Berk is a British slang term that means a foolish or stupid person:
“I think it’s pretty obvious what I think. Noel Burke… the name says it all really doesn’t it? No, that’s not fair. It wasn’t his fault, it was Will and Pete who were the berks really. But no, I thought it was disgraceful and after that I suppose it was quite surprising that I continued working with Will after that. I’m glad I did though. Johnny Marr called them Echo and the Bogusmen when that happened.” – Ian McCullough
Wise words from the Echo & the Bunnymen frontman there. At the end of Ian McCullough’s initial tenure with the Bunnymen, he felt contempt as he felt he was the one doing “every sodding interview, writing sodding every song.” But how did it get to that point for McCullough and how did he end up back with the Bunnymen? First we must go back to 1978 and explore how the Bunnymen came to be.
Echo & The Bunnymen were formed in 1978 by of course, Ian McCullough as the lead vocalist, Will Sergeant as the guitarist, and Les Pattinson as the Bassist. The Lineup wasn’t complete until the addition of a drum machine, lovingly nicknamed “Echo” by the band members. Echo the drum machine was in fact NOT where the name came from, but rather the name was in a list of many other eccentric names requested from a friend. Soon however in 1980, Echo would be replaced by a real person, Pete de Freitas The Bunnymen’s stretch from 1980 to 1987 saw five album releases, Their debut Crocodiles in 1980, followed by Heaven Up Here in 1981. Next would be Porcupine in 1983, followed by their most commercially successful album to date: Ocean Rain. Ocean Rain had three major singles, “Silver”, “Seven Seas”, and “The Killing Moon”. Finally in 1987, they released a self-titled album: Echo & The Bunnymen. It wouldn’t be too long after that, in 1988 when McCullough announced he’d be leaving the band and in 1989, the band got another shock when drummer Pete de Freitas suddenly passed away in a motorcycle accident at just the age of 27. McCullough was replaced by Noel Burke and De Freitas replaced by Damon Reece.
Even after leaving the band and feeling as if he was “replaced”, Ian McCullough has been back with the Bunnymen since 1996. Though today the band is more of a duo with McCullough and Will Sargeant as the two consistent members. Echo & The Bunnymen just released a new album on September 18th called Apples for Isaac. It also features posthumous contributions from Blondie’s Clem Burke who performed drums on ten of its 11 tracks before his passing.
