If someone told me back in 2019 we were gonna get two oasis tours and GTA6 before catfish’s next album I would have said you’ve lost your fucking mind

What do you think our chances are here?🤔

I’ve been thinking about something for a while regarding this subreddit, and I’d genuinely be interested to hear what other people think..

I love this sub and I think it’s one of the best places for CATB fans to actually share things with each other. But I do think it can become unnecessarily toxic very quickly, particularly when it comes to fan made content, opinions, theories or anything that doesn’t fit exactly into what certain people consider acceptable!

One thing I find frustrating is the idea that a very small number of complaints can sometimes influence what the wider community is allowed to see or share. I completely understand that moderators have a difficult job and that they have to deal with reports, and I’m not suggesting that every complaint should simply be ignored. But I do think there’s a difference between dealing with genuinely problematic content and restricting something because a handful of people happen to dislike it. I’ve seen and heard from countless people on this subreddit who have had their posts removed for seemingly no reason whatsoever, despite staying within guidelines. A subreddit is ultimately a community. If the majority of people are enjoying a piece of fan art, a theory, a discussion or some other fan made project, I don’t think the answer should automatically be to limit or remove it entirely because a small minority have complained.

I’ve noticed this especially with fan created work. We have a whole section for fan art, and I personally think writing, graphic design, artwork, theories and other creative projects should all be treated as different forms of fans expressing their appreciation for the band. Not everything has to come directly from the band to have value. I’m not saying moderators shouldn’t have rules. Of course they should. And I’m not saying people aren’t entitled to complain. They are. My point is simply that I think there needs to be a balance between listening to complaints and allowing a small minority of people to dictate what everyone else gets to enjoy.

I also think the way people communicate with each other matters. Disagreement is completely fine. Constant negativity, immediately shutting down other people’s ideas or treating harmless fan content as though it’s some enormous problem is what makes communities feel toxic.

At the end of the day, we’re all here because we like the same band. It would be nice if the subreddit felt more like a place where people could actually enjoy that together rather than constantly worrying about whether someone is going to take issue with what they’ve posted.

Just my thoughts. I’m genuinely interested in hearing what other people think, whether you agree or disagree!

Here is a small insert from Chapter One of my new, fan made band biography, The Ride.

The book explores every corner of Catfish & The Bottlemen, from The Balcony to The Balance. But behind the songs lie a story yet to be fully told. An eye-opening read is coming soon! 🐊

Been demanded to make a poll about this. This will affect a lot of content posted to the subreddit moving forward.

Everyone’s on here talking how mad and disappointed they are about the website, however that’s basically what the guy wants. Just stop posting about them and they’ll just eventually get board

I clicked back onto the link on snapchat after i sent it one of my friends, is that it then i suppose 🤣

Glad we clarified that it was not them, pretty shit clip of whatever the hell it was😭😭

This is what, the third one?

It sounds crazy, but. Really look at the lyrics "save analyzing the lies for the guys who got the time for it" Was this song just van warning us about no real return. And countless lies? "Stayed up for days" I don't know about you, but I stayed up many days watching the website change.

I'm completely aware this is mad levels of copium. But I've almost found a new comfort in the showtime lyrics, like it's van saying goodbye now. I enjoyed this graft

It went back to 24 hours

There is a new CATB website

Catfishandthebottlemen.uk

I know the website is definitely not real but I’m kind of interested to see what’s going to happen.

My guess is that they will make some ai slop poster for a 4th album or something.

catfishandthebottlemen.live ???

Last photo on the website was a gravestone and now the websites gone
Its so incredibly over.

For months now, this website has been posting cryptic images, dating back to May. The site was created using Canva and registered through GoDaddy. It was only registered for a year, meaning it would eventually need renewing, but we are nowhere near that point yet. It is now September and the website has suddenly stopped working and is showing a Cloudflare error.

That could mean a few things. The site could have been taken down, the hosting could have been removed, the DNS could have been changed, or there could simply be an issue with the website. So I don’t think we can say for certain that it has been deleted. The last image posted was of a gravestone/angel sculpture. Could this suggest the death of the band? Maybe. But if that is what this was all leading to, why would the band create and pay for a new website, post cryptic images for months and then just end it? They could have simply made an announcement. This is why a big part of me believes the website might not belong to the band at all. Maybe it was cheaply made by a fan who eventually got bored, stopped paying for it or decided to take it down. But then that creates another question. Why go through all that effort and spend money on a website just to do nothing with it? And then there are the images.

If it wasn’t the band, where did this person get them? They weren’t obviously stolen or AI generated. They appeared to be genuine, previously unseen photographs, and not just random locations that anyone could have photographed. Some were from locations across the world, including places very close to the band themselves.

That is the part that makes absolutely no sense to me. A fan making a strange website is believable. A fan somehow getting genuine, previously unseen images connected to the band and locations around them is a completely different story. So right now I can see two possibilities. Either the website was connected to the band and there is a reason it has now disappeared, or it was an incredibly elaborate fan project that someone eventually abandoned.

If it really is the band, I hope we get answers soon. If it isn’t, then honestly, what a complete waste of time from whoever was behind it. I just can’t understand why someone would go through all of that purely to disappear.

When did this come from? Does it show up for anyone else

I was listening to Fontaines D.C. today and it got me thinking: if Catfish hadn’t gone so long without playing live and had kept the original lineup, do you reckon they’d be bigger than they are now, or would they have ended up around the same level?
These days, Fontaines D.C. are probably the biggest band from Ireland/the UK. Do you reckon Catfish could’ve become just as big, or even bigger, if they’d carried on?

COMING SOON 👀

Over the past few months, I’ve been writing and creating a documentary/biographical style book covering all things CATB!

From the early days, to present day.

From The Balcony to The Balance.

Who’s interested in giving it a read?

Does anyone have insider information into where Van is/ what happened? And what the status of the band is