"... It's got groove, It's got mood, it's got feeling ..."

In 1995 a harder drinking, harder smoking McCullough and a far more rotund Sergeant formed Electrafixion, releasing an EP only in Europe titled Zephyr. Recently they signed with Elektra Records (there are no coincidences) and recorded an album titled Burned which was released in September. Those who have heard it say it retains the integrity and spirit of the original Echo and The Bunnymen, but is less haunted. When a reporter asked Will and Ian how Electrafixion compared with their old group, Sergeant said, "It's got groove, It's got mood, it's got feeling." As for McCullough ? "Foxy," he responded. "Rockier. Grittier. More attitude. More real. Less surreal."

I saw Electrafixion live when they played a gig in Hollywood the autumn of '95, I didn't like them, which made me sad. They weren't the Bunnymen, they weren't trying to be the Bunnymen, but still... it made me very sad... until !

ECHO AND THE BUNNYMEN are to reform with three of the four original members. A spokesman said the drummer will be "a hot, young guy who has played with Page And Plant." The spokesman continued: "The aim is not to have a huge nostalgia trip. They have written and demoed a lot of new material and they want to make an album that's very much of this time. I'm very excited about it. There has always been a magic about this band." Ian McCulloch said: "We've done two batches of demos, about 16 or 17 songs in total. It's probably more melodic than the old stuff, but it's just stronger songs somehow - maybe slightly less pretentious." It is unclear if this means the end of Electrafixion, although their contract with WEA Records has now expired.

After being quite vocal in the press for so many years about not wanting to reform Echo & the Bunnymen, Ian McCulloch says he finally succumbed to the idea with a bit of a nudge from fellow Bunnyman, bassist Les Pattison. "Les was really the missing link," says McCulloch in a phone interview from England. "He was the link between me and [guitarist] Will [Seargent]. I mean, me and Will played in Electrafixion for a few years -- but I'd rather not talk about that -- and he would always say 'Let's do Echo.' There had been some, not friction, but tension, and Les just knows how to diffuse the blow. He understands things about Will that I don't, and for some reason with Les in the picture the three of us just work." McCulloch left Echo & the Bunnymen in 1988 to pursue a solo career, which resulted in four albums under his own name followed by two with Electrafixion.

The band officially broke up in March 1988, and drummer Pete de Freitas was killed in an motorcycle accident the following year. Now, the three remaining post- punk pioneers are back with new drummer Michael Lee and a brilliant new album, Evergreen, due July 15 on London Records. McCulloch says it's "a worthy successor to Ocean Rain."

"It's funny," says McCulloch about the reunion. "I was resistant to it for a long time. Then I just felt like all along there's this pair of trousers hanging on the shelf in the wardrobe that fits you just right that you wore years ago and you didn't realize they were evergreen trousers. That's why the album is called Evergreen. Once we started working on the album and listened to the old records again, I realized that it blows all of what's on radio away. It's all perfunctory crap to me. Oasis is great at what they do, though. I maybe forgot how original we really were."

Speaking of Oasis, Liam Gallagher sings back up on "Nothing Lasts Forever" from the album. "We were in the same studio but in different rooms," says McCulloch of his meeting with Gallagher. "I walked into reception one day and he's like 'Ian, want to do some tunes?' And I'm like, 'Yeah.' And it was funny: he says, 'Really good haircut. It's fantastic. It used to be a skyscraper, now it's a bungalow.' We just hit it off right away and after a few beers he ended up singing on the record. He's great. He's a rock God. I came away thinking he reminded me of me: he was handsome, a great singer, and he's funny."

McCulloch says the set list for the U.S. dates will feature more of the older material, such as "Lips Like Sugar," "Do It Clean," "The Cutter," "The Back Of Love," "The Killing Moon," and "Rescue." From Evergreen, the band plans to play "Don't Let It Get You Down," "Evergreen," "I Want To Be There (When You Come)," "I'll Fly Tonight," and "Nothing Lasts Forever."

Expect to see Echo & the Bunnymen on several of this summer's radio station- sponsored shows. The band will play the following dates: May 17-18, Mercury Lounge, New York; May 25, Q101 show, Chicago; May 26, KPNT's PointFest, St. Louis; May 29, WBRU show, Providence, Rhode Island; May 30, Guild Hall, East Hampton, N.Y.; May 31, WHFS show, Washington, D.C.; June 1, WMRQ show, Hartford, CT; June 5, WEDG show, Buffalo; June 7, WBCN show, Boston; June 13, KITS (Live 105) show, San Francisco, and June 16, Los Angeles (most likely the KROQ Weenie Roast show).