Everclear clarifies style with ‘Sparkle’

Tuesday, October 7, 1997

Everclear clarifies style with ‘Sparkle’

MUSIC: Band experiments with alt-pop, moving away from ‘grunge’
stereotype

By Mike Prevatt

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

It seems that most of the alternative-rock bands who were
labeled in the "grunge" category have changed their sound somewhat
since the declaration of the music genre’s "death" in 1995.
Everclear is no exception.

In 1995, Everclear, led by singer/songwriter/guitarist Art
Alexakis, released "Sparkle and Fade," which had bits of the
Northwest’s hard-edged sound (along with punk and ’70s-rock
influences) that was popularized in 1992. In 1996, Everclear found
success with the No. 1 alt-radio hit "Santa Monica," which led
"Sparkle and Fade" to make the platinum mark.

However, with the release of "So Much For the Afterglow" today,
Everclear makes small efforts to morph its grunge-pop sound into
power-pop melodies and will take its more experimentally upbeat
sound on the road.

The tour started Sunday at the Universal Citywalk for a skating
event, but the band gave an informal "dress rehearsal" at the Viper
Room on Friday, disguising itself as "The Ever Kleers." There, the
band previewed the new, more direct material that departs from the
old alternative formula.

"Well, I wanted to make a pop record," Alexakis says. "F–
alternative – we’re a rock ‘n’ roll band."

Alexakis, who also produced the new album, founded Everclear
with bassist Craig Montoya in 1991. After releasing their first
album, "World of Noise" on Capitol, drummer Greg Elkund joined
Alexakis and Montoya. Since then, Everclear has won over critics
and audiences alike with its aggressive pop styles and
angst-driven, yet pitiless, songs.

"Sparkle and Fade" impressed many in 1995, but that album’s
acclaimed sound has not stopped the band from going even
further.

"My songs are getting better," Alexakis says. "And I think my
singing is getting better. (Montoya and Elkund) have gotten better
as singers – they sing a lot more on this record. There’s a lot of
different textures. We’re just trying to make it interesting. We
didn’t want to make the same record over. There’s still some pretty
rockin’ s– on there, but there’s more to it."

The new album, mixed by Andy Wallace, involved different
instrumentation and technology.

"The production was just full," Alexakis says. "And that didn’t
just call for a three-piece band playing as loud as it can play.
With that in mind, we’re taking another guitar player on the road.
We’ll play some keyboards and do some of the string parts … and
it’s gonna be a lot of fun."

The first two weeks of the tour will include in-store
appearances across the United States. Then the band will go to
Canada for a week before beginning a club tour here in the States,
which will include a show at El Rey Theater when the band comes to
Los Angeles. Alexakis appreciates the intimacy of such clubs as El
Rey.

"I hate being far away from people," Alexakis says. "I hate the
sound in (bigger venues). I hate the seats up front. I don’t want
to play any place that doesn’t have (general admission) up
front."

Everclear keeps the fan-friendly vibes intact and never
distances itself from its devoted audience.

"It’s a rock show," says Alexakis. "We have a lot of fun, we
smile a lot, and we don’t take it very seriously. I do take my
music seriously, though.

"Our shows are not just a bunch of teenagers. Kids up front are
twenty-something, trying to act too cool, and then the 30- and
40-year-old dads and moms, and older rock fans, are in back. It’s
kinda cool. Of course, the kids are most exuberant."

The question is, how exuberant will the kids be when they’ve
heard the newer material? So far, KROQ-FM and Y-107 FM have been
playing the new single "Everything to Everyone" heavily, and the
song has charted in the top 20 on Billboard’s Modern Rock
standings.

"Everyone (at KROQ) loves the new single," Alexakis proudly
proclaims, "except (KROQ programming guru Kevin Weatherly). He
likes it OK, but he knows he has to play the record. To be honest,
they helped us in this market because they did come onto ‘Santa
Monica,’ but they did come onto it really late. It was already a
national top-three. I have to be political, because I want them to
play my record. But it shows that you don’t really need KROQ to
break it nationally.

