By Michael Eilers
Photos by Keith Diehl
Arizona Daily Wildcat
October 24, 1996

A few days before the Club Congress show I managed to catch up with "E," the lead singer and songwriter for The eels, for a quick phone interview.

Wildcat: You've got a fast-selling album ("Beautiful Freak") and a song in heavy rotation on the alternative radio circuit-what's it like to get all the attention?

E: we're hoping people don't get sick of us-I don't think they will, because the record is all over the place musically, with different types of songs and lots of instruments, so I don't think it will wear thin too quickly. This is all really great , we just love the attention.

W.C.: The video for "Novocaine" is a pretty amazing piece of film. How was filming it, and what was the secret to your "flying" effect?

E: Filming (the video) was really scary, because we did all of our own stunts; it was one of the most fun weekends of our lives, and one of the scariest and most painful. It took me a week to recover, limping the whole time. Of course if I told you the flying secret I would have to kill you.

W.C.: Of course. But this isn't a typical first video for an up-and-coming group. I assume this was intentional?

E: We made this video out of our extreme boredom with videos, just like we made this album out of our own boredom with music and the direction it is going. We could have made the usual men - with - guitars - and - scantily - clad - girls video, but we didn't. That was the challenge-to make a video and to not make just another guys-with-phallic-instruments thing.

W.C.: Before the eels, you had a solo career, correct?

E: Yeah, I was perfectly happy being a solo artist. I had an alternative hit in '92. I released two albums, "Man called E" and "Broken Toy Shop."

W.C.: How long have the eels been together, and where did you meet?

E: We've been together one and a half years, and we met at The Mint in L.A.

W.C.: I noticed your name appears many times in the liner notes of "Beautiful Freak."

E: The album could have been called "Beautiful Control Freak"-I produced it and wrote all the songs, and played a lot of instruments not listed in the notes. We all played a lot of things not listed. . . hell, they're just notes, not the Bible.

W.C.: The album seems very cerebral compared to the current MTV fare, which favors a slick marketing package.

E: We were just really bored by records that are recorded all the same way, like they were done in a single day with one mood or emotion. We wanted a record that sounded like it was recorded on different days of the week, with different moods. Ther e's over two years of songwriting on that album, and I think it shows.

W.C.: And finally, the question you've been waiting for: How are you celebrating the Year of the Rat?

E: For the whole year the band will not eat a single rat. Until January first.

W.C.: I'm sure the rats will be relieved to hear that.

E: Hopefully they won't relieve themselves anywhere near us.