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Photo L-R: Ian McCulloch, Pete DeFreitas, Les Pattinson, Will Sergeant. 
I vowed never to get into another band as far as reading about them and buying their CD's goes. But it happened. And now I shall inflict my newfound knowledge on you. I've wondered how to start this article, and I have no idea. From knowing nothing about them to having one Album and a Box Set, which luckily came with a book telling you all you need to know (and a good few hours spent looking through Will Sergeant's Photoblog - I've still not made it to the end) I should be able to give you my overall impression, but I still don't know what that is. At first for this article I was going to be oh so professional, and type out quotes, but I'd rather write what I feel.To start with, when all I'd really read about them were the comments in Will's Photoblog, I felt like I imagined it must feel to be discovering the Manics for the first time. Except, it didn't feel that scary. I suppose I'd started at the right place, by accident. One of the last things I read was how Ian McCulloch had someone by the throat in the recording studio. I didn't really want to search any more after that incase I was put off before I'd started. I hadn't read any interviews by the band at that point, what I had found were on a pay per view website - the original NME interviews as well - but to me, they were always a Smash Hits band. By chance I checked the Echo & The Bunnymen section of a music site and there was a more recent interview with Mac. I saved some of his quotes because he talked sense. I'm glad he did, after the last thing I'd read. Ian McCulloch: Heroes can be hard to find, but whoever we decide to put on a pedestal, we'll find the pedestal has three legs and one of them is a bit wobbly. "That's it! Exactly! That's how we should start the biog". Okay Mr McCulloch, you're the boss. Nobody's perfect, at least that's what we're trying to say in that opening sentence. Even the very great will make mistakes along the way. It takes a big man to 'fess up to that, and only a stupid one would deny it. For more than 20 years, Echo & The Bunnymen have been striving for greatness, occasionally tripping over their long coats, but more often than not providing the listening public with moments of glistening pop brilliance. McCulloch is especially good at talking about McCulloch, and the fine music he's been making since his teenage years. He stresses that (his) new record does not mark the end of the Bunnymen: "I'm looking forward to going back to the Bunnymen, and Will comin' to the table with a whole new bag of riffs, it's gonna be great". Mac isn't alone in his fondness for the band. In recent months they have been ceaselessly championed by the likes of Coldplay's Chris Martin (Me: And Sean Moore) and they were given a prestigious Inspiration Award by the UK's biggest-selling rock publication, Q ("Not before time!" as Ian said when accepting the gong). "Initially I was a bit, if not cynical then certainly sceptical about it. It came out of the blue, but the more it sinks in the more I'm proud of it. It's as if people understood us all along, they understood our reasons for bein' who we are. It's kind of like a vindication. We never did this for the money - I'd rob a bank if that was my motivation. At our best, we were always head-and-shoulders above the rest. In those days (1979-1988) we flew the flag of cool for so long in a world that was so un-cool. It was hard to carry on, so we didn't. There's the old adage that life begins at 40, but in truth life begins when you realise just who the f**k you are" From: filter-mag.com If you visit Will's Photoblog there's a photo of the studio where they're currently recording the new album. Just last night I finished reading the book that comes with the Crystal Days Box Set (which contains 4 CD's) and Mac himself admits he has 2 personalities, a nice one and a nasty one. Angels & Devils. This is the song that started it all. Sean Moore was adamant that we should hear it when he presented his album of the day on 6 Music in December. He chose the remastered Ocean Rain, which includes this b-side. Sean: The song I've chosen is Angels & Devils by Echo & the Bunnymen. This is the track that sort of got away on the original Ocean Rain album but thankfully they've brought out a special edition of it now so everyone can enjoy Angels & Devils which I believe was a b-side on either Killing Moon or Silver, I can't remember exactly which but that's memory for you. Click to play the song: Angels & Devils It's 4 mb's. And I hope you'll also buy the re-released Ocean Rain album which has this track. The other song that really stood out, and one of their best, by Mac's own admission, was Ocean Rain, the album's title track. It conjures up images of being aboard an old ship, the kind they used to discover the world on, the night sky above full of stars. That's what it makes me think