Les Pattinson
Encyclopedia
Les Pattinson is an English musician, best known for his work as the bassist and co-writer of the Liverpool
based band, Echo & the Bunnymen
.
, along with vocalist Ian McCulloch
and guitarist Will Sergeant
. He lived in Aughton, Lancashire and attended nearby Deyes High School. Maghull
. Where he became friends with Will Sergeant.
. They befriended McCulloch at the club. Sergeant and McCulloch had been offered a spot playing in Eric’s with Liverpool band The Teardrop Explodes
. Three days before the show Pattinson was asked to join, despite having never played the bass before. Their debut show was attended by Bill Drummond
& David Balfe
's of Zoo Records
, who signed the band to Zoo and later to Sire/WEA. In 1979 Drummer Pete de Freitas
joined the band.
Pattinson, Sergeant and de Freitas decided to continue with the Bunnymen after Ian McCulloch left in 1988 to pursue a solo career. When De Freitas was killed in a motorcycle accident in 1989, Pattinson and Sergeant made the decision to continue with the band. They brought in Damon Reece
to play drums and Noel Burke
to sing on Reverberation
in 1990, before breaking up the band in 1993.
In 1994 Pattinson was approached by Terry Hall
, lead singer of the ‘Specials’ to play bass on his critically acclaimed solo album Home
. He also participated in Halls' European Tour.
In 1996, Pattinson was asked to rejoin the Bunnymen and together they co-wrote the album ‘Evergreen
’. It was greeted enthusiastically by critics and the public alike. The band made a successful return to the live arena. In 1998 Pattinson decided to leave the Bunnymen due to personal reasons.
In 2009 Pattinson joined the Liverpool band The Wild Swans
and together they performed live shows at the ‘Static Gallery’ in ‘Liverpool’. He also featured on their critically acclaimed album. ‘The Coldest Winter For A Hundred Years’. In 2011, Pattinson toured with ‘The Wild Swans’ in U.K. and the Philippines.
. Playing mostly through an Ampeg
SVT head with an 8X10 cabinet. This equipment and playing style gave a distinctive sound to the Bunnymen. Once sited when playing with drummer de Freitas, as ‘The best rhythm section in the world’
With Echo & the Bunnymen
See Main article: Echo & the Bunnymen discography
Crocodiles (1980)
Heaven Up Here
(1981)
Porcupine
(1983)
Ocean Rain
(1984)
Echo & the Bunnymen
(1987)
Reverberation
(1990)
Evergreen
(1997)
[edit]
With Terry Hall
See Home
.
[edit]
With the Wild Swans
See The Coldest Winter for a Hundred Years
" was featured in the films Grosse Pointe Blank
and Donnie Darko
, and in Series 2, Episode 4 of the E4 series Misfits. A cover version of The Doors
song "People Are Strange
" to The Lost Boys
soundtrack.
External links=
Official website
Villiers Terrace.com The Ultimate Echo and the Bunnymen Resource
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
based band, Echo & the Bunnymen
Echo & the Bunnymen
Echo & the Bunnymen are an English post-punk band, formed in Liverpool in 1978. The original line-up consisted of vocalist Ian McCulloch, guitarist Will Sergeant and bass player Les Pattinson, supplemented by a drum machine. By 1980, Pete de Freitas had joined as the band's drummer, and their debut...
.
, along with vocalist Ian McCulloch
Ian McCulloch
Ian McCulloch may refer to:* Ian McCulloch , British actor* Ian McCulloch , English singer, notably of Echo and the Bunnymen* Ian McCulloch , English snooker player...
and guitarist Will Sergeant
Will Sergeant
Will Sergeant is an English guitarist, best known for being a member of Echo & the Bunnymen. Born in the centre of Liverpool, he grew up in the suburb of Melling and attended nearby Deyes High School...
. He lived in Aughton, Lancashire and attended nearby Deyes High School. Maghull
Maghull
Maghull is a town and civil parish within the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, in Merseyside, England. The town is located eight miles north of the City of Liverpool and south of Ormskirk in West Lancashire. The area of Moss Side also contains HM Prison Kennet and Ashworth Hospital. Maghull had a...
. Where he became friends with Will Sergeant.
Career
In 1977 Pattinson met up again with Sergeant in Liverpool’s Eric's ClubEric's Club
Eric's Club was a music club in Liverpool, England. It opened on October 1, 1976 in a building basement on Mathew Street opposite The Cavern Club where The Beatles and other bands of the 1960s played, and became notable for hosting early performances by many punk and post-punk bands.The club was...
