The Eels are somewhat of a rarity in the music industry today. Basically left to his own devices, front-man E roams free to produce real music based on his own creative sources jumping across genres as he pleases.
The origins of The Eels goes back to California, 1995. E formed the band known as The Eels as a trio but over the years it basically became a vehicle for his own work.
Now, E has produced his 5th body of work as The Eels and talks to Paul Cashmere about it.
Paul Cashmere : You are a remarkably prolific artist for today.
E: You think? I hope so. I know a lot of record companies frown on that frequency. I think every one or two years is a good amount of time to wait between albums. Not any more than that though. I like that.
PC: Bands used to do an album a year, sometimes even two a year.
E: Yeah, I know. Things have changed. Kids today, they are so lazy.
PC: The new album Shootenanny is a concise piece of work. 41 minutes of music. So many artists fall into the trap of having to fill all 78 minutes on a CD.
E: I don’t believe in doing that just because we can. I think too many albums go on for too long just because they can now. I really love the LP. I think Sinatra was onto something when he invented 19 minutes a side for the LP with a break in between. I miss the break in between. I thought that was a great thing. Now, a CD can hold 78 minutes but I don’t think an album needs to be 78 minutes. I think quite often it suffers from that. A double album is one thing but one album shouldn’t go for 78 minutes but now that I have said that I will probably put one out. I’d like to put out a double album with 2 CDs but each CD is only 40 minutes long. That would be still justifiable because it would still be too much for one CD.
PC: When did you start to write Shootenanny and when did you know it was complete?
E: It all happened very quickly. Almost all of it was written in a week and then the whole album was recorded in 10 days. There was maybe another week of mixing.
PC: How does that compare with your previous albums?
E: It is hard to measure. This one is more of a cohesive body of work. It was all done very clearly to become the album it became. The other ones were put together piece-meal while other albums were being made along the way. It is hard to explain how I work.
PC: I love the twist in sound on track one. On ‘All In A Days Work’ where you get a bit bluesy.
E: I often have songs that have the word “blues” in the title but I have never really very often embraced the musical style known as the blues. Philosophically a lot of my songs could be called blues songs but this time I didn’t embrace the musical style thought of as the blues. The ghost of Muddy Waters was hovering in the room.
PC: Do your lyrics come out fast? I listen to the lyric on ‘Dirty Girl’ for instance and it just sounds like a song that once who had the title the rest of the song wrote itself.
E: That’s exactly what happened. (laughs). I didn’t know it was that obvious. Actually I’ve had that opening life for 5 or 6 years. The rest of the song didn’t come until then but I found the opening line again and it did write itself, but it took 5 or 6 years to go from the first line to the second line. That line took 6 years and the rest of the album took a week.
PC: It’s good to see Lisa Germano is still working with you.
E: Yes, she plays on the album but she won’t be touring with us this time. She has always come in handy.
PC: It was good to see you bring here down last time you were here.
E: I’m glad we got to share her with Australia.
PC: And how is your ongoing relationship with Butch going?
E: He is playing good on the record. He’s actually not going to be on this tour but by the time we come to Australia who knows? Right now he is busy on tour. We had a scheduling conflict and he isn’t going to be on my next tour. He is touring with Tracy Chapman. He might not be a musician for her, he might be her valet. (laughs)
PC: What are you plans for Australia?
E: We are just trying to get there right now. I keep calling people and saying “we are going to Australia, right” and they keep saying “we’re trying”.
PC: Were you amazed by the reaction you got when you toured here last. The shows were sell-outs.
E: We were great. We loved it and we are dying to come back.
PC: Is it a strange feeling being in LA, writing songs about your experiences there and having the other side of the planet take notice?
E: It is. It is enough to blow your little mind.
PC: The last album Soul Jacker was well received in Australia and Europe but America was slow.
E: Stupid Americans.
PC: Was that frustrating for you?
