Successful bands that function like a fractured marriage, with counselling and studio visitation schedules, or that operate like a business, bereft of allegiance except for the revenue split, mystify Ryan "Van" McCann.
The 26-year-old frontman for Welsh rock band Catfish and the Bottlemen is an unabashed advocate of the pleasure derived from music's unifying passion.
"This is the most fun thing there is for us," McCann says. "When we started this band we just toured up and down the country and realised that life together was just a brilliant crack."
Catfish and the Bottlemen, from left, Benji Blakeway (bass), Johnny Bond (guitar), Van McCann (vocals, guitar) and Bob Hall (drums).Credit:Jill Furmanovsky
"It's all that we know and we enjoy it," adds his friend and bandmate, guitarist Johnny Bond. "When we're not doing something as a band I feel stagnant, like we're not moving forward, and you just want to get away from that."
It's a rainy afternoon in Portland, towards the end of Catfish and the Bottlemen's latest American tour, when we talk on the phone. Bond was scheduled to do the interview, promoting the group's recently released third album, The Balance, by himself, but McCann has joined him.
Put one member of the quartet – completed by bassist Benji Blakeway and drummer Robert "Bob" Hall – in a space and the others will seek him out: hotel rooms, recording studios, backstage dressing rooms and even gig venues are just spaces for the four-piece to happily fill.
"It’s second nature to us to be in the same room, whether we're having a laugh or working on something," Bond says. "The songs do that to you when you play them every night, too. They don't stay the same. We don't get tired of playing them because they're full of life."
Formed out of high school in the seaside town of Llandudno in 2007, Catfish and the Bottlemen have graduated without great duress from teenage hopefuls to chart-topping headliners. Their second album, 2016's The Ride, reached No.1 on the British charts and six in Australia, while the touring afterwards culminated in two months opening for Green Day in stadiums across America.
There's barely a skerrick of star-driven ego to the band, but their rise can be measured in their music. Tracks from The Balance such as Fluctuate use urgent verses as a launching pad for choruses, delivered with convincing passion by McCann, that could reach the distant back row of any stadium. But unlike other British bands who've made this leap, such as Kasabian, Catfish and the Bottlemen don't see the need to radically evolve.
"We've always been happy with two guitars, bass, and drums," McCann says. "There's a lot of energy from the off in that for us. It's always done it for us. Each single on this album is different in terms of groove and style and pace, but they're still us and we're proud of that."
Across a handful of two-week sessions, The Balance was overseen by veteran Irish producer Jacknife Lee (U2, The Killers), who gives the songs breadth but also room to breathe. He would record a song with the four musicians, but then insist they listen to something else before coming back to it, or just put it aside for a day or two. He wanted to remove any attachments they had to a song, so if necessary it could be gutted or simply abandoned.
The band responded to his passion. McCann was reminded of his father, whom he salutes in a line from the new track Basically, where the frontman recalls a song idea that's "reminiscent of an old song my father used to play when he was on one" (a session, that is).
"My dad will always take over the music when we're having a party and start saying, 'I've got to play you this one!' or 'Have you heard this one?' Glenn Campbell is one of his favourites, and Van Morrison," McCann says.
"I heard them when I was a kid and then I hear them now and I remember them so well, and the same goes with my old man. We still go back and forth on music, and it's the same with the lads. We talk about music all the time."
Catfish and the Bottlemen play Splendour in the Grass, Byron Bay, on Saturday, July 20; Horden Pavilion, Sydney, on Monday, July 22; Civic Theatre, Newcastle, on Tuesday, July 23; and Margaret Court Arena, Melbourne, on Thursday, July 25.
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