Electric Eels

The Electric Eels were formed by John Morton (guitar), Dave "E" McManus (vocals, clarinet), and Brian McMahon (guitar), all ex-pupils of Lakewood High School, Cleveland, in 1972. The three had been to see a Captain Beefheart gig and been unimpressed enough by the support band to decide that they could do better themselves. Morton was also 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. Nevertheless they were heavily influenced by bands like Sweet, T. Rex, Slade, and Roxy Music, as well as Ziggy Stardust era David Bowie, and the New York Dolls. 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.

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