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I’m eating my breakfast, is that okay?

Q:Is this shitty album of the month or good album of the month?
A:Nine Inch Nails new album is probably happier than Electro-Shock Blues. Its
not too hard to do a happier thing than that. Actually, to me, Electro-Shock
Blues is a happier record because it ends on a positive note. Its a hard won
victory, that’s all. This one is more blatantly happy, I’d say, because its about
moving on from that. Its definitely a sequel to Electro-Shock Blues and it picks up
right where that one left off. Songs like Packing Blankets are about a new beginning.

Q:Did you always have a plan that it would be some kind of trilogy?
A:No. You don’t know what’s going on... its like the song Sound of Fear on the
record. It says, “I don’t know where I am going to be next.” It just worked
out this way. This record could not have been possible unless Electro-Shock
Blues was made first.

Q:Is it true that they were recorded together?
A:No. That’s false. There’s some confusion there. What actually happened
was... this was made well after Electro-Shock Blues, but we made another record at
the same time as this record.

Q:You say you like recording, but you dislike the before and the after. What is
it you dislike about those two periods?
A:Its not so much that I dislike the periods before and after writing and
recording, its just that the only time I ever feel really happy is when I am
making something. People around me this last time would say to me, “You look
really happy,” “You seem really happy” and would even point out, “You always
seem happier when you writing or recording.” I don’t know. I just have to be
making things to be happy.

Q:Was Daisies of the Galaxy a different recording experience to Beautiful Freak and
Electro-Shock Blues?
A: Yeah. The other records relied more on the recording process to be part of
the writing process, in that I would be recording something and I wouldn’t know
how it was going to turn out. So, I would record it as it was being written. In
this case, I just went down to the basement and I knew I really wanted to write
songs that got me more in touch with life and looking at things in a positive light.
I just wanted to get back to basics and I wanted to take out the acoustic
guitarand the piano. So, I went down to the basement and I wrote like 28 songs and
didn’t record any of them, just wrote them all. That was different.

Q:Did you find it harder to convey happiness through your music than sadness?
A:Absolutely. I think to do it convincingly in a way that doesn’t make you
want to vomit is a big challenge. To try and write a good convincing more blatantly
happy or uplifting song is tough. Its fairly easy to write a convincing sad
song. You write something in a minor key its guaranteed to strike certain
chords in you and get some sort of emotional reaction. There’s a lot of people who
make a career out of venting their rage but I wasn’t interested in being a
one-trick pony.

Q:Do you find it difficult to explain to other musicians around you what you’re
trying to achieve?
A: Actually, I’m luck that they all seemed to be very supportive and enthusiastic.

Q:“Tiger in my Tank” - What is it you dislike about advertising?
A:Well, I wanted to write a song that sounded like a jingle but was actually
about jingles. Nowadays it seems like every band has a song in a commercial for
some corporation. I can understand it on one hand. It is pretty hard to get your
music heard these days. For some bands it might be the way that anyone is
ever going to find out about them... on a Volkswagen commercial or something. I
just have a problem with singing for the man. I do record for a corporation. I
don’t really see it that way... at least the product I’m selling is me. Its
something I believe in... sort of. I get offers all the time for songs of mine to be
in commercials. A couple of weeks ago I got an offer for a song, Last Stop This
Town to be used in a perfume commercial. I wasn’t thinking about selling
perfume when I wrote that song about my dead sister. I guess it comes down to how
much your songs mean to you. Its hard for me to take anyone seriously that does
that. It really kind of wrecks it for me and there’s not many people left that
won’t do it. It seems like everybody does it... I don’t know... maybe I’m an idiot.

Q:Was there a particular advertising campaign that sparked the idea?
A:Well, I probably shouldn’t say because I’ll get sued. There are certain
slogans that are being played on from the past.

Q:Was there anything particularly weird that happened when you were recording the
album?
A:Hm... everyday. We recorded most of it in my basement and that was just such
a nice experience. The one problem with home recording though is that almost
everyone can record at home these days because the technology has got so
good for home recording. The problem is, because you’re at home, people don’t
take it as seriously and you end up goofing off a lot more than working. It doesn’t
feel like you’re at the office.

