A Word with Jose Fritz

This week, Jose Fritz returns with a look at Steinbeck lovers Beasts Of Eden.

It’s rare that such a slickly produced record interests me so. But between their Brit-pop posturing and their Coldplay like melody my inner anglophile needs to be edified. I’ll proceed without further homonym.

The band was named after Steinbeck's book East of Eden, as a play on words. Apparently Oprah had recommended they read it. East of Eden was written as a requiem for Steinbeck he referred to is as his greatest work. Its biblical themes so complex, and subtle that the average English. major can’t see the plot thru the mud. He even struggled with the title. After transcribing the 16 verses of Cain and Abel in the bible itself that the answer came to him. He took the last three words of the final verse, "East of Eden", as the novel's title.

That verse is as follows: “Then Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and dwelt in the land of Nod on the east of Eden.” This passage is generally recognized as a mistranslation; "nod" is the Hebrew root of the verb “nuwd” meaning "to wander."

Did the band know all of this? Perhaps, or perhaps not. But if they do it would explain why they’ve been touring non-stop since the record came out.

Stream: End Times [Here] /// [Buy Here]