Eels // Interview 2011

The notion of the miserablist is not a sustainable description for any working artist; Malcolm Middleton, Morrissey – they’ve all been labelled as the same, but it’s just too one-dimensional for a successful musician. What? You think they don’t lose their shit over a solid chocolate factory balls-up Kit Kat? They feel. Lots. Never more truer has it been said with Eels centre-pin, Mark Oliver Everett, better known as E. The man knows tragedy; he’d qualify to write the definition and he writes about it, we know. We’ve enjoyed over 15 years of his heart-splattered shirt sleeve, revisited his darkest moments on LP, but there’s more. He is a man, he loves his dog. We were honoured to get to speak to E, a man in three whole dimensions…

I remember the first time I heard an Eels record; I was in my stepdad’s car, I was 14 and it was also the first night I’d had Chinese chilli beef strips, so it was obviously a momentous night…

Well I hope it all worked out alright for you!

So E, you played Glastonbury last night and responses on Twitter suggested you were among people’s highlights – how does that feel?

It feels good! That’s nice to hear because it was really hard for us to tell what was going on; we were a little out of our minds really. We’d come all the way from Madrid and been on a bus for about 25 hours by the time we reached Glastonbury and you know, everyone mentally prepares you for a monsoon at Glastonbury but it was the hottest day we’d ever set foot in to. Even though we were on at 7 o’clock in the evening, it was just unbelievably hot, you know, the sun just pointed right at us. We didn’t really know what was going on; a couple of us nearly fainted during the show, including myself, so I hope it all seemed good to the audience. It was very exciting seeing everyone there – so many people.

You’re back on the festival circuit and are coming to Latitude festival too – is there more or less pressure for you playing festival slots? You’re preaching to some of the unconverted…

Well, I don’t think there’s pressure but there is an excitement about it, that you’re out of your comfort zone and to some degree, at your own show you’ve got a lot more control over things; you get to soundcheck, you get to play a whole show to people who’ve paid to see you. That’s what’s fun about playing the festivals – you just go out there, cross your fingers and hope for the best.

I wanted to get an artist’s opinion on politics and music – I was thinking about Bono and his apparent tax evasion; if an artist spends a lot of time on the soapbox, are they allowed to choose when to be quiet?

That’s a good question. I suppose if you’re gonna be very vocal about that kind of stuff then you probably should have to answer to it too.

For you E, you don’t cross into the realms of politics, so we wouldn’t ask you…

Yeah, I’m OK with that, ha.

Is there a wider reason for this World Tour? Are you thinking about writing again?

I have been writing and I’m looking forward to some more writing and some recording, hopefully soon.

Is there a time in the future you’re putting a peg in to have something out?

I don’t know when; I know that I’d like to be working on stuff as soon as possible, but I don’t know when the right time will be to put something out.

This isn’t as serious as politics and scheduling, but it fixates me – your beard; is it at optimum length?

It’s pretty optimum, yeah. I think only once in my life has it maybe been a little bit longer than it is now, but it’s approaching world-record length.

Well, congratulations.

Pretty soon I won’t have to wear pants.

From the Glastonbury coverage I saw, I could see that you were all a pretty hirsute bunch. Is that a pre-requisite of being in the band?

Well, I tend to hire the most musicians and I of course know that talent and facial hair go hand in hand.

I’m trying to grow in a beard myself just to reflect my own talent.

OK, well you must be very talented.

You have an ever-changing line-up. You had the beautiful hairy bunch with you last night, but what’s the reason for the flux?

Well from the beginning I set out to do things that would keep myself interested musically, so from the beginning I set out to have a rotating cast of characters to keep things interesting for me.

There are strange stories surrounding your beard though – it’s a terrorism threat, a fire hazard, but is it you and the beard ‘til the end?

No, me and the beard come and go, you know, we tend to part ways every once in a while and I’m sure we’ll part again.

Your story could be quite encouraging for artists who peddle their wares for a while without achieving the success they desire as there was a fair gap between your original recordings and the success of Beautiful Freak…

Well my first solo release was in 1992 and then there was another one in 1993, so there were a couple of years before Beautiful Freak came out.

Was there enough momentum to keep you going, and feeling like you were on the right track?

No, that two-year period was very difficult for me. The record label dropped me and I could hardly pay my rent and I don’t know how I got through it. It’s amazing to me that it turned out OK.

Is it a strong sense of determination that kept you going, or sheer pig-headedness?

It was a strong sense of determination really; I just didn’t give myself any choice, which can be a difficult way to live when things aren’t going the way you want them to go, but then you know, the combination of determination and some luck worked out for me.

It’s interesting that Beautiful Freak achieved more success in the UK than it did initially in the US on its release – what did you attribute that to?

Did it? I wasn’t aware of that…

You had a higher chart position and sustained it for longer in the UK.

