Catfish vocalist Ryan "Van" McCann was a test-tube baby, born to a free-spirited Merseyside couple. "It makes me feel lucky to be here," McCann told Radio.com, "or luckier. I guess everything affects who we are and why we are that way and why we want to get massive and play stadiums. It's all this lust for life."
McCann's parents took the newborn traveling round Australia for two years. The future Catfish vocalist's first experience of live music was at Sydney harbor watching a busker called Catfish the Bottleman playing his drum kit – hence the band's name. McCann recalled to KROQ's Lauren Novik: "He's a busker from Australia- Catfish & The Bottleman, and I saw him when I was a kid- I started like the first two years of my life out there, traveling with me Mum and Dad, and he was like a busker that used to play in like Paddy's Market in Sydney, and he used to play like a washing line with like wine bottles hanging from it, and he was called Catfish & The Bottleman, and when it came to naming the band I was like let's just do that."
Van McCann was named in honor of Van Morrison. "My father took me to a Van Morrison gig when I was young," he recalled. "The way he controlled the band and worked the room, it wasn't like going to see a rock band, it was like seeing a magician. After that, I realized I wanted to be a frontman, I wanted to be hold a room in my hand."
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