Watch Catfish And The Bottlemen Meet Catfish The Bottleman

Welsh indie rock outfit Catfish and The Bottlemen have one of the most striking band names in indie rock and turns out it wasn’t really theirs to begin with. According to the Welsh rockers, their namesake is in fact a Sydney bottle-playing busker from frontman Van McCann’s youth, and yesterday they reunited.

“My first real memory of music was being sat outside a cafe and I just sat there content watching this guy play a washing line or a clothes line with bottles hanging from it, with different amounts [of wine in it] depending on how drunk he was,’ Van told triple j yesterday.

“It was amazing and he was called Catfish The Bottleman, so when it came to naming the band I thought that’s unusual, and I was like, ‘Please don’t sue me, please don’t sue me.'” Turns out the Sydney musician isn’t the lawsuit threatening type and even stopped by triple j studio to reunite with the band he inspired and teach them a thing or two about the art of bottle-playing.

Catfish And The Bottlemen were in the triple j studio for the station’s Like A Version segment and delivered a cover of The Killers’ Read My Mind that didn’t exactly go to plan.

The rest of the band stood this one out, while lead vocalist/guitarist Van McCann took it upon himself to perform an acoustic cover of The Killers’ 2006 hit. Despite stumbling through a wrong verse and stopping for a few seconds, McCann managed to pick things back up again and even threw in a sample of R. Kelly’s Ignition right at the end.

Prior to McCann’s acoustic cover, the Welsh rockers also performed a live version of their profanity peppered single Cocoon, taken from their 2014 debut studio album The Balcony, produced by Jim Abiss (Arctic Monkeys, Kasabian). True to their style, they even slipped some Bruce Springsteen in the mix.

Catfish And The Bottlemen complete their Australian tour with one more show tonight supporting The Kooks in Melbourne and one last solo headlining show at Melbourne’s Hi Fi on Sunday, 25th January. See those remaining dates and the band’s triple j performances below.

Watch: Catfish meets The Bottleman

Watch: Catfish and the Bottlemen cover The Killers for Like A Version

Watch: Catfish and the Bottlemen – Cocoon (live on triple j)

The Kooks Australian Tour 2015

Presented by Music Feeds

With special guests Catfish & The Bottlemen and The Griswolds

Saturday, 24rd January 2015 – ALL AGES

Sidney Myer Music Bowl, Melbourne

Tickets: via Ticket Master | 136 100

Catfish and The Bottlemen Australian Headline Dates

Sunday, 25th January 2015

The Hi-Fi, Melbourne

Supported by Apes

Tickets: Oztix

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