Despite Catfish and the Bottlemen forming in Llandudno in 2007, it was in February 2016 when the BRITs, in their infinite wisdom, deemed them worthy of winning the award for British Breakthrough Act.
Their 2014 debut album The Balcony put them on the map, going gold in the UK and earning them a legion of adoring fans. They now return with the followup, The Ride, which at the time of writing, is riding high at number one on the iTunes charts after being released on Friday.
We caught up with lead singer and guitarist Van McCann to discover his Ultimate Playlist, and the stories behind the choices. Stand by for some absolutely belting tunes...
Favourite sad song
"Jealous Guy by John Lennon. I love this song but it never feels like a sad song to me 'cause of the way he just reels off verses full of lyrics and then just wraps it all up with "I'm just a jealous guy" It's almost like he's proud to admit it whilst he's singing it, 'cause it's made for a belter of a love song."
Favourite movie soundtrack song
"The Austin Powers intro music. Soul Bossa Nova is it? It doesn't matter which Austin Powers film you choose cause every time that intro credits hits... you know the International Man of Mystery is about to come legging it onto your screen and you're about to laugh for days! There's no touching this song when it comes to movie soundtracks IMO... That Pirates of the Caribbean one comes very very VERY close though."
Favourite song from your childhood
"There's a Van Morrison live at Montreux in 1980 DVD that me and my Dad used to sit and watch every New Year's Eve or something without fail... still do it now if we're in the same place as each other. On that he opens the set with this monster introduction to Wavelength... he builds up this wall of noise and just drops the entire band to pin drop silence whilst he sings the opening line by just letting his hand fall to his waist... it's epic mate you've gotta watch that."
Favourite song that no one else has heard of
"Benji Hughes - I Went With Some Friends To See The Flaming Lips. This man’s been one of my favourite songwriters for the last couple of years. He released a double album called Love Extreme with this mad sporadic set of songs but with really direct lyrics. I love him me! This song is just a play by play of what seems like him and a gang of mates going to see The Flaming Lips for the night. Halfway through you hear this crowd cheer and this little organ riff and it makes you feel like you step into the gig or something... the man’s cool as."
Favourite club anthem
"I don't know if this is classed as a club anthem but The World Wrestling Federation Champion of the World The Rock released a song with Wyclef Jean at one point called It Doesn't Matter. So if you'll let me have that... I'd like to stand by that as my favourite club anthem of all time."
Favourite wedding song
"I've only been one wedding and I don't really remember much of the music that night but if I did... I'd have to go with my answer from above again... The Rock feat Wyclef Jean... It Doesn't Matter..... Right after the priest says, "Do you take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife".... DJ drops the song and The Rock brings the house down!"
Favourite one-hit wonder
"I genuinely love You're Gorgeous by Babybird. I don't know much about that band Babybird but I honestly love that tune! There's a song all my Irish family used to sing after a few paddy milkshakes called 7 Drunken Nights. Just seven stories from a drunk husband to a wife where he envisions things around the house and thinks whilst he's been out she's been with another man. Haha - class lyrics mate."
Favourite lyric from a song
"The thing I love most about songs or music are lyrics.... so I can't really pick a favourite really. But one of my favourites of all time is from Lyla by Oasis. I've always loved songs where men look up to the woman as a god almost. It's how my mum and dad were... He was the man and could get anything done that needed done but at the end of the day whatever she says goes. The line that says "She's the queen of everything!" As in EVERYTHING! NOTHING TOUCHES THIS WOMAN! The idea of that just cracks me up. If you meet someone who's quality I reckon it feels like that sometimes. Like fuck what else is going on... Sat here with her having a smoke with the tunes on is untouchable."
Favourite current song
"We've been away recording for the last couple of months so the stuff I've found I've just got into isn't necessarily new... our guitarist Bondy got me in to Father John Misty as soon as we finished recording cause he started playing him a lot backstage and it reminded me of Benji Hughes the guy I mentioned before. I've had his song Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings on non-stop since he got me into him. I've heard versions of him do this acoustic too... his voice is silk smooth and his lyrics are razor sharp."
Favourite song from your own music
"My favourite song from us always changes because it only takes the vibe to be right at one gig with that one song for everything to change again. The crowd can make a song that's not stood up for the last month just jump out at you all of a sudden at a show and become your favourite again. At the minute it's this new one we've just put out: 7. It's the first song I wrote for the second album and the opening song of it too. I really love singing this one... there's songs I love playing but I really like just singing the words to this live... from the minute I wrote it... right through to learning it with the lads... right through to playing it live. I look forward to getting to that song in the set every night."
