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Electrafixion is the band of former Echo & The Bunnymen mainman Ian McCulloch. First I wanted to know from Ian a little bit about the beginning of the band.
This band is new. For me, it changed to be in a band to become well-known. For the outside people it's a outbreak. To me it's another beginning.
It's a new chapter.
Yeah, it's my blood, my life.
What is the difference between Echo & The Bunnymen and Electrafixion for you?
Electrafixion is more useful, more positive, more reality. And better! What is a funny thing to say, 'cause Echo & The Bunnymen were the best band of the 80's. But it's not the 80's anymore. Echo & The Bunnymen been the best band of the 80's and Electrafixion could be the band of the 90's. We are not musicians who still ban a kind of power. We don't play well enough. A lot of bands came out along side as Echo & The Bunnymen: The Cure, Simple Minds, etc. The wanted to be musicians, we never did. We wanted to be a band. Liverpool always used to see the past again. Nothing to fancy, just great patient. ... Keep it simple, keep on the ground.
I think the music scene changes. Echo & The Bunnymen were a kind of tradition of Liverpool. Where do you see Electrafixion now?
More global. We are not 18 and never been anywhere. We travelled the world, to me the best part of being in a band is travelling the world. Take different things, even if you like them or not. You pick things up, you remember things, it's like a big charge.
Is this new band more opened to other influences?
Yeah, with Echo & The Bunnymen we try to fool ourselves and everything what's going on that time. Because it was so bad. There were a lot of creep out. We were keep ourselves from everything, from advice, from being a big band. It was an accident that we got big. We went gold, even we've done everything in our power not to get big.
Perhaps that's the secret.
Yeah, it's what I'm making now with Electrafixion. We will embrace more kind of outside influences, but not creep ones. Just we are now in the 90's. It's better used to be influenced by. We've travelled the world a lot, so we don't have to be scared anymore. I think initially with Echo & The Bunnymen we were of there, from Liverpool which is the best place in the world. We don't care about Hamburg, New York, Rio de Janeiro. But now it's so much fun being in these places. We don't have to be scared anymore. We kind of growing used to be global. It's a much better thing than being cocooned. In the meantime I just get out there, experiences what counts.
Which is for you the most important track on the album?
Never Never! The original version of this song I wrote 2 years ago. It's like Imagine by John Lennon. Slow, kind of revolve around lyric. It's a really good song, but I can't play it live, it's too soft. So we worked on. It's my version of John Lennon's Help now. Lyrically it's about me being caught in some emotional undertone which I couldn't fight and I was drowning and self-destructioned. That was the key thing and at the end I felt better. No is a negative word, but it can be used in a positive way. "No, I'm not gonna do that, never, never gonna do that." As a person I'm still caught in an emotional whirlpool, now I know to fighting it. So that's the key song to me.
Is there a kind of theme which is running through all songs?
The theme of the album really is Ikarus. Ikarus is a kind of Greek fable. Ikarus and his father were in prison and they build dove wings with feathers and wax. And Ikarus flow over the prison walls. His father said to him before: "Don't fly to close to the sun, 'cause your wings will melt." Ikarus fly away and got to close to the sun and of course his wings melt. He was tumbling down. That's the theme of this album. Ikarus is a part of me, with this new band it's like having new wings. That's a very Liverpootlian thing. It's deep inside.
Is it a kind of philosophy for yourself?
It's the philosophy of my life!
You spoke about John Lennon and Liverpool. Do you fear that people expect more from Electrafixion, because you are from Liverpool?
Kind of that, because Liverpootlians, by nature, we set ourselves up to be separate not just from the rest of Britain. We think we have the best sense of humour, the best of everything.
Ian McCulloch normally like the understatement, he is not so self-ish to say he is the best. I met a very friendly person who seriously think about everything before answering any question. Perhaps we don't understand the Liverpootlian sense of humour sometimes.
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