E: Yes, it’s me.

Q: What made you decide to give up the solo work to be in a band?

E: Um, it’s kind of a blurry line between what are my solo records and what are the Eels records. It’s like, not that big of a difference, actually. It’s kind of a, sort of like, sometimes I liken it to the way the Beach Boys were set up, logistically in like the mid-60’s when it would be kind of "anything goes" on the record. You know, Brian Wilson and whoever else, any other studio musicians who were playing on the record. Some of the actual Beach Boys were there, too. When they went out on tour, it was the Beach Boys proper. Kind of like that with the Eels. Anything goes on the record. The only difference is that eventually with the Beach Boys, it’s that Brian Wilson just stayed home altogether, didn’t even go out on tour anymore. So that’s kind of like what I’m shooting for now. Looking to get a replacement on tour.

Q: Tell us about your solo work.

E: The solo records I haven’t heard for a while. I don’t know what to say about them now. I have a feeling I wouldn’t like them now. I don’t ever like anything I’ve done in the past, because it’s always like…your growing or something.

Q: How did the eels come together? How did you find the guys you wanted to play with?

E: Always like through friends, meeting people through everyday life. I’ve never really had, like, auditions or anything like that. It’s like Adam, who’s playing bass with us now, is, like, you know, a friend of mine who lives down the street. He’s not really a bass player, but he decided to be one for us.

E: I didn’t really think it out, I thought, well, if I’m going to have this group, I’d like it so it would be – so this group would play my own songs and so I don’t want it to be so separate from my solo records, so if you go to the record store, I wanted them to be all together [in the rack]. All the groups that start with an "e" would be together. So I thought that if I called the band something that starts with an "e," they would all be together. But I forgot, they put all the "e" records at the beginning of the "e" section in the record store. And before you get to "ee" [Eels], there are like 28 "Eagles" records, and, uh, 13 "Earth, Wind and Fire" records. There not together at all. It was a very stupid idea and I just didn’t think it all the way through.

Q: E, you’ve been compared to Morrissey and Beck, among others. How does that make you feel?

E: [laughs and sings, a la Morrissey] "Why ha-ha-ha-ha, why am I such a loser?" That’s Morrissey meets Beck. I don’t know. Is it because I have a lantern jaw? I don’t know.

Q: What made you leave Virginia and move to LA?

E: Where I lived in Northern Virginia, like in the suburbs of Washington D.C., there was no artistic community at all, there was no one to, you know, all my friends were, just, you know, taking drugs and robbing places, and it was not very nurturing for an artist. I mean I guess you say that is, in a way, grist for the mill. But after a while you just see everything going in a circle, and so I figured I would get away.

Q: Do you find Los Angeles more stimulating?

E: I do find Los Angeles more stimulating, because, just for me it was an important thing to meet people and have friends that are artistically minded and, you know, very smart, and have an interesting point of view about things. That is what I needed to be around.

E: Hmm, it’s always fun to play in a band. There’s a lot of different thing I want to do and I like to do. But it’s been fun rocking out with the band. I don’t know if that’s what we’re going to be doing for much longer. We’re going to go on and do something else. It’s really fun, and it’s a pleasure to be in the band.

Q: You have had the personal tragedy to deal with recently, which has been chronicled in the press. Do you feel like a weight has been lifted? Is it easier to play now? Or is it harder?

E: It’s easier now, now that everyone in my family has died, I feel.  Obviously it’s a horrible thing to go through.  Hopefully you get to the point where you start feel like it sort of a clean slate to work with.   Try to accentuate the positive.  It’s like you know, I look at what I have to hold on to.  One of the things I have to hold on to is I can say whatever the hell and do whatever I want on stage and in the songs.  And you know, there's some freedom in that.

Q: I've often read reviews that discuss a fascination with death in your lyrics, but it seems that it's more about getting through it all and getting on with life. What is the message you're trying to convey?

E: If there is a message in [the latest release] "Electro-Shock Blues" it’s to enjoy the moment -  enjoy the moments of your life.  It might be all you have.  It’s a tragedy not to do that as much as you can.

Q: It seems like you have some answers on this record [Electro-Shock Blues] to songs on "Beautiful Freak."

E: Well, "Beautiful Freak" was kind of written to soothe the aching teenager inside of me.  I kind of made a record that I would like as a teenager. This record, "Electro-Shock Blues" is much more of a mature viewpoint, to the point where it’s more like for a thirty year-old.  I just skipped the twenties completely.  I didn’t make a record for anyone in the twenties yet. Maybe I’ll do that next time.

Q: On "Hospital Food," were you dealing with having to be in the hospital so much? What's it all about? Were you beginning to like it?

E: No, I wasn’t beginning to like it.  I was spending a lot of time in a lot of different hospitals for a lot of different reasons.   I started to develop an interesting point of view about it all. That song is about taking responsibility for yourself.  Hospital food has a bad rap - no one wants to eat it.  But at some point most of us do end up eating it.  And, um, I started thinking about why we get sick, it’s inevitability.  Is it inevitable or do we bring it on ourselves?  That kind of thing.

