Eels

Mark Oliver Everett, who performs under the alias E, employs the name Eels to present his ongoing musical venture, one that fuses an assortment of unconventional pop sensibilities with confessional songwriting repeatedly drawn to the gloomier facets of personal existence. He has served as the lone unwavering member across the project's lifespan, producing output that proves audacious and unflinchingly intimate, at times conveying a cozy, natural warmth on releases such as the 2005 album Blinking Lights and Other Revelations and the 2010 set End Times, at other moments embracing deliberate abrasiveness and dense layers of sonic grit on works including 2001's Souljacker, yet consistently anchored by melodic clarity that persists amid turbulent arrangements, evident from the outset on his 1996 debut Beautiful Freak, a compelling foray into skewed indie pop. As years advanced, E cultivated an expanding fascination with electronic textures, showcased on 2018's The Deconstruction, while still affirming his command of guitar-driven rock on 2022's Extreme Witchcraft and understated pop on 2024's Eels Time!

Virginia marked Everett's birthplace on April 9, 1963. Rock music captivated him early through his sister's record collection, prompting him to take up drums at age six and experiment on the family piano. Adolescent years brought considerable hardship, intensified by his father's passing, which in turn deepened his engagement with music as he mastered his sister's guitar and started composing original pieces. Later tragedies would supply the impetus for Eels' landmark recording Electro-Shock Blues.

Because multiple acquaintances shared his given name, Everett adopted his initials and eventually answered solely to E. In his early twenties he captured demo recordings on a secondhand four-track cassette machine, then moved to Los Angeles intent on building a music career. His songwriting output grew steadily more accomplished, earning a solo contract with Polydor Records that yielded two modestly received efforts, 1992's A Man Called (E), promoted by a tour supporting Tori Amos, and 1993's Broken Toy Shop, after which he departed the label and assembled Eels alongside bassist Tommy Walter and drummer Butch Norton. The newly established Dreamworks imprint signed the trio and released their first album, 1996's Beautiful Freak, whose single "Novocaine for the Soul" achieved notable MTV and alternative-radio traction; the accompanying video earned three MTV Video Music Award nominations the next year, while the band's profile climbed in England, culminating in a Brit Award handed to them by the satirical metal act Spinal Tap.

What appeared poised to become a period of breakthrough instead delivered profound loss when Everett's sister and mother died in rapid succession, compounded by Walter's exit from the lineup. That somber atmosphere permeated Eels' second album, Electro-Shock Blues, which surpassed its predecessor in artistic strength yet generated limited commercial impact. With Adam Siegal now handling bass duties the group toured before immediately reconvening to record a third release. Daisies of the Galaxy emerged in 2000 bearing a comparatively lighter tone and featuring a guest contribution from R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck, who also co-wrote one track. Although sales remained modest, E assembled the expansive Eels Orchestra for a global run of shows; the six-piece ensemble incorporated saxophone, trombone, trumpet, banjo, guitar, violin, upright bass, piano, melodica, clarinet, and timpani, with each musician switching among three or four instruments nightly to accommodate the arrangements.

Following the official website release of the live document Oh What a Beautiful Morning captured during the 2000 tour, E prepared Eels' fourth studio album, enlisting John Parish rather than writing everything alone. Their collaboration produced Souljacker, issued across most territories in September 2001 and reaching the United States early the next year, where the initial pressing included a bonus four-track disc. The subsequent tour featured E and Norton alongside multi-instrumentalist Parish and newly recruited bassist and synthesizer player Koool G Murder, after which the live album Electro-Shock Blues Show documented the performances.

A wave of Eels-related projects commenced in spring 2003 with MC Honky's SpinART album I Am the Messiah, an entertaining summer confection of hip-hop beats, dance rhythms, and nostalgic samples that amounted to E in disc-jockey guise. His score for the independent film Levity appeared in April, and June brought Eels' fifth studio album Shootenanny! The ambitious double album Blinking Lights and Other Revelations arrived in 2005 containing 33 songs. With Strings: Live at Town Hall, recorded June 30, 2005, preserved the New York Town Hall concert from the tour of the same name, while a February 2006 edition added a concert DVD.

Two CD/DVD packages surfaced in 2008: the retrospective Meet the Eels: Essential Eels 1996-2006, Vol. 1 and the rarities collection Useless Trinkets: B-Sides, Soundtracks, Rarities and Unreleased 1996-2007. Eels material dominated the soundtrack for the Jim Carrey comedy Yes Man. E next delivered the conceptual Hombre Lobo exploring themes of desire in mid-2009, closely followed by the Transmissions Session 2009 live EP.

The lo-fi End Times, centered on fractured relationships, reached listeners in 2010, succeeded in August by Tomorrow Morning, a more refined collection of buoyant optimism propelled by analog electronics. Eels' tenth album, the idiosyncratic and hard-rock-oriented Wonderful, Glorious, appeared early in 2013. Roughly a year later came the stripped-down, acoustic, and subtly orchestrated The Cautionary Tales of Mark Oliver Everett. On June 30 the band performed at London's Royal Albert Hall; the show was filmed and recorded for a combined audio and video package issued in spring 2015. E joined Koool G Murder and P-Boo for 2018's The Deconstruction, reflecting his growing focus on electronic production. 2020's Earth to Dora shifted toward warmer, organic textures and a relatively hopeful perspective, while 2022's Extreme Witchcraft delivered a spirited batch of angular guitar songs that felt comparatively upbeat within the Eels catalog. Extreme Witchcraft reunited E with producer John Parish, their prior collaboration having been Souljacker. In December 2023, Eels So Good: Essential Eels, Vol. 2 (2007-2020) simplified holiday purchases for fans by gathering 17 catalog tracks, two of which debuted on vinyl with the LP edition, plus three previously unreleased songs. That same year Eels returned to the road for the first time in nearly four years, after which Everett underwent open-heart surgery to correct an aortic aneurysm. Upon recovery he commenced work on the 2024 album Eels Time!, a set of reflective songs that included studio collaboration with Tyson Ritter of the All-American Rejects on five tracks.