Eels are electric about tomorrow

BEATS:


Of all Mark Oliver Everett’s traits, the ability to make the best of absolutely terrible situations is perhaps his greatest.

E, as he’s known, is the main man behind American band Eels, who play Manchester Academy on Saturday.

Over the course of his 20-year career, he has battled and defeated the numerous demons that have arisen.

As a teenager, E discovered his physics pioneer dad Hugh Everett III had died in his sleep, then his mother died of lung cancer in 1998, two years after the suicide of his schizophrenic sister Elizabeth.

Then the songwriter’s cousin was a flight attendant aboard one of the doomed 9/11 airliners.

Along the way, there’s also been unhealthy doses of heartbreak and failed relationships, all of which have resulted in albums dealing with each subject and emotion.

New album “Tomorrow Morning” showcases E’s style as a brilliantly competent songwriter.

The last in a trilogy of concept albums, “Tomorrow Morning” chronicles the rebirth of its central character, E, although he says he doesn’t always recognise himself in his music until years later.

He said: “‘Tomorrow Morning’ will be the last record for a while, I need to create a bit of balance in my life. It’s funny though, it’s only other people that tell me I need a balance.

“I don’t know how people do stuff like this without that feeling of obsession. I think it takes really unbalanced people to make music. There needs to be some sort of obsessive quality to your personality to want to do this. Apparently that’s not healthy, so yeah, I’m planning on some time off.”