INTERVIEW: Everclear’s Art Alexakis heads to Summerland again, prepares solo record
Photo: Everclear, currently on the Summerland tour, features Art Alexakis, lead vocalist and guitarist. Photo courtesy of the band.
Everclear, featuring founder Art Alexakis on lead vocals and guiar, is one of the most recognizable and influential bands from the 1990s. The rock ‘n’ roll outfit has been tearing up stages and blasting radios for more than two decades, and Alexakis continues to change it up, tackle new projects and bring the band into the 21st century.
Everclear are currently on their annual Summerland tour, a summertime celebration of 1990s alternative rock. This year’s lineup is similar to the original Summerland tour a few years ago. In addition to Everclear, the multi-city music fest features Sugar Ray, Lit and Sponge. Upcoming dates include stops in Michigan, Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, Wyoming and Montana, among other states.
“Summerland 2016 is going great,” Alexakis said recently in a phone interview. “We’re about seven shows in, and the last couple of shows have just been great. You know, it’s like a machine. It’s always like that on tours. The first few shows, technical stuff goes weird, crews learning to work together, and it takes about four or five, six shows to work.”
Alexakis knows a concert is going well when he has a long line of fans seeking a photo and autograph after a gig. The meet-up gives him a chance to see an immediate reaction to the setlist and performance, and so far Summerland has produced plenty of crowds looking to hear these rock bands.
This particular summer, Alexakis sees Summerland as a respite from the difficult-to-comprehend headlines and political conventions. “It’s a weird summer, you know,” he said. “It’s a weird summer going on, with politics and conventions. The Republican convention just wrapped up, and that was surreal and weird. And the Democrats will come next week, and we’ll see what happens there. I think it affects everything. I think everything ties into it. I think what we are offering to people is a chance to just put that away for a couple of hours. Just come out. Hear some songs that you know, and that’s rock ‘n’ roll. That’s what it is. I think it’s political therapy is what it is because there’s no politics involved in it whatsoever.”
Everclear and the other bands found themselves in the middle of the national headlines a couple weeks ago. They recently played Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the location of much unrest in the national dialogue on policing and the African-American community.
“And they had called my management team and asked if we wanted to cancel,” Alexakis said. “They didn’t want us to cancel, but we were doing a benefit … to help raise money for our war veterans. And I’m like, ‘No, I don’t want to cancel.’ … We’re not doing anything controversial. We’re just making people happy.”
Nostalgia, in Alexakis’ mind, is healthy and good, and that’s what Summerland provides to fans. “People are singing songs that they remember from when they were younger, but there’s also a lot of young people,” he said. “I think 25 percent of these people that are coming to the shows are younger than 25, you know, under 25. That’s bizarre because they were just babies when all these bands were on the radio. These kids were babies. I talk to them after the shows. They just love rock ‘n’ roll, and they’re not getting that from contemporary music. They’re not getting that feeling.”
Everclear — known for several songs, including “Santa Monica,” “Father of Mine,” “Wonderful” and “A.M. Radio,” among others — keeps Alexakis busy, but he’s also interested in other projects. Recent months found the singer-guitarist heading out solo on the road, playing intimate venues and offering songs and the stories behind those songs.
He’s also actively writing new material. Everclear’s latest album is Black is the New Black, which was released last year. “I write when I have something to write about,” he said. “I could never be that Nashville kind of writer. I think those guys are great, but to go and sit down and just write as work, it’s kind of alien to me. I write when I feel l have to write. I won’t feel it, but then it will come on.”
Some of the most exciting news to come from Alexakis is that he’s working on his first solo recording. He’s currently writing the songs for the record, which will be just him and a guitar. “It’s going to be an homage to one of my favorite records of all time, Nebraska by Bruce Springsteen,” he said. “Not that it’s going to sound like Nebraska, just the fact that he took these songs and instead of giving them to his band, he just put them out raw and rough on the four track and did them. I don’t know that I’m going to do it on four track or not. I don’t have much of an agenda. I just want to record songs.”
Besides the solo work and the continued Summerland tour, Everclear have also scheduled a few one-off concerts. These longer gigs allow the band to dip into their extensive back catalog for the setlist. Besides the classics, which alone could fill a concert, Alexakis enjoys layering in fan favorites and obscure tunes.
“The whole idea behind Summerland is smaller sets,” he said. “Play the hits. There’s time for a couple fan favorites. … If I get a tweet from a couple of people that’s like, ‘Man, I’m coming to the show tomorrow night, and I really want to hear ‘Amphetamine,” or some not-hit like fan favorite or obscure song, and I get a couple of people asking for that, we’ll fill it in the set if we can.”
At this point in his career, Alexakis is not trying to sell records, and there’s a certain level of freedom that comes with that acknowledgement. “I don’t feel like I have to showcase a certain record,” he said. “If I do my own show, Everclear, full hour-and-15-minute show, I’m going to go deep on it a little bit. I’m going to play songs that aren’t necessarily radio songs because we could do a whole eight-song, nine-song show, 40-50 minute show of just singles. I could do that. That’s not really fun for me and not really fun for the hardcore fans.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Everclear continues with the Summerland tour in the coming weeks. Click here for more information.