of. Not the small boat on the album cover, that's nowhere near big enough to sum up the emotion of the song. No, it's a big ship and when you hear the lyric "your port's in my heavy storm" you imagine the ship docking, but you're definately staying onboard (the lyrics I found online are slightly different but that�s what I remember) Sean: The next song I want to play is Ocean Rain. Just purely for it's wonderful and beautiful orchestral arrangement. I think it's a very sensitive song and a wonderful vocal from Ian McCulloch. Here's the ship I envisaged when I first heard Ocean Rain, found in the book that came with the Box Set. That's how it all started but I'm beginning to wonder where it will end. Now I've started typing the words won't come out fast enough. There's too much to say and I still don't know where I'm going with all this. I'm playing Disc 3 from the Box Set as I type. It's my favourite so far. Before I'd played this, I did a search on Lycos for MP3's. One of the only decent MP3 searches out there for finding tracks on websites. It brought up some nice stuff, mostly clips, but one song in it's entirety - Nothing Lasts Forever. I loved it. At the time, I didn't know anything about it, though I guessed it was New Bunnymen. I think everyone's aware that they "came back" in more recent years, even if that's all you know about them. I then played Disc 3 and Nothing Lasts Forever is on there. Mac says it's one of their best along with Ocean Rain and The Killing Moon. I also noticed Disc 4 contains live songs and I will play that if I can ever get Disc 3 off (and I did and I then decided that was my favourite...) Here's a copy of my Journal Entry with the results of my MP3 search. The article continues after this. I can't promise that all these links will still work. I have stumbled across the Lycos MP3 search (the only thing that really works) and typed in Echo & The Bunnymen. Not really knowing what their songs are I may embarrass myself by linking to things that aren't them at all... but I'll post anything that works below. Open the page and click on the MP3 link. 1. Over The Wall 2. Buried Alive Beautiful but too short. 3. Nothing Lasts Forever Another beautiful one and all of it. "I want more than I can get". 4. This is a strange one. I had to go to the site it's from to figure out what it is. I recognised Ian McCulloch. This is probably hardcore fan territory but I've just jumped right in there, as usual... Run, Run, Run Explanation: 04 SEP 87 - A rare but always enjoyable performance of Run Run Run -- featuring Echo And The Bunnymen, with Ian McCulloch on vocals. Taken from the Darien Lakes Amusement Park performance in Buffalo during their (New Order's, I think) 1987 tour. Info from this page (there's worse on the Crystal Days box set, in the notes he says he can't listen to some of them) 5. Lips Like Sugar This is nice (clip) 6. Crystal Days My favourite so far (clip) You should also visit Bunnymen.com and click on Media for some videos. In one Ian wears a blonde wig� 
When I first got into them I wanted to find a photo and to know who was who. The first photos I saw were in Will's Photoblog. Although I'd also read in an online record store review that the drummer was no longer with us, this was confirmed when I read the Photoblog. I was looking forward to finding out all about him and suddenly to find out what had happened came as a bit of a shock. He had a motorcycle accident. One minute I was excited about discovering this new band and the next reality hit me. It's been like that ever since. One minute Mac has someone by the throat, the next he's being incredibly charming. That's what it's been like, especially reading the band history in the book that accompanies the Crystal Days set. If Mac was happy, Will wasn't. That reminded me of the Manics when James was talking about their brilliant photo shoot in late 1994 yet Sean was talking like it was the end of the world. I guess the book could be about any band and I'm still trying to take it all in. Or maybe I understand all too well. It's all so familiar. In the picture opposite: Mac's on the left, Will's on the right.All the Manics were in love with them when they were younger, and what I noticed early on was how much they were influenced by them, starting with Sean's quote on the Holy Bible DVD, that they'd go to army surplus stores in each town of the tour. That's what the Bunnymen did. At times it's almost been like reading about the same band. I realise the Manics whole-heartedly ripped off the Bunnymen's camouflage look and stage netting. Will Sergeant is James Dean Bradfield's guitar hero In the Bunnymen it was the drummer - Pete De Freitas - who shaved his head much to Mac's disdain and he was also the one who disappeared. So I guess you could say he was their equivalent of Richey. I misunderstood a comment in Will's Photoblog, which said Mac didn't like that he'd become a Sex God. I thought maybe he'd just got too popular with the