Q:So, do you have a soundproofed studio in your house?
A:No, I don’t have any sound proofing and amazingly my neighbours haven’t complained once.
There was a studio down there before and I think the neighbours
are kind of old. They can’t hear that well. My advice to young musicians is
to move into a neighbourhood of old people.

Q:Are you the sort of person who can’t leave a studio until you’ve got everything
just right?
A:In a sense, yes, but its a strange kind of perfectionism. I do things very
fast and I don’t like to spend a lot of time on something. I like to capture the
moment as much as possible and I’m very much of the “If its not broken,
don’t fix it” school. If it sounds good in a certain way to me, then move on to
the next thing.

Q:Do you think that’s the reason you’re such a prolific songwriter?
A:I think I had my most prolific year last year.

Q:How many songs do you think you wrote/
A:I don’t know... but it was a lot. I’m still writing. After the whole
Electro-Shock Blues thing this record was just a whole new beginning for me.

Q:Is the future going to continue to be poppy and happy?
A:Well, like the song says, “I don’t know where I’m going to be.” We’re going
out and playing more acoustically this year and I do have feeling that after
doing that for a while I’m gonna feel the need to strap on the electric and squeal
some feedback at you. I don’t know for sure if that’s what will happen. Its
one possibility.

Q:What the live set up going to be?
A:Its great. Its so much fun. Lisa Germano (SP?) is in the band and she’s
playing violin, guitar and singing with me. We’ve got a couple of horn players and
an upright bass and Butch and me. Its really fun to be re-working some of the
old songs and doing new ones like this.

Q:Is it difficult to re-work the old songs?
A:That’s what is so much fun about it for me. I couldn’t play some of our
songs any more if I couldn’t re-work them. In some cases, I even re-write the
lyrics because it just gets stale otherwise.

Q:Were the label surprised when they heard Daisies of the Galaxy?
A:I think they were pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t quite as hardcore.
Lenny Warnaker (SP?) calls it, “the wonderful walk in the park where you’re
occasionally bitten by a snake.”

Q:Do you ever write songs that are just for yourself and not for anyone else to
hear?
A:I kind of always tell myself that when I’m writing it and that gives me
license to be more fearless about it. I’m not really thinking about what people will
think about when I write it. I’m not thinking, “Oh, will this alienate an
Eels fan? Will they like this? Will they buy this album?” Later I have a big
moment of anxiety right before it comes out, just before we go out on tour.
Suddenly, it hits me. “Oh jeez,” and I feel very vulnerable. I’m baring my soul to a
bunch of strangers... but I think its good that I don’t think about it to the last
minute... for the sake of the songs, I mean.

Q:Do you feel that way with Daisies of the Galaxy?
A:A little less so, because I’m writing more songs in character on this
record.Although a lot of Electro-Shock Blues was in character too but people
misinterpreted it. This is more obviously character for some songs. But even
people like Randy Newman and other people who write all their songs in
character, end up revealing a lot more of themselves than they want to.

Q:Do you have plans to release all your extra songs?
A:Usually what happens is I have my favourite song that’s not been put on a
record and I keep thinking, “Well, I’ll put them on the next one.” By the time the
next one comes round I’ve got some new songs that I like more. Every once in a
while I’ll revisit an old record... like on this record, the song Jeannie’s Diary,
which is probably about 10 years old and I never recorded it. Last year when
my Mum was sick, I went over and took care of her in Virginia. I went to the
piano while she was in another room. She had like a hospital bed set up in one
room and I was playing the piano in the next room. For some reason, for all these
years, when I sit down at a piano, a lot of times the first thing I start
playing is Jeannie’s Diary. Even though I had recorded it, it always just
seemed to play naturally. I finished it and I came in and I asked my Mum if she
needed anything and she said, “Just more of that.” It made me think that I should
stop overlooking it and give it a crack.

Q:Have you ever written songs for other people?
A:Only a few times and every time its happened, they didn’t want to sing the
lyrics. So I end up singing them if anything. I guess they’re too
idiosyncratic... I think that’s the word. I do think there are some songs
that other people could sing. I’d love for that to happen. I would be really
flattered to hear other people singing some of my songs.

Q:Any covers on your new tour?
A:Well, I think you have to come to the shows. There’s always something.