By Sarah Thomas
Thirty years ago, British post-punk band Echo & the Bunnymen released the iconic album Ocean Rain, which their brilliantly mouthy frontman Ian McCulloch claimed to be ''the greatest album ever made''. Featuring the classic The Killing Moon, later hits include Bring on the Dancing Horses and a version of The Doors' People are Strange, which appeared on The Lost Boys soundtrack. McCulloch blazed a vibrant trail in outspoken sound-bites, becoming known as Mac the Mouth, and continuously sparring with Bono, who he refers to as ''Knobbo''. The band's trajectory dampened after they refused to take on the extensive touring needed to break the US, and McCulloch left in 1988. Since then he has released four solo albums and had numerous spats with on-off bandmate, guitarist and long-term collaborator Will Sergeant. The pair have reunited on Meteorites, the band's 12th studio album, and McCulloch, 55, explains it's been a serious journey of self-discovery.
My life is ...
Back on track: Echo & the Bunnymen's Ian McCulloch.
Actually very good at the moment. I've had a kind of depression that lasted longer than [usual]. I'm used to ups and downs but this last one lasted much too long and I've come out of it feeling absolutely fantastic. Maybe that's what they're there for: for people to snap out of. It can get a bit ''woe is me'' at times and I'm anything but that as a person generally, so yeah, it's all good.
As a child, I would lapse into melancholy periods ...
But I actually love them. It was a different kind of feeling - a lonely, isolated feeling - but it would only really last as long as a David Bowie album took to play [that is, not very long]. Most of the time I was a jovial, funny child. But it has a lot to do with the atmosphere in your house when you grow up, maybe. You really do feed off whatever that is and then find your place within it.
Whatever faults my dad had, he was fantastic ...
He didn't even drink. It was purely compulsive gambling. And, because of that, [I was] learning how to lie, even though it's obvious and much easier to just tell the truth. But through all of that he's still my all-time hero, which is probably the problem. I never think of him as anything other than this great dad, who taught me how to play football and told me that Frank Sinatra was brilliant.
Making the new album ...
Helped me big time. Every second, every word means something to me and it's the first time I think I honestly can say that I've done that since Ocean Rain in terms of lyrics and how much I needed it to mean things. I needed to explain a few things without being too overt.
Working with Will Sergeant again ...
I've said we're the [Richard] Burton and [Elizabeth] Taylor of rock. It's funny on this album, because I did a lot of the guitars as well and then Will came in right at the end and did unbelievable stuff. He just cemented the album and completed it.
If I wasn't a musician ...
I'd probably be a playwright, because I love language and expressing myself through words.
I can't wait to go touring again ...
It's the best part of it, apart from the initial writing of a song where you've just created something from nothing. For me the best part is playing because the songs then grow even more. We're a great live band - if not the best - and so it's got to be the icing on the cake because it all comes alive.
When I said Ocean Rain was the greatest album ever made, it was ...
Tongue-in-cheek ... I knew that it would cause a stir. But some people do think it's the greatest album ever made. I think Hunky Dory [1971] probably is for me, because it's David Bowie and he was my all-time hero, and it's got The Bewlay Brothers and Changes. But there's songs on it that I'm not that bothered about ever hearing again, like Queen Bitch. It sounded great at the time, but sounds a bit stupid now. ''She's so swishy ...''. I don't think even Elton John got that fey.
At the moment I'm listening to ...
If I'm in a car and someone's got the radio on, I'll put it straight on to classical stuff. But I love Jake Bugg. I love his ballady-type things and his little skiffle-y Bob Dylan stuff. But when he does things like Broken, it's like, how the sod has he written that? And it reminds me a bit of me.
I like to unwind by ...
Doing crosswords and other word puzzles.
On a Sunday morning ...
Like every other morning, I'll be found waiting for the evening. Nocturnal me.
Meteorites is out now on 429 Records/Universal.