A Fantastic Read

Mark Oliver Everett is better known, if he is known to you at all, as Mark E or the creative mind behind the group Eels.

The novel 'The Good Soldier' by the English author Ford Madox Ford begins with the line 'This is the saddest story I have ever heard' and you could be forgiven for thinking that the autobiography of Mark Everett would surpass that. Here is somebody whose first physical contact with his father was the moment he carried his dead father's body downstairs at the family home, his sister Liz committed suicide, his mother died of cancer and his favourite cousin was a flight attendant on the aircraft that was flown into the Pentagon on 9/11. A band member dies from a drug overdose as does Mark's friend the musician Elliott Smith. The book deals with all of those events and also quite candidly with Mark's own depression but it also makes you smile, laugh out loud and believe that as human beings we can overcome almost anything. The book also tells you all you need to know about the snake pit that is the music industry - indeed the first page in the book includes a note from Pete Townshend that says 'This is one of the best books ever written by a contemporary artist. I learned more about my own business and my own methods by reading this book than I did by reading the life of Chuck Berry, Elvis or David Bowie' - praise indeed!

Before he becomes a musician we read about his teenage years when he was a drummer at school and the star of the school band, he is however a poor student and finds release in music. He also finds relief in a series of girlfriends, some quite mad and some simply strange, but it all adds to the soup of life.

There are wonderful anecdotes about meeting (or not meeting in the case of Ray Charles) the great and the good. On his first day in California, after driving across country from Virginia, Mark finds himself standing next to Angie Dickinson on an LA street during an award ceremony, on his second day he is standing in the queue at the Post Office when Little Richard stands behind him. Eels are supposedly hand picked by Elton John to support him at the Hollywood Bowl but Elton doesn't recognise the band and thinks they are hangers on. Neil Young invites the band to play at his annual festival for Downs Syndrome in northern California and when Mark is introduced to the man who meant so much to his sister the only thing that comes out of his mouth is 'I like your beard'. Tom Waits agrees to record vocals for a track but ends up erasing Eels track on the four track cassette, this turns out to be something that Everett is incredibly proud of.

There is a touch of sadness when his mother phones him in LA to tell him his sister has died it is the day after he had posted her a copy of the band's first album Beautiful Freak. His record company are supportive and then dismissive in equal measure, he sacks one manager only to find that his replacement doesn't like his music, he turns down one record company for another only to find that his new choice is bought out by the company who turned him down. The A&R man at his record company says his album 'Blinking Lights' is unsaleable, and yet when released after a years delay and via a new label it becomes his most critically acclaimed work to date and his biggest seller.

Everett compensates for the horrific events in his life by composing music, by recording every song he ever writes. Despite being at odds with his father who he believes didn't love him he grows to respect both the man and the parent, it is only after his father's death that he discovers he was a prominent scientist. He looks after his dying mother, sells the family home and becomes an internationally respected musician. The moment when he finally achieves spiritual and mental contentment comes as he stands on stage at the Royal Albert Hall, he feels the warmth from the audience as he sings songs from the six albums he has recorded. He hear's from a friend of his father's that his Dad had said a few days before his death that if he died tomorrow he knew he had had a great life. He realises that he can forgive any shortcomings there may have been as a parent and respects the man for who he was.

The penultimate paragraph of the 244 page book is: "I can get overwhelmed with situations sometimes, but it's not as bad or as often as it used to be, and I think living through so much crazy shit really has made me stronger. Just like they say it should."

I read this book straight through in four sittings after work and I have to say it's one of the most life affirming books I've ever read.