Electrafixion

In Liverpool in 1978 guitarist Will Sergeant joined vocalist Ian McCulloch and bassist Les Pattinson to launch Echo & the Bunnymen. After swapping their drum machine for Trinidad-native Pete de Freitas, the band rose to become one of the era’s leading British independent acts throughout the 1980s. McCulloch departed in 1988 to pursue solo work, and his first release, Candleland, met with strong success. The remaining members collapsed soon afterward when they issued 1990’s Reverberation featuring Noel Burke, an imitator of McCulloch’s style.

McCulloch’s follow-up solo effort, Mysterio, failed commercially in 1992, yet two years later he reunited with Sergeant. Together they enlisted bassist Leon de Sylva and drummer Tony McGuigan, then began performing across England under the name Electrafixion. Audiences and reviewers alike welcomed the band’s rhythm-driven reinterpretation of Echo & the Bunnymen’s atmospheric, lightly psychedelic indie-pop sound. Electrafixion issued the single “Zephyr” on their own Spacejunk imprint in November 1994 and delivered the album Burned by the close of 1995.