It is amazing though, Ian McCulloch of Echo and the Bunnymen, all the stuff that Courtney Love remembers! I just can't believe it! Like all these little details and she was THERE ON THE SCENE!
I know...

And I find it incredible that she was, back then, on the scene happening! Like, I know you kind of maybe answered this, but how did you first meet her? Like, how were you first introduced to her? Were lots of people like her just showing up on your doorstep or hanging with the band? I mean, was this unusual: someone from America? What are your memories of that?
I don't know. I mean I just heard that she'd moved over to Liverpool cause, I mean, I think I was her number one bloke, you know. But obviously Lorraine, so whatever... I can't, the chronology, you know, I can't remember, but she's got a much better memory. As she said in the first question early on, or the first statement that she was there to learn. I think that was always apparent...she wasn't, you know...I just saw her as a fan...not just as a fan, but sort of as someone who was on the scene which was a good thing. She always kind of, she had no fear.

Well I think it's amazing that you can say, 'Oh we heard she was in town'. Like here she is just some young girl, and she already has this huge reputation.
Exactly. And she had a vibe to her ...and to come, you know, at 15, 16 and when her and Robin came over there, she decided to live in Liverpool for, I think it was like, two years. It was easily a year. But to know the right group, even though she did dabble with Teardrop Explodes music. She picked the right group in The Bunnymen and you know, it's hats off from there on in.

I know. She could have picked the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, eh?
Yeah or some dogs. You know, there were so many bands coming over, but she knew the best one, and I wish I would have spent more time...I mean that's one thing. I wish I had spent more time, maybe talking to them in those old days, but I was kind of always...I wasn't...I don't know if I was shy, but I was a bit, kind of, guarded maybe. And I think we'd probably have a much better conversation now anyway, to be honest.

Well, Ian McCulloch of Echo and The Bunnymen, the last question here from Courtney Love directed to you via me, Nardwuar the Human Serviette, via email is, Courtney Love says "Ask Ian McCulloch of Echo and The Bunnymen if I can have one of his old trenchcoats. I'll wear it a lot and make them cool again."
Hahahahaha. (laughs) Definitely! Ahhhm, well let's... if you can... do you know... you can obviously just... you're gonna email her. Tell her I'll find the right... I've got a couple... ahhhm... definitely she can have one of them... and she'll look... I've got a very long trenchcoat that she might... I know she's tall but she might have to take it in a little ankle-length or mid-shin length coat. But she can definitely have one of them. What I'll do is when we get together to do this song that we're going to do, I will bring it over and she can have it from me and I'll probably also offer her this fantastic one she should have cause I never wear it, but I'll pack it. And it cost a fortune, she'd be pleased to know. I've hardly ever worn it and it's pretty much mint condition and it's more girly. I couldn't wear it... it's a great coat... it would suit her.

You still wear trench coats, don't you Ian? You still wear them.
Yeah. It was my thing and everyone started wearing them.

But even up till today...
I stole it from Bowie and from "The Man Who Fell To Earth." That was really what got me. And because I didn't have any clothes---I was going to the punk clubs when I was sixteen---But me dad had this coat in the wardrobe and I thought "I'll wear that." And I tied it up with a piece of string, you know, around the waist. And there I was, Humphrey Bogart.

So that's the end of the Courtney Love questions to Ian McCulloch of Echo and The Bunnymen and I, Nardwuar the Human Serviette, just have a couple of quick questions to ask you Ian. Is there anything you'd like to say to Courtney Love now that we've gone through all these questions, once we transcribe this interview and broadcast it to the world, that you would like to go on record as saying?
Ahhhm... I'm totally, kind of... kind of flabbergasted that she's gone... you know, that she still thinks about us and it meant that much, and hopefully it still does. Obviously if she's loving the last album. You know, what I do, hopefully, is never gonna go away. I'd like to say, let's get together and have a chat, face to face. But I would love to do a song with her because I think her voice is great and I think it would be a great kind of, full circle thing to happen. I think both of us would really enjoy it and it would be a blast.

I just love the idea, when she says stuff like, you know, Bono, like "Me and Bono were out." I just love that. It's like... this sounds hilarious. "Me and Bono." "Me and Michael Stipe." Like, it's one thing to say "Michael Stipe." He's kind of like, you know, everywhere. But to say, you know, "Me and Bono were partying." I love that. "Bono," just thrown in the middle there. I think she's done pretty good with remembering all this stuff. It's incredible.
I know man. It's mad.

