Does it feel like you guys have had two distinct careers?
Yeah, I suppose. Once you get on with it again, it becomes as though nothing had happened, like time is slightly irrelevant.
In the period between the Echo & The Bunnymen record and [regrouping for] Evergreen, how did your and Ian's feelings change?
Once we got back together again, it was no big deal. It was a bit stupid. It became back to the way it was -- not perfect. Weirdness still goes on between the two of us. It's not like we're big buddies, going out drinkin' all the time. But what we do, we do good.
During that period, you did the Reverberation record [without Ian], which wasn't represented on the boxed set. Is that to say that those aren't really considered Echo & The Bunnymen tracks?
Yeah, it was a bit of a weird period. I'd enjoyed doing the record -- it's good stuff. But basically I think we should have changed our name. A lot of it was tied up in... 'cause Mac just kind of left us in the lurch. We were working so hard on what we'd been doing, we weren't very happy about him leaving. He just left because he wanted to be a solo person. A lot of it was like, 'We'll show you. There's more to the Bunnymen than just you,' which in hindsight is a bit stupid, but we were a bit pissed off at the time.
Artists are often of the mind that their most recent work is their best work. Has that been the case throughout your career?
I still really like Crocodiles, Heaven Up Here, Porcupine, Ocean Rain, and Evergreen. And this one [Flowers], to me, is up there with all of them. When you're in the studio and it's all fresh, you say, 'Wow, this is the best thing we've ever done.' But there's always tomorrow. I'm dead pleased with the album. The gray LP [Echo & The Bunnymen] I'm not too fixed on. We do 'Lips Like Sugar' live. It's an OK track. I just don't think the production's any good - it's too nice. We do it much better live.
How has your approach with the press changed over the years?
This is the first sort of press I've done for ages. I don't really do it. There seems to be so much of it lately that I've had to do some of it. My approach with the press in the past was just to ignore them, and then they go away. But I've been getting better at it. [Ian]'s still fluffin' his mouth a lot.
It was said that some of your earlier live shows were hit-or-miss. What do you think accounted for that?
I don't think we were as proficient as we are now. If something went wrong, we didn't know how to deal with it, and generally, things did go wrong in those early days, especially with the drum machine -- it was a bit cobbled together.
After you did the Shine So Hard concert and EP, you redesigned your stage show?
We just liked to keep moving. We were doing an Apocalypse Now thing. The only reason we did that was because there was a thing in the paper -- I think it was NME or Sounds -- that said we didn't have any image. And we just thought, 'Let's do a big mad image.' We started wearing camo stuff, and it just spread. Not just the band, but the whole crew, the manager, and then all the fans. Like a big army invading town, you know. We didn't know what we were doing. We were just having a laugh. We've done various things. It always involves a lot of smoke.
With the Heaven Up Here record, the songs were just coming out of you. Describe that time.
Mac always says that that one's my LP, but I never used to think of it like that. That's why he never likes doing any of those songs. (Laughs) It's mainly D, that album. I was going through me D period. I think 'Gods Will Be Gods' is all D from start to finish.
After Heaven Up Here, it seems like there was a bit of a drought of new material. What was going on then?
We were touring so much that we just didn't have time. It's dead odd to write songs on tour -- it just doesn't happen. I don't think there was a writer's block.
Also around the time that you guys were taking off, Manchester was building a buzz. Was there a sense of competition?
There was a sense of togetherness, actually -- between us and New Order, Joy Division, and A Certain Ratio. I always felt like they were great. In the early days when we were all punk rockers, my nickname used to be 'Manchester.' Even though it was only up the road, there was a different look -- more like a Buzzcocks kind of wooly jumper style. I always had an affinity with Manchester. There wasn't any big rivalry.
How have your influences changed over the years?
Not that much, actually. I still like the '60s stuff that I've always liked - The Doors, the Velvets, Bowie, Stooges, Beefheart, Love.
Have there been some newer bands that wound up influencing what you do?
Not really. I don't really buy new bands. I'm a bit stuck in '60s-'70s land. I've got a pretty eclectic record collection. It goes from classical to Russ Meyer soundtracks to lounge to Hildegard Von Bingen. But I don't really bother with new bands. There's nothing that I'm that interested in. I do like Broadcast, Stereolab, and Boards Of Canada, but that's not our sort of world.
What wound up being called Britpop was pretty vibrant around '95. How did that affect your thinking about getting back together or doing something else?
It didn't really enter into it at all. We didn't think, 'Oh, these guitar bands are doing all right. I used to be in a guitar band. Let's be a...' No, we always thought of ourselves as a separate entity. I kinda like some of it -- the early Oasis stuff is good.
What does the future hold for you guys?
Christ knows. Carry on the way we're doin' it. It's weird, because everyone's like, 'how come you're still doin' it when you're 40 or whatever?' Nobody said that to R.E.M. or U2. Bands that are seen as being dead successful -- it doesn't matter how old they are. For bands that are still culty and just groovin' along, doin' their thing, it seems like it's an issue. To me it's not really an issue. Fuck it. It's what I do. I do it quite good.
Why all the boats on your album covers?
I just like that picture on Flowers. It's from a book called Wisconsin Death Trip. It's a cheerful little book about this town in Wisconsin called Black River Falls. It's all newspaper cuttings from this Victorian period. There just seemed to be loads of weird things going on in this town.
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