Veteran band could easily be called Ego & the Bunnymen

[In The Margins]

All hope is lost regarding the voice. Plus, if he gets so much "swag" why doesn't he wear something new? Do they know they're supposed to pay taxes on the free stuff given to them? Oh no! Not the IRS on their backs again! Bleh.

http://www.suntimes.com/entertainment/m ... 10.article

Veteran band could easily be called Ego & the Bunnymen

The erupting volcano in Iceland and the resulting shut-down of Atlantic air traffic kept many British bands — Bad Lieutenant, the Cribs and Gary Numan among them — from appearing at last weekend’s Coachella music festival in California. The members of Echo & the Bunnymen were already stateside before the skies filled with soot, and they used the occasion to kick off the band’s new North American tour.

Of course, even a fiery volcano might clam up and cower before Ian McCulloch’s ego.

“I think I’ve got the best voice in the history of time,” McCulloch said during a phone interview last week ahead of the show. “That’s how people know my music is real, that I’m not lying to them. I’m not singing for the sake of it. I’ve got one of those voices that tells you it’s the truth.”

His voice, a dark, brooding and now a bit croaky Jim Morrison echo, has been one of the two hallmarks of Echo & the Bunnymen. The other is, of course, the often wild and tortured sounds wrung from Will Sergeant’s guitars.

That the two modern-rock collaborators regrouped in 1994 after a sizzling spat was surprising enough. That they have now been together longer than the first go-round — a triumphant decade (1978-88) that produced such musical milestones as the acclaimed 1984 album “Ocean Rain” and their one American hit, 1987’s “Lips Like Sugar” — is an often underappreciated bonus.

Does McCulloch see it as one long but interrupted career or as two separate outings?

“Well, ‘career’ is a funny word, because I’ve never seen this as a career,” he said. “I suppose maybe that’s just me, maybe I’m being oh-so, you know, and thinking this is first and foremost a presentation of creative self-expression. But then, having said that, you know, we just got back from the Adidas store and loaded up on freebie stock. If it were just self-expression, they wouldn’t be giving me five new pairs of shoes. So I think it’s easier to codify what I said in that it feels like two different phases of the self-expression creative thing. The first 10 years were more abstract self-expressionism and were less realistic lately. And I think since 1988 when we parted company for a while, I learned to write more to express myself, more from the first person, focusing more on the lyrics.

“And there’s one thing I know about myself: I know how to write great lyrics.”

As an example of this alleged awesomeness, McCulloch cites “The Idolness of Gods,” the ballad that closes “The Fountain,” the newest album from Echo & the Bunnymen and the reason for the new tour. The song is “one of the best things I’ve ever done,” he said (of course), and it’s part of what led him to claim previously that “The Fountain” is the best Bunnymen album since “Ocean Rain.”

“Which is true,” he said, “but my favorite out of all of them is [1999’s] ‘What Are You Going to Do With Your Life?’ As a complete set of songs, as something I know when I listen to it that it doesn’t lie to me, it’s my most confessional album. ‘The Fountain’ is the most cheeky one since the old days. I got my spite back. It’s more like a debut album, more youthfulness about it. I love it.”

Then he gets back to that song, “The Idolness of Gods,” and how fabulous the lyrics are. They begin: “If the world was half as mad as me / Like that could ever be / I’d say the world was crazy …”

“It’s just so beautiful and pure and I can’t imagine anyone singing it but me,” McCulloch said. “And it’ll sound great on this tour because it’s got to be played loud, really loud, so that when I sing it you can almost see things on my throat.”

McCulloch’s next outings might not be so loud, though. Inspired by acoustic gigs he and Sergeant performed late last year, he said he’s aiming his next solo project at the hollow, wood guitar.

“I like watching old Dylan stuff or Lenny Cohen, really noticing the connection in the space between the lyric and the guitar. You actually get more dynamics there than going loud. That’s kind of the way forward with me. I want it to be more real so that every word is critical.”

Wait for it.

“Because if we strip it down, you can really hear how great I am.”

[Dr Cheese]

Mac doing what Mac does best - chatting complete shite!

[Frank The Bunny]

McCulloch’s next outings might not be so loud, though. Inspired by acoustic gigs he and Sergeant performed late last year, he said he’s aiming his next solo project at the hollow, wood guitar.

“I like watching old Dylan stuff or Lenny Cohen, really noticing the connection in the space between the lyric and the guitar. You actually get more dynamics there than going loud. That’s kind of the way forward with me. I want it to be more real so that every word is critical.”

Wait for it.

“Because if we strip it down, you can really hear how great I am.”

Hmm... I smell a self-produced download-only acoustic album featuring only Mac & Will. They used to have a word for something like that: demo.

Also - these "acoustic gigs he and Sergeant performed late last year" - wasn't that Peter Byrne, not Will, with Mac?

[the ghost of guitarplayer]

Stripping down (ooh er missus) was a great idea for a different way of touring a few years back, but an album of acoustic songs? No. I think I'll give that a miss if that is done as well. Mac should keep that for his next solo album, preferably when he and Will decide to call it a day with the Bunnymen.

[black francis]

I fear "acoustic" albums. You gotta have a really strong collection of songs to pull that off.

[the ghost of guitarplayer]

I do as well. You can get away with a few uptempo songs, but it's an open ticket for piano and/or string-ladden ballads and soft percussion. I don't want to hear anymore of those under the "Bunnymen" name. Besides, WAYGTDWYL? was the overkill album on slow songs. The thought of an album of 9-12 versions of the Idolness of Gods makes me want to puke, or slash my wrists.

[JackT]

How does anyone at an Adidas store know Mac from a hole in the wall?

[black francis]

He probably told them. Many times.

[withahip]

Hmm... I smell a self-produced download-only acoustic album featuring only Mac & Will. They used to have a word for something like that: demo.

It doesn't read like Will is in the picture on the acoustic sets. Just an acoustic and Mac's AWESOME voice.

I heard Mac told the guy at the Adidas store he was in RUN DMC.

Personally I'd be a little embarrassed wearing an Adidas Colts Super Bowl XVLIV Champions sweatshirt if I were Mac. Free or not.

[In The Margins]

From BOW (Bunnymen Official Website) news section, Peasy's official blog:

"Dan takes us to the Ben Sherman shop to get some free clothes, loaded up we then head off to traci at the Adidas shop for more free stuff, we are now starting to dig the L.A. Shopping life, as it's all free !"

One of the suits from Ben Sherman was for Will, for the record.

[Kounelaki]

Hope someone gives Ian a new pair of jeans.

[withahip]

It must be a relief not to have to keep turning your underwear inside out the entire tour.

[In The Margins]

Maybe he'll bring the free stuff home for the new mouths to feed -- "Illegitimate family! Look what I got for you in America. Free sneakers!"

[the ghost of guitarplayer]

Maybe he'll bring the free stuff home for the new mouths to feed -- "Illegitimate family! Look what I got for you in America. Free sneakers!"

The first truck of freebies is getting loaded up as I type.

[zabird]

That whole freebie thing is rampant in Hollywood, but it's always struck me as totally crass ... those people don't need free shit ... they can afford to buy it themselves. Esp. Mac, now that they've played Coachella. Not sure how much a band gets for that, but it ought to be enough to keep lil' [s]Daisy Mae [/s] Dusty Mae in diapers for months.