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Setlist
Tour Dates
02/26/15 Columbus, OH Basement
02/28/15 Detroit, MI Shelter 03/01/15 Lansing, MI Mac’s Bar 03/03/15 Toronto, ON The Garrison 03/04/15 Montreal, QC Divan Orange 03/05/15 Boston, MA Great Scott 03/06/15 Philadelphia, PA MilkBoy 03/07/15 Buffalo, NY Studio at Waiting Room 03/09/15 New York, NY Bowery Ballroom 03/11/15 Washington, DC DC9 03/12/15 Richmond, VA The Camel 03/14/15 Nashville, TN The High Watt 03/15/15 Atlanta, GA Vinyl Read More
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Their landmark album, Cracked Rear View is the 16th best-selling album, anchored by singles ‘Hold My Hand’ and ‘Only Wanna Be with You’… and … err, waitaminute… This isn’t them. This isn’t about Hootie and the Blowfish, or the past. This is about the future- this is about Catfish and the Bottlemen.
The North Wales foursome that showed up for a roaring 55 min. set at the 7th Street Entry in Minneapolis, represents the future of British indie rock, and the receptive audience that was there to witness, clearly felt the same way.
The evening began with a set by San Antonio, TX originating band Wild Party, who threw down an entertaining 40 min. of indie power pop. Their debut full-length, Phantom Pop (Old Friends Records), was slightly reworked from an earlier release and came out last October, though many of the songs, including initial single ‘When I Get Older’, date back four years prior.
The band (Lincoln Kreifels- vocals, Lucas Hughes-guitar, Ethan Kaufmann- bass and Cary LaScala- drums) plays a likeable sonic blend that sits well alongside tracks by Spoon, Phoenix, and Magic Man.
Current single ‘OutRight’ was well received with Kreifels moving from left to right across the small stage, engaging with the audience. Though not the wild party performance you may think of with confetti, balloons, and streamers, the Texas four-piece does deliver entertaining enough indie pop to keep them on your radar for future happenings.
After a brief intermission, lights dimmed and stayed dark for all of the set (which challenged anyone photographing), except for a few turned down red spotlights, as Catfish and the Bottlemen took to the stage.
The foursome (Ryan "Van" McCann; Johnny “Bondy” Bond; Benji Blakeway; “Sideshow” Bob Hall) have a somewhat post-adolescent cheeky humor to their demeanor (witness the laughing Ewan McGregor faces on their amps, Outkast intro music, a lifesize cut-out of the mutually satisfying album cover, and Gary Glitter adorning their setlist) but seem all business when playing their brand of catchy indie UK garage rock.
The lighting quick drums and throbbing bass intro of ‘Rango’ got things going, with its Johnny Marr-esque guitar immediately getting parts of the floor of the small venue jumping. Their debut full-length, The Balcony (on the Mumford and Sons-shepherded Communion Records label) just came out stateside in January, but many in the crowd, seemed to already know all of the lyrics.
“Thank you for selling this place out, it took us seven years to fill a place like this in England” singer McCann noted after ‘Sidewinder’. The band had played in town to a smaller handful last June with only their Kathleen and the Other Three ep out, but have since blown up, most notably taking the best new artist BBC Introducing trophy at December’s inaugural BBC Music Awards.
Shouts to buy McCann a drink were rebuffed as he replied wanting to preserve his voice after a rough couple shows. A seething ‘26’ followed, with McCann’s vocals at the forefront behind the chugging backbeat of Hall and Blakeway and we understood his reasoning for turning down a shot.
Biggest song to date, ‘Kathleen’ was played mid-set, with McCann giving appreciation to radio stations that have played the single, getting the band more noticed in America.
Beginning song of the album, ‘Homesick’ would follow with the group likely not feeling that way, as the 250 strong crowd shouted the chorus back at them in tandem, to the chagrin of a smiling McCann. A gentle ‘Hourglass’ was next, with the other three exiting the stage to leave only McCann and his acoustic guitar to serenade us.
“I’m lovin’ this!” McCann beamed as the band turned back up and on, for a driving ‘Cocoon’, which nonchalantly mixed in a verse from Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Dancing in the Dark’ at the end.
“We wish we had more, we’ve had a proper good time” and “…we’ve got no encore” teasing they have their 2nd album ready but not ready to play, and the four-piece finished the evening with the sprawling ‘Tyrants’, which cinematically takes its time building and has the largest scope of any of their songs.
Singer McCann has openly stated he was born via IVF treatments, i.e. through In vitro fertilization or as a “test tube baby” wherein the fertilization takes place outside of the body, making him the first singer (that I know of) to be of such origin. This is the future. And with Catfish and the Bottlemen, McCann and mates are sonically charting the future as well.
The North Wales foursome that showed up for a roaring 55 min. set at the 7th Street Entry in Minneapolis, represents the future of British indie rock, and the receptive audience that was there to witness, clearly felt the same way.
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Wild Party
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The band (Lincoln Kreifels- vocals, Lucas Hughes-guitar, Ethan Kaufmann- bass and Cary LaScala- drums) plays a likeable sonic blend that sits well alongside tracks by Spoon, Phoenix, and Magic Man.
Current single ‘OutRight’ was well received with Kreifels moving from left to right across the small stage, engaging with the audience. Though not the wild party performance you may think of with confetti, balloons, and streamers, the Texas four-piece does deliver entertaining enough indie pop to keep them on your radar for future happenings.
After a brief intermission, lights dimmed and stayed dark for all of the set (which challenged anyone photographing), except for a few turned down red spotlights, as Catfish and the Bottlemen took to the stage.
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cut-out stage setup
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The lighting quick drums and throbbing bass intro of ‘Rango’ got things going, with its Johnny Marr-esque guitar immediately getting parts of the floor of the small venue jumping. Their debut full-length, The Balcony (on the Mumford and Sons-shepherded Communion Records label) just came out stateside in January, but many in the crowd, seemed to already know all of the lyrics.
“Thank you for selling this place out, it took us seven years to fill a place like this in England” singer McCann noted after ‘Sidewinder’. The band had played in town to a smaller handful last June with only their Kathleen and the Other Three ep out, but have since blown up, most notably taking the best new artist BBC Introducing trophy at December’s inaugural BBC Music Awards.
Shouts to buy McCann a drink were rebuffed as he replied wanting to preserve his voice after a rough couple shows. A seething ‘26’ followed, with McCann’s vocals at the forefront behind the chugging backbeat of Hall and Blakeway and we understood his reasoning for turning down a shot.
Biggest song to date, ‘Kathleen’ was played mid-set, with McCann giving appreciation to radio stations that have played the single, getting the band more noticed in America.
Beginning song of the album, ‘Homesick’ would follow with the group likely not feeling that way, as the 250 strong crowd shouted the chorus back at them in tandem, to the chagrin of a smiling McCann. A gentle ‘Hourglass’ was next, with the other three exiting the stage to leave only McCann and his acoustic guitar to serenade us.
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Setlist
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“We wish we had more, we’ve had a proper good time” and “…we’ve got no encore” teasing they have their 2nd album ready but not ready to play, and the four-piece finished the evening with the sprawling ‘Tyrants’, which cinematically takes its time building and has the largest scope of any of their songs.
Singer McCann has openly stated he was born via IVF treatments, i.e. through In vitro fertilization or as a “test tube baby” wherein the fertilization takes place outside of the body, making him the first singer (that I know of) to be of such origin. This is the future. And with Catfish and the Bottlemen, McCann and mates are sonically charting the future as well.
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Catfish and the Bottlemen at 7th Street Entry, Minneapolis (21 Feb 2015) |
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