10 Recent Indie-Rock Covers You'll Never Go Back From
5. Catfish And The Bottlemen - I Will Never Let You Down (Original: Rita Ora)
Predicting what Catfish And The Bottlemen are going to do in a live session has proved more futile than trying to keep your hands off the repeat button when it's finally out. Normally bouncing back and forth between multiple songs in their covers, lead vocalist Van McCann held remarkable restraint in this one, only limiting himself to a few extra lines from Modjo's Lady for good measure.
That doesn't take away from what they did with this Rita Ora single, taking a riff that was buried in an over-produced, highly manufactured track and letting it shine. Because of that, the riff is now addictively smooth, allowing a sense of effortlessness to set the tone for the whole cover. It also lets the band strut around with a real swagger, giving us a sound that is undeniably cool before building up to a big finale.
Even they were surprised with how good the final product ended up being, with McCann all but mic dropping at the end. As he once said (halfway through another cover, no less), "Live music, what the kids want". If it's this good, it's what everyone wants.