Bunnyman
Growing up in Liverpool in the 1960s and ’70s, when skinheads, football violence and fear of just about everything was the natural order of things, a young Will Sergeant found the emerging punk scene provided a shimmer of hope amongst a crumbling city still reeling from the destruction of the Second World War.
From school-day horrors and mud flinging fun to nights at Liverpool’s punk club, Eric’s, Sergeant was fuelled by and thrived on music. It was this devotion that led to the birth of the Bunnymen, to the days when he and Ian McCulloch would muck around with reel-to-reel recordings of song ideas in the back parlour of his parents’ council estate house, and to finding a community – friends, enemies and many in between – with those who would become post-punk royalty from the likes of Dead or Alive, Frankie Goes to Hollywood and the Teardrop Explodes to name a few.
It was an uphill struggle to carve their name in the history of Liverpool music, but Echo and the Bunnymen became iconic, with songs like ‘Lips Like Sugar,’ ‘The Cutter’ and ‘The Killing Moon’. By turns wry, explicit and profound, Bunnyman reveals what it was really like to be part of one of the most important British bands of the 1980s.
The music at the beginning and end of this audiobook is taken from an original piece written and performed by Will Sergeant
From school-day horrors and mud flinging fun to nights at Liverpool’s punk club, Eric’s, Sergeant was fuelled by and thrived on music. It was this devotion that led to the birth of the Bunnymen, to the days when he and Ian McCulloch would muck around with reel-to-reel recordings of song ideas in the back parlour of his parents’ council estate house, and to finding a community – friends, enemies and many in between – with those who would become post-punk royalty from the likes of Dead or Alive, Frankie Goes to Hollywood and the Teardrop Explodes to name a few.
It was an uphill struggle to carve their name in the history of Liverpool music, but Echo and the Bunnymen became iconic, with songs like ‘Lips Like Sugar,’ ‘The Cutter’ and ‘The Killing Moon’. By turns wry, explicit and profound, Bunnyman reveals what it was really like to be part of one of the most important British bands of the 1980s.
The music at the beginning and end of this audiobook is taken from an original piece written and performed by Will Sergeant
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Reviews
An engaging coming-of-age story
Sergeant's acerbic sense of humour in the telling of these tales means the memoir sometimes reads as if you're in the pub with him . . . Bunnyman manages to do what Echo & the Bunnymen did so brilliantly: be part of a wider story but create an autonomous enclave within it, subject to almost magical laws and precedents
Wonderful . . . an evocative ride through childhood and teenage years . . . Sergeant writes with such atmosphere you can practically smell the chimney smoke and hear the rattle of glass bottles on milk floats . . . It's all recounted with generous helpings of the author's dry wit, as sharp and seductive as the innovative guitar lines he's contributed to so many great records
Engagingly down-to-earth . . . fondly nostalgic picture of 1960s and 70s Merseyside
With his dry, droll, vivid storytelling, Will Sergeant makes very clear the factors that shaped him, and therefore his band, into such a unique force . . . Sergeant sharply evokes the neurotic importance of music and clothes, his relief at seeing light alter so much darkness especially palpable in the aftermath of his new band's first gig
Sergeant's memoir takes an earthy stroll through his early years, unafraid to tell it like it was
Wonderfully vivid . . . brings to life an ordinary suburban existence and how music can offer new dreams and visions . . . fascinating . . . His pre-Bunnymen musical experiences are hilarious and self-deprecating
A fine, keenly observed memoir that offers moments of pure joy
Will's story is peppered with evocative detail of growing up in the 60s and 70s . . . a strikingly honest journey . . . Bunnyman is an enthralling and funny book which, simply by coming from an insider's perspective (probably THE insider), throws new light on the birth of the Bunnymen
Evocative