“Back to the graft again”: Catfish and the Bottlemen - A Successful Comeback?

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By Lilly Palmer I august 2025

Catfish and the Bottlemen are an alternative indie rock band from Llandudno, Wales, formed around 2007. Since then, the band have released their debut album, “The Balcony” in 2014, featuring fan favourites like “Cocoon” and "Kathleen". Since releasing two other studio albums into their discography, they have proved to be popular on the UK’s indie music scene. However, 2022 saw the departure of two key members of the band: drummer Bob Hall, alongside guitarist Johnny Bond, which paused any progression of the band in terms of shows and music.

Despite this, in February 2024, the band teased a snippet of what would now be their recent single “Showtime”, officially released on 22 February. The news and release of this single got fans excited and talking again in hopes of a fourth album, alongside shows to substantiate their comeback following the breakup. It is worth noting that this single sparked a slightly altered sound for the band following criticism from fanatics for their albums being too ‘repetitive’; however, this single subsequently released backlash for being notably different in comparison to their previous works, which stifled the chances of a smooth comeback for them as no matter what they produced, it would face some format of condemnation.

Over the next few weeks, the band would go on to announce tour dates across the world, with the most notable show being Liverpool's Sefton Park with its large 32,000 capacity, alongside them playing a key role in headlining the Reading and Leeds festival. As expected, this announcement sparked speculation among fans, confirming their hopes for the band's return to the scene. Following this, the band would go on to be vastly successful across their UK tour, playing captivating venues such as Cardiff Castle, which defied expectations for such a strong run, as this would be the first time the band had played live since 2021.  

August was intended to be the month where the band would solidify their comeback. Heightening how far they’d come since 2014, as of August, they would headline their first main festival and additionally announce their biggest shows yet. Catfish and the Bottlemen were scheduled to play Cardiff's Principality Stadium and the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in the summer of 2025, alongside Manchester’s Heaton Park, which rapidly sold out despite its 80,000 person capacity. However, after numerous technical difficulties during their set at Reading & Leeds, fans started to question frontman Van McCann's ability to continue performing. With numerous rumours being spread accusing him of substance abuse. Whilst other fans were quick to point out that McCann's personality has always been similar to this, it was deemed insensitive to bring him down in such a manner. 

That month, nonetheless, had different plans. At the end of that month, the band abruptly cancelled their Dublin show minutes before the scheduled time for doors due to “Band illness”,

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leaving fans almost disheartened at the short notice of the cancellations when the band were supposedly back on the rise. Whereas band illness is always unpredictable and out of control for the artist, many felt that further notice and greater communication with the fans was required. As if the cancellation of the Dublin date wasn't enough, the band then went on to suddenly cancel their American and Australian leg of the tour on the same basis of “Artist illness”, yet did not share any light on any more information on the matter. This, from a fan's perspective, built up more and more frustration as there was a clear barrier of communication between fans and the band. Furthermore, this caused mass speculation, again reinforcing assumptions of issues with substance abuse, which to this day has not been confirmed or further scrutinised. 

The show cancellations subsequently were the main failure in curating a perfect comeback, as although illness is uncontrollable, the level to which cancellations are addressed could’ve been easily improved, with it being the underlying issue. On the contrary, that September the band released the 10th Anniversary Special of their debut album “The Balcony”, including acoustic versions of some of the well-known tracks of the album alongside an Ewan McGregor rendition of the track “Hourglass”. Although this release sparked more excitement for new music shortly, this release also heightened the frustration of fans as they felt they were being denied information from the band, who were prioritising album sales over communication.

From this point on, the fans have heard nothing but radio silence from the band, with occasional advertisement for the summer shows the following year. Until early 2025, light was shed upon the fact that the band had changed to Hard8WorkingGroup for their management. Thankfully, this would give new hope for listeners as new management would ensure communication was properly dealt with and the upcoming summer stadium shows would run smoothly. A new hope to try and mend their image and save their comeback emerged. 

Thankfully, May 2025 ended the silence from the band with the announcement of a collection of more dates across the UK and Ireland, including a new Dublin date, however at a different venue. The news of these shows would get the fans talking, a new buzz in anticipation of their biggest shows yet, with supporting acts like the band Travis and The Fratellis, which would help them try and rebuild what potentially could’ve been a perfect return.

Following on from this, the summer shows this year went smoothly, with fan favourites being played across the shows, especially with “Heathrow” and “Tyrants” during their two stadium shows, bringing a myriad of emotions to the crowd as the band was finally back after such a rocky and unstable comeback. Although the shows may not have sold tickets as well as anticipated, it was obvious that Frontman, Van McCann, and the rest of the band, were overjoyed to finally be back playing to fans (with even an emotional reaction during Cardiff's extended “Cocoon” outro).

As of now, the band have no future announcements in preparation for new music or shows. However, the window of opportunity is now open to the band with them obtaining a level of security with fans, as well as new management, so they’re able to keep us on our toes anytime with a fourth album. 

Overall, there were numerous faults in Catfish and the Bottlemen’s comeback, with unclear communication, no plans to reschedule cancelled dates, and fans feeling as if they had no clarity for a while. Yet, despite this, the band have tried to rebuild themselves and climb back into the scene where they feel assured and stable. Hopefully in the near future, we, as fans, will be able to see them clear up and address the previous issues, and take accountability for where they went wrong in terms of disclosure alongside presenting us with more music we can marvel over.