Echo & the Bunnymen

Echo & the Bunnymen

8th December 2010

Location: O2 Academy

Tickets: £25

Liverpudlian post-punk rockers Echo & the Bunnymen will be playing Glasgow’s O2 Academy this December.

The bands original line-up consisted of vocalist Ian McCulloch, guitarist Will Sergeant and bass player Les Pattinson. By 1980, Pete de Freitas had joined as the band’s drummer and their debut album, ‘Crocodiles’, met with critical acclaim and made the top 20 in the UK album charts.

Their second album, ‘Heaven Up Here’, again found favour with the critics and reached number 10 in the UK album charts.  The band’s cult status was followed by mainstream success later in the 80’s, as they scored a UK Top 10 hit with their single, ‘The Cutter’, from album ‘Porcupine’ which reached number 2 in the UK album charts.

In 1984 they released their fourth album, ‘Ocean Rain’, which is regarded by many as their landmark release.  This album continued the band’s UK chart success, spawning the hit singles ‘The Killing Moon’, ‘Silver’ and ‘Seven Seas’.  Just one more (self-titled) studio album was released before vocalist McCulloch left the band to pursue a solo career in 1988.

The following year, de Freitas was killed in a motorcycle accident, and the band re-emerged with a new line-up.  Original members Will Sergeant and Les Pattinson were joined by Noel Burke as lead singer, Damon Reece on drums and Jake Brockman on keyboards. This new incarnation of Echo & the Bunnymen released just one album, ‘Reverberation’, in 1990.  However the disappointing critical and commercial reaction it received resulted in a complete split in 1993.

After working together as Electrafixion, McCulloch and Sergeant regrouped with Pattinson in 1997 and returned as Echo & the Bunnymen with the UK Top 10 hit ‘Nothing Lasts Forever’.  An album of new material, ‘Evergreen’, was greeted enthusiastically by critics and the band made a successful return to the live arena.

Although, after ‘Evergreen’, Pattinson left the group for a second time, McCulloch and Sergeant have continued to create and release new material as Echo & the Bunnymen, including 1999’s ‘What Are You Going to Do with Your Life?’, 2001’s ‘Flowers’, 2005’s ‘Siberia’ and 2009’s’ The Fountain’.

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