TOMMY L'EX-EEL

TOMMY L'EX-EEL Juist op het moment dat ik geen heil meer zag in de toekomst van de popmuziek, was daar eind 1996 opeens de cd Beautiful Freak van de Amerikaanse band eels. De sombere teksten van frontman E, ondersteund door vrolijke melodieen en vreemde samples, waren voor mij een verfrissing. Na het zien van een concert van de band, die naast E bestaat uit Tommy Walter en Butch Norton, ging ik definitief voor de bijl. De samples hadden het veld geruimd voor een traditionele rockband met bas, gitaar en drums. De band trok zich niets aan van de wensen van het publiek, speelde onconventionele covers en veranderde songs zodanig dat ze amper meer lijken op de cd versie. Na een succesvol optreden op Pinkpop breken ze definitief door en elke journalist die trendy en hip gevonden wil worden heeft het over de band. Een tweede grote Europese tour volgt en de band speelt nog eens vier concerten in Nederland. Het succes stijgt met name frontman E naar het hoofd. Hij is de baas en de rest van de band dient te werken naar zijn wil. E heeft naast Beautiful Freak nog twee geflopte solo albums op zijn naam staan en lijkt, met name tijdens de laatste Europese tour, de band steeds meer als een soort begeleidingsband voor zijn solo nummers te gebruiken. Een paar weken geleden was daar dan ook plotseling het nieuws dat bassist Tommy Walter de band had verlaten. Eerst werden als reden de onvermijdelijke artistieke meningsverschillen opgegeven, maar al snel bleek dat Tommy gewoon uit de band gezet is. Hij was bezig met een solo project waar hij zijn eigen ei in kwijt kon en wilde daarnaast nog gewoon verder met eels. E was daar niet blij mee en gooide Tommy direct de band uit, bang dat Tommy meer in de spotlight zou komen dan hijzelf. E en Butch gaan nu samen verder terwijl Tommy werkt alleen aan zijn soloplaat. Tijd voor een interview. - you said you are working on a solo project, what can we expect? I'm writing a lot of songs right now. When I feel I have a batch of songs that represent the direction I want to go, I will probably form a band. While with the eels, I grew into my own artist so it won't be a copy of eels material. My focus is to keep it as real as possible and not get too gimmicky as I think the eels were want to do. I really enjoy songwriting. Discovering new directions for music is the ultimate goal. I finally have the freedom to do that. In the later days, my input was suppressed by the eels so, in this way, I really feel great about the separation. - Do you think the Internet is a good place for bands without a record deal to promote their music and would you consider publishing your own music on the Internet? We could all benefit from cutting the unnecessary fat out of the music business or any business. Maybe the net will give us that opportunity. But right now the traditional route is still the best. - Project A started out as an internet magazine because we did not have the financial funds to publish a printed version of the magazine. what do you think about the Internet as a place to publish stuff for young designers, writers etc.? The beauty of it is that anyone with a computer can start an online magazine without being limited by their financial resources. I hope that freedom is the key element that will dominate the future. Ideas and ambitions won't be tied down by circumstances. The tricky part is getting the word out about your magazine. - you have a "bachelor of music degree in composition". How does your classical background influence you in writing "popular" music (I hate that term, but I guess you know what I mean...) A lot of people who don't understand music theory will tell you that they are glad because theory will somehow destroy their creative muse. I never found this to be true. You are only limited by your own attitude. My BM in composition taught me how to listen. I think this is the most important skill you can as a musician. Listening allows your mind to be open to new possibilities. In school, I heard a lot of music I never would have heard had I not been there. Some of my favorites are Bartok, Stravinsky, Stockhausen, Cage, Ligeti and one of my private teachers named Donald Crockett. Beck talks about his fondness for John Cage and how he relates his music to the Dadaists and Readymade art and it is clearly reflected. Isn't a sample a form of Readymade art? For me, it's the philosophy of art and music that is more important to the creation of new pop music rather than emulating other styles. - have you been in many bands before joining eels? i.e. do you have a musical past (except for your classical training) I was in one band before the eels. They were called mrs. god and are now called Teen Idol Maker. I still work with them. Recently, Peter the drummer and Joel the singer helped me record one of my songs. I've only been a pop or rock musician for about 4 years. Before that I was interested mostly in 20th century music. This is a new experience for me. I like to keep changing so I knew pop music was something I had to go for. - How big was your part in the sound of eels? E