Catfish and the Bottlemen - The Ride

The Guardian 60

(Island)

Much like fiction boils down to a few archetypal stories framed by genre strictures, rock albums have recurrent motifs. The Ride, Catfish and the Bottlemen’s second album, finds this foursome – surprise winners of a Brit for breakthrough act, against far more house-trained opposition – at a tipping point. Having sold 250,000-odd copies of their debut, 2014’s The Balcony, these north-westerners (plus token Geordie guitarist Johnny Bond) are on a quest – to become the new Oasis, this generation’s purveyors of everyman tales, written to be hollered back by the hordes.

Catfish have an authentic, anthemic edge over the landfill indie rock that blighted the 00s, and a natural star in singing guitarist Van McCann, a man who exudes self-belief without the douchebag-ness that often accompanies it. Interestingly, there’s also a Beatles to Catfish’s Stones: the 1975 are not dissimilar in age, “overnight sensations” a decade in the making, sharing the same dedication to the idea of being a rock band.

This is the well-worn tale of a band on the up, retold with slightly different detailing