CATFISH and The Bottlemen hope that some of Arctic Monkeys’ magic rubs off on them when they release their debut album.

The Llandudno indie rockers were busy recording at The Chapel in Lincolnshire when they spoke to Weekend.

Arctic Monkeys used the same studio for their first album, Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not.

Shifting more than 360,000 copies in its first week, it is the fastest selling debut by a band and has gone quintuple platinum in the UK.

That has got Catfish and The Bottlemen thinking.

Frontman Van McCann said: “It’s strange to think they were just a group of lads trying to pluck some good songs out and then the album did what it did.

“So it’s exciting to think we’re making our own little gem. I’ve always dreamed of having a hit album. We want it to get as big as it can possibly get.”

Getting to The Chapel is the culmination of a lot of hard work for the band after writing 70 songs in two years.

They also reckon they have played around 200 gigs in 18 months.

Van is even taking time out from the studio to play in Head in Golden Square on Saturday for Record Store Day and will sign copies of the band’s new single, Kathleen.

The 21-year-old added: “My first experience of Record Store Day was when I first got the band together and I was a little, wide-eyed naïve chap.

“I remember seeing Geoff Travis from Rough Trade Records and I went up to him with the worst demo ever.

“I said: ‘Geoff if you’re looking for the new Strokes here we are’ and I gave it him and walked off like I was God’s gift.

“I waited around the corner for a phone call and it never came.

“I was 15 or 16. I was this mad kid and I thought if I give a demo to all these labels I could get 20 record deals by the end of the day. I didn’t know how it worked at all.”

But that determination has seen the band championed by the likes of Xfm.

Van, a test tube baby, was born in Australia to his parents Mary and Bernard and he grew up in Widnes before settling in Llandudno.

He met bandmates Billy Bibby and Benji Blakeway at Ysgol John Bright school...and drummer Bob Hall at a gentlemen’s club in Ireland.

“I like where being in band takes you,” said Van.

“One minute you could be in the studio, the next minute you could put a song on the internet and somebody in Australia has got it on their iPod.

“I’ve met so many cool people just by writing these songs.”

Van reckons that music is in his genes.

He added: “My granddad plays the fiddle, my dad plays the harmonica and I was raised on a ‘get the spoons out’ mentality as a kid.

Van also said that his favourite thing about being in a band is the connection music creates between people.

He said: “There was something in the air when I went to see Oasis in Heaton Park.

“Everyone around me was in love with that band and was thinking about it and talking about.

“I love that aspect of things no matter if it’s 10 people or 10,000 people. It’s a really cool thing to be a part of.”

- Van McCann will perform an acoustic Catfish and The Bottlemen set at Head in Golden Square on Saturday at 3.30pm for Record Store Day