The electric eels (written with lower case e's in honor of E. E. Cummings) were an American protopunk band active between 1972 and 1975, formed by John D Morton in Cleveland, Ohio.
The electric eels played only five public shows, but during their brief existence they earned a reputation locally for being angry, confrontational and violent. They were notorious for starting fights with audiences which drew police attention; members were also abusive to each other off-stage. Their style was a discordant, noisy amalgam of hard garage rock and free jazz. Stiv Bators, the singer of The Dead Boys was particularly influenced by the vocal styling and stage presence of Dave "E" McManus. While the eels didn't play many shows, they rehearsed often, eventually making many recordings which were released many years after their demise.