‘LIKE ANY GOOD THERAPY, IT WAS AN AGONISING PROCESS'
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Doug Johnstone hears from Mark Everett, lead man from rock mavericks Eels, whose autobiography tells of a strange upbringing and death at every corner
hen Mark Oliver liverett was nine years old
and home alone. a plane crashed in his
neighbourhood. Stumbling outside. he wandered through the carnage of burning wreckage and body parts before returning to his house. ‘.lust another day in my weird lifef dry'ly' cackles the creative force behind American alternative rock outfit Eels. ‘Hey! lt‘s Wednesday. must he a plane crashing outside.‘ That this kind of event doesn't seem out of place in his blackly‘ humorous memoir. Things the (ii‘ttttr/t'liihlt‘ett Should Know. gives you a pretty good indication of how strange liverett‘s life has been.
The musician who's gone on to sell millions of records. paradoxically by being anti-establishtncnt within the music business. had one hell of an upbringing. Allowed to run riot as a kid. liverett was taking drugs. stealing cars and generally getting into a whole heap of trouble early on. His parents were into the swinging scene. and his troubled lather was a misunderstood genius physicist who came up with the parallel worlds theory about 20 years too early. Ridiculed. his father crawled into his emotional shell. to the extent that Everett‘s first memory of touching his dad was of finding him dead of a heart attack.
Death has haunted Everett: his drug-addict sister committed suicide and his mother suffered a slow. painful death from cancer. All of which makes you wonder. why he would want to go through that all again by writing about it'.’ ‘I thought it would be really easy. but it was the hardest thing I‘ve ever done.‘ he laughs. ‘I don‘t recommend it. Like any good therapy. it was a really difficult. agonising
32 THE LIST 31 Jan—1.1 Feb 2038
process. bill it worked. I really hated working on it. but by the time it was oycr. it felt like a weight off my sliotlldcrs.‘
livcrett has always been one of society‘s outsiders. from his lonely childhood to a refusal to tow the music indUstry line. Dropped three times by labels for not playing ball. he's ncyerthclcss gone on to massiye success with liels. spawning hit singles. award— winning albums and sell—out tours around the world. This memoir and a recent documentary lilm about his father have led liycrctt to diycrgc from music. but he‘s not about to giyc tip the songwriting. thank you yery much. ’livery time I branch out. I think it‘s going to be a relief to do something other titan w rite a song] he says. “But I always lind that cycrything else is a lot harder. and w here I really belong is back at the day job.’
Nevertheless. the book. film and music haye all acted as therapy oy er the years. each project helping liyerctt get to a place today w here. despite family tragedy and all the rest. he is pretty happy. '1 wish l'd had some kind of crystal ball as a kid to see where my life would be right now.‘ he says ruclully. ‘becatise it would‘yc giycn me a lot of hope.' .-\nd as for the future'.’ liycrett would low to just liye a slightly more mundane life. 'In 4t) years I'll write volume two. and I'm dctcrtnincd for it to be the most boring book cycr written. l'ye had enough of the drama. thanks.'
Things the Grandchildren Should Know is out now published by Little, Brown.
>i= Suhayl Saadi The Glasgow author of cult novel Psychoraag spearheads a debate about translation in literature. Inst/tut Francais d'Ecosse, Edinburgh, Tue 12 Feb.
=i= Kevin Williamson The man behind Rebel lnc reads from his debut poetry collection In a Room Darkened and chats about a decade-and-a-half at the forefront of Scottish counter culture. National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh, Fri 7 Feb. >'r- Don Paterson The Dundee bard has an hour to discuss one of his own works and a poem by another scribe. Stan those stop watches. Scottish Poetry Library, Edinburgh, Tue 72 Feb.
>i< Mark Everett The man who fronts US band Eels brings us a fatality-stained memoir. See preview, left. Little, Brown.
:i< Sadie Jones A remarkable debut from Jones with The Outcast, the postwar tale of a young lads alienation from both his family and the community around him. See review. page 33. Chatto 8 Windus.
>I< Martin Amis With The Second Plane, the former enfant terrible of the BritLit scene revisits the trauma of 9/1 1 with essays and short stories revealing erudite insight and graphic horror. Chris Morris might not like him, but the guy has still got some quality in his locker. See review, page 33. Jonathan Cape.
* Mark Millar & Steve McNiven The US government has introduced a system of superhero regulation to combat the war between good and evil as Captain America and Iron Man lead their cohons into battle. Civil War is a skitfut and glossy read. See review, page 34. Marvel.