once said that all songs were written a long time ago, but how were you creatively involved? It is simply stated: No band, no deal. Yeah, E had a group of songs that he was trying to make into a solo record but no one was interested until the band became the vehicle for those songs. My job was to make a demo song work as a band song. When I first heard the demo, I liked the songs but I wasn't raving about it. The work we did as a band was what made the record great. A lot of the stuff that E wanted to do on his own was the least impressive to me. That's why I'm heart broken over the parting of this band. We had excellent chemistry together. - same question on the live performances. You never used any samples on stage, so the songs had to be played different than on the album, in what way were you involved in the way the songs were played live? I was sort of the Bread and Butter of the band. Whatever needed to be done to make a song work in a live context, I would do. Either by playing a different instrument or coming up with ideas for arrangements or orchestrations. Since E's capabilities are somewhat interestingly limited, I would pick up the slack. E and Butch mainly stuck to the parts they played on the record. That was the nice thing about being in a three piece. There was room to switch to different instruments and we weren't always stuck in one formation. When E started steering the band in the direction of him as a singer-songwriter-solo-artist and the band as merely backup dummies, I resisted because I believed this was a waste of our potential. - I read that artists like Radiohead and Beck are among your favorites. They use samples while performing live. Do your think that you yourself could be using samples on stage? Absolutely. I didn't matter to me that the eels didn't use samples. Whatever works for the song is what's important. I love the sound of a live drummer playing with a loop. Beck is a great live act because of his energy. The samples don't get in his way at all. If Radiohead uses samples, I haven't noticed so maybe that's a testament to how well they use them. - I heard one sound check from outside a venue and I was present at the one in Groningen and what struck me is that you played all kinds of different versions of the same song without making one single mistake. Did you ever rehearse different versions of songs or did they just come about like the first time you played Not Ready Yet in a 12" version at Pinkpop? I had thought of extending Not Ready Yet into a bigger song and I think I created sort of monster. I'm glad you were at Pinkpop because I think that was the only performance of the long version that was any good. After that it became too ego-driven and masturbatory cock-rock. If we were going to change the style of a song, we only just discussed it and maybe ran through it once at sound check. It's not as difficult as may seem. And we made mistakes but we covered them up efficiently. - you had almost constantly been touring since the end of 1995. The shows on the end of the tour seemed a lot less inspired than the ones from 1996 or early 1997. Does a long tour like you did have any effect on the way you perform live? Don't you get bored? I'm glad that you thought the later shows were less inspired because I felt the same way. If you let the audience be the barometer for how good a band you are, you will fall apart. I remember saying to Butch that I didn't think the band was hitting it's performing potential and his response was, "But the audience loves it". Being satisfied with a performance is the beginning of the end. That's when your ego starts telling you to be complacent. That's when you start going down hill. And the more shows we did and the more popular we became, the more E wanted the focus to be on him. The focus was on him anyway. Why did E have to go around telling everyone that this is "my band". Who cares anyway? That only served to be divisive. It's the typical rock and roll cliches that destroyed this band. I never got bored but in the later shows, I hated being pushed towards the role of "the dumb bass player" while E was acting like a solo artist. That is a waste of my time and a waste of the bands potential. It's a real shame. - how do you feel about fans recording live shows? Personally I am a big bootleg collector and I think that bootlegs are ideal for people who couldn't come to a show or that want to hear how a band sounds live. do you think fans should be allowed to bring their recording equipment to a show? Well, most venues will never let that happen but as an artist I really don't care. In the long run it only promotes you and adds to your mystique. ... en als afsluiter het onvermijdelijke lijstje: - age Just turned 27. - place where you live South Pasadena, California, US-fucking-A - favorite pet Cat. - favorite food Indian. - favorite movie The Shawshank Redemption or Wings of Desire. - do not feed me after...... ...I've just seen Butch's ass for the millionth time. - goal in life Live and let live. - message to the world See you soon. Edgar Kruize