20 November 2014
Newsdesk
BBC Introducing will present Indie-Rock band Catfish and the Bottlemen at the all new BBC Music Awards next month, it was announced by Huw Stephens with Steve Lamacq live on BBC Radio 1 with Catfish frontman Van McCann.
The four-piece, from Llandudno North Wales, are to perform alongside some of the biggest and most iconic UK and international artists on 11 December, as part of the BBC’s inaugural annual ceremony to celebrate the year in music. The band will play to a live audience of 13,500 people at London’s Earls Court and to millions more across the country on BBC One, Radio 1, Radio 2 and at bbc.co.uk/music alongside One Direction, Coldplay, Ed Sheeran, Clean Bandit, Paloma Faith and Calvin Harris amongst others still to be announced.
Lead singer, Van McCann was also in the studio, said “It's just mind-blowing, we've played every venue from one capacity to now this.We feel positive to be representing BBC Introducing, cos we've come up through the ranks, we came up from when you [Steve Lamacq] played us when we were 14, and Hew and Jen Long used to play us, Ali and Phil Taggart. And Jason Carter who’s behind BBC Music has always supported us, so it's a mad privilege.
“The thing with this one, it's like being thrown in with the biggest. Being the compete underdogs in amongst the biggest is dead exciting. I always love supporting bands, I always have done since I was a kid. I like having to earn your crust. I'm very excited to try and hold our own with those people, without all the fireworks and acrobats. It's going to be exciting, very exciting.”
BBC Introducing is one of the BBC’s 17 initiatives to showcase emerging musical talent. The scheme, which has kick-started the careers of Jake Bugg, Florence and the Machine, George Ezra and many more since its launch in 2007, provides a platform to propel the best new acts from across the UK onto the national stage.
Catfish and the Bottlemen first uploaded their music to the BBC Introducing Uploader in 2010 – which has now seen more than 500,000 tracks uploaded. They were then supported by the BBC Introducing show in Wales. In 2013, they were selected to play the BBC Introducing stage at Reading / Leeds. At the same time their track ‘Rango’ was chosen for the BBC Introducing slot on the Radio 1 playlist as well as being supported by Steve Lamacq on 6Music . They went on to record a Maida Vale session for Huw Stephens and played the Radio 1 Future Festival in January 2014. They then headlined the BBC Introducing stage at Radio 1’s Big Weekend in Glasgow.
Tickets for the musical extravaganza have now sold out; whilst the ceremony, including Catfish and the Bottlemen’s performance, will go out live across BBC One, Radio 1, Radio 2 and on bbc.co.uk/music. Both BBC Radios 1 and 2 will bring listeners all the backstage build-up throughout the day.
