The new Shure equipment arrived in time for a single warm-up concert before the band played at the BBC Music Awards, where they walked away with the 'Introducing...' award for best newcomers.
"The KSM9 lends a beautifully natural sense of air and sparkle to Van's vocal, getting him to sit crystal clear on top of the mix without it sounding too forced or piercing," explains Catfish's front-of-house sound engineer Mike Woodhouse, "and the KSM313 ribbons naturally capture all the low and high end frequencies that I would ever want from the guys' guitars. I can get a seriously full-sounding guitar cutting through the mix, captured beautifully."
Catfish and the Bottlemen have now taken their new Shure mics and in-ears on their first world tour. Having visited the USA in support of the Stateside release of their debut album in January, where they played on the David Letterman show with their new kit, they have now moved on to Australia, and return to the USA and Canada throughout February. UK dates begin in late March as part of a Spring tour of the UK & Ireland.
"Shure is always proud to be supporting the latest in upcoming talent, and Catfish and the Bottlemen are one of the UK's finest new breakthrough bands," explains Tuomo Tolonen, Pro Audio Group manager at Shure Distribution UK. "We're delighted to support them with our microphones and in-ear monitoring systems, the first part of what is going to be an on-going association with the group. We wish them all the best on their Spring tour."
(Jim Evans)
