(Editor's Note: Although Eli has since broken up, they performed at the inaugural athensmusic.net 'launch party' in September 2000 - although we didn't officially launch until the following May. Note the response to the Napster question, which indicates that it had not yet become mainstream.)

Q: How the hell did you find yourself in Athens?
This is where Tigger's and my TARDIS fetched up just before the controls went dead and the thing became completely inoperable.

Q: What are some of the other bands that you (or other band members) have played in?
Five-Eight (Tigger), the Go Figures (David, that's me by the way), Andy and Matt have been in too many bands to count. One of them was the Good Cows.

Q: What was the first song that you learned to play?
A very bad song by a very bad German band. ('Da Da Da' by Trio, which actually resurfaced recently in a Volkswagon ad.)

Q: What was the first original song that you were really proud of?
"Tears for You", a song I wrote after a family friend died of AIDS in 1985. I was 15 and singing in a band called Boi. We made 4-track copies of our songs and sold them to our friends and classmates and saved up to record everything in a 16-track studio in Atlanta. (I was living in Columbus, GA) I still pull that out and listen to it sometimes. Not bad for a bunch of high schoolers.

Q: Why do you think Athens is still such a band town?
Because housing, food, jobs, alcohol, sex and drugs are all cheap and plentiful, which is all a good musician really needs. Or any musician for that matter.

Q:Who do you think is an amazing Athens band at the moment?
Space Shot. But that's just me. Tigger and I enjoy digital music. Matt despises it. Andy goes back and forth on the issue. I like Space Shot because no one else is doing what they are in Athens. They're bold and groundbreaking and original. And you can daaaaance to it.

Q: Who do you think is an amazing Athens band of the past that should reunite even if just for one show?
Fall of the first year I came to town Michael Stipe and the Indigo Girls played together at the Athens Music Festival, a one-time only event out at the fairgrounds. I wasn't there, but I have a bootleg tape of their set. All three of them are so on their game. Their voices sound absolutley gorgeous and they did a Leonard Cohen song ("First We Take Manhattan") and it gives me goosebumps thinking about it. I'd like to actually see them do that. But I'd like to be 20 again to get the full effect, you know?

Q: Tell me a little about the band name. Where there other names that didn't make the cut? You can tell us.
Eli is our friend Sarah Jane's wonderful dog who you have to meet to really understand why he's one of the geatest dogs ever. He leaps like a deer, he wiggles on his belly like a reptile, he gives big sloppy kisses. He is precisely the sort of dog our band would be if it were an animal, see? It was an obvious choice really. Some names that didn't make the cut are Fluffy, Sparky and Oochums.

Q: What's going on with the band at the moment (writin', recordin', drinkin' . . .)?
We're just about ready to record a new record, just as soon as we can afford to book some studio time. As a band, we seem to think in albums. About once a year we realize we have ten, twelve songs we love that we haven't recorded, and it's just about that time. Tigger's just come on board and he's opening up a whole new set of rooms to us, rhythmically, which is super exciting.

Q: Tell us a really bad show experience (whether here or elsewhere).
I try not to remember the bad shows. Most Eli shows are like sex or eating ice cream. Even when it ain't fabulous, we still get off.

Q: Did you go to any of the summer things in Athens - AthFest, Expo2000, Music Awards, etc.? If so, give us your feedback.
Uh, no, actually. I was working early mornings all summer, so most nights I was turned in and fast asleep before most of those bands had even tuned their guitars.

Q: What's one thing that the Athens music scene needs or is missing?
More good Japanese food.

Q: What are some of the jobs you've done in town? Besides being a rock and/or roll demigod.
Cook, dishwasher, typist, a million billion utterly degrading and humiliating temp jobs (ie, I-answer-this-phone-and-answer-your-questions-because-I-have-nowhere-to-hide-and-nothing-to-live-for), espresso jerk, batch inspector at a rubber plant (THAT lasted less than a week.), and my current position (and favorite of them all), student. Matt works for Public Radio. Tigger does Internet banking stuff. Andy is a carpenter. Just like Jesus. And a million other townie guys with strong backs. Be nice to him. He may build the next chair you sit on.

Q: Napster - good? Bad? Who the hell cares?
I really love a good nap, yeah. Some people can't do it 'cos it ruins them for the rest of the day, but I don't have any problem. Right around 5:30, 6:00, clear out, lock the door, take the phone off the hook and sleep, sleep until 8:30 or so. Cuppa coffee and then it's time for dinner. Perfect.

Q: What is your goal as a musician? What do you hope the band will accomplish?Right now the goal is just to keep writing, playing, putting out little records. The big record companies are just Satanic. What other business in the world steals your product from you, charges you for the production of it, and then only cuts you twelve percent of the net gains? If you can find a way to make it work for you, then I say bully, but in the meantime, we have songs to write and play.

Q: Who would you like to play with - either as a band (opening for, etc.) or joining with (in their band, they hop up with you, etc.)?
Oh, god, ummmm...I'd like Lou Reed to write a really really sad song for my voice. I'd like to sing with Bjork, Tori Amos, and Toni Braxton (NOT all at once!), but T. Braxton'd have to let me pick or write the song. Gladys Knight. Dave Marr and Greg Reece locally. Country songs are fun to harmonize on. Tigger, I think would most like to be in some African Juluka pop band and Andy would join the Beatles. Matt would sit behind Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois in the control room in the studio and question all their decisions.

Q: Which one: PBR? Hard drink? Don't drink?
Nobody in Eli drinks, believe it or not. All of us drink coffee, but only three fourths of the band smoke cigarettes. Half of us are pot heads and one member can often be caught swilling non-alcoholic beer because he honestly likes the taste. (That isn't me.)

Q: Do you prefer live gigs or the recording setting better?
Honestly? I love them both, but they're totally different. It's like asking which you like better, taking a bath or eating spaghetti? I hate when things bog down in the studio. The energy's got to stay up or it's worse than being at the dentist's. It can stretch out for hours and hours and hours, too, whereas if a show goes bad, it's generally over in less than an hour. Does that answer the question?

Q: Will you admit to liking R.E.M. in public?
I don't actually like anything after they signed to Warner's. Everything that was unusual and magical and brilliant and wonderful about them just evaporated with M. Stipe's decision to become a BIG STAR, shave his head and start mentioning his penis in every interview.

Q: Give us a pithy quote to share with the kids.
Never accept spiritual advice from someone who tries to charge you for it.

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