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Dr. Hugh Everett III, phD was what Scientific American magazine calls "one of the most important scientists of the 20th century." A quantum physicist who authored "Everett's Many Worlds Theory" in the 1950's, Everett inspired countless science fiction books, movies and Star Trek episodes with the concept of parallel universes. As a young teenager he traded letters with Albert Einstein, debating whether it was something random or unifying that held the universe together.
Until the age of eight Everett lived in Washington, D.C. with his mother, Katharine Kennedy, a troubled poet and author, and his father, Col. Hugh Everett jr., U.S. Army. As an adult Dr. Everett settled in nearby Virginia, with his wife Nancy. They had a daughter, Elizabeth Ann, and a son, Mark Oliver.
Mark Oliver Everett showed no talent for physics, or even mathematics. He was much more interested in the records his sister was playing in the house.
Everyday after school one year Elizabeth played Neil Young's "After The Goldrush" album over and over. Mark listened. He never would have dreamed that one day he would record an album (Daisies of the Galaxy) playing the same upright piano that Neil Young played on "After The Goldrush".
At the age of six, Mark was at his next door neighbor's garage sale when he saw the toy drum set that would change his life. He begged his parents to let him have it for $15. Most children who get a drum set play it for a week and then leave it in the closet until they have a garage sale. Unfortunately for the Everett family, Mark Everett played those drums everyday for the next 10 years.
As a young teenager, after a period of trouble with the law, being arrested and thrown out of school, Mark started to pay attention to the guitar gathering dust in his sister's closet. He had already been making up little songs on the family's upright piano for years.
Mark had several friends, all coincidentialy named Mark. To avoid confusion, they would refer to each other by their initials. Throughout his teens Mark Everett was "M.E." Gradually it was shortened to the even easier "E".
By the time he was 20, "E" was obsessed with writing songs and recording them on his used 4 track cassette recorder. He wrote and recorded virtually every day of the next seven years.
Stifled by the lack of inspiration and creative community in his Virginia neighborhood, E packed up everything he owned into his car and drove 3,000 miles to Los Angeles, where he knew not one person.
He moved in above a garage in Atwater Village and resumed his anti-social routine of waking up, writing and recording 4 track cassettes, going to one of many shitty jobs that he hated, coming home, writing and recording, and going to sleep.
As time went on, from the time he started his obsessive songwriting, the quality of the songs and production of his tapes slowly improved. Eventually someone heard some of his songs and asked him to record for a record label.
In 1991 E signed a contract to record two albums for Polydor Records. This was a great relief for him, as it meant he could now devote all his obsessive energy to writing and recording. The first record "A Man Called E" came out in 1992, and yielded the top ten alternative rock hit "Hello Cruel World". E went out to open for Tori Amos on her first american tour. Then, in 1993, Polydor released E's second album "Broken Toy Shop."
From 1993 to 1995 E recorded most of what became the "Beautiful Freak" album. The single "Novocaine for the Soul", having been recorded and mixed in 1993, was eventually a number one alternative rock hit in 1996.
In 1995 E decided to work under a different name. Having grown more adventurous musically and lyrically, and tired of the logistical nightmares of going by one letter, he formed EELS, an ever-changing project for his songs, with a live band to present them in concert. Drummer Butch (aka Jonathan Norton) and bassist Tommy Walters joined and they played many of the songs E had recorded around town.
With the release of "Beautiful Freak" (Dreamworks Records) in 1996, the EELS band toured throughout America and Europe. The striking "Novocaine for the Soul" video clip of the band seemingly flying through their day was nominated for several MTV awards. They had a second top ten hit in Europe with the song "Susan's House."
They continued to tour, concluding with a stint on the 1997 Lollapalooza tour. After collecting a Brit Award, presented to E and Butch by Spinal Tap, (Butch soon turned it into a cymbal stand, to illustrate that it was actually worth something), and giving director Wim Wenders the song "Bad News" for the soundtrack to his film "The End of Violence," E experienced what he thinks of now as a period of great artistic growth.
