Indie rock band Catfish and the Bottlemen have burst on to the music scene since their debut record The Balcony was released in later 2014. Since then, they have played all over the UK and USA in order to gain recoginition for their music. The band have a clear identity and have carried that through into their second album that was release in May 2016. Both album covers are made up of black background and a white outline to the main subject of the cover. In the case of their first record, The Balcony. male and female bodies are pictured in the middle of the screen to show them touching eachother. From this, we can infer that the band are one with clear intentions of trying to engage a young adult demographic. Sexual desires are often a hot topic among older teens and young adults and the use of it here ensures that this specific age demographic is engaged by the controversial mise en scene.
Much like the first album, The Ride follows suit in the way that the album has a black background and white outline on the subject in the middle part of the cover. Thus, a clear brand identity is at the centre of the band's albums, ensuring that fans are familiar with their image. The alteration to the first album is quite obviously the inclusion of a crocodile. This brings complex meanings in that the crocodile has multiple scales. Perhaps, this could indicate that the band have incorporated several different layers to the albums and matured as a band. Whatever the connotations, there is definitely a development in the band's identity from the simple graphic on the cover of The Balcony to The Ride.
As well as the band's album covers, their live performances go a long way to creating their brand identity. Performances by the bands always consist of high energy guitar tunes and defiant songs lyrics. As a result, audiences from 16-30 years old are often seen enjoying their gigs. Also, lead singer, Van McCann, is known for his interaction with the crowd as well as controversial actions such as throwing guitar off stage. As a result, the band have built up a reputation, and identity, as a group who are great as a live act.
