Previously laying low after a 14 year absence, Everclear last made an appearance down under celebrating their 20th anniversary tour in a string of hugely successful shows and return for the first time in three years to pump out their unique brand of singalong rock. We managed to get some time with frontman Art Alexakis to discuss the tour, previous experiences in Australia and the success of the band over the years.
Andrew: Thanks for your time, really appreciated. So hows things with you and the band and how has your year been so far?
Art: We’re doing really well! This has been a big year for Everclear, we did about 40 shows here and there but I did a couple of solo tours and I put out a solo record. So we’re looking forward to 2020 been a big Everclear year, we got probably 4 or 5 tours going on and we’re excited about that for sure.
Andrew: And obviously great to see you coming down to Australia again, it’s always nice to see you down in our country again. Doing some headlining shows and some Hotter Than Hell festival shows so it looks like it’s going to be quite a big tour as well, looks like you’re going to be here for quite a while.
Art: Yeah it’s almost a month right? I mean I guess we get there in the last few days of January and we’ll be there until the 20th or the 21st of February. I’ve never been there that long, it’s always been pretty short tours like maybe a week and a half, 2 weeks tops so I’m really looking forward to it. I wish I could bring my family, the last time we came on tour in 2015 where we did the 20th anniversary of the album “So Much For The Afterglow” and I brought my wife and my daughter down and we had a blast. I think we had an apartment in Melbourne and then we would go out and play shows and come back where we stayed, it was fun. What city are you calling from?
Andrew: I’m calling from Perth in Western Australia and I know that you are doing 1 or 2 shows over our way which is good to see as well!
Art: I love Perth! We’ve been to Perth many times we’ve gone through, Fremantle and we get to play both of those. We’re going to do the Hotter Than Hell show there and then also we got a couple of private shows as well in the area so I’m really excited about coming back. The last tour we did we didn’t come to Perth and that was really rude of me not to come to Perth so I’m looking forward to it.
Andrew: [laughs] That’s alright, we do get used to it! We do get skipped out on a lot of tours so we are very excited to see you in our part of the country. So you talk about previous experiences in Australia, do you remember the very first time you came to Australia?
Art: Yeah we came down to Australia I believe it was 1996 and “Sparkle And Fade” had been a big deal there right? So we hadn’t shown up there and “Santa Monica” was a big hit, “Heartspark Dollarsign” was a big hit. I remember digging through the airport in Sydney and our plane pulled up and we looked out and when we got off the plane there was like 2 or 3 hundred people waiting for us with banners. It was like the Beatles or something, that had never happened with us and we were like, ‘Holy crap this is awesome!’ Every time we’ve been there since then it’s been amazing.
Andrew: It sounds like it’s been a good experience so far. Playing in different countries and stuff you get to see different experiences and crowds, how do you find the Australian audiences compared to your home country and to other countries around the world?
Art: I think some of the best audiences and some of the best shows we’ve ever had have been in Australia for sure and we’re going to Hobart which we hadn’t been there since ’98. I remember that show in ’98 because you think you don’t get shows, they don’t get a third of what you guys get in Tasmania!
Andrew: [laughs] That’s true!
Art: I mean that show is selling like crazy! All the other shows are selling very well but that show is going to be sold out by February so very excited to go out to that. But playing Perth has always been one of those magical things and going to Fremantle and seeing Bon Scott’s grave and all that stuff, the guys in the band now haven’t been there so they are stoked that we’re going to go there in Fremantle and go to the graveyard and see all that stuff. We’re just old school rock n’ roll guys man so that to us is a big deal.
Andrew: It’s going to be good! Everclear has been a band that has been quite significant, at least for me personally anyway because when that song “Santa Monica” came out in 1995, it was the same year I graduated from High School and funnily enough a lot of people that I have talked to say that song was almost like a soundtrack to their final year in high school. When you hear stories like that and how songs have connected to people in such an emotional way to people around the world, how does that make you feel and how does that make you feel about the band and the impact it has had on people around the world?
