Echo and the Bunnymen, November 1989

“It's time we had some good luck."

In my last Substack I ran a 1989 interview with Ian McCulloch about leaving Echo and the Bunnymen. This time, it’s the turn of the ones he left behind.

I wrote this news story when the band announced Noel Burke as their new singer. I was already a fan after following his previous band St Vitus Dance for some years.

This version of the Bunnymen lasted until 1993, releasing one album. Some people never forgave them for not changing their name.

BUNNYMEN

Melody Maker, November 11, 1989

ACCORDING to Will Sergeant, Noel Burke got the job because, "he's really inventive and he's got a cute smile". Both comments about ECHO AND THE BUNNYMEN's new singer happen to be true but they're not the whole story.

That could go back to Noel's first work with the group three or four months ago, to 1987 when he emigrated to Liverpool with his group St Vitus Dance, or to his days as a Bunnymen fan in Belfast.

"I used to have their name written on my schoolbag," he tells me without a trace of embarrassment. "I was a big fan, I had all their records and saw them in Belfast a couple of times."

When he came to make his own music, post-punk Liverpool was obviously there, though there was more Cope and Costello in the literate, original pop of St Vitus Dance. And when it came to finding a record label, Liverpool's Probe Plus was the obvious answer. The LP, "Love Me Love My Dogma", was released in the summer of 1987 and shortly afterwards the band moved to Liverpool, collecting Scouse musicians along the way ("We changed bass players as often as we changed our socks").

The group's praises were sung widely—not least in this paper—but they never reached the level of public recognition they had at home. They finally drifted apart at the end of last year from "lack of interest".

Meanwhile, the Bunnymen lost a singer. And it was the end of last year when the (then three) remaining members first considered Noel. The idea came up when Geoff Davies from Probe Plus gave them a copy of the St Vitus Dance LP. Shortly after, following a radio comment, the band were deluged with tapes and Noel heard and thought nothing more of it until several months later when the band returned to Geoff requesting, "more information — and photographs".

"We had a few drinks and talked about it," and Noel impressed the band with his knowledge of their back catalogue and his less than complimentary assessment of their last album.

The process was interrupted by Pete De Freitas' death but, when the others had picked themselves up, they went back to Noel. Rehearsals took the place of auditions and continued, on and off, for several months during which Noel started writing songs with the band and got introduced to cycling. Finally he gave up his day job in a Liverpool bookshop and the band admitted it was permanent. So when did he find out he'd got the job?

"I still haven't! It was never really said, it was like things stopped being 'if' and started being 'when'.

"I just went in and started working. It was probably the best way to do it. It wasn't just a question of saying, 'Does he look good in leather trousers and can he hit these notes?' They wanted someone who would be a full participant, not somebody who would do the job and do what he was told. It's not what they wanted and not what I wanted."

With much of the new material already written, the band were ready for vocal contributions immediately.

"We'd got all the music, Noel came in and we adapted things to suit him," says Will. "He does the lyrics—it's the way we've always worked."

Those who had taken notice of St Vitus Dance always rated Noel's talent as a songwriter as well as his warm, strong pop voice. Though the later, unreleased material was more experimental, their style—witty pop songs with tunes and twists—had no obvious parallels with the Bunnymen's previous material. But the tapes I've heard so far make sense of the marriage and make exciting possibilities. "More melody, less imagery," is going to be the obvious change.

Once Noel got used to the idea of working democratically and to the idea that he didn't have to write a McCulloch lyric he was happy. "That was something I was worried about at the time. There's things I've written that I've thought, 'They're gonna hate this', and they've really liked it, things I felt, ‘This doesn't sound like the Bunnymen.' It doesn't sound like the Bunnymen now but I don't think they mind, they don't hold things sacred."

There is much optimism at the moment about the next album.

"If the rest of the stuff we're coming out with is up to the standard we've done already, it should be an excellent set," declares Noel. "The stuff the others are coming up with is really good. It's quite a departure, and it's got more life than the last album."

The new band start recording in January but there are plans for some low-key gigs before going into the studio.

"As soon as we've got the guts of a set together, we'll go out and play to a few people to see what sort of reaction we get," says Noel.

Since the recent arrival of drummer Damon Reece, there's nothing to stop them. This time the recruitment was swifter. "He just turned up," says Will, "and it's turned out he's a good drummer. It's like he was sent to us. It's time we had some good luck."

Listen to Noel and the Bunnymen

Here’s the band doing Enlighten Me, the single taken from their 1990 album Reverberation.

Back in the 21st century

Later this month (29th November), Noel Burke is playing at Liverpool’s Philharmonic Hall performing Reverberation in full with a band. The show is already sold out.