Echo & the Bunnymen, why the rock press were “divs” and the secret of good hair by Will Sergeant

Will Sergeant’s just put out the second volume of his memoirs, both of them Sunday Times best-sellers, Echoes and the first edition, Bunnyman. Here he revisits the Liverpool of the ‘60s and ‘70s in extraordinary detail - the clothes, the records, the gangs, the school days, the early shows he saw - and the many reasons he wanted to form a band. On the agenda …
… ‘rockist’ cliches the Bunnymen detested.
… why America loved early ‘80s British groups.
… the powerful appeal of Jethro Tull, Status Quo, Slade, Roxy Music, the Sensational Alex Harvey Band and rock and roll theatre.
… clothes bought from NME small ads in the ‘70s.
… absurd rivalries with Simple Minds and the Jesus & Mary Chain.
… fond memories of David Thomas of Pere Ubu smashing a pig iron spike with a lump hammer.
… the ‘Porcupine’ cover shoot in Iceland.
… the charisma of the teenage Mac McCulloch.
… bands that borrowed from the Bunnymen.
… why the Ramones were “Status Quo with drainpipes”.
… and the magic ingredient that held Mac’s hair aloft.
Order Bunnyman here …
www.amazon.co.uk/Bunnyman-Mem...
And Echoes here …
www.amazon.co.uk/Echoes-memoi...
Tickets for Word In Your Ear live at 21 Soho on October 30th here: www.tickettext.co.uk/ysY3FvyFae
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[@mitchpoole179]

Will is a lovely guy. Him and Les are without ego

[@arricammarques1955]

Yeah, very down to earth bloke.

[@vaseofflowers4619]

Ormskirk isn't far from me in north Liverpool.

[@vaseofflowers4619]

Sergeant was my mum's maiden name but my grandad's family were from Bootle.

[@vaseofflowers4619]

I wasn't born until 1973, so Eric's was before my time. I first saw the Bunnymen in 1999 at the Royal Court in Liverpool.

[@reversefulfillment9189]

It's a good thing because Ian has enough ego for them all

[@danieladams9950]

Utterly brilliant guy and humility personified.

[@dermot51]

Met him after a gig in Dublin an absolute gentleman

[@markendicott6874]

Underrated and understated Guitarist, top bloke and always worth a listen. Cheers lads.

[@michaelb.9548]

The Bunnymen were a brilliant band!

[@alisonlucas3097]

The Bunnymen ARE a brilliant band!

[@joannaperry9596]

Is there really a nicer person in the music industry than Will? I don't think so. His memoirs are ace, totally unassuming, honest and a Liverpool legend! Mac maybe the voice of the Bunnymen but Will Is the soul.

[@garyrigby21]

Liverpool still has a great scene even now with a lot of young bands! i'm still going out to see them in my 60's

[@wiseonwords]

@garyrigby21 - Good on you, mate!

[@garyrigby21]

@@wiseonwords cheers mate

[@richiewilliams6875]

Hey hey my my Rock and Roll Will Never Die See at the barracades Buddy

[@richiewilliams6875]

Marvellous magnificent Magical majestic Scouse Mellon collie

[@monkimusic4813]

The Kowloons!!!!!!!

[@TheHenryPriestman]

Had a smile on face throughout the whole of this interview....wonderful, stuff Will

[@STEVEFINNERTY]

you got to love Will,, top fella.,, I was on before The bunnymen at a festival one time, after we came off i hung around sat down backstage as it was raining,, i sowly realised Will was stood next to me, just hanging out he was a cool fella didint say much but was totally there in the moment, he gave me his card, i never did say how much he'd influenced me with his reverbed twang howl when i was a kid, there was a time qhwen he was the only current guitarist that was doing anything important.

[@KevKavanagh]

That was brilliant. Saw the Bunnymen in '81 at Cloudland in Brisbane, looking at my copy of a TDK AD 90 recording of it now. Saw them again maybe 10 years plus ago in Sydney, where Mac led the crowd to sing You'll Never Walk Alone during the encore. Oh man, wonderful memories, thank you!

[@maryburke5423]

Their 81 set at the Manly Vale is on KZbin somewhere.

[@stevenkalata7119]

I love listening to Will speak and all of his insights!!!! His show Space Junk Radio is one of my favourites!

[@richardclark6858]

Great bloke.. Hairs better than Macs these days! 😂

[@maryburke5423]

Age is a great leveller. Will look fabulous

[@vaseofflowers4619]

@@maryburke5423 - Sergeants are handsome and pretty

[@StevieBluenoseScott]

Great interview, he seems a good chap.

[@plasteredbastard]

will added such an undefinable dimension to the band's sound. he shaped the 80s soundscape for so many of us.

[@vaseofflowers4619]

Nicely worded.

[@aaronolson2234]

Wil tore the front of his paper mached guitar off which contained an image of Alice In Wonderland and gave it to me while i was in the front row. 1993 I'll never forget that!

