 The Killing Moon, although Nothing Lasts Forever is also special Interview with the Bunnymen from Melody Maker, 18th October 1980 They're at the height of their army phase with camouflage netting and visits to army shops... Uncut Magazine Article at cobwebtheatre.com (with pictures) A special overview of 20 years of Echo and the Bunnymen - March 1999 dez.com/doug/bunnymen.html Comprehensive Bunnymen page with all you need to know. netaxs.com/~jgreshes/gallery.html Lots of original Bunnymen pics. Huge Gallery of Live Photos spanning the early 80's (black & white) Bunnymen Official Magazine Covers from the 80's (very much like a fanzine) Audio: Fish Hook Girl (Remix) By Frank Coleman (on the menu, click on Drummer and then on Remixes) Lies, deceit, hatred, hotel floors, cocaine dealers, transit vans, acid trips, broken amplifiers, American girls, service stations, loss of innocence, corrupt road crews, missed opportunities, vanity, broken promises, shit gigs, bad sex, crap mixes, late VAT returns, petulance, incompetence, petty rivalry and Pete de Freitas dying. November 2003: It's 25 years since the Bunnymen first made their stage debut at Eric's club in Liverpool. Their moody, neo-psychedelic songs, which betrayed their devotion to The Doors, defined the sound and atmosphere of the early Eighties and made them one of the most important bands of the post-punk era. Under the supervision of their manager and mentor Bill Drummond (who went on to found the KLF), they plotted tours along ley lines and on one occasion, crossed Liverpool with an army of fans on bicycles in the shape of Echo, the mystical rabbit. But although they enjoyed countless triumphs, the Bunnymen were beset by torment, tantrums and tragedy. Received wisdom has it that the Bunnymen were destined for stadium status and should have been as big as U2 and Simple Minds in the Eighties. McCulloch, who has always been disparaging about his peers, disagrees. "We knew we couldn't wear stupid hats and cowboys boots and look like John Cougar Mellencamp. It was like, hang on a sec, they're playing a different game to us. We never had a game plan. It wasn't about the trophies or the yachts. We were very passionate about what we did, and that's what's always set us apart. It was the record company who tried to make out that we were these under-achievers. We were no more under-achieving than Jimi Hendrix or The Doors". The Bunnymen were formed from the ashes of The Crucial Three, a fleeting collaboration between McCulloch, Pete Wylie and Julian Cope. Cope and Wylie left the group to form The Teardrop Explodes and Wah! respectively, leaving their frontman to rethink his plans for world domination. In the summer of 1978 McCulloch was introduced to Sergeant with whom he began recording demos under the moniker Echo! After bringing in the bassist Les Pattinson, the trio made their live debut in November as Echo & The Bunnymen. Their first single, Pictures on My Wall, released in March 1979, made Single Of The Week in both Sounds and Melody Maker, though it was not until they appeared with Joy Division at the YMCA in London to hysterical reviews that their fortunes really changed. Within two months the Bunnymen had signed a record deal with Sire, swapped their drum machine for the real-life drummer Pete de Freitas and started work on their debut album, Crocodiles. McCulloch was quick to make his presence felt in what he believed to be an ailing music scene, deriding his rivals to journalists while extolling the brilliance of the Bunnymen. With their next three albums, Heaven Up Here, Porcupine (which yielded their first Top 10 single, The Cutter) and Ocean Rain, the Bunnymen appeared to go from strength to strength but tension was brewing under the surface. Relations within the band were disintegrating as the members' alcohol and cocaine habits spiralled out of control. At the start of 1986, a drug-addled De Freitas left the group to join a band called The Sex Gods, but returned to the fold six months later, having had what appeared to be a nervous breakdown. Next came 1987's self-titled fifth LP. Parading big choruses and shiny production values, it was a foolhardy attempt to play to the mainstream. Though it sold well in America, McCulloch despised it and decided that the game was up. At the end of a show in Japan the singer walked off stage and announced that the band would split. "As soon as I said it everyone was on the phone - management, record company, friends - saying you're mad" he recalls. "The album had already done half a million in America. I don't know, maybe if I hadn't been on that treadmill and had had a bit of a rest it would have been different" The following year De Freitas was killed in a motorcycle accident. For a while, Sergeant and