Les Pattinson - Career

Career

Pattinson met up with Will Sergeant again in 1977 at the legendary Eric's Club in Liverpool. They were both regulars of the Eric's crowd, attending the club several times a week. In the early days of Eric's almost everyone that attended regularly were either in a band, wanted to be in a band, or were in imaginary bands that existed only in the minds and bedrooms of the band members. Pattinson was no exception. He used to call himself 'Jeff Lovestone' and formed a band called The Jeff's, in which all the members were called 'Jeff'. He later formed another imaginary band called 'The Love Pastels' which consisted of lots of girls, all on vocals, and himself on vocals and bass. He also read poetry and bent neon lights on stage, going by the name of 'Neon Poet'. The poem 'Sand Man' that later appeared in the song 'Over The Wall' came from the 'Neon Poet' era.

During those early days at Eric's Pattinson and Sergeant had befriended Ian McCulloch, another Eric's regular, who'd been in and out of a few bands which had rehearsed, but not gigged. Sergeant and McCulloch began hanging out together and formed a band called Echo and the Bunnymen. They were offered a spot playing at Eric’s alongside another Liverpool based band that had formed out of the Eric's crowd, called The Teardrop Explodes. Three days before their first show, Pattinson was asked to join Echo and the Bunnymen, despite having never actually played the bass before. He'd bought himself a cheap Grant bass for £40 with only 3 strings. He would later replace that with the blue Fender Jazz Bass that he uses to this day.

Echo and the Bunnymen were now a 3 piece band with a drum machine, consisting of Sergeant on guitar, Pattinson on bass, and McCulloch on vocals. They played their debut show on 15 November 1978, at Eric's. Although the gig was short, it was received very enthusiastically. Bill Drummond and David Balfe, of Zoo Records, were in attendance that night and signed the band to the label. They were later signed to Korova, on the major label Sire/WEA. In 1979 Echo and the Bunnymen traded in their drum machine for drummer, Pete de Freitas. Pattinson and De Freitas would later be regarded as one of the finest rhythm sections in the industry, among fans and fellow musicians alike.

Over the next several years Pattinson lent a hand in writing many of the band's Top 20 hits, such as 'The Cutter', 'The Back of Love', 'Never Stop', 'The Killing Moon', and 'Seven Seas', and also 'Lips Like Sugar', 'Bring On The Dancing Horses', and 'Silver', which made the Top 40. 'The Killing Moon' would appear in the opening credits of the 2001 Richard Kelley film, 'Donnie Darko', and would later be used in an Audi commercial to be shown during the 2012 Super Bowl Game in America. In 1987 they recorded a cover of 'People Are Strange' by The Doors for the soundtrack to 'The Lost Boys' film. The song was produced by Ray Manzarek, keyboardist for The Doors. He also played keyboards on the track as well. Manzarek would later perform the song live on stage with The Bunnymen in New York during their subsequent tour.

After releasing 5 critically acclaimed studio albums that placed high in the UK charts, McCulloch left The Bunnymen in 1988 to pursue a solo career. The three remaining members decided to continue working under the name 'Echo and the Bunnymen' and brought in ex - St. Vitus Dance vocalist, Noel Burke, to replace McCulloch. After De Freitas' untimely death in a tragic motorcycle accident in 1989, Pattinson and Sergeant added Damon Reece, ex Spiritualized drummer, and Jake Brockman, keyboardist and long time friend of the band, known as 'The Fifth Bunnyman', to continue with the recording of their album, 'Reverberation', which was released in December 1990. Although this album would cause much controversy over the use of the 'Bunnymen' name, despite the lack of McCulloch, it was highly regarded among many followers as a musically superb album. The band later formed their own label called Euphoric Records and released another two singles, and had also done several international tours, before disbanding in 1993.

In 1994, Pattinson was approached by Terry Hall, ex lead singer of The Specials, to play bass on his critically acclaimed debut solo album entitled 'Home'. Pattinson also played bass for Hall's coinciding European tour.

Meanwhile, Sergeant and McCulloch had been working together again under the name Electrafixion. In 1996 they decided to hang it up and reform Echo and the Bunnymen. Pattinson agreed to rejoin the band. Together, they co-wrote The Bunnymen's seventh studio album entitled ‘Evergreen’. Released in July 1997, the album was greeted enthusiastically by both the public and critics, and went on to reach number 8 in the UK charts. The single 'Nothing Lasts Forever' also reached number 8 in the UK charts. In 1998 Echo and the Bunnymen teamed up with the Spice Girls and members of Blur as 'England United' to release the official song of the FIFA World Cup - '(How Does It Feel To Be) On Top Of The World'.

Despite the band having made a successful return to the live arena, Pattinson decided to leave Echo and the Bunnymen in 1998 due to personal reasons.

In 2009, Pattinson was asked by lifelong friend, Paul Simpson, to play bass for the newly reunited iconic Liverpudlian 80's band, The Wild Swans. They performed two very well received live shows at the Static Gallery in Liverpool in July of that year, and another in December. Pattinson also featured on The Wild Swans' critically acclaimed album, ‘The Coldest Winter For A Hundred Years’, which was released in the summer of 2011, followed by a tour of the U.K. and the Philippines, where they also performed live for a special appearance on the 'Eat Bulaga!' television show.

Pattinson is presently still a member of The Wild Swans, and is also a busy session musician.