The Key » Eels

The Week So Far: 12 must-read stories on The Key (incl. Wild Belle, Petula Clark and Neighborhood Choir)

Julie Miller — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 16:27:14 +0000

Eels | Photo by Michael Bucher

Check out photos and videos of Eels‘ knock-out appearance at World Cafe Live [link]

Local acoustic musician Kyle Swartzwelder recorded a stirring session for Folkadelphia [link]

Download “Joy To You Baby” from Josh Ritter‘s new LP The Beast in its Tracks, which is also XPN’s Featured Album of the Week [link]

XPN’s Gotta Hear Song of Week welcomes the return of Petula Clark with “Cut Copy Me” off of her new album Lost in You [link]

The Lawsuits recorded a rocking, eclectic Key Studio Session this week [link]

Guest VJ Nikki Volpicelli shares Philadelphia Area Music Showcase‘s line-up of local acts for this month’s Tuesday Tune-Out series at PhilaMOCA [link]

Neighboorhood Choir‘s Bennett Daniels talks roadtrips, recording and roughing it in an interview with Brian Wilensky [link]

The Key premiered Wild Belle‘s instantly captivating and mystical debut album Isles [link]

Peter Murphy will perform the music of Bauhaus at The Trocadero on May 9th [link]

Watch a video of Norwegian Arms performing “Wolf Like a Stray Dog” at Brighton Sound Studios; they play an all-ages show at PhilaMOCA tomorrow [link]

Preeminent Philly soul group The Delfonics are put in the spotlight once again with Adrien Younge Presents The Delfonics; stream the new collaborative album via NPR [link]

Steve Earle and the Dukes announce a May 3rd show at Phoenixville’s Colonial Theatre [link]

The unstoppable Eels play World Cafe Live with clowns, track suits (photos, review, video, setlist)

Brian Wilensky — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 20:45:35 +0000

Saturday night’s sold out Eels show at World Cafe Live had plenty of oddball moments, from the sad clown singing tragic songs, to Mark Oliver Everett and the rest of his track-suited gang schticking it up for a solid hour and a half set.

The night started with a clown named Puddles meandering through the crowd with a old suitcase and lit lantern. He seemed to be looking for someone but never found them. He suddenly climbed on the stage from the crowd, placed his suitcase down and just stood at the microphone looking nervous. Then the house music stopped, the lights went down and Puddles Pity Party’s performance began. His voice was a strong while he sang sad tunes to minimal recordings about losing his past loves and being alone. Suddenly a guy in a dress wearing a monkey mask came out and sat at the front of the stage, eating bananas and making lewd gestures with them while throwing the peels into the crowd. Puddles never acknowledged the monkey-person though. All puddles did beside sing was dry his eyes with tissues during “Lonely Guy,” before leaving the stage the same way he came. He even did a crushing rendition of Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On.” Really, it was hard to not feel sorry for the him – the performance felt real. Puddles Pity Party wasn’t gimmicky, it was truly moving.

New Jersey’s Nicole Atkins played next, but without her band. Her soulful, solo-guitar set was outstanding and seemed to make the crowd melt a little more with every song. “Cry Cry Cry,” from 2011’s Mondo Amore was a stand-out. She shared the new and unreleased “Red Ropes,” and wore her heart on shoulder as she sang surprisingly heartbroken songs.

Before Eels took the stage, the crowd was abuzz, knowing they were about to get a couple laughs and see one of the most tongue-in-cheek rock shows around. As the band walked out, they were greeted immediately by people yelling “The Chet!” – the guitarist in the band, and a fan favorite. They started their set just as their latest record, Wonderful, Glorious does, with “Bombs Away.” Then lead singer Everett, or E, hugged a band member. Then they played the next song from that record, “Kinda Fuzzy,” and E hugged another band member. He’d repeat this for the first four songs; later all five joined in a group hug.

