Echo and the Bunnymen

Ian McCulloch and company may be best-remembered for their big 1984 hit Seven Seas, but even though the Liverpudlian rockers have been around since 1978, they’ve matured well.

With their mix of pop sensibilities and progressive instincts, Echo and the Bunnymen - who last played at a V festival in 1997 - are widely held to be among the more commercially-successful and critically acclaimed UK bands to have emerged from the post-punk musical wave.

Certainly they can’t be faulted for their longevity. McCulloch split in 1988 to pursue a solo career, and drummer Pete de Freitas was killed in a motorcycle accident the following year, but the band re-formed in 1997, released the well-received (and appropriately-named) Evergreen album, and haven’t looked back since. Their eighth album, Flowers, was released in 2001.

McCulloch made the news recently after agreeing to play in the ‘ONE BIG NO’ anti-war concert on March 15 at Shepherds Bush Empire alongside the likes of Paul Weller and Faithless.

He said of this year’s V Festival: “For me it’s kinda like the best bands in Britain - I love Ash, and obviously Coldplay, so I think it’s going to be a great day, where I actually listen to the other bands.”

Official website: www.bunnymen.com