Mark Oliver Everett, known to his fans as E, is the frontman and only permanent member of Eels, the reliably melodic Los Angeles indie-rock collective. Over a nearly two-decade career, E has examined his life in candid, heartfelt, occasionally caustic songs, and he’s had a lot of personal material to work with. His sister’s suicide and his mother’s losing battle with cancer inspired 1998’s Electro-Shock Blues, and more recently he’s explored his upbringing (and his contentious relationship with his deceased father, a pioneering physicist) in the 2008 autobiography Things the Grandchildren Should Know.
But for now, E sounds like he’s ready to close the door on his past. In early June, he released Hombre Lobo: 12 Songs of Desire, an album about somebody other than himself – the record is written from the perspective of a lonely outcast trying to court his true love. Just back in L.A. from a performance on Late Show With David Letterman, E talks about the joys of writing in character, the lack of sex in indie rock, and the only good reason to make a polka album.
Rock Music: So, you’re back from doing Letterman.
E: I just got back after one of those ... travel ordeals. [laughs] It took longer than it should have, but I finally got back.I know that when you grew out your beard around the time of 2001’s Souljacker, you got hassled a lot at airport security due to post-9/11 hysteria. Is that happening again now that the beard is back?
[laughs] No, this time it was because LaGuardia was flooded, and all the flights doubled-up at JFK, where I was. Ever since Obama got into office, I don’t get hassled as much at the airport.Many Eels albums are built around thematic concepts, and Hombre Lobo is no different in that regard. But did the “Hombre Lobo” character come first, or did the songs suggest the character?
It’s interesting, because what happened was there were a couple of the songs I had written ahead of time for my own purposes – then I decided to go into the character. So everything after the first couple of ‘em were written specifically to be from this character. And the other ones fit into that.It seems like the album has a narrative arc as well – this guy goes on an emotional journey of sorts.
I wanted it to be [a look] at the frustrations that arise from his passions and desires – from different angles. I think of [the songs] as like sales pitches from this guy who’s trying to convince the object of his desire that he is the one. He takes different tacks in each song – sometimes he tries a more gentle, human approach, and other times it’s a little ugly.And he never tries the same approach twice.
Like, the second-to-last song [“Beginner’s Luck”], he’s doing this kinda bouncy, pop-y number – he’s proposing to her. He’s painting a picture of how great their relationship will be. And that doesn’t work, so on the last song [“Ordinary Man”], he takes a whole other approach. He says, “Look, you seem like a smart person…” This album is about wanting the girl – it’s not about getting the girl. We don’t know what happens after the last song.Since your last studio album, Blinking Lights and Other Revelations, you’ve written a memoir and made a documentary about your father, Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives. Did you feel like you needed a break from yourself with this new album, which prompted the desire to write in a fictional character’s voice?
I had just finished doing all this overtly autobiographical stuff, so it was only natural that I got tired of that and wanted to go somewhere outside myself. And the other thing that’s really useful about doing that is that when you put a mask on, this interesting irony happens: You’re wearing a mask, you’re hiding behind it, there’s something fictitious going on – yet because of that, you’re able to get to a deeper truth. I think it’s because you become more fearless – and less vulnerable – if you feel like you’re not being yourself. But at the same time, you have to really identify with the character in some ways for it to work.In terms of moods, Hombre Lobo touches on something unique to Eels albums: lust. Did writing as this character make that easier?
Yeah, I think I would feel a little embarrassed to say some of the things I say in some of these songs if they were to be taken as blatantly autobiographical. And I like the challenge of dealing with things like lust and sexual desire in songs, because it occurs to me that something that seems to be lacking from so-called indie rock these days is the element of sex and danger. And that’s where rock ‘n’ roll comes from – I wanted to bring some of that back in. The sex and the danger in rock ‘n’ roll has been replaced by this awful earnestness and literary references – it’s like no one will know what to make of good ol’ rock ‘n’ roll where a guy’s actually howling after girls.