``We have lots of fans in Spain, Brazil and South America,’’ McCullough says. ``I think our music appeals to the Latin type of person—very fiery and soulful.’’

As a result, he’s always interested to hear non-English speaking bands do Echo songs like ``The Cutter’’ and ``Bring On The Dancing Horses,’’ although he ``doesn’t like it if the singer’s crap.’’

McCullough feels the band’s lasting Latin legacy has roots in San Diego because of local rock station 91X, which introduced Echo music back in the 1980s to both Mexican and American New Wavers.

There’s another reason why he likes playing here though. ``There’s a guy from Mexico who always brings great wine when we play here.’’

McCullough’s love for San Diego also extends to the rest of the U.S. and he admits he often feels he has to defend the country when he’s back in Europe.

``It really is the best place to tour. New York and San Diego are brilliant names for cities and it’s so different from place to place. If you base what you think about the country on [George W.] Bush, you miss so much of what’s good about this place.’’

Although the Bunnymen’s nucleus of McCullough and Will Sergeant have been together nearly 25 years, the band playing in San Diego without the original member, Echo, who was the drum machine used by the Bunnymen on early cuts.

According to McCullough, ``Echo’’ was stolen early in the band’s career and they’ve been using a machine called ``Dr. Rhythm’’ ever since—and even introduce it as a band member during the song, ``Over The Wall.’’

But while there’s no Echo in Echo And The Bunnymen, McCullough admits some people still assume his name is ``Echo’’ but, adds, ``not the real fans.’’

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Echo and the Bunnymen play the House of Blues on December 9th.