Still Game

FOR a rock legend of near god-like status, Ian McCulloch is surprisingly easy-going.

Chatty, warm and down-to-earth, he does not fit the standard template of musical icon. He may have been a cult figure for more than 30 years, with 11 albums under his belt, but the frontman of Echo & the Bunnymen doesn’t have any time for posturing.

I caught up with Ian during a break from recording at Liverpool’s Parr Street Studios.

“Does the Oxford Mail have a puzzle page?” he asks in his heavy Scouse accent, before I can get a question in.

“You know – crosswords and word games. That sort of thing?”

“Err, yes, it does,” I answer, caught off balance, having been warned of ‘Mac the Mouth’s’ penchant for not suffering fools gladly. “Why?”

“Because I love ’em,” he says warmly. “It’s my obsession; that’s how I keep sharp.

“The only problem is crosswords are getting too easy. Still, could you save all yours up for me from now until the gig? I’ll do them before the show.

“I find doing puzzles much more interesting than reading books – I don’t like novels – and I don’t have a computer. I’m a Luddite, and what’s the point?

“I do like the telly though. I watch any old rubbish, but especially the BBC news. After all I need to know what impressions to do.

“I love impressions,” he goes on, surreally – delivering an uncanny Alec Guinness followed by a passable Brian Glover.

“I need some new ones, though. I do a good Mugabe, but he’s slightly out of the news these days.”

I am enthralled. This, after all, is a man responsible for some of the best albums ever made, and who is cited by nearly every band I love as a formative influence. And he is an artist who has never stopped trying.

On Monday he comes to Oxford for what promises to be a historic gig during which he will play his first two albums all the way through, followed by a second half full of the rest of his hits and live favourites.

He kicks off with 1980s psychedelic post-punk masterpiece Crocodiles, featuring Rescue, Villiers Terrace and All That Jazz. He then moves on to 1981’s Top 10 LP Heaven Up Here.

The exercise follows his live show at the Royal Albert Hall performing classic album Ocean Rain – containing hits The Killing Moon, Silver and Seven Seas.

“I'll be playing them back-to-back,” he says. “It’s going to be a masterclass in rock ’n’ roll.

“Who else plays their debut AND second album? I can’t think of any other band. And there are songs on them that I haven’t played for 30 years.”

Surely he must have forgotten some of them then, I suggest?

He laughs. “Once the band start playing them, things will kick in.

“They’ll sound fantastic. Those albums were like nothing else around. We knew we were different – and ‘out there’. We were off the planet!

“I always said there was no other band in the world like us. But not because we had swagger. Well, maybe we did have a Liverpool swagger. This is the only city where people swagger while staying still.”

Ian says he is looking forward to getting back to Oxford. He last played the same venue this time last year, and has fond memories.

“Oxford will be the best gig of the tour! I’ve been there a few times," he recalls. “Last time I stayed at the nick! I was at the Malmaison, which is fantastic. The Christmas Market was on and I went there for mulled wine.”

The local show which made one of the biggest impressions on him, however, was his slot at the Cornbury Festival in 2007 – where the crowd included now- PM David Cameron who was dancing enthusiastically along with his friend, the filmmaker Richard Curtis.

“I heard David Cameron is a big fan!” he says proudly. “He also likes The Smiths, which I am happy about.

“He is a good Prime Minister and seems to be suiting the role,” he adds, returning the favour. “I like the way he leans on one elbow. He is more like a fella. And it’s good to have someone saying ‘I am going to do this because we are in a mess. This is how it is and this is what we have to do’.

“I also like the idea of him singing along to Seven Seas. After all, even JFK was a fan of The Doors.

“When he makes everyone buy a Bunnymen album – that's when I'll be proud.

“Before that, though, I’ll have to work on my impression of him.”

* Echo and the Bunnymen play the Oxford O2 Academy on Monday. Tickets cost £25 from ticketweb.co.uk