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Ian McCulloch: I reckon Will Sergeant is the best guitarist in the world - he's certainly the most inventive and influential. But he hides his light under a bushel, which probably explains why he doesn't get in those Top 100 guitarists in the world lists.  Q Magazine: Their earliest shows, many in that narcissistic hothouse of the Liverpool punk scene Eric's Club, were tentative affairs. "Whenever we broke a string, that was it. We had to go off" recollects Will Sergeant, to general sniggers of cynical nostalgia. There's an interview with Will & Les Pattinson from 1997 at varsity.utoronto.ca And a 2003 interview at uptownmag.com How did you meet Will Sergeant, the man you described in 1997 as "the greatest guitarist of his generation"? Ian McCulloch: "I met him in the ladies' toilets in Kirklands, this poncy wine bar, and we talked World of David Bowie songs. He was also into The Thirteenth Floor Elevators and Television. He said, I've heard about you. Wanna form a group? It turned out Will knew Paul Simpson (later of Zoo outfit The Wild Swans), another big Bowie fan, and one thing Paul said, which Will told me, was, If you wanna be a star, go and see Mac" Did you hit it off straight away? Ian McCulloch: "His house smelled of dope, had carpet tiles. He only spoke about three sentences, about the drum machine. Shall we have Rock 1 or Rock 2? 1 thought he was genuinely weird" So what was the chemistry? Ian McCulloch: "I felt awkward around him, as he does around me. Despite what we sometimes say about each other, there's a real bond there, and it's only ego, pride and stubbornness that fucks it up. It's a weird chemistry, because sometimes socially it's an anti-chemistry. Other nights, we're laughing so much we're both in tears. I've got this respect for him, but he infuriates me as I probably do him" James: (2004) This is probably one of the most obscure things in my record collection. It's by Will Sergeant, the guitarist from Echo & The Bunnymen. Who of course is not obscure whatsoever but I've never seen this record in any shops at all. And this is his little solo project and this was an album called The Grind which was for a movie that didn't exist. So Will Sergeant went and recorded a movie soundtrack just like Barry Adamson does sometimes, and recorded music for a film that just wasn't there. And I'd just like to read you a bit from the liner: It just says: In 1993 Grind drifted in the old port of Bristol England with the memories and skills of a Spanish conquistador. Once more valiant and crazed than the rest he's befriended by two young street kids, he sees how they're exploited and oppressed just as he once had oppressed the proud (something) peoples, he sets out to redress the balance. Brian (or is that Grind?) is a film character without a film. Effing sad (James words) really. So this is Will Sergeant the guitarist from Echo & The Bunnymen. This is a solo project. Themes from Grind. And this is Scene 1... Will Sergeant: (2000) "Kids of today are not very rebellious, it is like zombie time... I don't wanna sound like my dad but kids really buy all the shit served to them and nobody is challenging anything. There are few good things and the rest is utter shite. It's getting blander and blander and I can't be optimistic about the future of music. The only good, new thing is the Internet and I love it. I really believe it is the future although severely restricted right now. I feel that people who download your MP3 are usually fans who already have your record; there are going to be some who stumble on your Website and they might end up buying your record but claiming to lose such random visitors as customers is rubbish as it isn't easy to download things..." "It's the same when people are taping music and giving it to others. If that person really likes a record, he or she will go and buy it. It's a form of advertising and all people are doing are sharing files. I don't know how people are losing money when the files are shared?! I think it is a bigger problem that people are not into music as they used to be in the past because there are so many other things to divert attention and entertain. I'm not into music myself; I buy a thing or two from time to time and have realised that modern things are crap and there is much more adventurous stuff in the past. I did download few things and it was for information purpose only and when I liked something I did go out and buy it, like an album of Theremin (ancient synthesizer) music from the 1930s" deo2.com Incase you don't have time to look through the Photoblog I've given links to some pics (mostly early Bunnymen) I'll try and finish looking at the Blog and add more links here soon (but then again...) John Peel Will writes: The mighty John Peel, holding my friends baby Louie in the summer. Without Peely the world is significantly a poorer place. After the first Bunnymen "Peel session" he called us "the mighty Echo and the Bunnymen" his approval meant more to me than any amount of records sold or Top of the