"I think our record is different-sounding, and has more of a
groove with the loops and samples – that it’s contemporary enough
to be played on the radio. If it ever proves me wrong, I’ll stop
working in the music business, but a good song is a good song. If
it’s produced well, people will react to it."

Alexakis looks at sales reports and looks to create his own
niche in the music business, even looking to sign bands himself. He
knows Everclear’s chart successes, too, which goes against the
usual indie notion that focusing on sales and non-music related
aspects of pop is uncool.

"I’m on a major label," Alexakis says. "If you’re on an indie
label, who gives a s–? Chances are, you’re not getting played on
the big stations. If you’re gonna be on a major label, then you
need to sell enough records that you can play back the money you
spent to make it. It doesn’t mean you have to be famous.

"You have to assume to play the game. The artistic integrity
comes not from not doing those things. That’s stupid. The artistic
integrity comes from making the record you want, regardless of what
it is."

Everclear has been labeled a "grunge" band since its
incarnation, which Alexakis remains indifferent about. "I don’t
think we really sound like a grunge group. Those people really
haven’t listened to the records. They hear ‘Heroin Girl’ and go,
‘Oh, they’re a punk band. Oh, the lead singer has blond hair,
they’re from the Northwest, they must sound like Nirvana – they are
Nirvana!’ I don’t give a s–. That’s like looking at some old
English lady and calling her the queen."

"Heroin Girl" is just one of Alexakis’s many songs that reflect
his own life in an extremely personal, yet not unfamiliar manner.
Alexakis writes from the heart, singing about drugs, interracial
relationships and having a rough childhood. On the other hand, some
songs sound personal, yet it’s just Alexakis’s canny storytelling
skills that makes it sound that way, and it’s just another way the
fans connect with the singer.

"They’re hard to write," Alexakis says. "The other day I was
listening to the (new) record for the first time … and I was
like, wow, this is really good. I got to "Father of Mine" and
listened to it, and started bawling. It really wasn’t about my
past, really. I was just listening to it objectively, and it’s a
really heavy song. And I think that’s good.

"There’s no lies. The song is talking about a kid, and there’s a
lot of people – you know, older, younger – who don’t have a very
good relationship with their father. I had least had the fantasy
that my dad really cared about me. I’d get like five dollars for my
birthday, s– like that, but he wouldn’t pay child support. Men can
be f–ing dogs. I’m a father now, and after I became a father, I
really saw what it was like.

"But I wouldn’t put it on the record if it didn’t fit into the
theme of this record. I don’t like concept records as a rule, but I
like records that have a thread to them," Alexakis says.

It is these threads and themes that brings fans closer to the
band. The connection between the band and the fans mirrors that of
such fan-friendly bands as Toad the Wet Sprocket, Phish and even
Pearl Jam, and Alexakis knows it. In return, Everclear occasionally
plays requests on stage and sign autographs after the show.

"It’s part of the job," Alexakis admits. "It’s important to say
‘hi,’ shake hands and say ‘how ya doing?’ We always come out (after
the shows). There’s a lot of bigger bands, who will remain
nameless, that we’ve toured with and they never do it, ever. Or, if
they do, they’ll pick a couple of girls out of the crowd.

"The only time it sucks is when you gotta take a piss, and
people are just mobbing you!" bassist Montoya says.

The band gets all sorts of gifts and objects to sign, which have
included various body parts and even kangaroo scrotums.

"They have these little patches," Montoya says, "like a sack
that they hold their little hippie beads in and stuff. In Salt Lake
City, it’s a big thing."

"As a songwriter, I get a lot of (poems and songs)," Alexakis
says. "Most of them are pretty bad. But they’re young kids. The
funniest one, this kid sent me a song, 10 years old, about his
girlfriend, had her picture and said, ‘I’d like you to name your
new album after her, put her picture on the cover, and I’d like you
guys to record the song for the album.’"

"Actually, it wasn’t his girlfriend," drummer Elkund chimes in.
"He was going to ask her out. He thought if we put the song on the
album, it would help him out. But it was a terrible song!"

Capitol Records

Craig Montoya (left), Greg Eklund and Art Alexakis from the band
Everclear.