. I mean we were rehearsing at one in the morning and had nothing. We hate doing covers, we spent our whole lives doing covers. That’s what we used to do, from Monday to Friday, that was our job. And that’s why I wrote so many songs, so I’d never have to do a cover again! It stinks. It gets played around the world and they [the artists the band covers] gets all the money from it and I’m like “Aw man!”...
NT: Describe Catfish And The Bottlemen one word.
Van: Uhm…one word. Happy That’s one word, happy. Our sound, we don’t sound happy, we’re explosive, but in terms of the band, we’re happy.
[Larry joins the interview briefly]
NT: Do you have anything to add Larry?
Van: [mockingly] Yeah he says that I’m the best player he’s ever come up against on FIFA.
NT: Who wins between the two of you? That’s the real question.
Van: Come on! Come on…who wins?! Are you kidding me! Me! I’m the king of it. I’m cursed, I wish I didn’t always win, I don’t like seeing my friends upset [when they lose], but I’m cursed! I was born with this curse…it’s made me unstoppable in the game.
NT: [Sarcastically] Well that is just tragic, I’m so sorry for you!
Van: Yeah! I hate seeing them unhappy and miserable after I beat them you know what I mean? But it happens…
NT: I’ve always heard that you guys used to play shows outside of gigs where bands like Kasabian play? Is that true?
Van: Yeah, you know,we used to live out of our van, we toured for like seven years, but we didn’t have any money or anything like that so we’d go outside of their gigs at like Leeds Arena. When people left their gig we’d just play outside in the car park. We’re from the middle of no where and no one was going to find us, so we were like we’ve got to get out there, we’ve got to make sure people know who we are. We can’t just sit around, we’ve got to make stuff happen.
NT: For someone who’s never heard of the band or your music, what would you say to them?
Van: I want to tell them to have a good life. I hope life is good for them. I wish them all the best.
NT: That’s really sweet actually, people normally use that question to do some self-promotion.
Van: Well I want them to buy a t-shirt as well [laughs] but aside from that, I just want everyone to have a good life.