. They befriended McCulloch at the club. Sergeant and McCulloch had been offered a spot playing in Eric’s with Liverpool band The Teardrop Explodes
The Teardrop Explodes
The Teardrop Explodes were an English post-punk/neo-psychedelic band formed in Liverpool in 1978. Best known for their Top Ten UK single "Reward" the group originated as a key band in the emerging Liverpool post-punk scene of the late 1970s, the group also launched the career of group frontman...
. Three days before the show Pattinson was asked to join, despite having never played the bass before. Their debut show was attended by Bill Drummond
Bill Drummond
William Ernest Drummond is a Scottish artist, musician, writer and record producer. He was the co-founder of late 1980s avant-garde pop group The KLF and its 1990s media-manipulating successor, the K Foundation, with which he burned a million pounds in 1994...
& David Balfe
David Balfe
David Balfe is most notable for playing keyboards with The Teardrop Explodes, founding the Zoo and Food record labels, signing Blur and for being the subject of their number one hit - "Country House".-Biography:...
's of Zoo Records
Zoo Records
Zoo Records was a British independent record label formed by Bill Drummond and David Balfe in 1978. Zoo was launched in order to release the work of the perennially struggling Liverpool band, Big in Japan...
, who signed the band to Zoo and later to Sire/WEA. In 1979 Drummer Pete de Freitas
Pete de Freitas
Pete Louis Vincent de Freitas was a musician and producer, best known as a drummer with Echo & the Bunnymen, and whose drumming skills have been compared to Dave Grohl's....
joined the band.
Pattinson, Sergeant and de Freitas decided to continue with the Bunnymen after Ian McCulloch left in 1988 to pursue a solo career. When De Freitas was killed in a motorcycle accident in 1989, Pattinson and Sergeant made the decision to continue with the band. They brought in Damon Reece
Damon Reece
Damon Reece is an English drummer, who has been a member of Spiritualized, Echo & the Bunnymen and Lupine Howl.-Biography:Growing up in Croydon, Reece moved to Liverpool at the age of eighteen and played in various local bands...
to play drums and Noel Burke
Noel Burke
Noel Burke is an Irish singer, who is best known for replacing Ian McCulloch as the lead singer with Echo & the Bunnymen. Born in Belfast, Burke's first band was St. Vitus Dance, who released the album Love Me, Love My Dogma in 1987 before splitting up a few years later...
to sing on Reverberation
Reverberation
Reverberation is the persistence of sound in a particular space after the original sound is removed. A reverberation, or reverb, is created when a sound is produced in an enclosed space causing a large number of echoes to build up and then slowly decay as the sound is absorbed by the walls and air...
in 1990, before breaking up the band in 1993.
In 1994 Pattinson was approached by Terry Hall
Terry Hall
Terry Hall may refer to:*Terry Hall , English singer with The Specials, Fun Boy Three, The Colourfield*Terry Hall , English ventriloquist who worked with his puppet, Lenny the Lion...
, lead singer of the ‘Specials’ to play bass on his critically acclaimed solo album Home
Home (Terry Hall album)
Home is the debut solo album of Terry Hall. It was released over fifteen years after Hall entered the music industry. The album was produced by Ian Broudie of the The Lightning Seeds, whom Hall had collaborated with on the album Sense ....
. He also participated in Halls' European Tour.
In 1996, Pattinson was asked to rejoin the Bunnymen and together they co-wrote the album ‘Evergreen
Evergreen
In botany, an evergreen plant is a plant that has leaves in all seasons. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which completely lose their foliage during the winter or dry season.There are many different kinds of evergreen plants, both trees and shrubs...
’. It was greeted enthusiastically by critics and the public alike. The band made a successful return to the live arena. In 1998 Pattinson decided to leave the Bunnymen due to personal reasons.
In 2009 Pattinson joined the Liverpool band The Wild Swans
The Wild Swans
"The Wild Swans" is a literary fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen about a princess who rescues her eleven brothers from a spell cast by an evil queen....
and together they performed live shows at the ‘Static Gallery’ in ‘Liverpool’. He also featured on their critically acclaimed album. ‘The Coldest Winter For A Hundred Years’. In 2011, Pattinson toured with ‘The Wild Swans’ in U.K. and the Philippines.
Playing style
Self taught. Drawing heavily from sixties film and Television theme tunes and soundtracks. Lounge and Psychedelic influences. Throughout his playing career, Pattinson has always favoured a blue Fender Jazz BassFender Jazz Bass
The Jazz Bass was the second model of electric bass created by Leo Fender. The bass is distinct from the Precision Bass in that its tone is brighter and richer in the midrange and treble with less emphasis on the fundamental harmonic...
. Playing mostly through an Ampeg
Ampeg
Ampeg is primarily a musical instrument amplifier manufacturer headquartered in Woodinville, Washington, though they also manufacture guitars to a small extent...
