ELECTRAFIXION – "Lowdown" (Promo video, 1995)

During the tail-end of the ’80s, ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN singer Ian McCulloch shut himself out from the rest of the world, staying in his Liverpool house and helping raise his two daughters. The combination of a frenzied lifestyle and the death of his father were enough to make him take a few steps back and virtually disappear from the public eye until the early ’90s, when he partnered up with guitarist Johnny Marr on a few demo recording sessions, supposedly working on a solo album that never surfaced, because all the tapes got stolen. What ended up happening was McCulloch patching up his friendship with Bunnymen guitarist Will Sergeant, and around 1994, the two formed a new band under the name ELECTRAFIXION. With the additions of drummer Tony McGuigan and new bassist ex-Marion Jules (Julian) Phillips, ELECTRAFIXION released in 1995 (on Sep. 18 in the U.K. and on Sep. 19 in the U.S.) their only album 'BURNED', which scored the band a couple of minor hits both in the UK charts and on alternative radio in the U.S. ''Lowdown'' was one of the two songs rescued from the Johnny Marr sessions (the other one being "Too Far Gone") and its lyrics reflect McCulloch’s sentimental state at the time they were written, that being some kind of depression caused apparently by a loss. The song was decided to be released on 29 August 1995 as the first single out of 'BURNED' album in the U.K., but technically being the second since ''Zephyr'' had already been released there as an E.P. the previous year (November 1994). A promo video was shot to accompany the release of the single directed by Bunnymen lighting-engineer Bill Butt with a storyboard based mainly on McCulloch’s ideas around his all time favourite movie, Victor Fleming’s 1939 ''The Wizard of Oz''. McCullogh thought that dressing himself up as both the Wicked Witch and Dorothy and having Will Sergeant play the part of the Wizard would be a great idea for a video and that’s exactly what happened at the end as one can witness! ''Lowdown'' entered the UK Top75 Singles charts on 09 September 1995 at #54 which happened to be its highest position and after just one more week, it exited the charts for good on 16 September 1995 last seen at #69.