Catfish And The Bottlemen tell NME their new album will be ‘miles better’ than their debut

Singer Van McCann vows band won’t preview new songs at summer festivals, however

Catfish and the Bottlemen have stated their next album will be “miles better” than their gold-selling debut ‘The Balcony’.

In this week’s NME cover feature, available digitally and on newsstands now, singer Van McCann vowed that the second album will cause “a little bomb” to go off in the music industry.

McCann said: “I think a little bomb will go off in the music industry and people will go ‘Who’s making all that racket?’ It’s miles better than the last album. The band’s 10 times better, the crew’s 10 times better and we’re all 10 times better looking.”

Advertisement

Speaking of his aims for the album, McCann commented: “I wanted to make a life-affirming record for normal heads – people who get up and just want to have a good day. They’ll put it on and think ‘Fuck, this feels mint.’ It’s proper arms-out music. I want to make you feel the way The Strokes did, but with the enormity of Oasis and the lyrics of The Streets.”

Vowing that the album won’t feature any guitar solos, McCann said: “I hate face-melting guitar solos. Why would I want to melt anyone’s face? I got into music to make lads bounce, girls blush and my dad feel proud. I didn’t get into it to melt someone’s fucking head off.”

Despite McCann’s claims for the album, he explained that Catfish And The Bottlemen won’t preview any new songs at their festival shows this summer so that they can concentrate on playing established material. He said: “New tracks are worse than playing album tracks. Nobody will know them.”

Click here to read the full interview with McCann from this week’s NME, available digitally and on newsstands now

McCann criticised bands such as Kings Of Leon and Radiohead who complain about feeling under pressure to play their biggest hits at festivals. He said: “I like playing the singles. I don’t understand why Radiohead don’t want to play ‘Creep’. I remember Caleb from Kings Of Leon kicking up a fuss about ‘Sex On Fire’. He was throwing his guitar down onstage and saying ‘You’re only here for one song.’ So? You wrote it. Don’t put it on the fucking album, then. Don’t buy nice jackets with the money it’s made you. You love some aspects of it.”

The interview also discusses the band’s plans to headline Glastonbury, McCann’s refusal to indulgence in celebrity lifestyle and life in his “shitty cottage” in Chester.

Advertisement

Earlier today (May 14), Catfish And The Bottlemen unveiled the video for their new single ‘Hourglass’, which stars Ewan McGregor after the band cut up clips of McGregor’s films and set compiled them into a video for their song ‘Kathleen’. The sleeve for the single, out on June 22, was taken by McGregor’s daughter Clara.

You May Also Like

Advertisement

TRENDING

Advertisement

More Stories