Echo and the Bunnymen
| Echo & the Bunnymen | |
|---|---|
Will Sergeant (left) and Ian McCulloch (right) at the Frequenze Disturbate Festival in August 2005
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| Background information | |
| Origin | Liverpool, England |
| Genres | Post-punk, neo-psychedelia, alternative rock, new wave |
| Years active | 1978–1993, 1996–present |
| Labels | Zoo, Sire, Warner Bros., Euphoric, London, Cooking Vinyl, Ocean Rain |
| Associated acts | Electrafixion |
| Website | www |
| Members | |
| Past members |
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Echo & the Bunnymen are an English rock band formed in Liverpool in 1978. The original line-up consisted of vocalist Ian McCulloch, guitarist Will Sergeant and bass player Les Pattinson, supplemented by a drum machine. By 1980, Pete de Freitas joined as the band's drummer.
Their 1980 debut album, Crocodiles, went into the top 20 of the UK Albums Chart. The band's cult status was followed by mainstream success in 1983 as they scored a UK Top 10 hit with "The Cutter", and the attendant album, Porcupine, which reached number 2 in the UK. Ocean Rain (1984), continued the band's UK chart success, and has since been regarded as one of the landmark releases of the post-punk movement, with the single "The Killing Moon".
In 1988, the band split. In 1989, de Freitas was killed in a motorcycle accident and the band briefly re-emerged with a new singer. After working together as Electrafixion, McCulloch and Sergeant regrouped with Pattinson in 1997 and returned as Echo & the Bunnymen.
Ian McCulloch began his career in 1977, as one third of the Crucial Three, a bedroom band which also featured Julian Cope and Pete Wylie. When Wylie left, McCulloch and Cope formed the short-lived A Shallow Madness with drummer Dave Pickett and organist Paul Simpson, during which time such songs as "Read It in Books", "Robert Mitchum", "You Think It's Love" and "Spacehopper" were written by the pair. When Cope sacked McCulloch from the band, A Shallow Madness changed their name to The Teardrop Explodes, and McCulloch joined forces with guitarist Will Sergeant and bass player Les Pattinson to form Echo & the Bunnymen. This early incarnation of the band featured a drum machine, assumed by many to be "Echo", though this has been denied by the band. In the 1982 book Liverpool Explodes!, Will Sergeant explained the origin of the band's name:
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