And it's not lies.
And to be honest there's not a lot I remember. I remember the feeling on stage quite a lot but, I don't remember... I remember odd incidents that connected with any kind of well-ordered life. You know, she seems to remember things like real benchmark times in her life and I don't. I remember laughing me head off, ahhhm, once in Pete de Freitas's room, with Will. But it wasn't a pivotal point in me life. It was just one night, we smoked some dope and... cause me and Will weren't dope smokers, but we couldn't help laughing. And that was... maybe that was pivotal. But ahh---

You don't remember Julian's wife's pooping problem, do you?
Ahhh, no, just got on with me own (laughs) pooping problems.

Now speaking of remembering stuff, is it true, Ian, that Holly Johnson of Frankie Goes to Hollywood wrote an autobiography entitled, "A Bone In My Flute" and it mentioned you and Budgie?
And said wot?

It mentioned you and Budgie.
Oh yeah. It would have mentioned me and Budgie, I'm sure. Not in that way...I wasn't the bone in his flute. Boy, it's a great title, "Bone In My Flute." (laughs) Ahhhm...yeah, I mean obviously, we all went to the same club. I mean Holly was a year younger than me. There was a club where we all went... you know it was the hangout where all the bands played. The first bands to play there were The Stranglers, then The Runaways, then the Pistols. It opened in October 1976 and I was there the first night with few other cats. Pete Burns, probably was there the first night. I think the Hollies turned up, maybe slightly later, but they might have been there straight away. There were different kinds of factions. Not so much cliques but different kind of...people who were into...most were into Bowie somewhere down the line. That was one of Julian's problems. He never really understood why people were into Bowie. And you know, that's a real failing in a bloke, I think.

Didn't Frankie Goes To Hollywood cover "Ferry Cross the Mersey"?
Yeah they did, badly. But, you know the fairest things that they came out with "Relax" and "Two Tribes" were mega. I really like Holly. He's a nice bloke and, you know, he's just got on with his thing and he does all right, you know.

I always mention this to British bands but there's a version of like, Frankie Goes To Hollywood touring and there's no original members in the band.
Hahahaha (laughs)

They played Vancouver and it was like, a cousin of one of them was in the band.
Noooo (disbelief)

Amazing. Like, not one original member but they were touring as Frankie Goes to Hollywood.
Fantastic!

And Ian McCulloch of Echo and The Bunnymen, winding up here, Where were you during those riots in Toxteth ? You know, the riots in Toxteth.
Toxteth. Well, I was born in Toxteth. I'd just come back from a tour the day before and I was at me mom's house with Lorraine in the back room playing Leonard Cohen records, whatever. Then we heard about it. Me mom calls and says, "Oh geez. Look what they're doing." And then we watched it on the telly and it was mad. We were like two miles away from it. It was bizarre. So I was actually in Liverpool, but I'd just come back, you know, obviously, there was something in the air brewing. I think we''d just come back from Europe or somewhere.

You've never been to a football riot have you?
I was at Hillsborough . It wasn't a riot. It was where people got crushed and, yeah I was at Hillsborough Stadium, on April 15, 1989 when the 96 people died. Luckily I wasn't one of them, butit was horrible. But it was nothing to do with a riot. But, no I've never seen anything like that go on really. Thank God. ...But anyway, this has been a total thrill.

Well thank you very much Ian. Really appreciate it. I just wanted, just to finish off here. Ian McCulloch of Echo and The Bunnymen, do you have any impressions for us, any Dylan impressions or Lou Reed impressions you can give us?
I can do a great Dylan, but I need a guitar and I haven't got one in the room. Lou Reed...it's...I mean, I do him all the time. Just play some of our records and there will be a bit of Lou in there. When I was a kid I started off doing Elvis Presley (Ian then does an Elvis mumble) and David Bowie (Ian then does a very convincing Bowie impression) That was my David Bowie!

Baboom!
Baboom!

Ian, can you say something profound? Can you say something profound to us?
Yeah. Deep.

What about, "The cat sat on the mat"?
Oh, the cat crapped in the crib, crapped, and then crapped out again. I've got two things even more profound than that (Ian says those two things but unfortunately we can not make them out)...

Baboom times two! Now Ian McCulloch of Echo & The Bunnymen, lastly here. Is your best facial feature your lips?
Yep.

All right, well thanks very much for your time. Really appreciate it, Ian. Anything else you'd like to add to the people out there?
Just keep digging it and believe every word Courtney Love says. Especially when it's about me being the greatest that ever lived.

Thanks for going along with this too. All these questions are made up. No, just joking! And keep on rockin' in the free world, Ian McCulloch of Echo and The Bunnymen. And doot doola doot doo...
(laughs) Doot doo

Interview Done: August 24, 2001 (On Phone)