Mr E's Beautiful Chat
On the eve of the Eels' tour, Andrew P Street speaks to a surprisingly chipper Mark "E" Everett about his many media forays, recalcitrant dogs and being snubbed by the Queen.
By Andrew P Street
Mark Everett - also known as E from the Eels - has had a busy time of late, but let's not get sidetracked by the career-spanning Eels best-of, his award-winning documentary on his late father (or his just published in Australia autobiography). Let's focus instead on the antics that he's been enjoying on tour, as recorded at www.eelstheband.com: riding tandem bicycles, being fired out of cannons (which, to be honest, seems a little faked...) and the like. "We've been having some fun here and there," he confirms. "You tend to have very little time to do fun stuff, so when you do you try to make it extreme."
Well, it don't get much more extreme than getting pretending to be fired out of a cannon, surely? "One would think, but I'm gonna see if I can turn it up a notch." Is there anything specific in mind? "I don't know: this sort of thing just happens off-the-cuff. We don't say ‘tomorrow we're gonna do such-and-such', it just ends up happening. I don't know what'll be next."
It's good that he's been gallivanting about the place since he's been spending a lot of time looking backwards of late. First there was the January release of Meet The Eels - and its b-sides companion Useless Trinkets - which looked over the entire Eels oeuvre and may or may not be their last effort for DreamWorks/Universal. Then there was the aforementioned documentary, Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives, a look both at the theories of the theoretical physicist Hugh Everett III and the peculiar relationship he had with his son (who discovered his body after the heart attack that felled him at age 51). The film was commissioned by the BBC and won the Royal Television Society Award for "weaving together an emotional odyssey with an exploration of some of the most challenging front-line science" ("Yeah, go figure," Everett chuckles). And, if that wasn't enough, local publishers Little, Brown have finally put out the acclaimed autobiography Things The Grandchildren Should Know in Australia. That's a whole lot of biography for a man who has, for the most part, remained oddly anonymous despite the worldwide success of his band.
"And I really couldn't be happier with it. It's perfect for me. I would not be comfortable with being Paris Hilton-famous, and particularly with being famous for the sake of being famous, and that was kinda the whole point for me: to make something as good as I could and if people liked it and came along for the ride, great; and if not, I can take it."
Among those who have chosen not to come along for the ride are such figures as Queen Elizabeth II and George W. Bush, both of whom have declined invitations to attend Eels gigs on the current tour.
"Yeah, I've been snubbed by a lot of high profile figures this year, and I'm not gonna lie to you: it stings," he deadpans. "I do take it personally, but the point for me really is to offer the invitation. Again, if they don't wanna come along for the ride, what can you do? My entire career has been one stumbling block after another. I'm used to the frustrations. They don't faze me anymore."
Even when photographic evidence appears at the Eels website of Bobby Jr - a homeless dog Everett adopted and subsequently put on several Eels tracks - with, of all people, Leonard Cohen?
Everett sighs theatrically. "That wound is still fresh and it still hurts, yes. All I know is I'm on tour and next thing I know I'm being sent photos of my dog with Leonard Cohen, all cozy," he spits. "Bobby is a star in his own right - he's got his own website and fanclubs and merchandise - and I guess he and his fans expect that he would come on tour with the Eels, and he never has because it's way too inconvenient for me. I'm sorry! But I guess that this tour was the straw that broke the camel's back. Leonard Cohen's going on tour soon, though, so let's see if he takes Bobby."
Speaking of the tour, those expecting to hear the hits'n'memories should perhaps be warned that an Eels gig and an Eels album are very different things.
"I never set out to play the new album in concert or something," Everett declares. "I always treat the album and the concert as completely different situations, because they are completely different situations. So I just try to make the best album I can make, and then try to make the best show I can make regardless of any album."
And with that I leave him to sort out his extreme leisure activities for his Australian visit. Like cliff jumping, or going for a swim off the east coast...
"Yeah, maybe I'll get attacked by a shark - that's a great idea. Thank you."
An Evening With Eels happens at the Enmore Theatre on Sun 27 April.