Post-punk band Echo & The Bunnymen used a drum machine behind singer Ian McCulloch, guitarist Will Sergeant, and bassist Les Pattinson until drummer Pete de Freitas joined them in 1979.
∙ McCulloch’s first group, The Crucial Three, included future fellow rock stars Julian Cope and Pete Wylie.
∙ Although Sergeant grew up a big music fan, he was working toward becoming a chef when Echo & The Bunnymen made their live debut in 1978 at Eric’s Club in Liverpool.
∙ Their first album, 1980’s Crocodiles, was Top 20 hit in the UK, and NME included it on its list of the 50 Greatest Albums of the 1980s.
∙ The band recorded their 1984 album, Ocean Rain, with a 35-piece orchestra, and in later years they performed it with live orchestral accompaniment.
∙ Promoted with an Anton Corbijn-directed video, “Lips Like Sugar” was a US hit in 1987 and has since been covered by Coldplay and Smashing Pumpkins.
∙ “The Killing Moon” plays in the 2001 film Donnie Darko as Jake Gyllenhaal’s character bikes home after mysteriously waking up in a clearing.