beautiful freak on
dog face boy
that's not really funny
going to your funeral
motherfucker
agony (new song!)
bus stop boxer
souljacker pt 1
my reversed monster
daisies of the galaxy
woman driving, man sleeping
not ready yet
soul jacker pt II
what is this note?
i *heart* birds
----
world of shit
fresh feeling
rotten world blues
mr e's beautiful blues
in years was a song on the 'shrek' soundtrack, and his band's latest
cd, the just out 'souljacker' has recieved a lukewarm reception.
so there was reason for skepticism saturday night when e
announced 'it's time for sweet, sweet rock n roll' but he was right.
from the marc bolanesque glam-rock of 'dog faced boy' to e's
smoldering, bluesy guitar solos, the show had the raw energy
that 'souljacker' lacks. there was no 'novocaine for the soul'
unfortunately - the eels got tired of that one years ago. instead,
they thrashed out a psychedelic cover of missy elliott's 'get ur
freak on' that was probably the evening's highlight.
the set lasted over an hour, uncommonly long by sxsw standards, and
in truth ti was probably a bit too much. interest began to wain when
e's gentler material appeared around the 45-minute mark. but a potent
encore brought the crowd right back as the band capped the evening
off with a rendition of 'mr e's beautiful blues' that was, pardon the
pun, positively electric. so much for low expectations. Review by XLXTRA mag
i get to la zona rosa later than i wanted to (at 6pm, show was at
7pm) due to the fact i was held over seeing a friend's band on the
other side of town and they started late...blah blah...anyway, there
were three lines outside, one for badges (me!) one for wristbands,
and one for paying persons...it was $25 to get in. badges got in
first, i was 3rd in the venue and found a nice spot front n center.
my friend who was in the wristband line caught up to me a few minutes
later and i almost had a scare cuz my other friend who was bringing
me a camera for the show said she wouldn't be there on time for the
show and i freaked out...i had her send a friend over and things
worked out. phew! by this time, i found out that we WERE getting an
entire set, not just a short one and i was thoroughly excited.
eels come out pretty much on time and went ahead and rocked out. e
was wearing a mechanic's onepiece outfit with (i wanna say) docmartan
boots. he still had the beard and a nice lil wedding band on his
finger. it was so weird to finally see them, i loved the set...not
necessarily the setlist but just hearing them play and i heard many
people were quite impressed as well...
oh well, they come back for an encore and played another 4 songs then
left the stage one last time. i wanted to stay in hopes of a FINAL
encore...but after i stayed long enough to get butch's setlist and my
friends and i went back around to the bus...it was obvious there
wasn't gonna be one...the crew had already taken apart the band's
equipt and butch was back by the bus talking to peeps (who turned out
to be cousins of his or something)
so my friends and i are waiting and watching butch talk to
people...some security guy told us to stay back..err..there was 3 of
us...hardly anyone stayed to talk to e & co. i see e coming out of
the bus on the other side so i go around to say 'hi' and i see that
he's wearing his red flannel pajamas and black slippers. how very e
of him. he was talking to 2 other fans and so we waited and he was
really cool...he hung out back there with us for a good long while
and didn't see the least bit in a rush. i had him sign my setlist, a
promo pic from dotg and my sxsw badge...he commented once or twice
about how butch knows everyone and how he's got a bunch of people
(family) meeting him at shows all the time...i kinda sensed a bit of
sadness in that comment....considering how e has really no family to
meet up with at shows. he started telling us how he was glad there
were real fans at the show tonight and how he wanted to go out and
make sure people were getting in who should..not the industry types.
he mentioned how he wished he could've gone up before the show to the
lines and make sure things were good...but he decided it wouldn't be
in his best judgement. i love the guy...hoping to please his
fans...he really is badass. he was disappointed in the $25 cover
too...said it wasn't fair. e also said a bunch of other things but i
won't make this too long...i'm shocked if anyone's been reading so
far...
so e decides to go to bed...and returns to the bus. butch follows
soon enough but stops a few minutes to chill with us. as he was
signing my sxsw badge...i mentioned how people were getting
celebrities like ron jeremy to sign their badges but i wanted
eels...butch got all perked up 'ron jeremy?!?! where??' it was funny.
(for those of yous unaware of the nastiness that is ron jeremy...he's
some old porn star) butch still had a bald head and is sporting a new
cowboy hat while his old one waits at home for the winner of the
website contest.
other tidbits from the conversations:
-e's wife is in russian now 'she's getting tired of the rocknroll
life...'
-i introduced e to the greatness that is the polyphonic spree...gave
him a promo postcard thingy with them on it...he kept it. they really
are badass. i'm sure he'd like their stuff.
-butch gave his homies a tour of the bus...e was all 'hey..what's
going on here...' and told butch not to let them in the back
room 'they don't need to see the torture chamber...'
-e was surprised at how long it's been since they've been to
austin...my friends and i were trying to convince him to set up a
weekly gig (oh, how i wish...)
-i asked e if he had anything to do with peewee's big adventure...'i
wish!' but he did say he had several extra roles when he moved out to
LA...
- e had 'cheat sheets' by his mic stand...with lyrics on them...
-during 'not ready yet' e's guitar messed up and after trying to fix things, the roadie guy came with another one to replace it. e goes 'i broke it!' and tries out the new one...that one doesn't work either and e goes 'i broke it too' and just gives up on the guitars all together...walks back and faces butch and begins to 'compose' the ending of the song. you could see kool g laughing his bum off...
-on butch's setlist, there're numbers after a few songs...e asked about them and figured out they were drum tempos...he says something like 'hey, now that's not very professional!'
-e was also sporting a black knit beanie and dark wire glasses...
-the beard is not here to stay...e says wim says it's gotta go when
he starts doing the movie...
-yes. there is an acoustic album....AND...another full length...just
waiting to be released. i forgot what the name of the full length is,
crap, i'll ask my friend later and post it on here. e doen't know
when they'll be released yet...i suggested sexy grandpa or eworks but
he says they're mostly for the live stuff...errr...
Review by Sabrina