Bunnymen Album Blasting Off Into Space

05/14/09 2:04pm

by Kate Harper (CHARTattack)

Echo & The Bunnymen's classic 1984 Ocean Rain album will blast into space on June 13 with astronaut Timothy L. Korpa on his mission to the International Space Station (ISS).

Korpa is a longtime Echo & The Bunnymen fan and contacted the band through their website asking them to pick one of their albums to take with him to the ISS. He promised to take photos of the album in space and give it to the band when he returned to Earth. Echo & The Bunnymen were ecstatic and sent Korpa an autographed copy of Ocean Rain.

"Now it's official," singer Ian McCulloch says. "We are the coolest band in the universe.

"As a kid I dreamt of being an astronaut, and now in a way it feels like I'm fulfilling that dream. I cannot wait to hear from Tim what it is like to listen to 'The Killing Moon' in the actual glow of the moon."

An Ocean Rain box set featuring a live version of the album recorded at the Liverpool Arena last November, a DVD documentary about the LP and a booklet will be released on May 30. McCulloch and guitarist Will Sergeant will sign the first 1,000 copies ordered.

Echo & The Bunnymen's 10th studio album, The Fountain, should be released sometime this year.

Echo & The Bunnymen will perform Ocean Rain in its entirety at this year's Glastonbury Festival. Here's their tour itinerary:

June 28 Pilton, England @ Worthy Farm (Glastonbury Festival)
July 2 Oslo, Norway @ Kontraskjaeret (Oslo Live Festival)
July 4 Paddock Wood, England @ The Hop Farm Family Park (Hop Farm Festival)
July 11 Zottegem, Belgium @ Bevegemse Vijvers (Rock Zottegem Festival)
Aug. 2 Jersey City, NJ @ Liberty State Park (All Points West Music & Arts Festival)
Sept. 4 Stradbally, Ireland @ Stradbally Estate (Electric Picnic Art And Music Festival)
Dec. 18-19 Liverpool, England @ O2 Academy Liverpool