Ah, the levels a formerly great band will stoop to in an attempt to stay relevant with the kids. Eels frontman Mark Oliver Everett, AKA E, is today’s offender, posting video footage of himself being punched in the face by a disgruntled clown on stage in Austria over the weekend.
The band posted this to their Facebook page today:
Ten minutes after the house lights went up signifying the end of the EELS’ Vienna concert last night, as the crew dismantled the stage the band came back to perform ‘Dog Faced Boy’ and new composition ‘Go EELS!’ The merriment was cut short when disgruntled opening act Puddles Pity Party jumped on the stage to punch EELS leader Mark Oliver Everett aka E in the face and take his guitar from him. E, who suffered a bloody lip and two chipped teeth is seen spitting blood at the 4 minute mark of the video. “Puddles and I have been butting heads over the length of his set for the entire tour,” says E, speaking through his chipped teeth today, “but this was a new level of unprofessionalism. That was his last show with us. He has been fired from the tour.” See the angry 7 foot clown’s rampage at the link below.
The whole thing reeks of stunt to us. Puddles Pity Party appears to be a one-man show more in the vein of performance art than anything else, with his website describing him as “a mini-concert that David Lynch would envy”, so a put-on doesn’t seem out of the question.
E loves a bit of the ol’ straight-face as well, creating his MC Honky persona seemingly with the intention of cooking up some beef for one. After a ‘feud’ regarding the authorship of MC Honky’s album I Am The Messiah, Everett once told a reporter that, ““I hope MC Honky dies of SARS!” So there’s that.
Eels are currently touring their disappointing 10th studio album Wonderful, Glorious and are no doubt cooking up more ways to ‘go viral’.