In typical Eels fashion, they matched – from haircut to running shoes and Adidas track suits – and got a warm introduction by their lead singer, but only to share their nicknames (“Peeboo,” guitarist; “Honest Al,” bassist; and “Knuckles,” on drums). At one point Everett shared the good news that he and The Chet had played together for ten years. To celebrate this, they renewed their vows and “Honest Al” pronounced them each other’s guitarist and lead singer. It was adorable.

Joking aside, the band’s versatility is practically unheralded. They plowed through the over-driven “Souljacker Part 1” at one moment and then mellow it with the sunny and soulful “Wonderful, Glorious.” This sudden change in feeling seemed to happen a couple times but those changes in feel never felt clunky. Everett and company kept their cult following on their toes by playing a somewhat trippier and slowed-down version of “Trouble with Dreams” that was even creepier than what’s heard on Blinking Lights and Other Revelations. It happened again when they combined “My Beloved Monster” and “Mr. E’s Beautiful Blues” during their first encore, followed by E yelling, “It’s a mash-up. That was exhausting!” Yeah, they came out for a second encore. And a third one, after the house lights had gone up. Maybe when a band is all wearing the same Adidas track suit, beard, shades, sneakers and haircut, something happens naturally that just makes them smile more and capable of playing anything they want.

Eels Setlist
Bombs Away
Kinda Fuzzy
Stick Together
Oh Well (Fleetwood Mac cover)
Tremendous Dynamite
In My Dreams
On the Ropes
Dirty Girl
Climbing to the Moon
Peach Blossom
Trouble with Dreams
The Turnaround
New Alphabet
Fresh Feeling
The Sound of Fear
Wind Beneath My Wings (Bette Midler tease following “vows renewal”)
Go Knuckles
Itchycoo Park (Small Faces cover)
Souljacker Part 1
Wonderful, Glorious

Encore One:
I’m Your Brave Little Soldier
My Beloved Monster/Mr. E’s Beautiful Blues

Encore Two:
Fresh Blood

Encore Three:
Go Eels

A brief and baffling history of opening acts for Eels (playing a sold-out World Cafe Live tomorrow)

John Vettese — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 17:19:44 +0000

John Pizzi and Andy opening for Eels at World Cafe Live in 2010 | Photo by Eric Schuman

Eels fans are somewhat conditioned to expect the unexpected. The long-running project of songwriter Mark Oliver Everett will release raging rock & roll albums one minute, lush and autobiographical double LPs the next. They toured as a four-piece rock band in the “Alternative Rock” 90s, then performed with mini orchestras and strings. And, ever the absurdist, Everett has a penchant for opening acts that are untraditional, outlandish and just downright bizarre. Here’s a rundown of openers he’s brought through town.

MC Honky; Theater of Living Arts; August 2, 2003

This hulking, balding, elderly funk DJ in a trenchcoat and porkpie hat spent an hour-long set on the 2003 “Tour of Duty” (in support of Eels Shootenanny! LP) puffing a pipe and spinning dope records with disco-danceable beats. The widely accepted theory is that it was simply the man called E in a fat-suit; MC Honky’s lone album, I Am the Messiah, was produced by Everett, and little evidence exists to suggest that Honky is an actual person otherwise.

A screening of the BBC documentary Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives; First Unitarian Church Sanctuary; March 28, 2008

This show had a lot of hype buzzing from the R5 Productions folks about it being “the biggest production we have ever done in the sanctuary,” which had a lot of fans (myself included) imagining something on par with the recently-released Eels With Strings live album – or at the very least, like the chamber-orchestral Oh, What A Beautiful Morning. But no, the elaborateness was the installation of a giant screen covering the entirety of the massive sanctuary alter so that a BBC documentary called Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives could be screened in lieu of a musical opener. The film traced Everett’s quest to learn more about his quantum physicist father, the late Hugh Everett III, who chased hypotheses about parallel universes during his career at Princeton. Fascinating stuff, but heady, super-complex and a little discomfiting for a crowd that wasn’t expecting to sit through what felt like an episode of Nova before Eels took the stage.