SVT head with an 8X10 cabinet. This equipment and playing style gave a distinctive sound to the Bunnymen. Once sited when playing with drummer de Freitas, as ‘The best rhythm section in the world’
Discography
[edit]With Echo & the Bunnymen
See Main article: Echo & the Bunnymen discography
Echo & the Bunnymen discography
The discography of Echo & the Bunnymen, a British post-punk band which formed in 1978, consists of eleven studio albums, ten live albums, nine compilation albums, eight extended plays , and thirty singles on Zoo Records; WEA and its subsidiaries, Korova, Sire Records, London Records and Rhino;...
Crocodiles (1980)
Heaven Up Here
Heaven Up Here
Heaven Up Here is the second album by the British post-punk band Echo & the Bunnymen, released in 30 May 1981. In June 1981, Heaven Up Here became Echo & the Bunnymen's first Top 10 release when it reached number 10 on the UK Albums Chart. It was also the band's first entry into the United States...
(1981)
Porcupine
Porcupine
Porcupines are rodents with a coat of sharp spines, or quills, that defend or camouflage them from predators. They are indigenous to the Americas, southern Asia, and Africa. Porcupines are the third largest of the rodents, behind the capybara and the beaver. Most porcupines are about long, with...
(1983)
Ocean Rain
Ocean Rain
Ocean Rain is the fourth studio album by the British post-punk band Echo & the Bunnymen. It was released on 8 May 1984 and reached number four on the UK Albums Chart, number 87 on the United States Billboard 200, number 41 on the Canadian RPM 100 Albums and number 22 on the Swedish chart. Since...
(1984)
Echo & the Bunnymen
Echo & the Bunnymen
Echo & the Bunnymen are an English post-punk band, formed in Liverpool in 1978. The original line-up consisted of vocalist Ian McCulloch, guitarist Will Sergeant and bass player Les Pattinson, supplemented by a drum machine. By 1980, Pete de Freitas had joined as the band's drummer, and their debut...
(1987)
Reverberation
Reverberation
Reverberation is the persistence of sound in a particular space after the original sound is removed. A reverberation, or reverb, is created when a sound is produced in an enclosed space causing a large number of echoes to build up and then slowly decay as the sound is absorbed by the walls and air...
(1990)
Evergreen
Evergreen
In botany, an evergreen plant is a plant that has leaves in all seasons. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which completely lose their foliage during the winter or dry season.There are many different kinds of evergreen plants, both trees and shrubs...
(1997)
[edit]
With Terry Hall
See Home
Home (Terry Hall album)
Home is the debut solo album of Terry Hall. It was released over fifteen years after Hall entered the music industry. The album was produced by Ian Broudie of the The Lightning Seeds, whom Hall had collaborated with on the album Sense ....
.
[edit]
With the Wild Swans
See The Coldest Winter for a Hundred Years
Filmography
The John Hughes film Pretty in Pink. "The Killing MoonThe Killing Moon
The Killing Moon is a single by the band Echo & the Bunnymen. It was released on their 1984 album, Ocean Rain. It is one of the band's highest-charting hits, reaching number nine in the UK Singles Chart.-Lyrics:...
" was featured in the films Grosse Pointe Blank
Grosse Pointe Blank
Grosse Pointe Blank is a 1997 American Black comedy film, directed by George Armitage, and starring John Cusack and Minnie Driver.In 2000, readers of Total Film magazine voted Grosse Pointe Blank the 21st greatest comedy film of all time. The film's soundtrack features mainly independent music hits...
and Donnie Darko
Donnie Darko
Donnie Darko is a 2001 American psychological thriller film written and directed by Richard Kelly and starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Drew Barrymore, Patrick Swayze, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Noah Wyle, Jena Malone, and Mary McDonnell...
, and in Series 2, Episode 4 of the E4 series Misfits. A cover version of The Doors
The Doors
The Doors were an American rock band formed in 1965 in Los Angeles, California, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, drummer John Densmore, and guitarist Robby Krieger...
song "People Are Strange
People Are Strange
"People Are Strange" is a single released by The Doors in September 1967 from their second album Strange Days which was also released in September 1967. The single peaked at the #12 position of the U.S. Hot 100 chart and made it to the top ten in the Cash Box charts...
" to The Lost Boys
The Lost Boys
The Lost Boys is a 1987 American teen comedy horror film directed by Joel Schumacher and starring Jason Patric, Corey Haim, Kiefer Sutherland, Jami Gertz, Corey Feldman, Dianne Wiest, Edward Herrmann, Alex Winter, Jamison Newlander, and Barnard Hughes....
soundtrack.
External links=
Official website
Villiers Terrace.com The Ultimate Echo and the Bunnymen Resource