Echo & The Bunnymen

Echo & The Bunnymen

Echo & The Bunnymen are a British post-punk band from Liverpool, formed in 1978 and active since then. The original line-up consists of Ian McCulloch, Will Sergeant and Les Pattinson. Accounts of the group’s early history often mention a drum machine called “Echo” as the fourth member, although that detail is described as uncertain.

Career

The band’s debut album is Crocodiles in 1980. Its follow-up, Heaven Up Here, reaches the Top Ten in 1981, and Porcupine and Ocean Rain also reach the Top Ten in 1983 and 1984. Singles including “The Killing Moon” and “Silver” help keep the group visible during a brief break in the late 1980s.

The self-titled album Echo and the Bunnymen appears in 1987 and becomes the band’s only LP to sell significantly in the United States. Ian McCulloch leaves in 1988, and Pete de Freitas dies in a motorcycle accident the following year. The remaining members continue with Noel Burke replacing McCulloch, although that line-up does not make much impact with listeners or critics.

Burke, Sargeant and Pattinson later split, and three-quarters of the original band reform in 1997. From that point they release Evergreen, What Are You Going to Do with Your Life, Siberia and The Fountain. The band’s early manager is Bill Drummond, who later becomes a founder member of The KLF.

Style and personnel

The group’s music is associated with post-punk and, more broadly, alternative rock, neo-psychedelia, new wave, pop and pop rock. Its members across the group’s history include Ian McCulloch, Will Sergeant, Les Pattinson, Pete de Freitas, Noel Burke, Jake Brockman, Gordon Goudie, Damon Reece and Peter Wilkinson.