Electric Eels (band)

Electric Eels
Electric Eels circa 1973. Left to right: Brian McMahon, Dave E., John D Morton and Nick Knox
Background information
Origin	Cleveland, Ohio, United States
Genres	Rock, protopunk, punk rock, art punk
Years active	1972 (1972)–1975 (1975)
Past members	John Morton Brian McMahon Dave E. Nick Knox Paul Marotta Jim Jones

The Electric Eels (stylized as electric eels, in reference to e. e. Cummings) were an American protopunk band active between 1972 and 1975, formed by John Morton in Cleveland, Ohio.

Electric Eels played only five public shows, but during their brief existence they earned a reputation locally for being angry, confrontational and violent. They were notorious for starting fights with audiences which drew police attention; members were also abusive to each other off-stage. Their style was a discordant, noisy amalgam of hard garage rock and free jazz. Stiv Bators, the singer of The Dead Boys was particularly influenced by the vocal styling and stage presence of Dave "E" McManus. While the eels didn't play many shows, they rehearsed often, eventually making many recordings which were released many years after their demise.

Along with Morton (guitar), other original members were Dave "E" McManus (vocals, clarinet) and Brian McMahon (guitar; not to be confused with Slint member), all ex-pupils of Lakewood High School, Lakewood, Ohio in 1972. The three had been to see a Captain Beefheart gig and been unimpressed enough by the support band (Youngstown's Left End) to decide that they could do better themselves. Unlike other rock groups of the era, Morton had also been influenced by free jazz: "I remember listening to Ornette Coleman, John Cale, Sun Ra and Albert Ayler. That's what the eels was supposed to be, but we didn't really understand it". This had also led to early meetings with Peter Laughner of Rocket from the Tombs at the local record store.

The electric eels featured unconventional instrumentation initially, with no drummer nor anyone who was technically competent on any musical instruments. Their rare performances did feature at various times, sheet metal hit with sledgehammers, anvils, a power lawnmower and fist fights. This led to the description of their act as "art terrorism". Much of 1973 and 1974 was spent, mostly unsuccessfully, trying to get gigs in bars that normally booked Top 40 covers bands in Cleveland and then Columbus, where the band moved for some months. Morton has claimed that this move was caused by death threats he had received in Cleveland for sleeping with "one too many married women". When gigs did happen, promoters were known to pull them half way through. On their debut show the band were arrested by police for being drunk and disorderly. Morton resisted arrest and gained a broken hand, which caused him to play their next gig, three weeks later with an improvised splint made from a slide rule and a wrench.