How Eve 6’s Twitter account became its own strange form of art

He was referring to his band’s catchy, tongue-twisting 1998 hit and its enduring chorus:

Want to put my tender heart in a blender

Watch it spin 'round to a beautiful oblivion

Rendezvous then I’m through with you

The tweet racked up more than 30,000 likes, prompting Collins to post “look I did a big tweet.” Just like that, seemingly to everyone’s delight, Eve 6 was back in the public consciousness — in the form of one of the more surreal Twitter accounts out there. The general reaction to the account can best be summed up by Inverse writer David Grossman, who tweeted, “Eve 6 twitter account redeeming 2020 inch by inch.”

Twitter and aging rock bands have long been strange bedfellows, from Smash Mouth’s endless battle with the “Shrek” movie franchise to Trapt defending statutory rape, for which it was suspended from the platform.

None, though, have used it quite like Collins. His handle is a chaotic landscape, filled with self-deprecation (“we’re the youngest band on the heritage circuit”), (faux?) rivalries (“the guy from third eye blind paying a million dollars for oppo research on eve6”) and road stories (which can’t really be printed in a family newspaper).

One of Collins’s more prominent bits is asking unlikely people, such as Vice President-elect Kamala D. Harris, Slayer, Eric Trump and Wolf Blitzer, if they “like the heart in a blender song.” Vincent D’Onofrio doesn’t love it. Marianne Williamson enthusiastically does.

So, on New Year’s Eve, The Washington Post jumped on the phone with Collins to chat about his unique Twitter presence.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Q: What did you expect when you hopped back on the platform? Did you see this coming?

A: No. I was doing some not altogether different posts from the Eve 6 account about a year back, when [bandmate] Jon [Siebels] and I started recording some new music. But nothing came of it.

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t know the virgin heart in a blender post was a pretty good post, and maybe if the right eyes got on it, it could get a couple hundred likes. I definitely didn’t think what happened would happen. I think what happened happened because it was true. … When something is both absurd and true, there’s some resonance there.

Q: I think that shines through, particularly since so many bands, brands, celebs use social media in this very curated way. Yours feels like total chaos.

A: Absolutely. I’m just walking into the mouth of the monster with it. And that’s where it actually has some entertainment and, dare I say, artistic value to me: when you divorce it from trying to literally sell a product like a lot of bands do, which is “buy our shirts” and stuff like that. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. We all need to make a living. But it’s a platform that can be employed creatively.

Q: What has been the best response to the infamous question [about the “heart in a blender song,” actually titled “Inside Out”]?

A: Getting interaction from Marianne Williamson was extremely surreal, especially for me. I’ve been a bit of a devotee on and off of “A Course in Miracles,” which is the book that she gets her spiritual, philosophical thing from. I used to go see her speak every Wednesday night here in L.A. All my friends would make fun of me. I would go alone, drop some cash in the donation basket and listen to her talk for like 90 minutes. Then her presidential run, etcetera. It’s very, very surreal.

Most of the clickbait articles that have been written, the lead is something like, “The guy from Eve 6 wants to know what you think of the ‘heart in a blender’ song,” and obviously that’s not it. I’m more just trying to create a surreal experience for myself and for other people by leaning into the absurdity of this thing and doing what I think other bands can’t allow themselves to do or haven’t thought to do.

Q: One thing I do love about those pieces is they’re existing at the same time that everyone’s writing about Dionne Warwick being great at Twitter. Do you feel in competition with her?

I haven’t actually looked at her account yet, but I’ve certainly seen a lot of people talking about her.

Q: I think you would enjoy it. It similarly feels like art. She’ll tweet for a bit and announce when she’s signing off.

A: That’s really good. I’ve been doing something similar with my God posts, where I say something like, “I’m going to drop a huge God post in five minutes.” Then five minutes later, doing a post about God that reads something like, “God is cool.”

I think part of the game is keeping it confusing. When people think it’s one thing, sort of doing a little sleight of hand. … I mean, when a movie is at its best is when it’s not serving anything up for you. And right when you think it’s something, it’s something else, and it kind of offers a waking dream experience. I’m trying to kind of do that with Twitter.

Q: You mentioned you’ve been a big Twitter user for a while. Who do you like to follow? Who does it really well?

A: [Writer and journalist] Luke O’Neil. I’ve been following him for years. His newsletter “Welcome to hell World” is punctuation-free for the most part, and I really like that aesthetic and style and attitude. I’m sure I gleaned some of that from him.

About two-and-a-half years ago or so, I was touring with another band I sometimes do called Fitness, opening up for Big Data in Boston. I’m a lap swimmer, and I always try to find a pool that’s close to the venue.

I found a YMCA, and I was swimming. Had my own lane, which you’re always really psyched about. Then this huge dude lumbers in and gets in my lane. I keep thinking, “This guy looks really familiar.” I asked if he was Luke O’Neil, and he said, “Yeah.” I told him I was a huge fan. I didn’t tell him I was in Eve 6.

We DM’d a little bit over the years, and I eventually told him I was the “heart in a blender” guy. And he told me that was the first song he ever learned on guitar. Just a very strange little sequence.

Q: What’s next for Eve 6? I know you guys recorded some new music.

A: We recorded this particular EP at the end of 2019 that’s coming out soon. It’s five songs, a roots punk thing. We decided not to trouble ourselves with anything but what we want to do and what makes us feel good. Which sounds like should be the state of mind of any band or artist going into something, but we’ve been through a machine and that’s sadly not always the case.

As the interview ended, Collins mentioned The Washington Post’s national political reporter Robert Costa.

A: Has he told you his Eve 6 story? In high school, he somehow convinced our at-the-time high-powered management and booking agent to have Eve 6 come play at his high school for no money. Any teenager who can do that … To this day, I don’t know how that was even possible. But we did.

Years went by. Then three years ago when I was on tour with that other band, he was one of like eight people in the room, and afterward he was like, “Hey Max, it’s Bob. Remember, I was the kid who took you to get those cheesesteaks when you played my high school.” And I was like, “You’re the guy from ‘Frontline.’ ”

He’s a really sweet guy and has come out to everything, from Eve 6 to the little band. He’s become a friend.

We reached out to Costa to confirm the account.

Robert Costa: It was December 2003. I picked up Max and his band in my mother’s minivan at their hotel in downtown Philadelphia and we went to get cheesesteaks. Then we drove to Pennsbury, my public high school where they played a free concert. I had invited them, and yes, I, too, was surprised their managers said, "Sure."

Then in July 2018, I went to the Black Cat to say hello and reconnect. Tiny show for Fitness. We hung out for a while and have stayed in touch ever since, meeting up at different shows and talking politics and journalism. He’s a political junkie. And a good human being.

This story has been updated.

Read more:

Just how bad was 2020? These professors found answers on Twitter.

What if life were a video game? These 650,000 people imagine it that way.

What it’s like to have your cooking skills roasted by Gordon Ramsay on TikTok