Well I think that’s kinda true for everyone’s records, isn’t it? Except for maybe Lady Gaga or something, haha.

Perhaps for the comparative population, but you’ve always been a celebrated artist in the UK…

Yeah, well the thing is, and this is true of everyone that I know who releases records, that music is just a much more important part of people’s lives in Europe than in America. In America, music’s become a really small part of people’s lives and it’s been replaced by all the other distractions; the internet, TV, video games – anything other than music.

Does it just not have its place? It’s hard for me to get my head around it.

Well no, I think there’s always going to be people who are in to music, and who care about it, but it just became a smaller amount of them.

A friend of mine had ‘My Beloved Monster’ as her first dance wedding song, and it seemed like the most honest and sustainable statement of love to choose. The song is a paean to realism – is that indicative of your view on love?

Yeah, I mean sometimes I feel as romantic as the next romantic fool, but to me the most romantic thing is realistic romantic.

Now E, you have a strong relationship with film, from having your tracks licensed for soundtracks, to scoring the entire film, Levity. Does film and music combined create a stronger force than the two separately?

Sometimes when it works well, it’s interesting to see the song in a film context.

Can you think of a moment where one of your songs has been used to great dramatic effect in film?

Well I thought ‘My Beloved Monster’ in the first Shrek film was used really well.

My favourite album of yours is Electro-Shock Blues, probably because I was introduced to it first, but as I grew older and understood its inspiration, I wanted to ask you whether making music is a necessary thing for you to process emotions?

Yeah, I think it definitely has been in the past, like sometimes the only way I’ve dealt with things I probably should have dealt with them in different ways and it still serves that purpose for me, but I’ve gotten better at dealing with things the way a proper person should, you know.

Wearing your heart on your sleeve is not anything to regret, but yours is just in a very public arena. Has there ever been anything you’ve put on song that you’ve thought, ‘mmm, maybe too far’?

Yeah, occasionally that happens where I won’t release a song because I’ll think, ‘yeah, this doesn’t really offer the world anything’.

And is it you that makes that decision or are there people around you that can give you that advice?

Well in the earlier days, for instance, when I made Electro-Shock blues, my manager at the time didn’t think I should put it out. That was the moment I decided that I was the one that was gonna decide whether to put it out, so I had to get rid of the manager and put the album out.

You’ve released on your own album; is that always a good thing? It’s pure freedom, but you have to cope with the management of yourself…

I’m still learning about that, ‘cause I’ve only really done it with the latest album, so it’s too early to tell you how that story ends, but it seems to make sense so far.

It was an amazing feat to put out the trilogy of albums that you did between 2009-2010, but you were mindful not to tell anybody about the entire concept ‘til they were all released – were you worried about not fulfilling your goal?

Yeah, I wasn’t worried about it, but I don’t like to tell people about anything before I’m sure it’s coming out, because I often do change my mind along the way and decide not to put it out and I don’t want to questioned forever more, like ‘whatever happened to that?!’

With people’s reticence to buy whole albums when they can snatch single mp3s, by making the statement of putting 3 new studio albums out, were you putting a flag in the sand for the long player?

Erm, well I could have made it a triple album, and I didn’t do that at least!

With the differing emotions of the three albums it would have been a hell of a rollercoaster all put together, wouldn’t it?!

I suppose it could have worked, but I wanted them each to be something on their own, and also related to each other. I’m sticking with what I know so far because I’m just a big fan of the album as a form; it’s one I grew up with and I like it. I’m old enough to miss the break between Side 1 and Side 2.

It’s less energetic though now…

That’s true, you know when you play old vinyl albums you realise how quick the side is over!

Just to indulge slightly, although you say you don’t listen to much music when you are writing, but being heavily in festival season, if you were to curate your own, who would you have on your line-up?

Well I’d have to have Tom Waits in there.

How about Peaches? I’ve heard you listen to her a lot – she’s even occasionally got the beard…

Yeah, she could be in Eels! Who else would be good… PJ Harvey. You know, as long as Bob Dylan’s still alive, maybe we should get him in here. Shit, let’s get Neil Young – this is my dream festival so why not? Let’s get some dead people; John Lennon, Elvis Presley, Ray Charles…

And E, what would you like from us, your Latitude Festival crowd when you bring us a stunning performance?

Well now that’s a very good question, because the number one thing some audiences don’t understand is how big a part of the experience they are. It was all so succinctly and wisely put at the end of a Beatles album; they said “and in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make”. And what that means to you, Latitude audience, is if you want this to be a kick ass show that you’re never gonna forget, then you have to give us as much as we’re gonna give back to you. If you sit there and don’t give us the love, you’re not gonna get the love back.

Emma Garwood

Eels are part of the Latitude Festival line-up and headline the Word arena on Sunday 17th July. For tickets to the festival, go to www.latitudefestival.co.uk.