Ian McCulloch, October 1989

“We were the best band of the early 80s — but this is the 90s."

Echo and the Bunnymen split up in 1988, ten years after they’d first started. This seemed to me like a good idea, for any band. (Yes, I know they are back together again – well, Will and Mac are – but then so is everyone else. That’s the nature of the music business in the 21st century.)

I interviewed Mac shortly before his debut gig with his new band. I interviewed the rest of the Bunnymen, with their new singer, around the same time. I’ll try and dig that out soon.

I liked the quote about being shy at Eric’s. That’s pretty much how I felt, too.

Starting a new musical journey

Liverpool Echo, October 20, 1989

WHEN Echo And The Bunnymen announced last autumn that they had split up, it seemed almost a perverse gesture when everyone was looking forward to the band's tenth anniversary.

One of the most popular, and certainly the most influential, of Liverpool's post-punk rock bands, the Bunnymen were still successful, selling out the Empire during their last tour.

But ten years is a long time in the life of a rock band, and ten years is also a tidy time to finish.

In fact, the finish was not quite as tidy as that. It had begun several months earlier when singer Ian McCulloch decided to leave the group.

Though the end, seen from the outside, was drawn out and the subject of much speculation, he puts the date as much more definite: "April 27th of last year. The last gig was April 26th."

That was the personal decision. The official decision came later and the announcement later still. And, in fact, the remaining members have since decided to continue as a group.

For Ian there was no doubt about the decision.

"I didn't really feel I could write songs lyrically on behalf of a band any more. I also felt that an era had finished, musically and also socially — whatever social thing we seemed to have of reflecting society and reflecting the fans' feelings. I felt I'd outgrown that."

The feeling that it was the end of an era was underlined when Bunnymen drummer Pete De Freitas died earlier this year. "If anything, that made me realise it was over,” says Ian now.

His new LP, Candleland, is dedicated to Pete, along with fellow musician Chris McCaffrey and Ian's father, who also died during the past year.

Not to make that public statement would have been, says Ian, "like burying someone and not giving them a headstone. And I think headstones are important."

The album, much of it written and recorded in the period of mourning after his father's death, has a solemn and very personal feel to it. And as well as standing up with the best of the Bunnymen records, it has gained much praise for the way it deals with adult emotions.

“I find channelling things I need to say a lot easier now after ten years," says Ian. Proud To Fall, the first single from the LP, says something about Ian's feelings about the group.

"It made a statement — mainly about the Bunnymen. It tries to explain that I was in love with the band and there's a point when you're in a band when you do get lost inside."

Looking back on the group, he says: "They'll always be in my life. It gave me a sense of purpose."

Before the band he remembers that, "all through my teenage years I always thought, that's what I want to be — a singer."

He recalls anguished times at Eric's club in the late 70s trying to find the courage to fulfil that ambition. "I always felt kind of scared. There were all these people running around who weren't shy and who seemed to be doing things."

In the end, Echo And The Bunnymen were to be one of the leading groups to come out of the club. But Ian says he does not feel any nostalgia for those early days.

"Everything gets better. It's like going to Anfield. As a kid I used to go every week, but I never understood it and I could never see the ball because I never wore my glasses. I go now and it's fantastic."

Looking to the future, he says: "I do think we were the best band of the early 80s — but this is the 90s."

He starts the 90s with a new band and ... "I'm hoping that I'll be playing with them for a good few years."

Together, they are currently rehearsing for a tour later this month which starts at the Bluecoat Arts Centre on October 21.

The group, who are going under the name The Prodigal Sons, are mostly local musicians who turned out to be more than just a backing band.

Though they were brought together simply for the tour, they found when they played together that "it felt like a group and not just session men who are told what to do."

Ian adds: "It's funny, it's rare to get that chemistry with other people once, but it seems to have happened twice."

While the official Liverpool date on the tour is at the Royal Court on November 8, the low-key Bluecoat date is actually the first time that the band will appear live.

"It's not to warm up musically but to warm up emotionally," explains Ian, and adds, "I've always wanted to do something at the Bluecoat, it's such a nice building."

He admits that he is just as scared now as when he first got on stage with the Bunnymen. "I know I will be nervous playing live again. I don't think you need to be nervous if you're good, but I will be."

The sense of purpose may not be the same as when he started out as an ambitious teenager, but it is still there. And he still feels he has something to prove.

“I have to go on tour and play — and play brilliant,” he says. "I don't think you can sit back and say ‘I’ve done it.’"

Ian McCulloch and the Prodigal sons - live review

Here’s the review I wrote of the Bluecoat gig mentioned in the interview.

Listen to Ian McCulloch

And here’s the song mentioned in the article.