Summer Preview:
Echo and The Bunnymen at Amos Southend on June 23rd
Will Sergeant lets us know were he stands on Bowie, touring, MySpace, vinyl, and Mexican food.
By Kelly Morse
The summer preview issue gets me geared up for the season to come. At the same time, it brings back sunny memories of years gone by. I spent the summer of 1991 visiting my best friend, Mike Carinelli, in Athens, Georgia. As college kids will do, we spent the summer drinking, playing darts, banging on acoustic guitars, and flirting with girls. We also immersed ourselves in music, sharing our collections with each other as if we were imparting the secrets of the gods. That was the summer Mike introduced me to Echo and The Bunnymen. Hes still my best friend today because, in addition to being an all-around good guy and a talented songwriter, hes also the kind of person that will turn you on to Echo and The Bunnymen.
I was engrossed by The Bunneymen. The records sounded so different. Ian McCulloughs baritone voice delivered interesting lyrics with a real wordsmiths turn of phrase. Will Sergeants guitar work was stellar. Sergeant bridged the gap between the rhythmic arpeggios of Andy Summers and the chiming ring of The Edge and then topped it off with his quirkily melodic soloing. The rhythm section laid down a beat you could dance to even if it was in a sort of mopey proto-goth kind of way.
The Bunneymens new album, perhaps more than anything theyve done in the past decade, sounds like those early records that I fell in love with. They have embarked on a world tour that will bring them to Charlotte for a June 23rd show at Amos Southend. Will Sergeant spoke to me from his home in Liverpool where he was catching a few days rest between shows. He was thoughtful, amiable, forthcoming, and quick to laugh. He sounded just like Ringo to me. Does it make you a racist if you think all Liverpudnians sound alike? I probably sounded like a redneck to him. He said, You know? somewhere in nearly every sentence. For expedience, I have omitted them here unless I thought he was really asking me if I knew something. After he shooed his daughter out of the room, we got down to the interview.
Kelly Morse: This is part of our Summer Preview Issue. When was your most memorable summer?
Will Sergeant: Probably 1977. We started going to a punk club in Liverpool called Erics and that was the source of, the beginning of it all for me. Really, the punk thing started in 76 but I was a bit late on it.
KM: Youre coming to Charlotte as part of your world tour. How are the shows going so far?
WS: Theyve been great. All the shows have been great. Weve been all over the place. Weve just been to Argentina, Brazil, and then we went to Iceland.
KM: Who had the best food?
WS: Well, its always a bit difficult for us cause a few of us are vegetarians so you generally get rubbish food wherever you go because no one understands the vegetarian thing. Especially if you go to France, you just get a tin of veg on the plate. So, its never brilliant food for us.
KM: What can people expect from your current live sets?
WS: Well, we do like loads of the old ones, Killing Moon, you know, all the usual ones, really, and then we throw in a few off of the new album. Its kind of like a bit of everything from all the albums really. Its good. It really builds well, the show. Its all put in a good order. Every song gets a bit more intense if you know what I mean.
KM: On this tour, youve got shows ranging from giant European festival crowds to intimate American club dates. How does the size of the venue affect your approach to performing?
WS: The only thing is I dont like the stage being too big because I feel like Im sort of on me own. If Im over on the side, I feel a bit isolated over there sometimes. The clubs are always the best places to play. Youve got the crowd right there and its just a better vibe. Weve learned to deal with the bigger places cause now and then we do get in them. We did quite a big place in Argentina, just lately.
KM: When was the last time you toured the American south?
WS: Its gotta be a few years now, hasnt it? I think weve done the odd show in Atlanta. Thats about the only thing weve done to the south for ages. For some reason, we dont seem to getwe only go where people want us. So, if we havent had the offers, thats why we havent been going. Thats the way it works.
KM: Ive enjoyed every Echo & the Bunnymen record Ive ever heard, but I have to say that your new album, Siberia, sounds like a serious return to form to my ear. Did it feel that way while you were making it and does it feel that way to you now?
WS: Not really. To me, it was just another load of tunes. I never really thought about it like that. Everyones said it so much now that Im starting to believe it me self. I suppose it was getting Hugh Jones back to produce it. He did Heaven Up Here. He really produced Crocodiles as well, the truth be known. It was down as The Chameleons, which was Dave Balfe and Bill Drummond but they didnt really do that much. It was Hugh that was in charge cause nobody really knew what they were doing in them days.
KM: You say youre hearing from a lot of people that this sounds like classic Bunnymen stuff and critics are really digging it. Is it gratifying to find that some of your earliest instincts were perhaps the most spot-on?
WS: Yeah, well, I dont worry about it too much. Its like a journey thing and Im just carrying on with the journey. I dont mind people just liking the old stuff or liking a bit of both. It doesnt really matter to me. Im just enjoying what were doing. The new stuff, to me, is as relevant as the old. They work well in the set. Thats the real test. If they work in a live situation, its got to be all right because its kind of like a stripped down version and everything.
