by Voodoo Billy » Wed Sep 02, 2009 5:00 pm
That's very sad news. I remember, as a skint 15 year old soon after Ocean Rain was released, writing to the Bunnymen's PO Box in Liverpool to ask if I could buy a single copy of their Freakbeat fanzine and (probably a few weeks later) an envelope coming back with a copy of the fanzine and a handwritten letter from Jake explaining that you had to subscribe with words to the effect that "If you're that skint here's a free copy of the first issue". It meant a lot that he'd taken the time to do so, even more so when I found out a year or two later that he was regarded as the fifth Bunnyman.
I'm sure there are others on the forum who will know more about his appearances with the Bunnymen but I know he played harspsichord on the Life at Brians EP and played keyboards and guitar on the 1986 American tour. I am sure he also played keyboards on the Bedbugs and Ballyhoo performance for the BBC's Whisle Test around 1986-7? He continued in the Reverberation-era Bunnymen and later recorded the BOM album with Damon Reece.