E: It has been okay. They have just been a little slower than everywhere else. While we were touring America last year we started to notice more people come to see us. A lot of it is our fault because we neglected America and haven’t spent that much time playing in America. We are starting to try and make up for it. It feels like the Americans are catching on as time goes on.
PC: The title Shootenanny is a very American sounding name.
E: I just made it up. I thought it was time to invent a funny word for a party that turns into a shooting spree.
PC: Are you a fan of cowboy movies?
E: Good ones like High Noon, yeah.
PC: You’ve had your fair share of songs on movie soundtracks. Are you happy about that?
E: There are times when there is a political situation with the record company where I am held at gun point. I haven’t always been happy about it. You try and keep it to the quality stuff but you can’t always tell what is going to turn out good or bad with a movie. It is like a leap of faith. I usually say “no” as much as possible but there are times when they “convince you”. So you say okay and it comes out terrible and you just want to kill yourself.
PC: One of the movies that spring to mind for me featuring one of your songs was ‘Road Trip’.
E: Which I still haven’t seen. That was a record company political situation that I was really against and they know it that I really regret it. I guess I should really see the movie before I say that but I can just tell. It is not my cup of coffee.
PC: But a movie like that was seen by millions of people and therefore your song was exposed to millions.
E: I don’t really think of it like that. That is kind of crazy.
PC: So how do you like to have your music promoted then? In terms of marketing The Eels, when do you feel comfortable?
E: I never think in terms of marketing. A lot of musicians ask “so what markets are you hitting” (laughs). The first time somebody said that I really thought they meant if I was going shopping and if they wanted to know what grocery stores were good in each town. I never like to think of these things and really I don’t have a mind for it. I have people who think about that sort of thing for me.
PC: It is good to see Mo Ostin still gets a thank-you on your album.
E: Well he signed me. He and Lenny Waronker signed me in the first place. We were their first signing.
PC: Mo’s name goes back decades.
E: He’s been around. He invented the LP with Frank Sinatra. Frank hired him to run Reprise records back in the day.
PC: So who is Michael Ostin?
E: That is his son. He works at the label too.
PC: ‘Saturday Morning’ is the designated single. Is that a single by your choice?
E: No. I never choose a single. I have ideas of what I think is a single but there is no use in me saying anything because you have just got to go with what they say. If I say some other song they just want to prove that I’m wrong (laughs). You just have to go with what they are enthusiastic about.
PC: Are you too close to your own work?
E: Yes. It is hard for me. I think every song I write is a single. I write any song and think “this is the greatest hit single I have ever heard” regardless of the fact it is a dirge wit no drums or whatever. I don’t follow the same rules that radio programmers follow.
PC: Taking it back to the Beautiful Freak album then, would you have picked ‘Novocaine For The Soul’?
E: I am still surprised that song was such a hit. I liked it and thought it was a neat song but I had recorded it three years before it came out. It still doesn’t sound like a hit song to me.
PC: Did you record many extra songs for Shootennanny?
E: There is not a lot of extra Shootenanny stuff, only a couple of songs. I took stuff from other sessions for B-sides.
PC: So collectively how many unreleased Eels songs are there?
E: I don’t know but it is a lot.
PC: What are your plans for them?
E: I am trying to figure that out everyday lately. I am going to figure out what is going to be next, what I am going to use from the old stuff and what I’m not going to use.
PC: There must be enough for a rarities album.
E: There is enough for a boxed set. I’m not going to do it but there is enough.
PC: I’m surprised that after 5 albums the record company hasn’t been talking to you about a greatest hits album.
E: A greatest hit album, you mean, The Eels Greatest Hit.
PC: Would you like a compilation album?
E: I would like to release a lot of the B-sides that were only out for a short time. I’d like to make those available for everybody in a collection. Maybe we’ll do it on the website, I don’t know. I’d also like to include unreleased stuff if there was some sort of collection. That would be nice.
PC: A final question about my personal Eels fav ‘Suzanne’s House’. Will you continue to play it live?
E: We haven’t done that one since we were in Australia. I don’t think it is going to be around this year but you never know. It could end up showing up.
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