Michael J. Weldon's way-excellent liner notes

Now that there's finally an Electric Eels album, it is time to correct and rewrite some musical history. The Eels weren't English or German although a single was released in the UK in pidgin Deutsch and some undeserving Brit Band later stole their name. They were Clevelanders, from the state of Ohio (that's between Ontario and Kentucky). The Eels were far too real and uncompromising to last. They only managed to play out a half dozen times, but when they did, people really listened; especially future members of better known Cleveland area bands who were around for the major label New Wave talent hunt of '78. Listen to the Eels original, absurd, funny scary, disgusted-with-everything lyrics! Marvel at their desperate, controlled early industrial sound. I vote 'Agitated' the best song of this or any other year. If you love this powerful noise as much as I do, then you'll agree that the wait for this release was worth it. Read on, and you'll wonder how this band managed to exist as long as it did.

John Morton, a big guy with long peroxided hair sometimes resembles a professional wrestler but he's an artist. While enduring suburban public school in Lakewood, birthplace of Muzak, he met Dave E. and Brian McMahon after they were kicked out of a nearby Catholic school for some unspeakable offenses. One night they all went to see Captain Beefheart And His Magic Band. The opening act had gotten a lot of publicity for being loud and obnoxious, but mostly they were just terrible. John figured if those jerks could do it (and get a record contract), he and his friends could do a lot better, so they did. John and Brian already played guitar, so Dave was elected lead singer. They started practicing in a girlfriend's apartment in 1972.

These guys had all been misfits and troublemakers in school. They didn't fit in with the new glut of pseudo hippies and the typical jocks loved to pick fights with them. John always won, and got used to fighting. In fact, at one time or another, he beat up every other member of the Eels. John and Brian used to go to working class bars and dance together waiting for the inevitable fights to start. The Eels' brand of 'Art Terrorism' made them dangerous to be around. They alienated everybody who might have helped them and they had to leave town before they got a chance to take their inspired chaos to the stage.

They lived just off the Ohio State campus in Columbus in a filthy apartment with giant set rat traps all over the floor. Brian quit after John beat him up and Paul Marotta (another school friend) joined as guitarist. They never wanted a bass player, but finally got a drummer, Danny Foland, and played their first gig opening for local legend Jamie Lyons (The Music Explosion & Capitol City Rockets ). After playing for an audience for the first time, John and Dave were arrested for being drunk and disorderly. They were still in stage clothes; John was wearing a coat covered with safety pins and Dave was covered with rat traps. . . 'Ratman and Bobbin' as the cops called them as they were taken to jail. Paul bailed them out a few days later but John's hand had been broken by the police and he had to play the next show with a slide taped to his cast. He arrived wearing wrenches taped to his arms with gaffer's tape and also brought a new instrument, a large sheet of metal to be played with a sledgehammer. Twenty-five minutes into the set the owner actually pulled the plug on them. Later on, after John pulled a knife on an irate neighbor during practice, it became evident that it was time to leave town again.

Back in Cleveland, without a drummer, Paul, sometimes more level headed than the other Eels, kept the band from self destruction long enough to play a few prestigious 'underground' gigs. One was advertised as a 'Special Extermination Music Night' with a picture of John covered in aluminum foil. The now famous DJ who was supposed to host the event chickened out. Some highlights of the evening were Dave, who was now playing clarinet, trying to start a gas powered lawn mower and singing emotional versions of TV theme songs and commercials. John won a fight with a loud-mouthed audience member, and the Eels were not only banned from the club, but their equipment was impounded to hold against damages. This was about the only club in town that would have even considered hiring a band like the Eels and Paul quit in frustration.
Brian re-joined and Nick Knox, before leaving and joining The Cramps, became the drummer. It is this line-up that is represented here. The last Eels gig was outdoors at the campus of Case-Western Reserve University, and was broadcast live. The gig ended with more violence and the Eels were no more. Several attempts were made to re-form the Eels with the addition of other Cleveland musicians, ex or future Pere Ubu members Tim Wright, Tony Fier, and Jim Jones, and John and Dave played separately and together with Jamie Klimek in Paul's new Styrene-Money Band. John ( and Dave for a while ) formed X -- X, played out several times, and released two singles on the Drome label. John also formed 'Johnny And The Dicks,' a visual art group that performed in Cleveland, Buffalo and Washington DC, and later released a limited edition silk-screened album with no record inside. Dave made his solo debut playing saxophone in a laundromat, then formed several bands, sometimes with Brian, including 'The Cool Marriage Counselors' and even did stand-up comedy for a while. Two Eels singles were released after the fact and got rave reviews.

The Electric Eels started and ended during the boring early to mid-seventies when the most interesting music was Glam Rock. Most of the Eels liked Alice Cooper and Kiss and the obvious Detroit groups and there was a heavy dose of avant-garde jazz. The Eels were a collection of strong individual personalities and this, although one of their strengths, also contributed to their demise. These songs sound as good or better than they did in 'The Best Location In The Nation' The Electric Eels proudly join the honorable list of Clevelanders who recorded subversive, challenging music including Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Albert Ayler, John 'Mouse' Michalski ( The Count Five ), LaWanda Page, and Jim Backus.