Pattinson soldiered on as the Bunnymen, enlisting Noel Burke as McCulloch's replacement. But after receiving a critical mauling for their album Reverberation, they called it a day. Having made a handful of solo albums, McCulloch was reunited with Sergeant in 1994 for the short-lived Electrafixion. Two years later the Bunnymen were back together and 1997 heralded Evergreen, a superb LP yielding their biggest and arguably best single yet, Nothing Lasts Forever. "You see, there was method in my madness" cries McCulloch triumphantly. "If I hadn't broken the band up we would have never made Nothing Lasts Forever, and that's the best song I ever wrote. Everyone said at the time that it was the best comeback ever made, and they were right". It comes as little surprise to discover that McCulloch was a shy child and suffered from a compulsive disorder syndrome that meant he would obsessively wash his hands and find it hard to walk in and out of rooms (me: I'm thinking, Nicky Wire, he's just too scarily like him) independent.co.uk Who are the heroes of the story? Ian McCulloch: Roger Eagle and Pete Fulwell for opening and running Eric's; my family; John Peel, and my teachers at Alsop High School in Walton who, luckily, didn't spot my brilliant gift for creativity (if they had, they might have channelled it somewhere else) Mark E Smith of The Fall, who has always been off his rocker but is a true one-off, was an early inspiration, although after we got successful he didn't like me any more - but I understand that because I'm like that. It's probably why I slag off so many people - because I'm jealous. icliverpool 
Echo and the Bunnymen celebrated their 25th anniversary with the release of remastered and expanded versions of five of their classic albums. The band played their first ever gig at Liverpools Eric's Club on 15 Nov 1978. To celebrate they re-released Crocodiles, Heaven Up Here, Porcupine, Ocean Rain and Echo & The Bunnymen each with new artwork and a number of extras including b-sides, live tracks and studio outtakes.They also released a four CD retrospective box set in 2001, entitled Crystal Days - 1979 - 1999 which featured the rare, the unreleased, the lost and the live over 72 tracks, starting from the original version of Monkeys through to selections from 1999's What Are You Going To Do With Your Life. Me: This is actually 4 CD's and a book and I'd recommend this to newcomers to the band. Go here to read a detailed fan review: ijamming.net/Music/Echo2.html And there's an interview with Will Sergeant where he talks about the Box Set at vancourier.com Here's a review of a more recent album that tells you the basics with humour: metrotimes.com For a look at their career written by a fan go to ijamming.net/Music/Echo1.html This article goes into more detail especially the reasons why Mac wanted them to split up originally (although they continued without him) Here's their page at wikipedia Ian McCulloch: (28.3.03) The Bunnymen have been my life. They are my heart and soul. They've given me everything icliverpool On November 15, 1978 Echo & the Bunnymen made their debut at Eric's in Mathew Street. They played one song - a 20-minute version of Monkeys, then called I Bagsy Yours. The drum machine broke down. There were just 43 people in the audience. But the reaction was ecstatic. "Totally brilliant ... legendary" said Teardrop Explodes singer Julian Cope. "Suddenly it wasn't just your mate on the stage, it was a guy who was born to be a star" said Pete Wylie. icliverpool Ian McCulloch: (14.11.03) What surprises me about the NME, is that they've never understood how important we are. Your Interpols, Thrills and Star Spangles, they always come over and say "you were the band for us". But you never see that mentioned. We're in people's lineage. We came out of the Velvets and Bowie and The Doors. They were part of our background and we were never shy of saying that. Now other bands have sprung from us and people should know where they came from independent.co.uk Ian McCulloch on former bassist Les Pattinson: He had these great, inventive bass lines. People have compared his sound on Over The Wall to I Wanna Be Adored by the Stone Roses - and Mani, from the Roses, who is a brilliant bass player, will admit to being inspired by the Bunnymen. icliverpool Ian McCulloch on how touring with the Bunnymen's changed over the years: (23.10.03) There were gigs in Europe early on that were really heartbreaking emotional affairs, just because we were more intense in those days in terms of the vibe we gave off and the one that the audience gave back. And now, I'm glad to say it's not so melancholy. We still conjure up the sadness and the atmospheres, but it's a little less "weight of the world". When you're younger, those