Evening with the Bunnyman - Tunbridge Wells

[In The Margins]

http://www.thisissussex.co.uk/entertain ... ticle.html

Liverpool's Ian "Mac" McCulloch is unarguably one of Britain's greatest singer/songwriters of the last 30 years.

The frontman of Echo And The Bunnymen between 1978 and 1988, and since their reformation in 1997, he has co-written some of the most enduring songs in the alternative rock genre.

When tunes like The Killing Moon, Seven Seas, Bring On The Dancing Horses and The Cutter crop up on the radio, they still sound fresh and relevant.

But despite releasing three solo albums and fronting bands on some of the world's biggest stages, Mac has almost never performed a solo show due to stage fright.

Until now, that is. Setting out on his first solo acoustic tour, he has chosen Tunbridge Wells for one of the first dates. The loquacious 51-year-old told Go!'s Oliver Frankham about the gig and why it really isn't a good idea to chat while he is playing.

"I'm not sure I've ever been to Tunbridge Wells so I'm looking forward to it. I can't remember the Bunnymen ever playing there. It's nice to play somewhere new, especially an old, famous town.

"The show is going to be largely me with my acoustic, strumming through various songs through the years: some Bunnymen, maybe the odd cover, but mainly Bunnymen and solo stuff.
"I've never done it like this before. Whenever I have done solo shows it has always been with a band. The recent solo shows have been me with the Bunnymen band but without Will (Sergeant on guitar). This is the first time I have had the nerve to do it.

"It stems from promotional stuff I was doing in New York before Christmas, just before 400 or 500 people and it worked really well.

"I found myself being able to open up more and talk about how a song was written or what it means to me, the kind of recollections and reminiscences that you don't really have time for in a band gig when people are going 'come on! play this!' It gave me a different kind of feel to playing live.

"I've always loved the likes of Dylan and Leonard Cohen being able to do that, but it was always something I felt was a bit daunting.

"I've never been the type to sing your song to someone in a room. I can't unless I have a mic and that hint of reverb. To be on the stage hides the nerves even though I expect to get stage fright.

"It's the first solo tour I have done properly. At the show in New York it wasn't solely my audience, I was asked to come along at the last minute and it was almost like a party. There was me sitting with an acoustic and I had to tell them to shut up. Some people were talking up the back, but after some lunatic friends of mine threatened to do them in you could hear a pin drop!

"I don't mind a little bit of talking, but if it's in the middle of something like The Killing Moon it's like talking through Mass, not that I'm a Catholic or anything.

"I like people to listen, but not a complete kind of sacred reverence. I have found myself singing something like The Fountain and getting people feeling the emotion of that song and then hit them with a knock knock joke! I've got a classic which has worked everywhere I have tried it. I will save it for Tunbridge Wells.

"It should be a special show, tearjerking with both emotion and laughter. It will be more me than the person that people assume is me because I stand in front of a band.

"It will be a lot more open and I can go from light to dark a lot easier. I can just start a song like The Killing Moon or Nothing Lasts Forever and after that have everyone laughing their heads off and it won't seem out of context at all. It will be a lot more informal than my regular stuff with the Bunnymen."

[Mr. Brian]

It can be a bit daunting to go up there by yourself without that wall of sound. It even happens to guitar players. When I was an active player myself, I never wanted to play live without my trusty delay and distortion to protect and surround me.

[Voodoo Billy]

It's like using the bog in someone else's house. It's always prudent to flush before you get down to business to mask the noise of the unmentionables.

[Dr Cheese]

... and then hit them with a knock knock joke! I've got a classic which has worked everywhere I have tried it. I will save it for Tunbridge Wells.

Oh dear!

[In The Margins]

I know.

He's like the old Grandpaw that keeps farting or scratching his ass while at family functions, but no one has the guts to tell him to stop it.