Background
After leaving Echo & the Bunnymen in 1988 to pursue a solo career, vocalist Ian McCulloch released two albums that were not commercial successes. Despite McCulloch's departure and drummer Pete de Freitas's death, guitarist Will Sergeant and bassist Les Pattinson decided to recruit three new members – Noel Burke (vocals), Jake Brockman (keyboards) and Damon Reece (drums) – and continue with the same band name, which angered McCulloch. The Bunnymen released one further album, Reverberation (1990), which critics and fans alike received poorly. WEA Records subsequently dropped the group, who went on to break-up in early 1993.
McCulloch met former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr in 1993 and they wrote and recorded an album, tentatively titled Touch Down. The album was to be released in early 1994; however, despite McCulloch and Marr being happy with the album, Rob Dickins at WEA felt it was missing some element. Dickins suggested to McCulloch that Sergeant be brought in to do some work. McCulloch was initially sceptical because he had not spoken with Sergeant since de Freitas's funeral; however, he did give the idea some thought. Before McCulloch had chance to contact Sergeant, a mutual friend persuaded the pair to meet socially. While McCulloch and Sergeant were being reacquainted, the tapes from the McCulloch and Marr sessions disappeared. McCulloch was not upset about this as he and Sergeant had started working together as Electrafixion.
With McCulloch influenced by American alternative rock bands such as Nirvana and The Smashing Pumpkins, the group employed a heavier sound than Echo & the Bunnymen's previous work. After successfully touring the United Kingdom and refusing to play any Echo & the Bunnymen material, Electrafixion released their only album, Burned, in September 1995. Despite critics giving the album good reviews, sales of it and the follow-up singles were disappointing. After embarking on a tour of the United States in 1996, Electrafixion eventually gave in to fan pressure and began to introduce Echo & the Bunnymen material to their live set. Sergeant felt that as the band were playing Echo & the Bunnymen songs, they might as well reform Echo & the Bunnymen; however, McCulloch was initially opposed to the idea. McCulloch changed his mind and, having persuaded Pattinson to come out of retirement, Echo & the Bunnymen was reformed in mid-1996. McCulloch felt Echo & the Bunnymen could not reform without Pattinson and described the bassist's involvement as "integral". McCulloch went on to say it was important to "feel like the original group". He has also said, "Right from the first demo we realised that we'd still got that chemistry."
Read more about this topic: Evergreen (Echo & The Bunnymen Album)
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