One of my favorite Mac interviews

[black francis]

I'm always quoting the thing so here it is.

Some classic lines in there so read closely. Highlights for Jack:

Basically, I'm just an enigmatic, mysterious icon.

I would never be a goalie, that's mundane stuff. Plus I'm too much of a wimp to get it in the face. I always wanted to protect me face, 'cause I knew at some point it would come in handy.

If I'd had a boy, I'd probably have wanted him to be gay.

After years apart, Liverpool's leading pop scorers in the '80s, Echo & the Bunnymen, retake the field with a record se strong you'd swear they never missed a game together

Anthemic English band Echo & the Bunnymen launched a look (army-navy), a sound (surreal-romantic), and the career of one of the most distinctive singers in rock, Ian McCulloch. In fact, early hits like "The Back of Love" and "The Killing Moon" still vibrate with the urgency of his voice and nearly twenty years after their inception have not lost an amp of power. Now, after nine years of struggling outside the Bunnymen formula, founding members Will Sergeant and Les Pattinson have reJoined McCulloch (original drummer Pete De Freitas died in a motorcycle accident in 1989), and their new album, Evergreen (London), is an introspective, mahogany-hued beauty that finds "Mac" fighting-fit.



ALISON POWELL: The obvious first question is, Why are you going back under the Bunnymen banner now?

IAN McCULLOCH: It dawned on me that Echo & the Bunnymen is part of who I am. Without them, I've been a lost soul, and the second that I said yes, I felt whole again. It's given me my confidence back, and I now say, "We're gonna be the best band in the world again."

AP: Why did you break up your previous group, Electrafixion?

IM: It was a crap name. No one could say it. I couldn't say it. And we didn't do what we do best, me and Will. I think the album is quite good - it's better than Bush, you know - but it didn't pass the taxi driver test.

AP: What's the taxi driver test?

IM: When he asks you what group you're in, and you say "Electrafixion," and he says, "I've never heard of it."

AP: You said making this record restored your self-confidence. What stamped it down?

IM: It's a lot easier fronting something that you know is truly great than it is fronting yourself. Playing solo brought out the shy, insecure person that I probably really am.

AP: You're still quite a mysterious figure, especially in America. What, besides music, takes up your time?

IM: I'm quite private when I'm at home, too. Basically, I'm just an enigmatic, mysterious icon. [laughs] Sometimes I go and watch Liverpool Football Club. I watch the telly, I go to bed at midnight and get up at eight o'clock. I'm a family man, but I do like being lan McCulloch of Echo & the Bunnymen.

AP: Is that a useful currency, even as an alter ego?

IM: It helps me deal with being by myself sometimes - maybe that's why I drink a bit as well. I tried to convince myself that I drank because I was really good at it, but at the end of the day, it's an escape thing.

AP: You said you wanted to he the biggest band around.

IM: Not biggest, I said "best."

AP: OK, best. Why do you think there's so much machismo in British pop right now?

IM: There's not as much as in American stuff. But yeah, Britain's a very competitive country in many respects. For many kids there's a sports rivalry from the day you're born, and you grow up saying, "My football team's the best." It's just a real working-class thing.

AP: Even when you were younger, you had the sound of an older man. How does your singing feel to you now that you are older?

IM: I think I've found me voice. There were times during the Bunnymen when it was kind of fantastic for what it was. But I feel like now I know what I want to do, and I think that what I'm good at is a real emotive thing - though maybe it's gone a bit more Bing Crosby than I expected.

AP: Where do your songs get their romantic energy?

IM: I always felt kind of awkward, and I liked looking out the window at the moon for half an hour - it made me feel good rather than depressed - that and bad eyesight. My bad eyesight made me who I am today.

AP: How do you mean?

IM: At school the last thing you want, on top of being a bit of a clumsy, shy bloke, is to say "I'm a specky four-eyes." It's not cool, you know. I'm as blind as a bat, basically. So I never told anyone.

AP: What did your bad eyesight prevent you from doing? Being a goalie?

IM: I would never be a goalie, that's mundane stuff. Plus I'm too much of a wimp to get it in the face. I always wanted to protect me face, 'cause I knew at some point it would come in handy. But if I could see, I probably would have studied better.

AP: You said you're a family man. What do you hope your children's world will be like?

IM: Well, they're not going to be playing for Liverpool Football Club. I always wanted a child who could do that, but I'm so glad I don't have a son. Boys are nightmares, they just run around all the time fighting and making lots of noise. If I'd had a boy, I'd probably have wanted him to be gay.

AP: Why?

IM: 'Cause he'd be sensitive and not make much noise.

AP: Does it bother you that the Bunnymen are so inextricably tied to the '80s?

IM: I think somebody had to fly the flag of taste with some dignity. Bands would do anything in the '80s to get on television and have a hit record. I mean, the Thompson Twins, what was that all about? We fought it, and I'm proud that we did. I said from day one, Everything is shit - and I think that makes us not an '80s band. We were ahead of our time.

[tonywojo]

IM: 'Cause he'd be sensitive and not make much noise.



A bit like me then?

[Dr Cheese]

IM: I think somebody had to fly the flag of taste with some dignity. Bands would do anything in the '80s to get on television and have a hit record.

Spice Girls? England tune?

[black francis]

Sad thing is they didn't need the Spice Girls or the World Cup song. They had a gold album, charting singles and artistic credibility intact.

[Dr Cheese]

Yeah, what was Mac thinking!

[blinkilite]

thanks for the post, and the highlights at the top. those are some great quotes.

[withahip]

How did Mac stare at the moon if he was as blind as a bat and didn't wear glasses?

[In The Margins]

Maybe he was staring at a bare light bulb (minimum wattage) and couldn't tell the difference. But then his mother entered the room and told him it was the moon. She couldn't muster the strength to tell him the truth. Or maybe it was his sister and she was having a good laugh at his expense.

Or maybe he is just a bullshitter and likes to tell that moon story because it sounds romantic even though it's bunk.

[Frank The Bunny]

Or maybe he is just a bullshitter and likes to tell that moon story because it sounds romantic even though it's bunk.

gets my vote

[black francis]

Or maybe staring at the moon is code for whacking off to the Farah Fawcett poster on my wall? He is pretty much blind now.

[Frank The Bunny]

Or maybe staring at the moon is code for whacking off to the Farah Fawcett poster on my wall? He is pretty much blind now.

Ian McCulloch whacks off to the Farah Fawcett poster on your wall?

[black francis]

He did when I was still in the band.

[Frank The Bunny]

He did when I was still in the band.

I knew it! You're Jake Brockman!!!

[withahip]

Or maybe staring at the moon is code for whacking off to the Farah Fawcett poster on my wall? He is pretty much blind now.

He never thought of contact lenses or lasik?