The Music Maven's Music Monday #33: Catfish and the Bottlmen

By: Tillie Elvrum aka The Music Maven

Warning:  The Nerdy Girlie Team has a new music obsession. Let us introduce you to Catfish and The Bottlemen.  I reviewed Catfish and The Bottlemen’s debut album The Balcony over at xsnoize.com -- I really liked what I heard. The Gamer Geek and I bought tickets for their show at Larimer Lounge in Denver as soon as it was announced; then we found out The Nerdy Girlie was coming out for a visit and were able to get her a ticket before the show sold out.

On Tuesday we made our way up to Denver – we pre-showed by stopping for VooDoo Donuts, getting our vinyl fix at Twist & Shout Records, and picking up a few new books at the Tattered Cover. It was a cold night so we were putting off lining up for the show as long as we could. We finally got in line for the show at Larimer Lounge about an hour before the doors opened – we were about 20^th in line. It was great to see diehard fans endure the elements in order to see a new band.

Once inside we made our way to the side of the stage. We we’re going to have a great spot to watch the show…or so we thought. Let me digress for a moment. I think there should be a lunatic section for shows. The Nerdy Girlie Team are basically professional fangirls and fanboys – we can hang with the best of ‘em, BUT even we know how to contain our emotions enough to not let our excitement interfere with the experience of people around us. We were standing near two girls who were so obsessed by the band that they were totally oblivious that their fangirling antics were weird, rude, and totally distracting to other fans and I dare say the band.  

We’ve all had moments where we get lost in a moment – cheer, dance, sing along – but don’t scream at every little moment (like when the guitarist is doing nothing more than tuning his guitar), don’t video the whole show with your flash on, and don’t thrash about making me wonder if you’re on the verge of an epileptic fit. You look stupid and you take the focus off the band that you’re supposed to be there to support.  Anyway, don’t be THAT person.

Now, back to Catfish and the Bottlemen. We knew we were going to love this band when we saw pictures of Ewan McGregor on the band’s amps – we’re all big fans of Ewan McGregor and it was a sign that we were in for a fun night. Catfish and the Bottlemen were greeted by a full house. The band started the show with their song Rango and powered through the rest of their set. If you judged the band just by their youth and relative inexperience you might expect a band of punks to take the stage, but they were all business. They were incredibly composed for their whole set and really displayed a maturity that isn’t seen in most young bands. I was incredibly impressed. 

Lead singer, Van McCann is a compelling front man – he has tons of charisma and he had several funny and endearing interactions with the crowd throughout the night.  McCann found out pretty quickly that Denver’s high altitude is nothing to laugh at – about midway through their set he needed to hit his asthma inhaler – two quick puffs and he was right back to work. McCann also talked about how well they’ve been received in the States on their headlining tour – you could tell that the band was genuinely grateful for their positive reception.  

The band played the entirety of their debut album including their hit single Kathleen and my personal favorite Cocoon. The Nerdy Girlie had a “band love” moment when McCann took the stage alone and played a stripped down version of Hourglass.

I see a lot of bands during the year and Catfish and the Bottlemen are one of those bands that I’d gladly follow to the next venue if I could – they’re that good live. Check out their album The Balcony and go see them live soon – they won’t be playing small clubs for long!