Is There an Echo in Here? A Podcast About Echo & the Bunnymen

Join Courtney and Shane as they peel back the layers of reality and dive deep down into “Going Up”, the first song on the first album from, you guessed it, Echo & the Bunnymen. An interrogation of Ian’s lyrics leads to investigations into quantum physics, the etymology of the words “ain’t” and “thou”, the Truman Show, William Blake, Dr. Who, life, the universe, and everything. They discuss the influence of the band Love and Probe Records, the epicenter of Liverpool’s musical zeitgeist. (Thank you Hitoma Drone and Andrew Male!) And they learn about Cosmic Scouse. Finally, Shane offers a musical/harmonic/theoretical analysis of the guitar and bass parts. Let’s get the hell outta here!

In this episode we finish our discussion of the Summer '79 tour. But first, we take an unexpected detour into stellar regions.

Note to listener: correction - in this episode we refer to Travis Scott, but we meant to say Travis Walton.

In episode 34 we recount the tale of the August 15, 2022 EATB concert in Atlanta, Georgia, which kicked off their current North American adventure. We laughed, we cried, we sang our hearts out. Get well Ian!

Just in time for EATB’s 2022 US/Canada tour, we offer you a thrilling in-depth exploration, analysis, and appreciation of Ian McCulloch’s often misunderstood speaking voice and his beautiful Scouse accent. Attend the concert with the confidence that you will understand his stage banter between songs. Follow along as we study useful phrases and vocabulary, and deconstruct a few Mac the Mouth interview excerpts. This is one boss episode and that’s no gobshite!

Lets hop in the van with Captain Les Pattinson as he drives us and the band through the summer of ‘79, when the Bunnymen take their first steps into the winding delirium of tour life. We discuss some early false starts and successes, and a legendary concert at the YMCA in Manchester. More than a few times we turn down a side road and drive a little too close to the edge, somehow entertaining discussions about Bryan Adams, Rush, Billy Corgan, the Eurhythmics and more, making new discoveries along the way, before we pull out the map, aka the memoire, Bunnyman, by Will Sergeant, and find our way back to the narrative. Buckle up!

This episode begins with recent Bunnymen news and addresses some listener comments. We read an insightful letter about "Pictures on My Wall" from friend-of-the-podcast All Those Things. We then plunge into a discussion about the band's first single, its release, its reception, and its cover art, which includes a brief detour into the music of Lori & the Chameleons. We then delve into the mysterious inscription on the seven inch single, which reads "The Revenge of Voodoo Billy". This leads to an exploration of ghost stories and hauntings of Liverpool. Finally, Will Sergeant sets the record straight in the conclusion of our interview with the legendary Bunnyman himself.

For their 30th episode, Courtney and Shane sit down with none other than Echo & the Bunnymen Guitarist Will Sergeant for an in-depth discussion about his new memoir, Bunnyman.

Your hosts are still reeling from a recent interview they conducted with WILL SERGEANT for an upcoming episode, and they are giddy and distracted. This episode ostensibly centers around Echo & The Bunnymen's new record deal, but spirals out of control when Courtney takes an abrupt conversational detour and decides its time to revisit A SHALLOW MADNESS, rehashing the difficult dynamic between Julian Cope/Ian McCulloch. Then the hosts take a stroll down Balfe Boulevard where the discussion is again derailed by a cursory exploration of DALEK I LOVE YOU, and David Balfe endearingly hails Julian Cope as “not quite nobody, but not one of the main guys.” Along the way, Mac starts showing a degree of initiative, and Shane mentions TEARS FOR FEARS twice for no reason. The conversation deteriorates into a pile up of sidebars and segues, that somehow coalesce into an offer from a record company that can't be refused. However, none of it really seems to matter because in the next episode will be an interview with the greatest guitarist of all time, WILL SERGEANT. Hopefully this episode will keep you occupied in the meantime.

Courtney and Shane humbly present a musicological listening companion to the song “Ocean Rain”, the title track off the 1984 masterpiece album by Echo & the Bunnymen. They locate the song within the canon of nautical ballads, provide a theoretical analysis of the composition (form, strings, guitar solo and all), breakdown the production, and basically play parts of the song over and over again, while they talk over it. Cheers!

Songs featured:

EATBM - Ocean Rain

The Longest Johns - Banks of Newfoundland

Anna & Elizabeth - Black-eyed Susan

King Crimson - Starless

In episode 27, we take a multi-faceted approach to investigating another early single by Echo & the Bunnymen. Shane is super curious about the clave, an auxiliary percussion accent found in some form on all recordings of the song. We consult the work of theorist Susan Sontag to help us interpret the meaning of family photos in a world devoid of meaning and real connection. Courtney interrogates the ostensibly revolutionary undertones to the lyrics. And Shane provides an in-depth musical analysis of the chord progression. And we postulate that, at the end of the day, this is perhaps the perfect anthem for the Covid era. Also, we respond to some listener letters, where one listener elucidates the true meaning of Happy Death Men.