A/N: I had to play fast and loose with the years of some songs, but I needed to mention them :)
Dark and Fire
When I first met El Wheeler, I was working at our sister publication Pop Music Magazine. She was El Hopper, she was 15 and cute as a button. Her hair was buzzed and she wore no makeup. She didn't need any. She was the kind of girl next door, innocent pretty that you fell in love with almost right away. She was feisty and you had to be in a bad interview with the band to really appreciate just how feisty. [El grimaces when I say this]
When 11 moved out of the pop music world in to more classic/progressive rock, I asked my editor if I could follow 11's career with this magazine and it was agreed.
The next time I interviewed the band, she sported a pixie cut, and was now El Wheeler. She was still the girl next door, but with a touch of makeup and becoming a young woman. It's no wonder she captured the heart of Mike Wheeler. She was one of the most pleasant people in the music business I've ever talked to. [El blushes] Really, the whole band is. How they've stayed untarnished in this cut-throat industry is a testament to how they were brought up, educated, and how they treat each other.
Today, on the inaugural first episode of Rock Music TV, 11 said they would be here, and here they are.
For those of you reading the transcription of this show which will appear in the next issue of RMR, let me tell you… and I mean this in the most complimentary way I can.
25 year old El Wheeler walked on to the set, smokin' hot. She was wearing leathers. She had her scar, she had half of her head in the original 11 buzz cut the other was long jet black hair, very punk rockish. And the long hair is on the opposite side of the scar. She'd not hiding it folks. She had garish makeup on the long side. Not like KISS or Alice Cooper, but heavy eyeliner and mascara, black lipstick, just on that side. She wears a black chrome studded choker.
Her voice is now husky which completes the look. We will get to that in a bit.
RMTV: Ok, you've already heard that you've once again re-invented yourself.
EW: [rolls her eyes] We like to think of it as moving in a different direction, maybe not permanently but it's hardly re-inventing.
RMTV: What does Mike think of the new look?
MW: I think El is pretty. End of. [He puts a fist over his heart] What I love is here. [El gives Mike a sweet smile.]
RMTV: You cover the scar on our neck?
EW: Yes. [and that's all she says about that, folks, her look let's me know that further questions will not be tolerated. This is not an ask Pixie anything interview.]
RMTV: Ok on the album. [ I hold up the cover, the front is of the long hair makeup side. Dark is written on the front like it was done in black crayon , the back cover is the buzzed hair, scarred side. Fire is written on the back in red crayon.] Fans are calling it DarkFire, but the title is really Dark and Fire?
DH: Easy enough to get wrong.
RMTV: This is also one of the first albums to be released on the new format of Compact Disc, along with the vinyl.
MW: Compact Disks are going to be the future for awhile, something will come along later as technology progresses, but we wanted to take advantage. None of us think it sounds as good as vinyl, but there's no stopping progress. We will continue to release albums in both formats… and any other as they become popular.
RMTV: Ok, let's get to the music itself. The first side is heavy metal. El, it's amazing that your- can I say new?- voice is perfectly suited to this side of the album, and the songs are indeed dark, we'll talk about in a minute. But on the second side… ah ok, boy do I feel like an idiot now. The second side is Fire, and with your smoky voice you are doing some torch songs. It's a nice contrast to the first side. Your voice is very versatile.
EW: [smiles at me] Thank you. Yes that's what we were going for. That was Max's idea. She's now taking over the pop vocals when we are on tour. She gets to showcase her vocal talent and I'm thrilled about that. I'll do the new songs as we see fit. It's a band decision, you will also see that the song credits all say '11'.
RMTV: The first song, Righteous Torture…
EW: Easy one, that's about torturing the guy who attacked me. [she said this with a deadly smile]
RMTV: So the second song, Ball Peen Hammer, which for those who haven't heard it is one of the chunkiest bass riffs I've heard. Sounds like a cross between Geezer Butler and Steve Harris. The bass line is reminiscent of Geezer's Man in the Suitcase. You literally attack the double-neck bass you play.
EW: Two of my favourite bassists. That song is about beating the guy who attacked me to death with a ball peen hammer. MTV is never going show that video, but I hear one of the horror movie directors wants to use it as a video in the background of one of his movies. [she gives me a sweet smile]
RMTV: Ok, the the third and last one on the Dark side is Kicked in the Head (74)
EW: Ah this one is different. It's about kicking the guy who attacked me in the head with a pair of steel toed army boots. 74 times. I think that would pulp his head, but I'm not sure. [El's husky voice is sarcastic. Nobody blames her at all.]
RMTV: For the second side, I noticed that you avoided any Bonnie Tyler or Rod Stewart songs?
EW: We thought that would have been too obvious. We wanted to songs that we thought would compliment my vocal sound as it is now. So three covers, and the rest are original.
RMTV: The first cover is Love and Rockets So Alive. You're voice is so perfect for that song.
EW: [El blushes, she is obviously not used to compliments on her voice as it sounds now]
RMTV: The second cover is Alice in Chain's Don't Follow. I can't figure it out but I want to cry after hearing that song.
EW: Then I have done my job. [when El Wheeler hits you with that smile…]
RMTV: And the third cover you do is Bert Sommer's Jennifer. He actually performed that at Woodstock. Your version is true to his, it's a nice tribute.
EW: The rest of the band wanted me to rename it Eleven and make it more personal, but I thought that might be a little self-important.
RMTV: The band has offered to play a song off each side, on this first episode What are you guys going to perform for us tonight?
EW: We'll do a watered down, shorter down version of Ball Peen Hammer, and Don't Follow.
[studio audience claps as 11 take up their positions on the makeshift stage.]
- RMR [transcript of first RMTV episode]
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Out of her leathers, stage makeup, and into her pajamas with the right side hair pulled into a pony tail, El sat crossed legged on the hotel bed looking at Mike.
"You don't like this look do you Mike?"
"I know why you are doing it El, but it's not you. I meant what I said in the interview." Mike put his hand over her heart.
"I'm still your Pixie?" She looked at him with tiniest of smiles, waiting for Mike's approval.
"You are always going to be my Pixie. Your dedication to your music, even after everything that's happened to you, is awe inspiring. You are the strongest person I know. I consider myself very lucky just to know you."
He looked down, "and knowing that you love me." He shook his head, finding it difficult to look at her without falling apart.
"Mike, it's your love that enables me to sing the way I do… and to continue to sing. Without you… there is no music for me."
El looked back and forth at his eyes. "Just say the word Mike, and I drop it all for you. All of it. I mean it."
"I would never do that to you Pixie… but I think maybe you should call it quits when you're seventy or something." he smiled at her.
"If I can't sing anymore the way I want to… I promise."
The phone rang. El picked it up, at first her eyes lit up in a smile, and then she looked devastated, "ok we'll talk tomorrow." She hung up.
"Oh no…"