[@markhughes7180]

What a lovely fella you are Will. Looking forward to getting the new book for Xmas. I still have my 2 Eric’s membership cards , one pink , one blue. Must have gone over 30 times, I ran the minibus from Wrexham , or a coach for the big gigs , Talking Heads, Iggy, then 8 or 9 of us for some of the less popular bands

[@StratsRUs]

Very touching interview.Scooping my age out and returning to my youth. But music does that. I like that Will's fave war is The Cold War !

[@loratadine921]

His comment about drug-use and memory loss is spot-on.

[@btrav667]

What'd he say?.......just kidding.

[@tonyfloyd4227]

Saw the Bunnymen a few times, most memorably at the Lyceum in London. 2nd on the bill: Thompson Twins: Third on the bill: U2 - Bonio tried climbing the speakers, stumbled and fell marking him out as a stonking twit right from the start.

[@arricammarques1955]

Elfin creature, lol.

[@melaniedoyle2968]

Picturing him in hippie clothes is hilarious, big flowing pants lol. He's so charming in a low key way

[@tonynesbit9673]

I met him a few times in the everyman theatre bar downstairs funnily enough accidentally in the toilets,my first thoughts were you again!he most prob thought the same thing, a very nice guy plus a great guitarist despite what he says.l also went to school with McCulloch and wylie.ALSOP,swinging apple he mentions was way more fun than erics.

[@garyrigby21]

Will if your reading this it was great fun to DJ with you that time in Ormskirk i'll come up there again if your still doing it

[@tonynesbit9673]

P.s. there is an erics 40th year anniversary night on in the baltic circle on april 27th.

[@garyrigby21]

Eric's was Brilliant i saw so many groups there

[@alasdairmitchell6332]

Fantastic conversation.

[@Blueroomranfurly]

Reverberation is great

[@johnmorgan5495]

Brilliant conversation. Will are you still doing collage ?

[@hazelwray4184]

Will, are you... 'Will are you'? - it's confusing; 'Will' sounds like a request without a comma after it.

[@lindacooper355]

I asked him thar at a q and a. He said not at the no because he's doing the book promotion. Apparently he has an exhibition of collages and paintings abroad. Can't recall where but you can look it up.

[@jonathancole833]

Will Sergeant is looking more like Ricky Tomlinson these days!

[@versioncity1]

God, I thought exactly the same, glad to you mentioned it first....

[@swirlingfudge]

You never hear ‘div’ any more. Like ‘berk’, ‘Wally’.

[@vaseofflowers4619]

I use berk and wally still on the odd occasion. Div or divvy was never one I used. I'm 50 now.

[@swirlingfudge]

@@vaseofflowers4619continuing on from our convo about Dogtanian, there would have been lots of other things we experienced at the same time - eval knieval and bionic man toys. The rise of Roland Rat. Tom Baker being Dr Who and then Peter Davidson. Games on the ZX spectrum and Commodore 64. The Kenny Everett Show. The Young Ones being huge. Cheggers Plays Pop. Fighting fantasy game books like the Warlock of Firetop mountain. Beastie Boys and the nicking of VW badges from cars. Hearing the theme tune from That’s Life and thinking, fuck, back to school tomorrow. Neighbours and Bros being huge. I could go on 😂

[@vaseofflowers4619]

@@swirlingfudge Tom Baker and Cheggers hailed from my hometown. I found Cheggers a bit bland and sometimes irksome as a boy but I liked him more when I heard in later years that he was an alcoholic and suffered from depression. What that says about me, I don't really know. I never twigged that the Chegster was a Scouser when I was a boy though. He had a slightly weird voice that sort of disguised his provincial accent. I didn't mind Roland Rat and buzzed off the name, D'arcy de Farcy Airtours, that Roland & Kevin used regularly. The Spectrum & the Commodore were put inside large department stores in the city centre around the time I started high school in Sept 1984. I spent an ungodly amount of school time (for a Catholic boy) in those department stores rather than school by Easter 1985. Hehehe. Why not? Here's a touch of irony for you: Kenny Everett was raised on the next street to mine. My nan said she knew his mum but I have no way of proving that of course. Kenny...or Maurice was from Hereford Road Seaforth. I liked some Beastie Boys stuff. I still own Ill Communication & Hello Nasty. It was the videos that caught my eye. The videos were funny and my younger brother and I enjoyed buzzing off them on MTV. It was stuff like dummies being chucked out of cars and off bridges that made us laugh. My brother was still in school at the time and I am an avowed worshipper of all things puerile, so Beastie videos were great.

[@swirlingfudge]

@@vaseofflowers4619 I’m from the south, but I went to Liverpool University in 1993 (had a year out in Israel). I lived in a shared house in St Domingo Vale, Anfield. Used to go clubbing at the Krazy House and in the Cavern. And the Student’s Union on Mount Pleasant:

[@vaseofflowers4619]

@@swirlingfudge I used to go to all those places too. The Student's Union (if it's the same one) was somewhere we saw gigs and went to raves. We knew a bunch of students that were living in Wavertree and would party with them. I remember seeing The Orb in there.

[@innertube47]

Was the b&w telly to colour thing called diffraction grating?

[@martinlandy9032]

😊

[@Unfunny_Username_389]

"don't wanna mention the codpiece" 😅