Attracted to a career much different than that of his famous father, Dr. Hugh Everett III, Mark Oliver Everett chose the life of a musician as the founder of the band, Eels.
Everett's father, a quantum physicist who exchanged letters with Albert Einstein on his theories of parallel universes, authored a book in the 1950s about the same concept called "Everett's Many Worlds Theory."
As a child, Mark Oliver, a.k.a. "E," exhibited no interest in physics, but rather his sister's record collection which included Neil Young's "After The Goldrush."
At the age of 6, "E" learned to play the drums and played them for 10 years until he discovered the guitar and then began incessantly writing songs in his spare time.
Since 1992, "E" has recorded seven studio albums including the latest entitled "SHOOTENANNY!" due out in stores this month on the Dreamworks label.
"E" recently talked with The Beach Reporter about the new work conceived mostly in his basement with lyrical topics ranging from awards ceremonies to domestic violence to childhood memories.
The Beach Reporter: In terms of content, how much of this album is about your own life and how much of it is based on fictional people?
Everett: I would say the album is probably half and half. It's me drawing from real-life situations and the characters that I make up.
The song 'Fashion Awards,' is it safe to assume you think all award shows like the Grammys and the Academy Awards are a waste of time?
Yes. I have to say, I don't see any point in it. I think it's good advertising for your music, film or record, but it's obvious they're so meaningless, but people care so much about them.
Each song has a rather specific theme. How aware are you about presenting your music in a certain light when you're actually recording them in the studio?
I don't think about it when I'm recording. I just happen to paint myself into a corner. I never think if this fan or that fan will like it. I'm more aware of things when the record comes out and I have to talk about it and think, "What have I done?"
In a live setting?
I play on stage and I have to get a couple of drinks in me, face the music and sing really personal words to a roomful of strangers. The great thing about performing live is playing old songs because I'll go back and listen to those albums to remember how to play it, and I'll think, "I should have changed this or that." So it gives me a chance to reinterpret a living, breathing thing that was written years ago.
The writing process for this album, did it differ from previous albums?
My process is different from record to record. But yes, I think this one was done in a more traditional way. I did some spontaneous playing on a piano or guitar with singing. It's been different in the past in that I made it more into a studio experimentation. For this record, I sat in my basement. The song "Agony," the whole thing was done in my basement piece by piece. Certain parts of the song were actually done in the studio with stringed instrumentation sampled from an unreleased Eels song.
Tell me about the song 'The Good Old Days'
It's about enjoying the ride because for all you know right now could be the best time in your life, and you might not see it right now and look back and realize the best time in your life was one you never appreciated.
What about 'Restraining Order Blues'?
I'm happy to say this one is not autobiographical. I don't really remember how I heard that phrase but I thought, "I think I want to write a song in that character." On the surface he's this loathsome character but to find the humanity in the villain is something I find interesting to write about.
Your songs are simple yet catchy. Does it ever become difficult to write within such constraints?
I think simple and catchy go together. If I had to say, I don't really analyze it all that much because I think it takes away all the magic and possibility. It's tough being a songwriter or a movie maker in 2003. Not that many great things happen anymore because it's probably already been done so I really try hard to do something different. Someday I hope to do something that hasn't been done.
No comments:
Post a Comment