What medicine can’t cure, music can. EELS frontman Mark Oliver Everett, a.k.a. E knows that from extensive personal experience–simply put, he’s been through some things.
Following the success of his band’s debut album Beautiful Freak in 1996, E lost his sister to suicide and his mother was diagnosed with cancer. These events, along with the previous passing of his father, informed and continue to inform the subject matter of his music. The band is on tour now in support of their latest release, 2018’s The Deconstruction; in a statement made during the press conference held on the steps of Los Angeles City Hall in January, E said, “We did a shorter tour than usual this past summer, and they were the most fun, exciting shows ever. We need to bring the love and positive energy to some of the places we didn’t get to last time. We know you’re hurting. Help is on the way.”
The subject matter of his songs may traditionally be heavy, but the heaviness is surrounded by hope. “We hope people go home feeling a little inspired, and what little I can do to add to the world. I feel like that’s something to take seriously,” he explains. “I hear a lot of really heartbreaking stories because I sing about my own heartbreaking stories; it’s hard to hear some of the stories, but it’s kind of amazing to me that people say they got something out fo the music. I feel so lucky to be able to be that guy, if I can give anybody any hope. I often get pegged as “the depressing guy,” but some people are totally missing the point. Almost all the albums as a whole, the message is hope.”
The Deconstruction was created after E a four-year break from the industry; “It was pretty great, once I got used to it,” he says of his time away. “For while I considered not going back to work. I was trying to relax, I needed to repair after 20 years of keeping my nose to the grindstone so intensely. It was a case of leading a one-sided life for too long, it catches up with you. I wasn’t really aware of it as an album for a long, I was trying not to work for those four years,” he continues. “If I woke up and I was super inspired to write a song, I would do it. It wasn’t until pretty late into those four years that I looked at the pile of songs I had written that I started to see how it was forming into a whole.”
The tour brings E and company to Nashville’s Cannery Ballroom tonight. “I have to say it’s something special that we’re doing this year and you will enjoy it,” he says. “That is my pledge to you. It’s a combination of the most rocking shows we’ve ever done and the prettiest shows we’ve ever done. It’s got everything!” he says with a laugh. “It’s a show for the whole family—not just the Manson family.”
[Click HERE for show information.]
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