At 19, E found his father dead. His troubled sister, Elizabeth, commited suicide in 1996. And now his mother was terminally ill with lung cancer. That was his entire family. He ultimately decided he could not ignore these things artistically, feeling that anything else would be an act. So he set about the writing and recording of an album that was inspired by, and that would deal with the tragedies in his life, but only if it could offer a new point of view, and a positive resolution.
It was a challenge that E rose to on "Electro-Shock Blues", the critically acclaimed record, released in 1998. Although a glance at the track list on the back of the cd jewel box often makes people assume the album is "depressing", E calls it "probably the most positive record i will ever make." The album, one of the critical albums of the year, can at first prove to be a difficult listen, but soon reveals a life affirming heart. The album included collaborations with E's neighbors and friends, Mike Simpson (Dust Brothers), Mickey P., Grant Lee Phillips (Grant Lee Buffalo), Jon Brion (Aimee Mann) and T-Bone Burnett.
After making more MTV nominated videos for "Last Stop: This Town" and "Cancer for the Cure", the new EELS, with ace bassist/guitarist Adam Siegal, hit the road for a 4 month theater tour of Europe and America.
Soon after returning home and contibuting "Cancer For The Cure" to the film "American Beauty," E went down to his basement to write and record the sequel to "Electro-Shock Blues". Less than 6 months after the release of "Electro-Shock Blues", "Daisies of the Galaxy" was finished.
Not released until Feburary 2000, "Daisies of the Galaxy" picked up where "Electro-Shock Blues" left off. "The challenge was to figure out where one can go from 'Electro-Shock Blues', and I wanted to go up. I wanted to make a record that was fun and in love with life, but reflected life realistically," says E.
R.E.M.'s Peter Buck guested on the album, and co-wrote one track. The first single, "Mr. E's Beautiful Blues" was a hidden song on the album. The video for the second single "Flyswatter" featured Butch as a clown on a stake-out in front of E's home.
Shortly before the release of "Daisies of the Galaxy", Butch ate a large pizza before he went to bed. That night he dreamt of a concert where he was playing timpani with "The EELS Orchestra". There were strings and horns and they even played an overture of EELS songs. The next morning Butch called E and told him about his dream. They agreed that they had to make Butch's dream a reality.
Starting in January, The EELS Orchestra 2000 toured throughout Europe, America and Australia. The six piece band featured saxophone, trombone, trumpet, banjo, guitar, violin, upright bass, piano, melodica, clarinet, and, yes, timpani. Each band member, including multi-instrumentalist/recording artistLisa Germano, had to play an average of 3-4 instruments each night. And they played the EELS Overture, just like in Butch's dream, (an idea that the legendary Brian Wilson emulated, much to Butch's chagrin, for his late summer 2000 Pet Sounds tour). It was a vast change from the 3 piece rock band they were a few years ago. (In the spring E also toured solo with Fiona Apple in the U.S.). Winding up the tour with an appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman, they returned home to start the next chapter.
After releasing Oh What A Beautiful Morning, a live recording of the EELS Orchestra 2000, through their website, the EELS turned their attention to the album Souljacker. Recorded in bits and pieces, some dating back to 1998, the bulk of Souljacker was recorded in the early part of 2001 and co-written and co-produced by E and John Parish.
The album's inspiration came while E was taking a break from the recording of Electro-shock Blues at a meditation retreat, deep in the woods of central California. The album was released by Dreamworks Records around the world in September of 2001 and in the U.S. March 2002. Legendary German director Wim Wenders shot the video for Souljacker Part I. John Parish, along with Koool G Murder on Bass and synthesizer, joined E and Butch for an extensive world tour, dubbed the Bus Driving, Band Rocking Tour. The tour continues as of this writing.
There are many things to come from Mark Oliver Everett and company in the future. Some of it may surprise you. Some of it may delight you. Some of it may sicken you. But know that they are having a wonderful time making things down in the basement.
