To: Reflective
From: Entertainment Muse
Date: Coachella April 16, 2010
Subject: The Fountain

Echo & the Bunnymen are an English post-punk group, formed in Liverpool in 1978. Their debut album, Crocodiles, met with critical acclaim and made the UK Top 20. Their second album, Heaven Up Here, again found favour with the critics and reached number 10 in the UK Album chart. The band's cult status was followed by mainstream success in the mid-1980s, as they scored a UK Top 10 hit with "The Cutter", and the attendant album, Porcupine, reached number 2 in the UK. Their next release, Ocean Rain, continued the band's UK chart success, and has since been regarded as their landmark release, spawning the hit singles "The Killing Moon", "Silver" and "Seven Seas". One more studio album, Echo & the Bunnymen, was released before 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 the band released Reverberation, but the disappointing critical and commercial reaction it received culminated with 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. Though Pattinson left the group for a second time, McCulloch and Sergeant have continued to issue new material as Echo & the Bunnymen.

Ian McCulloch was interviewed on BBC Breakfast at the start of Liverpool 08. He was asked about new Bunnymen material and he revealed that a new album, Fountain, would coincide with their gig at the Royal Albert Hall in September. He went on to say that the album was, "The best one we've made, apart from Ocean Rain."

See Echo & The Bunnymen perform live at Coachella April 16, 2010

See the complete coachella lineup

Previous | Next