Page 107 - Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Coverage Book 2023-24

Sergeant naturally gravitated to more avant garde bands and artists such as
David Bowie, The Velvet Underground, The Doors, The Kinks and The Who.

And he’s convinced one of the reasons Echo & The Bunnymen are still around
today – albeit with a much-changed line-up – is because they refused to sell

out to commercial pressure from their record labels.

“If we had gone down the cheesy route, I’m not sure we would have had the

long-evity we still enjoy,” he writes.

“Music that is easily digested becomes boring and bland. I think the best
music is the stuff you as a listener must work at enjoying. It becomes more

engrained in your soul.”

Another way they rejected mainstream culture was through their choice of

clothing. Not for them the flamboyant garb of their early 80s New Romantic
peers like Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet and Culture Club. Early in their career

the Bunnymen wore army surplus combat clothing both on and off the stage.

Later they favoured what Sergeant calls their “Bleak Northern Overcoats”.

“You could get good stuff in charity shops: Grandad coats. They were dead

cheap back then,” he recalls.

“We thought it looked kind of cool and a bit old-fashioned. It was anti-fashion.”

At the time, Sergeant and his colleagues had no idea of the sartorial influence

they were having on the youth of Britain. Suddenly, grandad coats from charity
shops became de rigueur among alternative and gothic youngsters.

In 1988, McCulloch decided to leave the band, replaced by Irish singer Noel
Burke – a move that Sergeant says “still rankles with Mac”.

The following year drummer de Freitas was killed in a motorcycle accident.

Following that, album sales were disappointing so that, in 1993, the
Bunnymen finally disbanded.