KM: I read that you worked in shifts around the clock to make the most of your studio time. What was that like?
WS: Yeah, it was sort of like that. We started about ten in the morning and Id go in. This was after, say, about a week. We got all the bass and drums down in a week or so. So we were all there for that. And then, its no point in anyone just sitting around, hanging about. We all knew what we were doing because wed spent two weeks doing pre-production with Hugh Jones. We knew exactly what was going on the record. There were no things that had to be made up in the studio or whatever. I went in and did all the guitars, or all of my guitar bits, anyway, in the daytime. Its just the way I like to work. Im a daytime person, really. Mac came in around seven oclock and he took over and did vocals and odd bits of rhythm guitar. Just the way it worked, it was a great way of getting loads done. I dont really like working with somebody breathing down me neck. I knew what he was doing and he knew what I was doing. Its a trust thing. Lets get on with it, you know?
KM: You get some really killer tones. What gear did you use a lot of on the record?
WS: The main thing I used was a Fender Deville that I actually bought in America. I bought it in Pontiac. Its a 110 volt one and Ive got a step down transformer over here. Thats the only amp that I used, really.
KM: Thats what I use too! I love it.
WS: Yeah, theyre great amps, them. Ive got an old Boss ME-10 and I use that on a lot of things. Some things that went directly into the amp and other things that went through that and into various bits and bobs. I had quite a few guitars to play with. Its just what I always do really.
KM: Ive noticed that on a lot of your tracks, going back over the years, you get some really great long sustain out of fairly clean tones. Do you use an Ebow or a Sustainer or something?
WS: Yeah! I Used the Ebow a bit on Heaven Up Here. I think it was Heaven Up Here. It might have been Porcupine. I used some on the new album, on the track, In the Margins. I like the Ebow but I went off it a bit when Big Country bothered trying to make it a bit like bagpipes or something.
KM: The band sounds amazing. How has it been to work with the newer members?
WS: Well, theyre not that new now. Theyre kind of like, slightly soiled. Its one of them things we just gotta live with in The Bunnymen because the core of it really is me and Mac. People are all in their own bands and stuff. Our old keyboard player left to do his band that he was in and he just couldnt commit to it anymore. We just have to kind of keep developing it and getting people in and out of it as we go. But weve had this current lot for a couple of years now. They have their own projects on the go as well. The only difference is weve got a different bass player than the album. We got a new lad, Steve, from Manchester. But we kind of keep a real tight rein on them. A lot of them were kind of Bunnymen fans, anyway. They dont want to turn it into some jazz-funk fusion situation. They want it to be as near to the original stuff as possible.
KM: Are there plans for a new Glide (Wills side project) record?
WS: Theres plans. I just havent gotten around to doing it. I was thinking about doing one with a lot more guitar on it. Ive just got this thing in my head where I could quite fancy doing a more guitary-based kind of thing, not as electronic sounding. Its getting around to doing it, thats the thing. I had a problem with me computer. It died on me, basically. I had to throw it in the skiff. I had seventy half-finished songs on it. The way I work is Im very instinctive. Ill just likedo things. I wont sit there practicing a bit or anything for hours. Ill just make something up on the spot and then Ive forgotten it five minutes after Ive played it. I remember when we did Killing Moon I had to learn the intro again. Im still not sure Ive got it right now. I cant remember how I did it. It was just kind of a throwaway thing that I just did in the studio and the producer looped it and made it into a little intro thing. I dont even remember doing it. That little intro of Killing Moon become so known, Ive been trying to work it out ever since we did it.
KM: Almost like learning a cover song.
WS: Yeah, and I dont even know if Im doing it in the right place. It never sounds the same to me.
KM: The Bunnymen have embraced the age of Internet music. Youve been real cool about getting stuff out on the net and doing pod casts. Do you think the benefits of connecting with people outweigh the cost of file sharing?
WS: I dont know. I never really got too worried about the file sharing anyway. People that like you will buy your record. The people that we have are kind of collectors and they like to have everything. Theres another sort of person that might like the odd track and theyre not really gonna make all that much difference. Theyre not gonna go out and buy all your records, are they? Before that, everyone was making tapes for everyone else. Whats the difference? Everybodys getting a bit worried about that stuff and, anyway its sort of turning round now, isnt it? Itunes and people like that, its really cheap just to buy a track. Its one of those swings and roundabouts situations. Its making it a lot more easily available, like rare tracks and things that youd have to go into a shop and try to find them. You can just sort of check the web and get them, cant you? Its like ninety-nine cents or whatever it is. Is no big deal, is it really? I like the Internet. Im a big fan of the Internet. Ive got all sorts of web sites all over the place doing different things but I am a collector of records as well. I do like to actually haveto me, vinyl is the best format. Weve just put the Siberia album out on vinyl, like a limited edition. Its like a gatefold. It reminds me of Led Zeppelin Four.
