ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN frontman IAN MCCULLOCH has sparked a new war of words with longtime rock rivals U2, branding the Irish band’s music “flag-waving” and “immature”.

The outspoken British rocker has been a fervent U2 ‘hater’ for decades and uses interviews to poke fun at Bono and his bandmates.

Often bitter about the fact U2 have become one of the world’s biggest supergroups, McCulloch insists he would never emulate U2 - because their music only has commercial appeal.

He tells New York magazine, “Bands all say they want to be as big as U2, but weirdly no one ever says they?re influenced by them. That?s because there?s nothing there, really. They?ve got good tunes, and you can see that it works on 14 year olds.

“But I can?t see mature people or kids, who are looking for something, something deep - something that you just know it?s art and it?s going to change your life - caring. For U2, it?s always flag-waving and ‘Yippee’”.