About Everclear

Everclear is an American rock band formed in Portland, Oregon, in 1991. The band was formed by Art Alexakis, the band's lead songwriter, vocalist, and guitarist, and for most of the band's height of popularity, consisted of Craig Montoya on bass guitar and Greg Eklund on drums. After the limited release of their independently released debut album, World of Noise, the band found success with their first three albums on Capitol Records: Sparkle and Fade, So Much for the Afterglow, and Songs from an American Movie Vol. One: Learning How to Smile, which were all certified platinum in sales. However, the following two albums Songs from an American Movie Vol. Two: Good Time for a Bad Attitude and Slow Motion Daydream, were not as well received, and as sales suffered, Montoya and Eklund left the band shortly after in 2003.

After a brief stint of solo performances, Alexakis decided to push forward with the Everclear name, finding new musicians with which to perform and releasing two more albums, Welcome to the Drama Club and Invisible Stars. In 2012, Alexakis started a 1990s nostalgia tour, named the Summerland Tour, which occurs every summer with Everclear and other 1990s alternative rock bands. In April 2015, the band released a ninth studio album, entitled Black is the New Black. A live album, Live At The Whisky A Go Go, was released on September 8, 2023 via Sunset Blvd Records.

Art Alexakis suffered through a troubled youth, beginning with his father walking out when Alexakis was a child. Financial hardships pushed his family into the slums of Los Angeles, where Alexakis became a heavy drug user. During his teenage years, Alexakis was shuttled around the country between various family members , but the drug addiction persisted. Eventually Alexakis suffered a near-fatal cocaine overdose, which finally pushed him to clean up. In the late 1980s, Alexakis played in a short-lived rock band in Los Angeles called Shakin' Brave, where he began to hone his songwriting skills. Frustrated by the inattention of the L.A. music scene, Art relocated to San Francisco where he fell into the then-burgeoning cowpunk scene.

Alexakis founded Shindig Records, a label that represented San Francisco's cowpunk scene. He began recording material of his own for a solo album, but it ended up evolving into a group project called Colorfinger. Alexakis wrote under the pseudonym "A.D. Nation" while writing/recording with Colorfinger. While involved with Colorfinger, he wrote several songs that would later find success as Everclear songs, including "The Twistinside", "Heartspark Dollarsign", and "Why I Don't Believe in God".

In a single month in 1992, Shindig failed , Colorfinger broke up, and Alexakis learned that his girlfriend was pregnant. Seeking a change of location, Alexakis and his girlfriend moved to her hometown, Portland, Oregon. There, he placed an ad in local music weekly The Rocket, which earned two responses: bass player Craig Montoya and drummer Scott Cuthbert. The name Everclear was chosen as a reference to the infamous grain alcohol. In an interview with The Discovering Alcoholic, Alexakis called it "pure, white evil" for its deceptive nature. The new band began recording in a friend's basement, essentially bartering for recording time with musical gear and whatever limited funds they could scrounge up. The sessions culminated in two releases: the Nervous & Weird EP and the band's first full-length release World of Noise, both released by Portland's Tim/Kerr Records in 1993. Frustrated by Tim/Kerr's limited resources, Alexakis hired independent promoters to help push the album.

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