Ventriloquist John Pizzi; World Cafe Live; September 22, 2010

XPN’s Eric Schuman attended this show a couple years back, and heard whisperings beforehand that World Cafe Live talent buyer Laura Wilson was specifically asked by the band to find a local ventriloquist to open the show. She discovered John Pizzi and Andy, a comic duo from New Jersey, and Schuman recalls that he “was funnier thank you’d expect a ventriloquist to be” and received a warmer reception from the crowd than singer-songwriter Jessica Hoop.

Puddles Pity Party; World Cafe Live; March 2, 2013

Which brings us to tomorrow’s sold-out show at World Cafe Live, with opening act Puddles Pity Party. Not much information is available on the venue’s website, but from the artist’s page, it appears Puddles is a demented clown. Of course, all clowns are kind of demented, but this one makes a point of touting the David Lynch comparisons it’s received. Your guess is as good as mine.

Puddles Pity Party opens for Eels at World Cafe Llve, 3025 Walnut Street, tomorrow at 8 p.m. The all-ages show is sold out.

Listen to Wonderful, Glorious, the new album from Eels (playing World Cafe Live on 3/2)

John Vettese — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 16:05:07 +0000

From the thumping drums at the outset of Wonderful Glorious, you can tell that Eels impresario Mark Oliver Everett is back in aggressive rock mode – something we haven’t heard to this degree since 2009′s Hombre Lobo. The new album will be released on Vagrant Records next Tuesday, February 5th, but you can stream the entire thing today in the player below. Eels perfroms at World Cafe Live on March 2 with Nicole Atkins. Tickets and information on the all-ages show can be found here.

Is Mark Oliver Everett from Eels, or is he Eels? Find out in this deleted scene from This is 40 (playing World Cafe Live on 3/2)

John Vettese — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 19:06:01 +0000

If you’ve seen the new Paul Rudd – Leslie Mann mid-life / mid-marriage meditation This is 40, you know that it does a great job mixing rom-com sentimentality with hysterically crass Judd Apatow-isms and a healthy dose of music nerdery. British pub rocker Graham Parker appears as himself in a role that’s simultaneously triumphant and self-deprecating, and we also get a quick cameo from Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong. Turns out there were even more guest spots on the cutting room floor. Earlier this week, Consequence of Sound hipped us to this scene with Eels frontman Mark Oliver Everett. Or, wait, is he just Eels incarnate? He clarifies that for us, but not after a husky and heartrending performance of “What I Have To Offer” from 2010′s Tomorrow Morning LP. Watch the video below; see another outtake with Billie Joe pitching a Norwegian death metal twee-pop hybrid at Consequence of Sound; and catch Eels in concert at World Cafe Live on March 2.

Listen to “New Alphabet” by Eels (playing World Cafe Live on 3/2)

Julie Miller — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 21:25:12 +0000

AOL Spinner is currently streaming a new track from Eels called “New Alphabet.” The song comes from Mark Oliver Everett’s forthcoming Wonderful, Glorious LP expected out on February 5th through Vagrant Records. ”New Alphabet” is our second taste of Wonderful, Glorious - we heard “Peach Blossom” a couple weeks ago (listen here). Tickets and information for Eels’ show at World Cafe Live on March 2nd can be found here. Listen to “New Alphabet” here.

The Week So Far: Eight must-read stories on The Key

John Vettese — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 22:21:07 +0000

Lancaster’s The Stray Birds perform “Dream in Blue” for Folk Alley’s backstage sessions [link]

Sellersville progressive hip-hop group I&I record an adventurous Key Studio Session [link]

Get a free song from Florida’s rootsy Roadkill Ghost Choir in My Morning Download [link]

Philly punk four-piece The Menzingers released an acoustic version of “Casey” [link]

Meet rootsy Philly group The Naked Sun in their new Bands in the Backyard video [link]

Philly country-rockers The Lawsuits released a new EP and a new music video [link]