Q: The video for "Rags to Rags" is one of the funniest ever. What inspired it?

A: I didn’t like it. Not too many people have seen it. I wasn’t really happy with the way it turned out. I’m the one to blame for that. I wanted it to be a dark commentary on American pop-culture. It the "America’s Funniest Home Video’s" phenomenon, but it turned out we were just too good at it. It ended up being a slapstick without the commentary. It’s supposed to be about laughing at other people’s pain. No one ever saw that video anyway, so it doesn’t matter.

Q: Many people identify with your lyrics.

E: Bummer. Sorry, man. [laughing]

Q: Your lyrics offer very personal images of your life and what’s going on around you. Is it a cathartic process for you?

E: Oh, yeah. Definitely. You have to be kind of obsessive compulsive to be a songwriter, I think. There is something that says you have to do it, and I just do it.

Q: You've talked about hitting "rock-bottom." Where in the grand scheme of things would you say you are now?

E: I’m not a rock-bottom any more. I have a tendency to scrape near it. Sometimes I think I’m out if it and I think I’ll never get near it again. Right now I’m optimistic, feeling pretty jolly about myself. Even without Prozac. Does Saint John’s Wort count? (laughs)

Q: What would make you feel like you were on top of the world?

E: I feel very good. I’m really thankful that I get to do what I like to do. I don’t take that for granted. I know it’s a rare thing in this world, to be able to do something you want to do, and make a living. Even if you just eke out a living. I’m very lucky. Some people can’t even get jobs they hate. I have a job I like, most of the time. I keep it in perspective.

Q: Have you had jobs you didn’t like?

E: Every job before this one. And I hate this job a lot of times, too. And the reason people start hating this job, is that they take something you love and ruin it for you. The trick is not letting them ruin it for you. You have to figure out what’s important to you. Is it important to get sucked in to the whole game of awards shows and record sales and all that? And that’s where I think it sucks out a lot of the fun for a lot of people.

E: I would get obsessive about different artists growing up. One year it would be Ray Charles, next Bob Dylan, next The Who, then Prince. I was always changing. I would get into everything I could find out about those people.

Q: Have the last few months provided you with lots of musical inspiration?

E: I have been writing a lot. The past few months I’ve been writing a lot of songs. The past few records it’s been me working out something abut my life. But that process is kind of done now. I’m trying to move on to other things. I don’t think I need to inflict my life on to the rest of the world anymore.

Q: What’s next for you?

E: Every time I intend to do one thing, I end up doing something else. So, I don’t know what the use is in telling you.

Q: Is there anybody you would like to work with?

E: Oh, yes, there’s always people I would like to worth with. There are certain people I would just like to make coffee for. Just do anything. If Andy Kaufmann were alive, I would be his shoeshine boy. I would be willing to pour non-dairy creamer for Ray Charles.

Q: Is there a conscious effort by you to ensure that the music, with all it's layers and complexities, doesn't overpower the lyrics, to ensure that the message is heard?

E: Maybe I should think about that. I haven’t thought about that before. To me they are equally important. The reason I like to do popular music, because there is something about - if it was the lyrics, if it was just poetry, or if it was just instrumental music, both of those things are fine, but when you put both of those things together, it changes the meanings of the words, so it become something of itself. That’s what I like: the marriage of the two. Though I really do think all music is better without words. It’s much more effective. It’s maybe closer to the pulse of, oh, God, or whatever you want to call it.

Q: What is your definition of success, musically?

E: I’m never satisfied. I always feel like I’ve got do better. I’m never satisfied, I don’t know why.

Q: What drew you to being a musician?

E: I started playing drums when I was six years old. I was, I don’t know, just in love with music. It was always the one thing that worked for me, for so many different reasons.

Q: How do you all get along, as a group?

E: We’re friends. We come together for the music and then we’re gone. [laughing] No, actually we’re all friends. We enjoys a nice croquet game in the cemetery. It’s more pleasant than any band has a right to be.

Q: How does the eels creative process work?

E: More often than not, I come up with some idea and I take it to the band. How are we going to play this live? How are we going to play this as a band. Often Butch (the Eels drummer) will come up with some idea of how to present it that I wouldn’t have thought of.

E: Yeah, we never think about, I never let it enter my mind, is this going to be too hard to recreate on stage? We never try to recreate anything on stage the way it is on record. There are only three of us on stage, and we’re not using any tapes or samplers on our stage, and there is so much going on the records in some cases that it would be impossible to recreate. I don't like it when you go to concerts and their using a lot of stuff on tape or on a computer. It doesn’t feel like you’re at a live concert. We just go for the "anything goes" mentality when we record. We’ll figure out how to play it live later. It’s challenging to figure out.

Q: What is the next step for the eels, after the tour? Is there an album in the works?

E: We already have a lot of new songs. I don’t know what it’s going to be yet. I don’t know what to make of it yet. It’s too early to tell.

Q: What can we expect from you tonight?

E: Some of the crazy beats the kids love. The death rock party of the century…no, of the millenium!