Art: It makes me very humble and very grateful and a lot of gratitude for a life that I’ve never had. I’m a kid that grew up poor, grew up in government houses and I never dreamed of being a big rock star. From the time I was 4 years old I didn’t want to do anything but play in a rock n’ roll band, play guitar and sing in a rock n’ roll band and to me success is to have a middle class life and play in a band, that’s what I dreamed and that’s basically what I have. I have a really wonderful middle class life with my family, bills were paid, put my kids through school, I’ll be able to leave them a legacy when I die. Other than that we’re not rich by any shape of the imagination but I feel blessed because I’ve been able to do this for a living and when I play places not just in America but all over the world to people singing my lyrics back to me, there’s no bigger compliment that a songwriter and a guy in a band can have, with thousands of people singing your lyrics to you, there’s nothing like it.
Andrew: Yeah it must be an amazing feeling for sure. So how did it all start for you? How did you first get into music and wanting to be in a band?
Art: Well when I was a kid – I’m a lot older now, I was watching TV and I came out of my room, I was supposed to be in bed for school right but I sneaked into the living room and my Parents and older siblings were watching the Ed Sullivan show and I saw the Beatles on TV. It wasn’t the first time, it wasn’t ’64, I was after that so it was ’66 which was the last time they were on and I remember watching the Beatles play and people freaking out in the audience and just this electric sound that felt like this electric wire going through my body and I was just like, ‘That is what I want to do, I want to do that for the rest of my life, now and forever’, and you know what? It’s never changed. Call me simple, call me whatever, I don’t care. I still get more excitement out of playing a big electric guitar than anything else in my life and it never changed. It’s what I’ve always wanted to do and I’m still doing it, I’m almost 60 years old and I’m still doing it!
Andrew: [laughs] It’s amazing! I wanted to ask what keeps you going and you just said it right there, the love of guitar and the love of music. I guess you gotta be passionate about what you do for the rest of your life.
Art: Yeah and like I said, I’m not a real religious person but I feel like I’ve been blessed by being able to do what I want to do. Be my own boss, not really have to answer to anyone but myself and just make my own music to express myself and letting people all over the world connect with it. There’s nothing better and at the same time I have a wonderful wife and daughter and friends, I just have a great life man and I’m living clean. I got diagnosed a couple of years ago with multiple sclerosis and I just took it as a challenge, I changed the way I eat, I took care of myself and I just work hard every day to be as healthy as I can and to live every bit of life as I can. So even though it’s a horrible thing, it seems to me that I really do have to be grateful for what I have and not what I don’t have and try to live as much as I can as long as I can.
Andrew: Well keep on doing what you do, it’s such an amazing career you have had so far. We are very excited to see you in Australia so thanks for your time, really appreciate it. It’s been an absolute pleasure to be speaking to you today.
Art: Well thank you for calling, I hope you can come out to one of the shows in Perth so I hope to see you there. Thank you, we are so excited to come back.
Everclear 2020 Australian Tour
Thursday, 30th January – The Cambridge, Newcastle
Friday, 31st January – The Metro Theatre, Sydney
Sunday, 2nd February – Odeon Theatre, February
Thursday, 6th February – Croxton Bandroom, Thornbury
Friday, 7th February – Pier Bandroom, Frankston
Sunday, 9th February – The Basement, Canberra
Wednesday, 12th February – The Helm, Mooloolaba
Thursday, 13th February – Parkwood Tavern, Gold Coast
Friday, 14th February – Racehorse Hotel, Townsville
Thursday, 20th February – Freo Social, Fremantle
Friday, 21st February – Carine Tavern, Duncraig
Tickets: everclearmusic.com/tour
Hotter Than Hell Tour Dates:
Saturday February 8th – Mt Evelyn York On Lilydale
Saturday February 15th – Kirwan Taver, Townsville
Saturday February 22nd – Dunsborough Tavern, Dunsborough
Saturday February 1st – Coopers Alehouse, Gepps Cross
Tickets: hotterthanhelltour.com.au
