Interview of E in Alençon

Your tour manager comes to say to me that tour is begun yesterday. Good 
chance. Let us hope that it will be as good as the last year.
E: It will be different. Very different. There is a gravestone in the back 
of the booklet's cd of our new album which says: " Everything is changing ". 
Anything change permanently, every second. Also us.

Are you happy to be on the road? Does it represents, for you, the best part 
of your work as musician?
E: I do not prefer anything. I love concerts, make concerts and meet people, 
it's very funny, but I don't have preference. I always say myself that one 
day i'll not make it any more, then I take advantage of it.

Let us return in your first solo album, " A man called E ". In " 
Nowheresville " you say " I wanna see Paris, insane on the Seine ". It is 
the first words of the song. Today you have the possibility of going to 
Paris 2 or 3 times a year. this is like you dreamed about?
E: Regrettably I am always tired and I never have enough time to appreciate 
the cities which we cross. As today, it is a so beautiful, so charming town. 
I appreciate a lot the air quality. I would wish to feel better, but I am 
always tired and i try every night to sleep in the bus. I can't take 
advantage of all this.

In the song " E's tune " you say: " If i had a millions bucks it wouldn’t 
matter, because my soul is always climbing up a ladder ". Today, it is more 
true than ever?
E: I am still far from possessing a million dollars (laught).

Really? E: Yes, I get closer a little bit however.

Parthenon Huxley seems to be an important person for you, since the 
beginning of your solo career. Who is it exactly?
E: It is one of my friends. I lived just lived next to him till two months 
ago. He coproduced my first album. We did not really work together since, 
except on the last album (ESB). He plays the guitar on " Going to your 
funeral part 1 ".

There is a song from "Beautiful Freak " that we don't had hear in concert 
"manchild ", which is one of the most beautiful songs that you wrote.
E: In fact we played it several times, even in France, in a festival, I do 
not know where exactly. We thought that she not worked really well in 
concert. We were not able to find a way to finish it(laughs). We never 
managed to end it, we played, we played and at a moment it sucked, what is 
it not really what we are supposed to do. So we stoped to play this song.

Do you remember the moment when you realized that Eels was going to work, 
that you would never have to make " Nashville handshake " [Nashville's 
handshake: technique which consists to find somebody who looks like a 
producer, to shake hands and to take advantage of it to put him one records 
of demos in the other hand].
E (laught): For me nothing is acquired, I'd never say to myself "that's it, 
that is going to work. "Succes here today gone / later today ".

You say to have written more than 70 song for "Beautiful freak". Butch the 
drummer said to me that the remaining 55 were very good. is it true? Plan to 
released them one day?
E Oh no, they aren't very good! I do not think to released them one day!

Let us speak about your new album, " Electro-shock blues ". There are two 
different parts in the album. all right? First part is very black, very 
hard, and second is more relaxed, more serene. Singles will probably be from 
this second part.
E: Maybe. I would like thinking that ' Cancer for the cure ' could be a 
single, but I don't know if people will want to hear the word "cancer" 63 
times, (smile). [the sentence after this is incomprehensible), even in 
french!]

A journalist asked Billy Corgan [leader of Smashing Pumpkins] if he 
considered music as a therapy. He answered no, he thought that it was the 
opposite, because contrary to the normal man who is going to work at the 
office, communicate by telephone, he had to face his own feelings and 
surmount his moods all day long, which is very hard.
E: But that's the therapy! He doesn't know what's a therapy (laught). 
Therapy it is to face the own feelings and to learn to surmount them. The 
only thing that cannot be therapeutic for him is that he does not learn how  
to surmount them by playing music. That's a better way to spending time than 
drugs or things like this.

"Last stop this town" is the first single of the new album. You don't think 
cheating with this song because it is very different from the rest of the 
album. It is rather funny, joyful. That's a way to sell the album?

E: No, this album is about the death, and the death is often presented as 
the opposite of the life but I wanted to show it as a complete part of the 
life, what it is, and everything is not so sad. There is full of people who 
die in peace. This song is inspired by my sister who is died, the owner of 
the house next to my house came to see me and said to me "I do not want to 
make you sad E but I saw the ghost of a young lady walking in your house 
yesterday " and I tought Wow, that frightened me in the beginning and I did 
not find sleep that night, but the next day I said to myself, "this is 
probably a good thing, it is probably my sister who comes to say me goodbye
and so, I wrote a joyful song about that.

Wath happenned to Thommy?
E: We did not understand each other.

You often said that you don't want to be a rock star. You avoid success or 
is it that you don't worry about it?
E: No, it is not that I don't want to be a rock star, I do not want to 
become one rock typical star with all the [clichés]. Obviously, I appreciate 
all this enough to make it. I can stop when I want, but, it is just that I 
do not want to become one of these [caricatures] of rock stars (laught). I 
don't feel as a rock star. But honestly I appreciate to express myself and I 
love a minimum the attention which I am the object, otherwise I shall stop 
immediatly, I don't like
touring, maybe I'll stop.(laught)

Do you like playing in small place?
E: Oh the concert in the olympia (France) was very well, really well. It is 
funny to play in the small places, it is probably what I prefer because you 
can see everybody in the public, like as this evening, it is so small, it 
should be rather interesting (laught).

Have you seen " Scream 2 "?
E: I did not see either Scream, or Scream 2.

Do you know that there is " Your Lucky Day In Hell's " on the soudtrack?
E: Yes I know.

What do you fell when you know that " Your Lucky Day In Hell " is in one of 
the biggest film productions of the year. Is it strange?
E: That not make me really happy. I am happier to be in Wim Wenders's films 
than in Scream 2. I go to the Wim Wenders's films, not Scream, either the 1, 
or the 2. It not interest me.

[...] [a little off topic part about U2 because the man who makes the 
interview make it for a U2 fan-club]

What would you say to the French fans of U2 about Eels and this album? If 
you tried to convince them to buy " Electro-Shock Blues ".
E: I shall say to them that our music is not also grand. It is small 
drawings. "