A Conversation with eels’ Mark Oliver Everett (E) – HuffPost 8.20.10
Mike Ragogna: What have you been up to since Hombre Lobo?
Mark Oliver Everett: It’s funny, we last spoke before Hombre Lobo came out, and that was only last April or May. That’s weird to me because it seems like it must have been five years ago.
MR: Yeah, it seems like a long time.
MOE: I’ve been so busy. The fun thing about my life is that I immerse myself every year or so into a new musical world, and this time, I expedited how many times I was going to do that in a much shorter period of time. So, last year feels like several years to me.
MR: It should because you have had three albums in what, a little over a year?
MOE: Yeah, that’s right.
MR: End Times was this past January’s release, right?
MOE: That’s right, a wintry record.
MR: And now you’re capping off your run of Hombre Lobo and End Times with this third record that we’re talking about today, Tomorrow Morning.
MOE: Right.
MR: Well, in some respects, Tomorrow Morning seems like a finale for the trio. On the other hand, it seems like you’re opening another chapter.
MOE: Well, yeah. I guess that’s the point. It was important for me to follow a title calledEnd Times with the title Tomorrow Morning because then it changes the meaning of the title End Times. How could it be the end if there’s a morning coming tomorrow?
MR: (laughs) Very clever. And it’s interestingly sequenced.
MOE: Actually, the beginning is at the end of the story, and the end is in the middle.
MR: I’ve been a fan since E, and you had me at “Nowheresville” and A Man Called (E).
MOE: You’re showing your age.
MR: Somebody has to. You know, I’ve been following your career since your “E” days and when you became the eels that dabbled with even more experimental pop melodies and lyrics. With this album, did you have an overall mission with Tomorrow Morning?
MOE: Well, I wanted to make a warm, celebratory album that was celebrating life and all of the good things in life. You know, as you get older, you start to look around, and you start to notice that there are things that you should be appreciating.
MR: Yeah, including love. There are a couple of great “love” songs on your latest. “I Like The Way This Is Going” is a really simple song with you on electric guitar…
MOE: … it’s just guitar and bass and nothing else.
MR: Right, and it’s a real joy to me. “Mystery Of Life” is probably my favorite, your “la la” chorus all but poking the eye of pop music.
MOE: Oh, cool.
MR: There are a few songs on this record that seem pretty complicated topically, such as “I’m A Hummingbird.” Terrific lyrics and sentiment.
MOE: That’s very nice to hear because I wasn’t sure what anyone was going to make of that one. I felt like it was pretty odd, and so far, it seems like people are liking it, which is nice because I didn’t know what to expect.
MR: From your perspective, which song was the most complicated from any perspective?
MOE: Well, a lot of them are deceptively complicated, but you wouldn’t think it. The one called “Looking Up” is my favorite probably because I had the most fun I’ve ever had in the recording studio making it. But a lot of these songs are very complicated because they’re multi-layered. Literally, there is just layer after layer, adding and subtracting as the songs go on. In the case of “Looking Up,” that applies to all the different percussion that keeps piling up on it, so it just keeps building. It’s a different way to do a song, rather than the traditional verse, chorus, bridge, outro. Instead, you can also build songs by layering different percussive elements in and out.
MR: Looking at Hombre Lobo, End Times, and Tomorrow Morning, might this one be the most personal?
MOE: Well, End Times was pretty darn personal.
MR: True. What’s your tour going to be like?
MOE: Yeah, we’re about to start a fifty-show world tour.
MR: Where are you headed?
MOE: Japan, Australia, Europe, and America.
MR: Where in America?
MOE: They’re on the website. I’m on a need to know basis, and I only know within the next twenty-four hours.
MR: (laughs) I may have asked you this question when I spoke with you last, but what advice do you have for new acts?
MOE: Well, I think the best advice I could give a young act is to try not to be tentative about anything that you do. Even if you’re unsure about yourself or what you’re doing, do it like you know what you’re doing. That right there is half the battle. Do what you’re doing with authority, and you’ll be amazed at how much it works just by having that attitude.
MR: Nice. No one else has ever answered the question that way.
MOE: It’s actually hands-on, very useful advice.
MR: Yeah, it goes beyond just self-confidence, it’s just about believing in yourself and what you’re doing.
MOE: Exactly. Even if you don’t believe what you’re doing, lie to yourself that you believe what you’re doing as a start, and eventually, you might start believing what you’re doing.
MR: (laughs) From your days of making “E” albums through now, what are some of the most significant changes that you think you’ve gone through?
MOE: Artistically?
MR: Artistically, and maybe personally.
MOE: So much. I’ve had so many experiences, and I’ve been through so much since then. I wish someone could have told me back then how things would be for me twenty years later because things are really nice for me now, and I never would have guessed that things could have turned out this nice. So, good to know, and I hope that can serve as a little bit of hope. If a schmuck like me can get happy, anybody can.
Transcribed by Ryan Gaffney