Quirky rockers Eels announced a fall tour with a Philly stop in March, and a new song [link]

Founding Smashing Pumpkins guitarist James Iha played Free at Noon on Black Friday [link]

Rock out to “Peach Blossom,” a new single from Eels (playing World Cafe Live in March)

John Vettese — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 13:05:31 +0000

The one sure thing about an Eels concert is you never know what you’re going to get. In the early aughts, the band released Oh, What a Beautiful Morning, a live album punctuated by horn players, an orchestral overture and off-kilter banter. When they played Philly as a four-piece band a few years later, frontman Mark Oliver Everett opened the show by DJing in a fatsuit, smoking a pipe. More recently, they played the sanctuary of the First Unitarian Church as a duo, beginning by screening an hour-long BBC documentary about Everett’s quantum physicist father. From lineup changes, to instrumentation changes, it’s all a gamble, so basically, we have no idea what’s in store with the Eels show that was just announced at World Cafe Live on March 2. We can tell you this much: Eels will have a new album in tow – Wonderful, Glorious, out on Vagrant Records on February 5. The album contains a rockin’ song called “Peach Blossom,” which you can listen to below. And tickets are available now through the band’s website here.

Snooze Alarm: Your late-arriving link roundup, 9/22/10

The Key — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 18:04:38 +0000

Charlatans drummer treated for brain tumour “Jon Brookes, drummer with indie band The Charlatans, has been diagnosed with a brain tumour, the group have said. The diagnosis comes a week after he collapsed and briefly stopped breathing during a concert in Philadelphia. The rest of their US tour was cancelled as Brookes was flown to the UK for treatment. A spokesperson for The Charlatans said: ‘The band and Jon would like to thank all well wishers for their kind messages of support.’” (BBC News)

Philly Organizations in the Running for a Free iPhone Application “Icihere, the developer of the Ici app for the iPhone, iPad, and Android platforms, is currently running a contest to giveaway a $50,000 custom application to a nonprofit arts and culture organization in the Mid-Atlantic region.These are the same folks who crafted the Philadelphia Film & Music Festival, Philadelphia Open Studio Tours, and Philagrafika applications, so you know it’s going to be something special…There are a number of great Philly-based organizations running, including the Mann Center, InLiquid, the Allentown Art Museum, and UPenn’s Museum of Anthropology & Archaeology.” (Geekadelphia)

Questlove is writing a book “[I]t’s time for Ahmir Thompson (aka Questlove) to scratch something off of his to-do list. The fro-haired drummer plans on writing a book composed of his various celebrity encounters and real life occurrences. You can look forward to snagging a copy of ‘Mommy, What’s a Questlove?’ sometime in 2012.” (Phrequency)

REVIEW THE REVIEWS: Free Energy “Philly’s own super-spirited arena-rock revivalists Free Energy are back in town tomorrow night to play First Unitarian Church along with Titus Andronicus and the Tough Shits [7:30pm/$13]. Free Energy has done quite well for themselves this year with their debut LP, Stuck on Nothing (produced by LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy). Not long ago we caught up with Free Energy frontman Paul Sprangers for a ‘Review the Reviews’ session, wherein we read excerpts from recent reviews and get the reaction of the reviewed.” (Make Major Moves)

New EELS video (+ U.S. tour kicks off tonight in Philly) “Below is the new EELS video for the song ‘Baby Loves Me’ from their new album, Tomorrow Morning, which you can listen to in its entirety at their myspace. Don’t forget that EELS kick off their U.S. tour at the World Cafe Live tonight. Day of show tickets are $37.” (The Swollen Fox)

10 Shows To See At The Philly F/M Festival “The Philadelphia Film and Music Festival: Is that anything? We don’t know yet, but it’s coming up this weekend, and that means a gargantuan schedule that you have to wade through to find the diamonds in the rough. Never fear, we’ve done (some of) the heavy lifting for you! Here are 10 recommends…” (Philebrity)