Is There an Echo in Here? A Podcast About Echo & the Bunnymen

In this "special bonus episode", Courtney and Shane catch another EATB show and recount their experience of the evening in podcast form. This was Shane's third live experience of the glory boys from Liverpool, and the band was in peak form, under hospitable conditions, at the Tabernacle in Atlanta, on May 13, 2024. This episode also includes a beautiful love story from the Bunnymen early days.

In Episode 37, American entrepreneur and music executive Seymour Stein makes the Bunnymen an offer they can't refuse. But, first, they need a drummer. Enter Pete de Freitas.

Join Courtney and Shane as they peel back the layers of reality and dive deep down into “Going Up”, the first song on the first album from, you guessed it, Echo & the Bunnymen. An interrogation of Ian’s lyrics leads to investigations into quantum physics, the etymology of the words “ain’t” and “thou”, the Truman Show, William Blake, Dr. Who, life, the universe, and everything. They discuss the inf...

In this episode we finish our discussion of the Summer '79 tour. But first, we take an unexpected detour into stellar regions. Note to listener: correction - in this episode we refer to Travis Scott, but we meant to say Travis Walton.

In episode 34 we recount the tale of the August 15, 2022 EATB concert in Atlanta, Georgia, which kicked off their current North American adventure. We laughed, we cried, we sang our hearts out. Get well Ian!

Just in time for EATB’s 2022 US/Canada tour, we offer you a thrilling in-depth exploration, analysis, and appreciation of Ian McCulloch’s often misunderstood speaking voice and his beautiful Scouse accent. Attend the concert with the confidence that you will understand his stage banter between songs. Follow along as we study useful phrases and vocabulary, and deconstruct a few Mac the Mouth interv...

Lets hop in the van with Captain Les Pattinson as he drives us and the band through the summer of ‘79, when the Bunnymen take their first steps into the winding delirium of tour life. We discuss some early false starts and successes, and a legendary concert at the YMCA in Manchester. More than a few times we turn down a side road and drive a little too close to the edge, somehow entertaining discu...

This episode begins with recent Bunnymen news and addresses some listener comments. We read an insightful letter about "Pictures on My Wall" from friend-of-the-podcast All Those Things. We then plunge into a discussion about the band's first single, its release, its reception, and its cover art, which includes a brief detour into the music of Lori & the Chameleons. We then delve into the mysteriou...

For their 30th episode, Courtney and Shane sit down with none other than Echo & the Bunnymen Guitarist Will Sergeant for an in-depth discussion about his new memoir, Bunnyman.

Your hosts are still reeling from a recent interview they conducted with WILL SERGEANT for an upcoming episode, and they are giddy and distracted. This episode ostensibly centers around Echo & The Bunnymen's new record deal, but spirals out of control when Courtney takes an abrupt conversational detour and decides its time to revisit A SHALLOW MADNESS, rehashing the difficult dynamic between J...

Courtney and Shane humbly present a musicological listening companion to the song “Ocean Rain”, the title track off the 1984 masterpiece album by Echo & the Bunnymen. They locate the song within the canon of nautical ballads, provide a theoretical analysis of the composition (form, strings, guitar solo and all), breakdown the production, and basically play parts of the song over and over again...

In episode 27, we take a multi-faceted approach to investigating another early single by Echo & the Bunnymen. Shane is super curious about the clave, an auxiliary percussion accent found in some form on all recordings of the song. We consult the work of theorist Susan Sontag to help us interpret the meaning of family photos in a world devoid of meaning and real connection. Courtney interrogate...

We begin this episode by reading an epic letter from a listener and lifelong Bunnymen fan. We address a review that we received. Then, we launch head first into the song "Happy Death Men", extrapolating literary corollaries, music theory analysis, hypotheses about the song's authorship, juxtapositions of its prog elements with its overall power chord punk essence. Okay, here we go!

Finally! Our long awaited episode about The Fall is here. They are an essential influence on The Bunnymen, and we need to know about them! Its a long and rambling one. Enjoy!

In our first episode of the post-COVID world, we dive into some listener letters about language and the atlas adventures. Then the episode devolves as Courtney begrudgingly delves into one of the many topics she loathes to consider: record labels and the music biz. Fear not, though, Shane maintains a sunny disposition about the subject at hand and the duo pull through. Courtney manages to describe...

These are strange times. But, fear not, we are here to bring you our finest episode to date! We interview Bunnymen merch guy, zine writer, website manager, fan mail responder, roommate, apostle, and all around insider, mister Peter Allen! He has been with them since the beginning and still is! Join us as we pull back the curtain on the inner workings of the band, and hear personal anecdotal storie...

Things are finally coming together in Episode 22, as the blokes we have been on about name their band and play their first show. Les surprises everyone by hopping on bass in the 11th hour. Will rents a practice space and hopes for the best. Meanwhile, Mac is a no show leading up to the gig… As the fateful evening approaches and the Liverpool post-punk teenage elite gather at Eric's Club, will the...

In our first episode of 2020, we welcome record producer, label owner, and artist manager Dolphus Ramseur onto the podcast. He is the manager of The Avett Brothers and several other artists, and he brings a unique perspective to the podcast as a successful music industry insider who operates as an outsider. AND… Echo and the Bunnymen is his all time favorite band! He reached out to us several mont...

In this episode, we explore what is arguably Echo and the Bunnymen's most mysterious song, "Read it in Books." Many questions surround this enigmatic song, including: Who wrote it? What is the actual name of the song? And, most perplexingly, why does nobody know the answer to these two questions? We set about getting to the bottom of these seemingly unsolvable queries in our typical circuitous man...

In Episode 19, we are graced with another knowledgable and insightful guest. Courtney had the opportunity to interview a real-life time traveler, Alison Renner, who contacted us out of the blue to discuss some of the subject matter we’ve explored in earlier episodes. It was immediately clear that Courtney was communicating with someone with a true understanding of the Liverpool scene. Over the cou...

We return from the cosmic, archetypal realm of episode 17 and land squarely in the middle of Will Sergeant's 1979 abode to join the Bunnymen where a band practice is underway. We focus on a burgeoning song called "I Bagsy Yours" and begin by defining the meaning of "bagsy" and it's usages in the Liverpool vernacular. We practice using this term in various sentences and we search for correlations t...

In this episode, we dive deep into the eel infested waters of the human psyche and wash up on an island shore where a single magnolia tree grows. We explore the cosmological locus of Echo & the Bunnymen via Jungian archetypal theory, psychoanalysis and astrology. As we embark on our second season, we are honored to have Shannon O'Neill, MA, LPC-S, LCAS, CCS as our very first guest on the podca...

Join Shane and Courtney for the one year anniversary episode! The conversation gets meta as we reflect on our experiences making the first 15 episodes, and how our understandings have evolved--of the band, of the Liverpool scene, of just what it is we are doing here. We prepared interview questions for one another, such as "Who is your favorite Bunnyman?", "Who is your favorite non-Bunnyman?", "Wh...

For the first time in the history of this podcast, we answer some listener questions, some of which were a long time coming. We begin this episode by addressing some corrections and grappling with our lack of knowledge regarding British name pronunciations. We then answer a listener question about Echo and the Bunnymen's mysterious B-side track, "Broke My Neck". Courtney attempts to decipher the m...

After nearly a year of podcasting, we finally reach the momentous occasion when the members of Echo & the Bunnymen first meet one another in the bathroom at Eric's Club. The episode begins with a brief yet meandering recap of our exploration of the burgeoning late-70s Liverpool music scene, where Ian McCulloch finds himself set adrift. After being sacked from A Shallow Madness and almost losin...