things count, and they create an impression that you always remember and feel fondness for eye.net Ian McCulloch on their army phase: "I think Bill Drummond (manager) had the camo idea, but Will (Sergeant) probably suggested the netting. It became a roof to the whole stage, and you had to get in through a soddin' trap door or summat. We were in our own frightening environment. It was probably the most complete we felt onstage". You must have been delighted when the fans caught on? "Yeah. We were touring and just daily there'd be more of them wearing camo: a lot of them were travelling. I remember looking out, thinking, Fuckin' 'ell, there's hundreds of them in camo! It was the most exciting time. We were still a cult band, but we were leading this secret army" cobwebtheatre.com Ian McCulloch on Porcupine, probably their darkest album and the growing tensions in the group: "When we actually recorded it, there was a vague feeling of make-or-break. Heaven Up Here had given us this glamorous, successful image, but the reality of it was we were living on �25 a week. I mean, I think Porcupine is probably better than Ocean Rain. It's the most Bunnymen, way beyond Crocodiles and Heaven Up Here. But it was horrible to make and nasty to listen to. Try listening to Gods Will Be Gods on headphones in the dark without thinking, this is fucked up. There's bits on that album where I don't ever wanna go back there. It was probably the first album where drugs and bev were kicking in... us becoming distanced from each other. It was like Apocalypse Now! where Brando's chopping up pigs and putting warpaint on. The camo did it to us. It was the most claustrophobic time of me life. I was hitting the bev big time. Probably singing about the band, for the first time negatively. Porcupine, the track: Missing the point of our mission. We were suspicious of each other" cobwebtheatre.com Wayne from The Mission on the Crocodiles album: (5.12.04) I bought this fairly recently on CD, I only had it on vinyl before, and I�d forgotten how good this was. A huge influence on me, I think. I�ve never made a secret of the fact that I am a huge Will Sergeant (the Bunnyman�s guitar player) fan but I also think Mac owns one of the best rock voices of the last 25 years. And he�s a great lyricist too. Their first 2 or 3 albums were awesome. Should be where Depeche, The Cure, and even U2 are today. Yan from British Sea Power: He and his brother used to do Echo & The Bunnymen covers when they were first learning to play. Will Sergeant has also been special guest at their shows with Glide. John Peel: (10.1.88) Ian McCulloch of Echo & the Bunnymen would, I think, have come unplaced in an Ian McCulloch look-alike competition at the NEC Arena last Thursday. As a man who strove to look like Duane Eddy until I realised that only remedial surgery would make me resemble the man with the twanging guitar, I am not about to scoff at anyone who yearns to look like his or her hero or heroine, but the Ian McCullochs were pretty thick on the ground. You will not, unless you search a well-stocked broom cupboard, spot many Will Sergeant look-alikes, but guitarist Will was, reluctant though I am to single out individuals after a first-class team performance, my Man of the Match guardian.co.uk Tim from The Stills - a band that have toured with them: Ian McCulloch's scouse accent conjured an air of mystery. "He's a great guy but half of what he said I didn't understand - none of us did. He'd talk to the crowd and people would be hunching their shoulders, whispering What? What did he say?" The Stills @ bbc.co.uk It's also said The Stills are inspired by the Bunnymen - see what you think in this clip of Still In Love Song at auralgasms.com (it's brilliant by the way) They have also inspired Pavement, Courtney Love, the Flaming Lips and The Killers from what I've read online. Paul McCartney once said about the Bunnymen that "They remind me of The Beatles when we were just starting out". From Uncut Mag: The Jesus And Mary Chain and U2 borrowed much from their earlier material; you should also try listening to The Stone Roses "I Wanna be Adored" alongside the Bunnymen's "Over The Wall". "The only thing I remember is that I kicked her out of our dressing room when we were playin' Berkeley. I'd damaged me leg and was limpin' around the dressing room and people were laughing, and I thought they were laughin' at me, so I said, Hey, you, get the fuck out of my dressin' room! And apparently she was devastated - 'cause I always thought she hated me, but apparently she loved me - that I kicked her out. But we've made up and everything's fine. She came up on the Electrafixion tour one time and sang Do It Clean with us" dez.com/doug/bunnymen6.html From Uncut Magazine at cobwebtheatre.com "I think she'd been to see us in New York and been too shit-scared to come up and say hello. She went to see the obviously more approachable and less charismatic (laughs) Teardrops, and hung out... Christ knows what happened in the dressing room. With Julian, they were all doing acid. It was like, Hey, New York! Gary Dwyer's trying to fly out of the bog window, being held down by the tour manager. Courtney was totally into us. She liked Julian, but preferred me, apparently. I don't blame her! She came to Liverpool because she could, moved into a flat above Julian. They were a bit scuzzed up. Christ knows what they were doing, whether she was getting money wired in from her dad. It was a weird scene" Here is some stuff about Courtney Love and Echo and the Bunnymen from the biography about her by Poppy Z. Brite. Around 1982 Courtney met Julian Cope from The Teardrop Explodes in Dublin. Apparently they got on so well that he gave her the keys to his house in Liverpool and invited her to live with them. So after a few weeks, Courtney and her friend Robin arrived in Liverpool. When they found Julian's house, Julian wasn't there and his housemates were naturally suspicious although Courtney insisted Julian had given them permission. "I wish Julian had told me," said Pete De Freitas (who also lived in the house) but he tracked down Julian who confirmed Courtney's story and said she was a genius. Although Courtney mostly hung out with The Teardrop Explodes she also developed a lifetime love for the music of Echo and the Bunnymen. But gradually her behaviour began to antagonise the Liverpool crowd (Pete Burns was a particular enemy of hers) and Pete de Freitas finally evicted Courtney and Robin by leaving them a note. They stayed in Liverpool a little while longer but when her visa expired she returned to Portland in America. She later claimed she'd based some of her stage moves on Ian McCulloch. When she was living in Portland she began using drugs and wasn't achieving much. She dreamed that Pete de Freitas from the Bunnymen showed up at her place unexpectedly. In the dream, Courtney was fatter than she'd ever been in real life and was too strung out on downers to greet him. The apartment reeked of cat piss and squalor and Pete stared at her with naked disdain. She took this as a sign she needed a change of scene. She ended up moving to San Francisco and forming Sugar Baby Doll with Kat Bjelland (later of Babes in Toyland) and Jennifer Finch (later of L7). I was sorting through some magazines and I found a copy of RIP (an American rock mag) from 1996 that has another Courtney/Ian McCulloch quote so here goes: Courtney: I was at the Viper Room the other night and these two chicks were sitting on McCulloch's lap and I said to him, "Oh, how's Lorraine?" --- his wife --- and he's like, shhhh and I was like, ugh and one of the girls said something to me after and I was like, "Are you being a c**t?" and she goes, "Nah, I'm a fan" and I'm like, "how old are you?" She says, "24" and I'm like, "why don't you get a guitar? that way you won't have to suck rock star dick because you'll be the rock star." And she goes, "Well, I already have a fabulous career as an actress" and I was like "Really? Was that you I saw in the Dentyne commercial?" I mean, HELLO, take the f*cking power and turn it around! Jane: I think that's why a lot of these male musicians don't like Courtney because she did basically start out as a groupie/hanger on but then she went on to do her own thing and did it just as well if not better than they did and they couldn't stand that. Oct 57: Julian Cope is born in Deri, South Glamorgan, Wales. His parents take him to Tamworth, England, where he is raised and quickly becomes an outsider. 1976: Failing to get right exam grades, Cope surfaces at a Liverpool college. He meets Ian McCulloch, Pete Burns, Pete Wylie, etc, and forms a succession of half groups. Nov 77: Cope forms Nova-Mob with Wylie, Budgie and friend Griff. First release is a limited edition T-shirt. One show at Eric's club in Liverpool. Jan 78: Cope and Ian McCulloch start to write songs including "Books", "I'm Bloody Sure You're On Dope" and "Jefferson Davis". They talk about unfinished ideas such as "Spacehopper" and "Robert Mitchum". Jun 78: Cope, McCulloch and a friend play a selection of songs, including "Louie Louie", at Kirklands. McCulloch falls in love and the group flounders. Cope cannot sing but insists on being the vocalist. McCulloch leaves in a sulk, Gary Dwyer joins and the Teardrop Explodes is born. Nov 78: The Teardrop Explodes play its first gig at a private party at the stupidly hip Eric's Club in Liverpool. Cope still feels guilty and asks McCulloch to share the gig with his new band, Echo & The Bunnymen. juliancope.com |
