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The members of Catfish and the Bottlemen are passionate about the old ways of rock music — touring nonstop, churning out anthems driven by loud guitar and drums and generally eschewing the easier path of bands that would prefer viral YouTube music videos to hitting the road. Fresh off their support of Mumford & Sons at Usana Amphitheatre in September, the Wales-formed quartet is back in Utah to play The Depot on Tuesday in support of the May album release "The Ride" — part of a short U.S. tour sandwiched between dates in the United Kingdom and trips to Australia and Japan. Frontman Van McCann and guitarist Johnny "Bondy" Bond spoke with The Tribune recently to discuss a frantic tour schedule and carrying the banner for another generation of indie-rock bands.
You opened up for Mumford & Sons here a few months ago. How was that show and how are you guys feeling entering another U.S. tour?
McCann • All those shows that we did with them were great. The crowds were monstrous, the venues we got to play were beyond the joke — they were massive. … We came straight off that and did our own shows in the U.S., a load of headline shows, came back and then we've just been on an arena tour in the U.K., which we've never been able to do before. … Everyone's on great form, everyone's just excited to have this much on, this many big shows. Over the last couple of months, we've played to a couple hundred thousand people. It's great, really, really good form out here.
Their audiences, generally, may be different from yours because of Mumford's folk sound. Did you find that touring with them exposed you to different crowds?
McCann • I think it's too early to tell because we did those shows and then we walked straight into our shows, which were already sold out or next to sold out.
Bond • A lot of the headlining shows and radio shows when we come back are in towns we supported Mumford's in. That'll be the true test of whether we got people's toes a-boppin'.
You're fresh off a show at Wembley; how was that?
Bond • It was surreal and yet comfortable all at the same time. It had a momentous feel to it, but I think it also felt that we took it in our stride and we were able to invite family and friends down to come and watch us play at a sold-out arena. It was a very special night.
McCann • It's like being in control of the dream. You know, when you feel like a dream is so real that you're controlling it. It was like that. We were all really relaxed onstage, there was just chaos in front of us, but chaos in an enormity that we'd not seen before. I think there was 12 and a half thousand people there. Just mad feelings really, because we were playing to a couple hundred a year or two ago. It was wild, really good.
Was that a "we've arrived" moment for you guys?
McCann • There's been moments onstage on this tour where I've definitely stopped and just took it in and thought about it, but you don't really get to talk about it until you come off. Then we're just like, we buzz off it right up until we walk onto the stage for the next show. … I've never really had time to stand back and say what's been the turning point. Wembley was in London, so that's the best thing we've ever done in London, but tonight's Coventry and that's the best thing we've ever done here. A couple of nights ago, it was Glasgow. They're all big moments for us, but in different places every night there's something new coming.
You're taking the old approach of playing as many live shows as you can to build a buzz rather than relying on Internet buzz. Where does that attitude and work ethic come from?
McCann • I think the love of it. We genuinely love music, we love playing live, we love listening to music, writing it — all aspects of the job, we love doing. When they tell us to make an album and somebody comes to us and says: "You can go with your next album," we're buzzing. It's never a chore. It's always, "another gig, let's go." "Another album, let's go." We can't take for granted that for these shows, people get up at 9 in the morning and sell them out in the first hour. It's like 10,000 or 12,000 people getting up that early in the morning, not to mention a couple of months later, trekking over to actually watch the show. The idea of us having songs that make people go the distance and come out of their houses and spend their money and nights out on seeing us play live, we don't take that for granted. I think it's just a bit of an obsession, we've become obsessed with playing live and hearing those people sing the songs back. Just for the sheer love of it, you don't get tired of doing something you love.
Does that passion influence how you approach writing albums to make sure they're a blast to play live?
McCann • Recording and being able to do all the other stuff is great, but playing live is why we even write songs. Everything we do while we're in a rehearsal room or studio putting a new song down, we're always talking about: "Can you imagine what the crowd is going to be doing in this bit? People on shoulders in this bit." We write it like we're writing a script to re-enact live.
That mentality and your sound is driven by loud guitar and driving drums that has sort of disappeared with rock music splintering into so many different directions. Do you feel like you have to carry that "rock 'n' roll" banner?
Bond • It's just us guys being us guys. There's a very traditional feel about this band and it's just doing as bands that we love have done. It doesn't feel like flying any flags or anything. It's just what Van said before, loving the live aspect of it so much that you just keep doing what you love.
Twitter: @BrennanJSmith —
Catfish and the Bottlemen
With The Worn Flints.
When • Tuesday, Dec. 6, 7 p.m.
Where • The Depot (at The Gateway), 400 W. South Temple, Salt Lake City
Tickets • $25-$29; Smith's Tix