Ian McCulloch: Mac to basics
Ian McCulloch tells Jade Wright why he’s happy to be playing a small venue again
I’M COMING to the conclusion that music doesn't divide neatly into genres. There is only good music and bad.
But there is one more functional subdivision within the good: iconic, durable anthems and throwaway pop. Ian McCulloch makes the former.
And, in doing it, he has become stitched into our cultural furniture in a way few musicians have ever managed. In Liverpool’s imagination, he's the ultimate indie icon. That bird’s nest hair and cheekbones you could cut glass with became intrinsically linked with Echo and the Bunnymen’s taut, haunting sound.
And now, in a rare solo appearance, he’s going to perform in Liverpool One’s stylish new restaurant Zeligs.
“It’s hard to live up to what you write about me,” he grins. “But I’ll give it a go.”
What I can’t quite work out is how Zeligs convinced Ian to perform there. After all, his last gig in Liverpool was at the ECHO arena.
“I went in there for a meal and I really liked it,” he explains. “It feels like walking into a scene from The Sopranos, or Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas.
“They asked if I wanted to do a series of gigs in there, and I thought ‘yeah, actually I do’.
“I’m going to do a mixture of stuff. Some Bunnymen songs, some of my solo stuff I’ve not done in a long, long time, and some covers.”
Read the rest in the post. Looks like the solo shows may be a blast! Covers indeed!