KM: There is something satisfying about having something to hold in your hands and you can look at the picture.
WS: Yeah, and the pictures great. It just looks fantastic. Its vinyl and its this gatefold thing. Weve never had a gatefold. Its a double album as well, so its a really good cut. Its like dead deep cause its only a couple of tracks on each side. So it sounds that good, if you get into vinyl.
KM: Youre my friend on MySpace. Is that really you or is that your publicist?
WS: No, thats me. I think the MySpace thing is fantastic, especially for bands. Its so hard to be in a band if nobody cares or is interested in your stuff. You send your demos to A&R men who get like five hundred demos every day and never really listen to them properly anyway. Youve got to see a band really to appreciate what theyre about, havent you?
KM: Yeah, MySpace rules. (Im such a dork. I really said that.)
WS: I just think its great for bands to get themselves an audience. Im a big fan of it. I think its that good. Its really helped. Im not really great at giving advice, really, cause I havent got a clue. Id say the MySpace thing is a good route just to get something going at least. At least people can have a listen to what youre doing. Its always good if you get a little feedback as well. Its encouraging. Even if like, just some person somewhere in the world hears one of your tunes and says they like it, it kind of keeps you going a bit, struggling. I know its hard to be an artist in the current situation.
KM: Tell our readers a little about Podlinker.
WS: Its still in its infancy. Me and the bloke that does The Bunnymen site, Peter, are doing a site where you can link up. Thats going to be free. Basically, you just inform us about your pod cast and we put it in a chart or put it in a category, things like that.
KM: Youre name has been dropped a lot by a whole crop of bands, notably Radiohead and Cold Play have given you a lot of props. How does it feel to have been an influence on so many musicians?
WS: Its good. To me its natural. The Velvet Undergound, The Doors, The Beatles, The Stones, Roxy Music, David Bowie, these people were all influences on me. Its just kind of passing the baton, isnt it? I remember Bowie going on about Scott Walker in the seventies and all the Bowie fans started buying Scott Walker records. Id never heard Scott Walker but Bowie opened that up. I dont know. Its good the way people talk about their influences.
KM: Back in the 90s, I named my drum machine Echo in your honor. Was Echo really the drum machine or is that a myth?
WS: Echo has become the drum machine now. What happened was, everyone used to think Mac was Echo. It used to piss everybody off, really, including him. We just said Echo was the drum machine and it just sort of stuck. It caught the imaginations of people. So, we actually call the drum machine Echo now. Its in getting repaired at the minute.
KM: Speaking of the early days, did you guys ever try to talk to Mac about his hair?
WS: (Big Laugh) No, not really.
KM: You should have pulled him aside and been like, Hey, about the hair
WS: Well, you know. We were big Bowie fans, werent we? Its just the next stage on from the Ziggy Stardust/Aladdin Sane thing.
KM: This is the same question Im asking everyone. In your experience, who is the biggest asshole in rock and roll?
WS: (Still laughing) I dont know that many people. To tell you the truth, Im not trying to dodge the issue! I dont really hang out with anybody. I go to the pub with a load of farmers. I go to a quiz on Tuesday nights at my local pub and its just people that work around here in the fields. One bloke grows tomatoes and another bloke works on the council. Ones a plumber. I dont really hang out with rock and roll people. I think thats always been a sort of Bunnymen thing. We never moved down to London and did all that schmoozing. We just thought it was all a bunch of rubbish and didnt do it. So, I never really met that many. Now, ask whos nice.
KM: Fair enough. Who is the nicest?
WS: David Bowie. Everybody thats worked with him, they dont have a bad thing to say. He was just a nice chap. You know? And he could be really full of shit, now, couldnt he?
KM: He could do whatever he wants. Hes David freakin Bowie
WS: But hes just very cool.
KM: Ill be at Amos on June 23rd for your show. I know lots of cool kids and where to get a vegetarian burrito within a mile of the venue. Do you wanna hang out with us?
WS: Yeah!
KM: Cool! Well hook you up with some good vegetarian food while youre in Charlotte.
WS: Yeah, I dont really like Mexican food though. To me, its just the same things in different shells. Its either sloppy meat wrapped up in a soft shell or wrapped in a crusty shell. Im not a big fan of Mexican food. I think its a bit rubbish.
KM: How about Vietnamese?
WS: Yeah, thatll probably be better.
KM: Were on.
Come out to Amos on the 23rd and pick up Siberia. It could be a highlight of a perfectly wasted summer. www.bunnymen.com
Oh, and thanks, Mike.