"The funeral is over - let's go to the wake!" So declares eels
frontman E, referring to Daisies of the Galaxy
(DreamWorks Records), the follow-up to 1998's
acclaimed Electro-shock Blues.
Daisies of the Galaxy(released March 14, 2000) is E's big
step toward embracing life after tragedy. "It's sort of the
antidote to Electro-shock Blues," he says. "This record
has two songs with the word 'daisies' in the title, and neither
of them has the words 'pushing up' before it."
Then again, Daisies may simply be the sound of a guy
making music he loves and needs. "I needed to make
something in love with life for my own sanity," E relates. "It
became important that I make simple, pure, sweet music."
Electro-shock Blues was inspired largely by the suicide of
E's sister and the long illness and imminent death of his
mother. Presenting an unblinking look at mental illness and
death, it nonetheless concluded with the words "maybe it's
time to live."
And though Daisies of the Galaxy opens with the sound of
a funeral, it's a New Orleans-style funeral. "I wanted to
make a fun, pretty record that was full of life," says E (who
was once named Mark Oliver Everett). "During the Daisies
sessions I realized we were making two different records.
One was loud, dark and scary and full of feedback; the
other was more acoustic and positive. I only wanted to put
out the latter now - even if it doesn't have any big guitar on
it, or a guy going 'heeYYYYEAAAAAHHHH!'"
Daisies was written and produced by E and recorded
mostly in his Los Angeles basement with eels drummer
Butch, Grant Lee Buffalo's Grant Lee Phillips on bass and
R.E.M.'s Peter Buck on piano, guitar and bass. The
sessions were interrupted when E returned to his native
Virginia to clean out his late parent's house (see "Estate
Sale," written with Buck), where he found a 1950s-era
Greek children's book that now constitutes the record's
artwork. "One thing is for certain," E reveals. "I am at my
happiest while making a record. Before it and after it suck,
but making it is it for me."
Daisies of the Galaxy is the third album he's made under
the eels moniker, following two earlier discs recorded as E
(the singer-songwriter-multi-instrumentalist claims his
single-lettered moniker is an old nickname gone too far).
"There is no such thing as the eels," illuminates E, whose
friends often use the word "cantankerous" to describe him.
"The eels is an ever-changing vehicle for my songs. This
year we're going out on tour with just me and Butch and a
couple of string and horn players." eels' mercurial nature is
further explored when the project's mastermind reports:
"We've already recorded some heavy stuff with our
bass-playing friend Adam [Siegal], and I know that after
we've been playing these pretty songs for a while, I'm gonna
feel the need to squeal some loud, fucked-up noises at
you." But for now, E would like all to enjoy Daisies of the
Galaxy. He concludes of the disc: "If Electro-shock Blues
was the phone call in the middle of the night that the world
doesn't want to answer, then Daisies of the Galaxy is the
hotel wake-up call that says your lovely breakfast is ready."
