The Electric Eels were active from 1972 to 1975 in Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio. The founding members were Dave E. McManus, vocals and clarinet, John Morton, lead guitar, and Brian McMahon, guitar. All were strong personalities and each contributed songs and distinctive points of view, but Morton started the band and his influence, like his physical person, tended to dominate. There were no bassists and the drummers came and went. Playing keyboards as well as guitar, Paul Marotta replaced McMahon from late 1973 to early 1975, McMahon subsequently rejoining. Marotta recorded the group before, during, and especially after his stay in the group. The majority of the Eels' recordings (and the entirety of the eyeball of hell), come from their final months together and feature the three founders along with drummer Nick Knox, later of the Cramps. The few earlier recordings that exist can be heard on "Those Were Different Times"
There were five public performances, and all were accompanied by some degree of chaos or violence, either between band members, members of the audience, the police, or various combinations. These shows became the bedrock of the budding Eels legend, which included essentially true rumors of the use of lawnmowers, vacuum cleaners and the like as additional instrumentation. Their first gig was in August of 1974 at the Moonshine Co-op in Columbus. McManus adorned himself in rat-traps for the occasion and Morton was wearing a jacket held together with safety pins, earning them the tag "Ratman and Bobbin£ from the police they encountered when leaving the bar at the end of the night. Morton took offense and kicked the nearest policeman in the balls as hard as he could, despite being handcuffed at the time. As a result of the inevitable beating that ensued, Morton performed their next show three weeks later with a slide and wrench taped to his broken left hand in order to play his guitar.
In the fall of 1974, Morton, McManus and Marotta returned to Cleveland and began sharing a rehearsal loft with Rocket from the Tombs and Frankenstein (early incarnations of Pere Ubu and the Dead Boys respectively) in the warehouse district on West 9th Street. According to Morton, Stiv Bators spent a good deal of time studying McManus during Eels' rehearsals and copped many of McManus' mannerisms. Along with Mirrors and Rocket from the Tombs, gigs three and four were the "Extermination Music Nights" at the Viking Saloon in December 1974 and January 1975. After the second show, the band's equipment was impounded by the club owner, seeking recompense for damages. Marotta left the group shortly afterwards.
McMahon returned to the fold late in the winter of 1975. The Eels rehearsed rigorously and recorded frequently through the spring and summer. This period of high activity is the sole focus of the eyeball of hell. Their final show was September 20, 1975 at WRUW on the campus of Case Western Reserve University and the group disbanded afterwards. It is my understanding that a recording was made by the station, but erased years later when someone on the staff needed a reel of tape and didn't know any better. I personally never went to any lengths to uncover the hows and whys of the Eels' demise, but if there was ever a band that truly experienced so-called "personality conflicts," it was the Eels.
In 1978, Rough Trade released the Agitated 45 (RT 8). John Morton illustrated the cover and wrote the titles in a faux German style, which was taken at face value by many who initially bought it, exactly the sort of confusion and ambiguity to which the Eels aspired. Between the sounds, still extreme by 1978 standards, and the gradual realization that "Die Electric Eels" were actually a crazy band from Cleveland that had broken up three years earlier made it that much more impressive.
Another Eels 45, "Bunnies," turned up on Marotta's Mustard label 1982, presenting a completely opposite face of the group to confuse the issue yet more. More Eels recordings leaked out over the coming years on LP and CD, though none are currently in print, excepting the aforementioned TWDT.
The Eels' nihilism naturally overshadows their seriousness and work ethic; a natural consequence when you apply that work ethic to fucking shit up. That their world-view and much of their music anticipates the later punk movement is significant, but to think of the group as simply a quirk in the space-time continuum is a mistake. They toyed with free jazz, played the anti-Eels in "Bunnies," and did unexpected but totally relevant covers (there *is* a Dead Man's Curve in Cleveland). But in particular note the eloquence of some of McManus' songs, especially Natural Situation, Silver Daggers and Sewercide. Natural Situation visits a recurring hospital theme, in this case a cancer patient who personifies, and is observed by, the singer. It seems to me these songs address existential crisis in a very fundamental, real way without a whiff of posturing or self-pity. How many rock songs can you say that about? McManus retired from music in the early 1980s, returned to the Catholic religion of his youth and formally disowned the music he had made.
Thank you for adding Six String Bryan to your Friends. I thank you. The Six String Jets thank you. My wife, my cats, and my baby girl thank you. Even my Momma thanks you. Thank you.
We have an amazing lineup of confirmed artists. We also are in the talks with many other bands who have played the VEX and they are working out their scheduling, so expect the list to grow!!!
The Woodchuck Festival marks the occurrence of Groundhog Day with revelry and a celebration of original music and ecological activism. Bands performing at the Second Annual Woodchuck Festival include:
Tearwave (Buffalo) Babylon A Go Go (Cleveland) Sik Sik Nation (Detroit) Lazy Susan (Kent) Dead Letter Room (Cleveland)
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