Pops chart position. Rest in peace John. Crowd shot Another crowd shot, looks like somewhere in the U.K. not sure where. Early 80's. I took the photo, I often took pics of the crowd. The lights on the crowd are most likely because of our backlit light show. The last song of the set, as this is when I would have had time to take the pic. "Do it clean" or "Over the wall". There's also a picture of Ian McCulloch by Will Will also says: Yorkie (now in Space) The Teardrops and Bunnymen rehearsed in the basement of his Mums (Gladys) house. I recall a shout from up the basement stairs. "Can't you turn them f***ing drums down you shower of noisy bastards".... Gladys is sadly no longer with us. Live Photo Marc Portea. Brussels early 80's. Looks like Rescue. Live Photo This must be around the time of "Ocean Rain", when we all went acoustic mad, mainly because we got some free ones from Washburn guitars.... It looks like "Yo Yo Man". I don't remember playing any other songs with the accy. Middle 80's. Live Photo Brussels Belgium about 1981. The Bunnymen would arrive in European Towns and Citys like an invading army. All the crew wore the camo gear as well as us and Big Bill. It was like the scouts for grown ups. We would find the local army surplus stores and buy not just the clothes but knives ammo boxes and belts, first aid kits and all kinds of crap. We would have bought S.A.M. missiles if we could have got away with it. Les bought a bullet proof vest that weighed a ton, all that shoulder shuffling with that strapped to his body, fit as a fiddle.... Another post mentions Courtney Love who'd hang around as part of the scene (picture link) The "Wild Swans" Ged Quinn and Paul Simpson. The Wild Swans came on tour with us very early 80s. Not sure where this was taken, it looks freezing. Pete had a flat in Devonshire Road Toxteth Liverpool with Paul Simpson and Julian Cope around this time. Courtney and her friend Robin also hung out here... Will's reply to someone who asked: yes it's "that" Courtney. Photo shoot This was our very first Photo session, 1978 or 79. Eric's. Mac is wearing Les's Mum's jumper, Les is wearing my jacket and I am wearing a home made leather tie... nice. Eric's 15 November 1978 Bill Drummond (far left) looks on as we play what I think is "Monkeys" by the look of it. We did not know Bill that well at this point we only knew he was in "Big in Japan". We all liked "Big in Japan" mainly because of Jayne Casey. She was always friendly to us, after our first gig at Eric's she came into the dressing room raving about us saying how great it was, it really meant a lot to us, she was part of Eric's royalty, I felt accepted. The 2 Lads talking are brothers called Cuningham I can't remember their first names, they were in a band called "The Germs". Les doesn't look too impressed with them chatting away during the song. Les is using the Other bands ("Ton Trix") orange amp, we all thought it looked a bit "prog rock" and too professional but we had very little equipment of our own at this point. Without Eric's the Bunnymen would not have existed. He goes on to say: We had about 5 (songs) at this stage. We only played the 12 minute version of "Monkeys" at the first gig, this was the second gig. I would guess the set was something like "Stars are stars", "Read it in books", "Pictures on my wall", "Mr. also called "Instro", "Monkeys". Will answers fans questions: What amp are you playing? It was called a Fal bought from Freemans catalogue on the weekly. Later sold to Yorkie and as far as I know he still has it. Who did your sound in the early days? Or did you just use the in-house engineer? God knows we didn't even know what a sound man was in them days. Les looks a little pissed off. We were not big fans of the Cuningham, boys bit too sarcastic for their own good. Eric's 15 November 1978 We were supporting Ton Trix a local band. This was our second gig. We used my drum machine, a "Mini Pops Junior", later we got so fed up with people thinking Mac was "Echo" we started to say "Echo" was the drum machine, and this has stuck, even the new drum machine (25 year old) we call "Echo". Les had a Guild Bass he bought off another Eric's head called Robbie. It only had three strings on for ages. He bought a short scale Fender Jaguar Bass a few months after. I had my Telecaster bought from Rushworths on H.P. that is now known as the "Pop Art Tele". The picture was taken by Julie Marsh an Eric's regular. All I remember about the gig is I was scared stiff and worrying the drum machine I was in control of was going to stop. Paris: Bill and Mac Mac imparts wisdom as Bill looks for some burning money. Scotland early 80's Les has a stretch after a long drive (Les always did the driving back then). Mac will have just woke up he looks a bit groggy. Pete on a lovely sunny day (remember them) Mount Street Liverpool 88 I think. On the day he took possession of his beloved Duke. Photo by the Captain? Pete at Rockfield studios Reading the comments it's mentioned that when he shaved his hair off Ian McCulloch didn't like that he'd done it. |
