Eels, LA's lo-fi alt-country misery-pop dirge-rockers, are back with a new double album. Daniel Robson chats to frontman and driving force E as he passes through London, to get the lowdown on Blinking Lights And Other Revelations, the state of the music industry, being normal and joining the fourth-timers club.
SS: So then, E, there are some pretty personal lyrics on this new album. Lots of stuff about life, death, family, love, all that stuff. Have you laid yourself bare here?
E: Erm, more so than the last couple of records maybe. This one isn't all autobiographical but it certainly does have some pretty autobiographical moments in it.
SS: How has the press received the record?
E: I think they've been very kind. It's been heartening to see the perceptions of this new record actually as what I intended it to be, although other times I see stuff that's completely off base. Sometimes I see a really generous, positive review that doesn't really understand what the record's about at all. Maybe if they'd paid closer attention they might not like it as much. Whatever. I knew when I made a double album with 33 tracks that there's very little time for reviewers to get it under their skin like it has to for them to get the full effect. I designed it to be something you have to feel more than think about. It's nice that some people did give it that time.
SS: It is pretty long...
E: Actually it's really not, as far as double albums go. It's the length of two vinyl albums in the old days. There are a lot of single-disc CDs that are nearly as long as this anyway, this is only 90 minutes in total.
SS: Is there a structure to make the two discs separate?
E: Well, most double-discs that come out these days are like, 'Here's my acoustic disc and here's my rock one'. This is all one thing unto itself. It's a hard thing to articulate, I was trying to make something you would feel. There is an arc to everything but it's hard to describe.
SS: Before Eels you released solo records just as E; and in Eels, you write everything and the other band members come and go. Does it feel like your extended solo project?
E: Yeah, that's basically what it is. I just needed to add some letters because if you're just called E, there are all these problems. Like in the newspaper, 'Appearing tonight: E,' you don't notice it. But you add a couple of letters and you suddenly notice it more.
SS: After ten years as Eels, and with so much criticism for being a miserable sod, how do you keep motivated to make records and tour?
E: It's getting harder and harder to get motivated because it's getting more and more difficult to get it rolling. The motivation has to be really strong. Several things motivate me, I just most of all have some deep-seated need to write these songs, and then you write 'em and it's like, 'Guess I'd better sing 'em,' and then, 'Guess I'd better record 'em,' and then y'know, 'Guess I'd better go play them for people'. Next thing you know, you've gone through the whole cycle.
SS: It sounds like you find it pretty tough.
E: Well, the music industry just keeps getting worse, who are we kidding? Every year the battles get harder and I get a little more beaten down by them. It's getting harder because the climate of the music industry has gotten more and more about money and less and less about music. It's pretty hard to do what you want to do and stay afloat these days.
SS: But hey, you've done OK out of it. You don't get in the Top 10 anymore but at least you're on a major label and people like your music. You still get on TV here in the UK, right?
E: Yeah - we're doing Jools Holland today [a famous music show in Britain]. This is our fourth time. They make a special presentation; you become members of the fourth-timers club. We get all the special privileges now, we get to go behind the secret door and have brandy and cigars with Jools and all his friends.
SS: And the touring part? Do you enjoy getting to see the world?
E: Yeah, but when you travel around like we do, you're so busy that the only local flavours you're exposed to are the hotel TV or radio, and I don't even get much time for that.
SS: It must be nice to escape the US music scene - I bet it's not terribly exotic, just a load of white, English-speaking guitar bands.
E: Yeah, pretty much. It's pretty much there for Whitey, haha.
SS: Don't you ever go through a place on tour and think, 'I'd like to come back here for a holiday'?
E: Yeah, but the trouble is, when a holiday comes around the last thing I want to do is go anywhere. I never take vacations cos I'm so exhausted from travelling, all I wanna do is stay home. I'm very much a homebody. I miss my dog. Y'know, like normal people.
SS: That's kind of the key to Eels, isn't it? The balance between normality, humour and integrity. I mean, I heard what you wrote for the Kurt Cobain diary when asked for a quote.
E: Yeah, they had me submit a quote to put on the back of the dust jacket and I said 'Please don't do this to me after I kill myself'. They didn't use it, haha. I thought it was a pretty good line...