Eels

A musical project that weds a rich variety of off-kilter pop influences with deeply personal lyrics often obsessing over the darker sides of human experience, Eels is the rubric used by singer, songwriter, and musician Mark Oliver Everett (aka E) for the music he creates with a rotating group of collaborators. Everett has been the sole constant throughout the Eels’ career, making music that’s daring and emotionally revealing, sometimes sounding warm and organic (2005′s Blinking Lights and Other Revelations and 2010′s End Times), sometimes deliberately discordant and full of noisy textures (2001′s Souljacker), but most often rooted in a melodic sense that manages to shine through even when the arrangements turn up the static (as on his 1996 debut Beautiful Freak, a strong exercise in bent indie pop). As his career progressed, E developed a greater interest in electronics (as in 2018′s The Deconstruction), but he showed he hadn’t lost touch with guitar-based rock on 2022′s Extreme Witchcraft, or low-key pop on 2024′s Eels Time! Born in Virginia on April 9, 1963, Everett became interested in rock music at an early age via his sister’s record collection and began playing drums at the age of six, as well as tinkering on his family’s piano. Everett led a troubled life as a teenager, which was further complicated by his father’s death. The turmoil led to an even stronger interest in music, and he taught himself how to play his sister’s guitar and began writing his own original compositions. (Tragedy would later form the catalyst for Eels’ magnum opus, Electro-Shock Blues.) Since several of his friends were also named Mark, Everett began going by his initials — and eventually only by the letter E. By his early twenties, E was recording demo material on a used four-track cassette recorder, and decided to pursue a career in music by relocating to Los Angeles. As Everett became a prolific songwriter, the quality of his tunes began to improve, which led to a recording contract as a solo artist for Polydor Records. This was followed by a pair of underappreciated releases, 1992′s A Man Called (E) (which was supported with a tour opening for Tori Amos) and 1993′s Broken Toy Shop, before E left the label and formed Eels along with bassist Tommy Walter and drummer Butch Norton. The trio inked a deal with the then-newly formed Dreamworks label, which issued Eels’ debut, 1996′s Beautiful Freak. The album spawned a sizable MTV/alternative radio hit with “Novocaine for the Soul”; its promo clip received three MTV Video Music Award nominations the following year, and the group’s popularity rose in England (resulting in a Brit Award, which was presented to the group by satiric metal heroes Spinal Tap). What should have been a time of great promise for E turned out to be one of tragedy, as both the singer’s sister and mother passed away in quick succession. This was compounded by Walter’s departure from the group. The dark mood resonated in Eels’ sophomore effort, Electro-Shock Blues, which proved to be stronger than its predecessor, yet failed to fuel much commercial success. With new bassist Adam Siegal in tow, the group toured behind the album’s release before returning to the studio immediately afterward to work on a third album. Issued in 2000, Daisies of the Galaxy offered a slightly brighter outlook and featured a guest appearance from R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck, who also helped co-pen a track. Despite the album’s commercial failure, E put together the Eels Orchestra and launched an international tour in support of its release. The six-piece band featured saxophone, trombone, trumpet, banjo, guitar, violin, upright bass, piano, melodica, clarinet, and timpani; to make it work on-stage, each bandmember was required to play three to four different instruments each night. After a live recording of the 2000 Eels Orchestra tour, Oh What a Beautiful Morning, was issued via the group’s official website, E began preparing for Eels’ fourth studio release. Instead of penning the entire album by himself (as he’d done with the group’s previous work), E turned to John Parish for help. The two created Souljacker, which was issued throughout most of the world in September 2001 and hit American shores early the following year (in the U.S., the first edition of the CD also contained a bonus four-track disc). The resulting tour saw E and Norton joined by multi-instrumentalist Parish, as well as new bassist/synthesizer player Koool G Murder. A live disc, Electro-Shock Blues Show, followed soon after to promote the tour. Spring 2003 began a flurry of Eels/E-related releases, beginning with MC Honky and his SpinART release I Am the Messiah. While the man behind Messiah’s splattering mix of hip-hop beats, dance grooves, and kitschy samples was little more than E in DJ drag, the album was nevertheless an enjoyable slice of summertime fun. E’s score for the indie film Levity arrived in April, and June saw the release of Eels’ fifth studio album, Shootenanny! Its follow-up, 2005′s Blinking Lights and Other Revelations, was an ambitious double album comprising 33 songs. Eels’ With Strings: Live at Town Hall album, recorded June 30, 2005, documented their New York Town Hall performance during their 2005 tour of the same name, and another With Strings: Live at Town Hall edition was issued in February 2006 with a concert DVD. In 2008, Eels released two CD/DVD sets, the first a best-of package (Meet the Eels: Essential Eels 1996-2006, Vol. 1) and the second a collection of odds & sods (Useless Trinkets: B-Sides, Soundtracks, Rarities and Unreleased 1996-2007). The band’s music also comprised the bulk of the soundtrack for Yes Man, a comedy featuring Jim Carrey. E then returned to the drawing board and emerged with Hombre Lobo, a concept album about desire that arrived in mid-2009, followed closely by the Transmissions Session 2009 live EP. The lo-fi End Times, which revolved around the central theme of broken love, arrived in 2010, but was followed in August by Tomorrow Morning, a much more polished album of upbeat optimism that relied heavily on analog electronics to drive its songs. Eels’ tenth album — the eccentric, hard rock-focused Wonderful, Glorious — arrived early in 2013. The stripped-down, acoustic, and lightly orchestrated The Cautionary Tales of Mark Oliver Everett followed it roughly a year later in 2014. On June 30, the band performed at London’s Royal Albert Hall. The show was filmed and recorded, then released as an audio and video disc package in the spring of 2015. E teamed with Koool G Murder and P-Boo to create 2018′s The Deconstruction, an effort drawn from his interest in electronic composition and recording. 2020′s Earth to Dora stepped away from the electronic frameworks of The Deconstruction in favor of a warmer and more organic sound, as well as a (relatively) optimistic outlook, and 2022′s Extreme Witchcraft presented a lively set of angular guitar-based songs which also sounded upbeat by the standards of the Eels. Extreme Witchcraft reunited E with producer John Parish; they’d previously worked together on Souljacker. In December 2023, Eels made holiday shopping for their fans easier with the release of Eels So Good: Essential Eels, Vol. 2 (2007-2020). The set compiled 17 songs from their back catalog (two of which made their vinyl debut on the LP edition of the album), as well as three previously unreleased tracks. 2023 also saw Eels go out on tour for the first time in nearly four years, and not long after returning home, Everett underwent open heart surgery to repair an aortic aneurysm. Once he recovered, work began on a new Eels album, 2024′s Eels Time!, a collection of introspective numbers that found him collaborating in the studio with Tyson Ritter of the All-American Rejects on five songs. ~ Greg Prato