Bunny Peculiar

It is the spring of 1992 and I'm in a tiny dressing room at the Underworld in Camden. I've come to see three friends at work. They call themselves Compulsion, and they used to be Thee Amazing Colossal Men, Dublin contenders who blew loads of record company cash and didn't achieve much. This time around, they are going cheap and living it punk style. They will manage better with it.

That's Josephmary on vocals, Sid Rainey on bass and a pink-haired prodigy on guitar called Garrett Lee. Later, Lee will change his first name to Jacknife and in the following decade he will produce U2, REM and Snow Patrol. But for now, he's part of a scrounge rock band, playing supporting roles the bands who were once a lot bigger.

Tonight, it's the turn of Echo And The Bunnymen. Once they were tousle-headed stadium contenders. But in 1992 they are without singer Ian McCullough and are managing instead with a Belfast chap called Noel Burke. I've mentioned him in a blog before. He sang with St Vitus Dance at home, and sometimes still does. Decent fellow, but never a convincing Bunnyman.

Anyway, the dressing room door is open a bit, as during a lull in the Compulsion conversation, we eavesdrop on the Bunnymen pre-gig ritual in their own little changing space. The veteran members Will Sergeant and Les Pattinson are there, plus Noel and some other guys. And then Will starts on the motivational speech.

"What's the word tonight?" he asks.

They all look at him with interest.

"The word tonight," he explains with a smile, "is victory!"

The band cheer a bit and hug each other in a semi-enthused manner.

Then they step onto the Underworld stage. There are maybe 150 people in the audience. They go down reasonably well. The band play some of the admirable old songs, and a few of the new tunes also. What the evening lacks, however, is the certain smell of victory.