The wealth and variety of these tales is owed in part to a rather colourful background. It doesn’t take much of a stretch to see how a life spent around the world, studying jazz in a conservatorium and weathering a stint in the army, led to his ability to take on so many personas. Putting his word-smithing to the test, the choice in verbiage fluctuates wildly from story to story. Eyal pipes up, “I’m always refining, asking questions like, ‘Does the message come across? Is it clear what I’m talking about here or is it just nonsense? If I ever rhyme ‘magic’ with ‘tragic’ I hope someone shoots me, you know what I mean?” The strokes of his musical brush are meticulous and captivating, painting a picture with sound that is constantly evolving.
From salvation to heartbreak, the lyrical content is more often than not heartfelt and true. “To be honest, I don’t really write about the big big things. I mean, sometimes I do… but if a song’s going to work, it takes an emotional connection,” Eyal reveals. “One of my favourite songs on our roster is Fairy Tale, and it’s an old one that brought the Skeleton Crew together. The story is that I was going through this sort of long-distance thing with this girl. It was kind of working, but it also wasn’t – and I was feeling really shit about it. Here I was trying to write this love song about heartbreak and longing, and I kept feeling really sick. At one point it really clicked: this isn’t just heartbreak, I was actually physically ill. Turns out I developed something called Crohn’s disease… not really sexy stuff. But I still reckon it’s pretty funny, and works as a metaphor for love if you think about it.”
Granted, his real strength lies in the atmosphere the music creates – a feat manageable only with the aid of his trusty Skeleton Crew. “These guys are amazing; they’re all hand-picked,” quotes the ringleader. Adding up to a sartorially-savvy sextuplet, the musical repertory tallies an assortment of strings, clarinets both large and small, and a colourful range of voices to support and counter Eyal’s surly growls. This dapper pack of virtuosi has more than a few tricks up its sleeve – swapping from harmonicas to castanets in a flash, riposting Eyal’s lines with sharp quips, the aptly named Skeleton Crew are the backbone to the captain’s musical flesh.
It’s these adventures on stage that have earned Eyal & The Skeleton Crew a prestigious residency at Melbourne’s iconic Bennett’s Lane Jazz Club. Performing tunes from their new EP Of Beggars And Choosers as well as some trusty old gems, the maestro and his troubadours have a gift when it comes to putting on a tantalisingly raucous show. Complete with curiously comical on-stage banter and entertaining bouts of audience engagement, watching the show is like sitting ring-side at a vaudevillian circus.
Wildly captivating and shamelessly capricious, you never know what’s about to happen next. ‘Accidental’ mistakes with the tuning leads to off-beat, chordally inventive songs, and the band has been known to throw out a Balkanised cover or two with every set. “Most of the show’s original, with a couple of covers,” says Eyal. “We started off playing stuff that we liked: Leonard Cohen, Tom Waits, Fiona Apple – and the crowd was really accepting. But then we thought, ‘What if we cover stuff that we like, but isn’t exactly in the wheelhouse of our audience?’ So we went on stage and tried out Chim Chim Cheree. You know, Mary Poppins but with a Balkan swing. Funnily enough, the crowd loved it, and since then we’ve been finding new ways to push the envelope.”
With their musical creativity combined, every tune is fair game. Few other bands can claim dixieland Disney and gypsy-fied Gaga to be a part of their repertoire, completely revitalising the songs you thought you once knew. One thing is for certain: this is a band to be seen in person. Whether it’s a display of whirlwind fingering (on the strings, of course) or their charmingly goofy on-stage repartee, the live experience never veers towards boring or predictable. To borrow the words from their single: Eyal & The Skeleton Crew are just itching to Treat You Right.
BY JOSHUA LING