fans or something. No, he went off to America, abandoned the Bunnymen, and formed a band with his friends called exactly that. I think Sean would be most like Les Pattinson, the bassist, not known for doing interviews but when he does always says something poignant or puts his own unique spin on things, always leaving you wanting more. I wasn't sure what to make of Mac at first. I guess you'd say he's most like Nicky Wire with the most outspoken opinions, always slagging off other bands. So by default Will Sergeant would be James. When the Manics namecheck their heroes, you don't always know who they're talking about, and you'd never have time to be a fan of theirs if you did check out all their influences. But I think you should at least discover The Bunnymen. And if you want to jump straight into hardcore fan territory get the Crystal Days Box Set (which is a Book and 4 CD's) You can't do anything else but enjoy it. And you should also spend hours looking through Will's Photoblog, whether you'll ever get to the end is another matter. Too many heroes, too little time. Mac always said they were the best band in the world and although they lost that vision along the way (like the Manics, and I'm talking 1994 not 2004) when the magic was there they could do no wrong. You could almost imagine the whole Crystal Days book being about the Manics, all you'd have to do is change the names. Infact, there should be a book like this about the band. It should contain some of the nastiest out-takes and demos including things that will make you cringe just because it's part of them and it's where they came from (Mac says he can't listen to some of their early stuff yet it's on here) This collection came about because someone who cared about the music wanted to make it happen. And that's all I care about, the music. All the other shit just gets in the way. Another of my favourite bands - The Electric Soft Parade - don't even have a record label at the time of writing this. They should. They should be headlining stadiums. They are, in my heart. I don't care if the rest of the world won't listen. The music means as much to me if it's a bad quality internet stream, as long as it connects with my heart. And that's what this band will do to you. It goes straight to the heart. All I can recommend at the moment is just about everything I've heard. I know they had a love-hate relationship like any band. I know they sometimes couldn't stand eachother for years, blamed eachother, and tried to make music apart. But the magic was always when the 4 (now 3) of them connected. A whole article on the Bunnymen and I haven't mentioned the drum machine... which they had in the early days before they got a drummer. The story goes that they named themselves after their drum machine. I think Mac said that because people assumed he was called Echo. And I remember back in the 80's wondering why they had that name. If the band was The Bunnymen then what was The Echo bit for. Usually that'd be the name of the singer. I do remember seeing them in Smash Hits. I didn't know what NME was. I read it religiously from around late '83 or maybe early '84. So if they were in it, I'd have read every word. I definately remember Mac's picture being in there as I thought he looked rather feminine. I'm sure he used to wear those dodgy 80's jumpers too (though that's just a distant memory and I may be confusing him with someone else) I do remember The Killing Moon. I may even have seen it on TOTP or whatever shows they had back then. To me, he was a pop star. I never knew what "indie" music was and I first heard the term years later when I got into the Manics. Only to then realise much of the music I loved back then was probably indie after all. I thought they were all pop stars. I really got excited when I discovered the Ian Broudie connection (he's produced them) And I realised they all came from the same Liverpool scene. I had no idea where they came from. I had to get out my Lightning Seeds albums again. I think I've written enough now, it's turning into a fan letter. But there's nothing wrong with that. I've probably got far more excited in my online diary, I'm trying to give you a condensed version if possible. Remember the Ocean Rain lyric: "Your port's in my heavy storm". Once you get onboard there's no going back... Jane, a fellow rock obsessive, 9.1.05: Courtney met Julian Cope in the early 80s and he invited her to come to stay with him in Liverpool. Ian McCulloch from Echo and The Bunnymen claimed she fancied him and really chased after him and stole all her stage moves from him. Pete Burns hated her and said she was vile. Eventually she had to leave Liverpool because everyone was sick of her. I know in one of her biographies it talks about how she used to have dreams about Pete De Freitas. I remember them from Smash Hits in the early 80s but I think Smash Hits then was different to how it is now and they used to cover more indie/alternative bands. |
