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Jane
Scott, the worlds oldest teenager when we were in High school,
wrote this article on "Jaguar Ride" the Eels tribute band. Hallmarks
of Scott's writing style included that no matter what else was going on,
she always mentioned what high school you attended. I remember seeing
her at the Plain Dealer once when I was being interviewed for the Art
Section. I said "Hi Jane, I got a new band." and she put a piece
of paper in her Smith-Corona and immediately started typing this no doubt
'Lakewood High School graduate John Morton has started a new band !' I
went on, "Yeah, it's a punk-art band that doesn't play music called
'Johnny and the Dicks.' I'm Johnny of course." She literally ripped
the paper out of the typewriter.
THE PLAIN DEALER * FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 1997
Club
hosts punk rock shock;
By JANE SCOTT PLAIN DEALER ROCK REPORTER Four Cleveland musicians in their early 20s have formed a tribute band for an early punk band. They may not fit the usual tribute profile. They've never met the band, never seen it play, even though it started in Cleveland. They've only been able to find one LP of its work.
But in the usual tribute tradition, the quartet named itself after one of their idols' prominent songs - “Jaguar Ride.”
“And we've already got a gig lined up at Peabody's DownUnder next Thursday,” said ringleader Brent Collins, holding up a flier.
The flier says it all - “Jaguar Ride - The World's Only Electric Eels Tribute Band.”
So why do young musicians of today like a short-lived band of the early '70s?
“Because the Eels music was sparse,” said drummer Mark Lindow. “It was rough, but it was still cool. It was fun. Bands like Pearl Jam are too full of themselves.”
Part of the reason they're 'the “only” tribute band they know of may be that the Eels didn't stick around long, pointed out guitarist Doug Niemczura - only about three or 'four years. And they didn't record much.
The quartet learned a lot of Eel lore and love of its music from Steve Wainstead's old WCSB FM/89.3 radio show, “Cyclotron,” also named after an Eels song.
They're right about -the Eels' output, said Wainstead in a telephone conversation. “The Eels have two singles and two albums and they all came out posthumously,” he added.
“Their first single, 'Agitated,' came out in 1978, on Rough Trade. The second, 'Bunnies/Spin Age Blasters,' in 1982 on the Mustard label. Then there was an LP in 1989, called 'Having a Philosophic Investigation With the Electric Eels.' And the final was a CD on Homestead Records -'God Says (expletive),'” he said.
Wainstead never caught any of the Eels shows, either. He's 31 years old and would have been 5 in the Eels' prime. They started in 1972.
The Jaguar band picked up other info from Clinton Heylin's famous, Penguin book “From the Velvets to the Voidoids: A Pre-Punk History for a Post-Punk World.”
That's where Heylin writes of the first wave of punk in New York in 1973-74 with Television, Patti Smith, the Ramones and Blondie. Then he adds: “Cleveland was the only other U - S. city to have a contemporary wave of pre-punk exponents: Mirrors, the Electric Eels and Rocket From the Tombs. . .”
Guitarist Bill Parkinson read that Eels guitarist John Morton, now a successful New York artist, had long, peroxided hair, so he's going to get a blond wig. Collins will portray Eels singer Dave E McManus; Lindow will play one of the Eels’ drummers, Nick Knox, later of the Cramps group; and Niemczura will strum as guitarist Brian McMahon.
The quartet's set list will include 15 or more songs, from “Cyclotron” to “Flapping Jets,” “Spliggity Splat” and “Sewercide.”
They also learned that the prime movers of the Eels - Morton, Dave E, McMahon and drummer Paul Marotta - went to Lakewood High School. Three of the tribute band members- Parkinson, Collins and Lindow also went to Lakewood.
Incidentally, Collins isn't concerned about being sued by the Eels. He put an ad in a local paper: “An Electric Eels Band Now Forming.”
“And guess who war, the first person to call? John Morton!” said Collins. “He asked if this was a joke. But he said it was 0K for us to go ahead. We don't plan to make this a career anyway.”
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