You may not recognise Mark Oliver Everett—even some of his biggest fans would walk straight past him in the street. Also known as "E", the unassuming Eels frontman defines himself as a "poor excuse for a rock star", someone who shuns the limelight in favour of making music that challenges audiences and does not kowtow to the mainstream.
The Eels have therefore often been more of a critical success than a commercial triumph, although they have still had six top 40 albums in the UK over the past decade, two of which (1996's "Beautiful Freak" and "Daisies of the Galaxy" in 2000) peaked in the top 10. But alongside these highs, Everett has also had to cope with crushing lows: at the age of 44, he is the only surviving member of his immediate family.
His father, quantum physicist Hugh Everett III, died of a heart attack at 51. Everett discovered him one morning, spread-eagled on the bed. His sister, Liz, committed suicide in 1996 after several earlier failed attempts, and two years later his mum died of lung cancer. As though that wasn't painful enough, one of his cousins was a flight attendant on the plane which hit the Pentagon on September 11th 2001.
Understandably, Everett has been reluctant to reflect on his past and write down his life story, despite some badgering from friends. But now, with the Eels celebrating 10 years of existence, he felt the time was right, and the most remarkable thing about the resulting book (Things the Grandchildren Should Know, Little, Brown, January) is his optimism and lack of bitterness.
"There have definitely been times when I was angry when I was younger," he says. "I'm really fortunate because I've had a load of amazing experiences to go with all the horrible experiences, and the amazing experiences have been really amazing—I mean, I'm a rock star! That's one of the reasons why I wanted the book to come out. It could be inspiring in the way that it's about this clueless kid from Virginia that has all sorts of weird and wacky and horrible adventures, and somehow ends up making something out of his life."
Nothing to hide behind
Of course, writing his autobiography has been a whole different challenge from that of writing a song, not least because this is his life stripped bare, naked on a page. "There's always something you can hide behind in the music," he says. "Writing a book, there's no safety net. There's nothing you can change in the mix. It's just the ink and the paper and the words, and it's so exacting.
"Having to go back and revisit certain periods of my life was particularly hard. There were some days when I was working on the book that were just excruciating. I just have this mechanism where I like to rise to challenges; I'd try to write a book because it made me feel uncomfortable. And I have to say that now it's done, while I do still feel very uncomfortable about the idea of people actually reading it, it also feels good that I'm done with all that, all those years in a nice little package."
Telling it like it is
In writing his memoir, Mark was inspired by the "candid" tone of Ray Charles' autobiography, Brother Ray, and aimed for a similarly conversational tone. "I tried to imagine some person, not a fan, sitting at the kitchen table across from me and talking to them," he says. "That's how I wanted it. I wanted it to feel like it wasn't written, just said. As unpretentiously as possible."
He deliberately avoided ornate language, peeling away the details of the major episodes in his life to leave only the stark, often painful, facts. "That's how it is in real life," he says with a knowing smile. "When somebody dies or something horrible happens in your life, you're not told the news with flowery language."
I''m excited to read this in January. any other eels fans care?
_________________
thodoks wrote:
Man, they really will give anyone an internet connection these days.
Last edited by windedsailor on Tue Dec 15, 2009 7:04 pm, edited 4 times in total.
Post subject: Re: Things the Grandchildren Should Know E (the Eels) autobiogra
Posted: Sat Jan 19, 2008 5:07 pm
Yeah Yeah Yeah
Joined: Mon May 30, 2005 4:47 pm Posts: 3677 Location: Newfoundland Gender: Male
windedsailor wrote:
i think i'm the only person on this board who really really likes the eels
Not true. I've become a huge fan over the last month or so (I was a fan before, but not to any great degree) and McP was the one who turned me on to them, so I'm sure he's a fan as well.
Post subject: Re: Things the Grandchildren Should Know E (the Eels) autobiogra
Posted: Sat Jan 19, 2008 11:01 pm
Supersonic
Joined: Sat Apr 02, 2005 2:48 am Posts: 11400 Location: VA via Chicago Gender: Female
ThumbingMyWayToNFLD wrote:
windedsailor wrote:
i think i'm the only person on this board who really really likes the eels
Not true. I've become a huge fan over the last month or so (I was a fan before, but not to any great degree) and McP was the one who turned me on to them, so I'm sure he's a fan as well.
I can't say I'm a huge fan at this point, but I'm becoming addicted to them. Can't wait to see this.
_________________ Frank
you're in my soul now. you've got to waste away with me.
Post subject: Re: Things the Grandchildren Should Know E (the Eels) autobiogra
Posted: Mon Jan 21, 2008 6:55 pm
Former PJ Drummer
Joined: Wed Oct 27, 2004 12:03 am Posts: 18376 Location: outta space Gender: Male
ThumbingMyWayToNFLD wrote:
windedsailor wrote:
i think i'm the only person on this board who really really likes the eels
Not true. I've become a huge fan over the last month or so (I was a fan before, but not to any great degree) and McP was the one who turned me on to them, so I'm sure he's a fan as well.
yeah i saw them on the eels with strings tour, it was great, i also saw them at the sunset junction festival a couple years ago, and that was great too
check out the documentary i posted in the arts and entertainment, i wish i could see more about it, they really scratched the surface. but its good stuff.
Joined: Wed Oct 27, 2004 12:03 am Posts: 18376 Location: outta space Gender: Male
wallsofsound wrote:
electro-shock blues -
i've heard that one (quite a few times) and the live album. any recommendation for which one to check out next?
that ones great... daisy's of the galaxy is a great summer album. beautiful freak is their first and its great. blinking lights is prolly the best one to fallow up electroshock blues. souljacker is much heavier and dirtier, so if your in the mood for noise that's the way to go. there's also a greatest hits album you could check out and see where you want to go from that
_________________
thodoks wrote:
Man, they really will give anyone an internet connection these days.
I've been a huge fan since Souljacker (still my favorite by far). I'd like him to do something like that again.
One issue I have with his more straghtforward acoustic tunes is that a lot of them sound very much the same. As well, his lyrics are either extaordinary or very poor.
having said that I really do love the Eels and own all of their material minus the new b-sides and best of discs.
Eels with strings is a pretty sweet little DVD as well.
Joined: Wed Oct 27, 2004 12:03 am Posts: 18376 Location: outta space Gender: Male
deep wrote:
One issue I have with his more straghtforward acoustic tunes is that a lot of them sound very much the same. As well, his lyrics are either extaordinary or very poor.
i always thought that about his lyrics, but the more i listen the more i get where he's coming from and find it less and less the case. it seems like he gets across what he wants to every time.
i think souljacker is the most underrated of his cds definitely. souljacker pt 2 is one of my favorite songs, and that's not really funny, is one of the best songs he's written for sure.
you'll find on the b-sides collections there are a few songs where you hear similar melodies or musical ideas as the songs you know, which is kinda funny. as if the song didn't make the cut but he liked parts well enough that he used them to make other songs. i think its an interesting window into his creative process
_________________
thodoks wrote:
Man, they really will give anyone an internet connection these days.
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 81 guests
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot post attachments in this forum