PULSE - Music and more, with Simon Donohue

''I LEFT school after my A-levels.

"I was dead clever and looked fantastic, and I joined a band because I didn't want anybody telling me what the rules were."

Nobody can play the cool arrogant pop star quite like Ian McCulloch, and by reforming Echo And The Bunnymen after ten years with founder members Will Sergeant and Les Pattinson any notion of a rock "rule" book goes completely out of the window.

But why do bands reform after so long? Is it because of ailing bank accounts? Is it out of boredom? Or is it an overwhelming creative desire to achieve all the things that were unachievable first time round?

Initially, my suspicions were rife until I heard some tracks from their forthcoming album Evergreen and witnessed a mesmerising live set at Liverpool's Cream.

It was as if they'd never been away. Almost as if the new album is a direct follow up to their 1984 album Ocean Rain.

"I think if we hadn't split up we wouldn't have made this record," admits McCulloch.

"Basically, the album is absolutely fantastic. It is possibly a continuation of Ocean Rain in the style of The Bunnymen.

"We always thought our fifth, and last album was a bit below par, but this record wipes that clean."

The fastidious music press and "wonderful" Radio One appear to have taken the new single Nothing Lasts Forever very much to heart. Incidentally, it also features a contribution from Liam Gallagher. "He's a really nice guy," adds Sergeant. "Oasis were recording their album next door and he just stormed into our studio when he heard us. He kept on coming up to me and singing right in my face. It was really weird."

Being the arrogant reporter I put it to the band that he doesn't do much on the single, to which McCulloch responds: "He does a lot. He plays tambourine."

"And does a few "la,la,la's and 'yeah, yeah, yeah's," I add, "But they're very important 'yeah, yeah, yeah's."

It is virtually impossible to ignore the new sense of optimism that's invaded the Bunnymen camp.

They're currently on a huge radio festival tour in the States with crowds of between 20-65,000 and their new single looks set to be a sure fire hit.

"It's gone like the time when Bill Drummond was our manager," says Sergeant.

"We're thrown into these situations the way he used to throw us in and we just have to sink or swim. We went to Marrakech to do a video for the single and it was great. We went without any preparation and we just got on with it."

I tell him that chances are The Bunnymen are going to be enormous again.

"It's weird, isn't it? It's crazy. We might do a Fleetwood Mac," he laughs.

And Mac, what do you think?

"I just feel great. I feel a great buzz and I'm very confident, and I don't want anything to dampen my spirits."

Not even a bucket full of cold water over his head could do that right now.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.