End Times and After: The Definitive Story of Eels

Exploring the story of Mark Oliver Everett, alternative rock history, and how vulnerability shaped four decades of resilience in music culture

De: Evan C. Bucklin

Narrado por: Virtual Voice

Mark Oliver Everett—better known as “E”—never set out to be a rock star. From his quiet childhood in Virginia, shadowed by the brilliance and silence of his father, physicist Hugh Everett III, to his improbable ascent in Los Angeles during the 1980s, his story is one of survival as much as it is about music. When Eels burst onto the scene in 1996 with Beautiful Freak and the hit “Novocaine for the Soul,” they seemed like another quirky addition to the alternative boom. But what followed defied expectation.

End Times and After traces Everett’s entire journey, from his early solo albums and the formation of Eels to the devastating losses of his father, sister, and mother that shaped the unflinching Electro-Shock Blues (1998). The book shows how grief became not just subject matter but the very fuel for a body of work that spans three decades. It covers the restless experimentation of albums like Daisies of the Galaxy (2000), Souljacker (2001), and Blinking Lights and Other Revelations (2005), as well as the relentless cycles of touring that forged a fiercely loyal global fanbase.

Everett’s story is as much about endurance as it is about art. Albums such as End Times (2010), The Deconstruction (2018), and Earth to Dora (2020) demonstrate a career that refuses stasis, constantly reinventing itself while returning to themes of loss, irony, and fragile hope. Alongside the music, the book examines his memoir Things the Grandchildren Should Know (2008), the BBC documentary Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives (2007), and Eels’ indelible presence in film and television soundtracks—from Shrek to American Beauty.

Through thirty deeply researched chapters, the narrative explores the delicate balance between sardonic humor and devastating honesty, between irony and intimacy. It situates Everett within the wider history of alternative rock, while foregrounding what makes him unique: his ability to transform vulnerability into longevity.

This biography is not a tale of stardom but of survival. It reveals how Eels turned private grief into public connection, how their live shows became rituals of endurance, and how Everett’s candor paved the way for a new generation of confessional songwriters. For fans of alternative music, cultural history, and stories of resilience, End Times and After offers a rare portrait of an artist who never stopped confronting silence with sound.