Echo & The Bunnymen is an English post-punk band formed in Liverpool in 1978, with Ian McCulloch's vocals and Will Sergeant's atmospheric guitar at the center. Ocean Rain (1984) is the landmark — grand, dramatic, and still their high-water mark — with Crocodiles (1980) the raw beginning. Browse Echo & The Bunnymen vinyl, CDs, and reissues at Wax Trax Records.
Echo & The Bunnymen formed in Liverpool in 1978. The classic lineup of Ian McCulloch, Will Sergeant, Les Pattinson, and (from 1980) drummer Pete de Freitas recorded the band's foundational catalog on Korova Records (a Warner Bros. subsidiary). Pete de Freitas died in a motorcycle accident on June 14, 1989. Ian McCulloch left in 1988 (releasing solo material as McCulloch) and rejoined the reformed band in 1997 with Will Sergeant. The band has continued releasing material across multiple decades, with Sergeant and McCulloch as the core members. Their 1984 album Ocean Rain is widely regarded as a landmark of the genre.
Echo & The Bunnymen's sound combines post-punk, gothic rock, alternative rock, and neo-psychedelia with McCulloch's distinctive vocal delivery and Will Sergeant's atmospheric guitar work. They are widely cited as defining figures of the early-1980s Liverpool post-punk scene alongside the Teardrop Explodes.
Original Korova pressings of the early Echo & The Bunnymen catalog are widely collected. Multiple anniversary editions and box sets have been released, including the 2004 deluxe editions of Crocodiles, Heaven Up Here, Porcupine, and Ocean Rain.
Listeners new to Echo & The Bunnymen typically start with Ocean Rain (1984) or Crocodiles (1980).
