Everclear

Sparkle and Fade (Capitol)
An interview with singer/guitarist Alex Alexakis
by Jay Cox

Too few people know Everclear is a band and not just an alcoholic refreshment. Portland’s power-punk trio can rip through live what they’ve put out on 12 in-your-face recordings. Guitarist/singer/producer Alex Alexakis told me how the band was picked up by Capitol and the plans for a new release, Sparkle and Fade, due out in the May.

Didn’t World of Noise sell like 4,000 copies before Capitol picked it up?
I recorded World of Noise as a demo about two years ago in a basement. A little basement studio, a quarter-inch eight track. We recorded it for $400 and put it out as a demo. It got a real big buzz around town. We sent it to South by Southwest in Austin. We got accepted and played, and that got a buzz going with indie and major labels. We went with a label in Portland. Not for World of Noise, but an EP. We put that out and did okay with it, but they didn’t do what they said they would. The album took forever to put out, and they only serviced it to radio very, very weakly, ’cause they just didn’t have the money to spend. I took the record back and sent it to radio.

You paid for it yourself?
Yeah, and it charted the band. We’d been borrowing, begging, and stealing to go on tour. We get in debt. Go on tour. Beg time off from our bosses. Go on tour. Come back in debt, back to our jobs, work for a couple of months, and go back out. This is our fifth national tour.

How did you finally decide on Capitol?
I like Gary Gersh, the new president at Capitol. I like the people he hired. When he was at Geffen, he signed Nirvana and Sonic Youth. He signed Peter Gabriel, 10 years earlier. I really respect all three of those artists.

What are the band’s influences?
My bass player is influenced by Soundgarden a lot. I’m influenced a lot by the Pixies, Sonic Youth, X. My old drummer’s influences were the Pixies, old punk rock, like the Sex Pistols, stuff like that.

How do you view the scene now with the whole punk scene coming back?
I like it. It seems kind of faddish. About three or four years ago there was a big retro thing with ’70s bands. I like the era these bands, like the Figgs, are going back to. But is it really original? It’s kinda a gimmick. I’m tossed up inside. I like it, but I don’t want to like it.

How did the band wind up on the Tom Petty tribute CD?
The guy who put it together, Joe Marks, asked us to be on it. Scotti Brothers/RCA picked it up and wanted us on it, because we were one of the bigger buzz bands on it. It’s a bunch of unknown bands. Then they kept fucking saying we couldn’t have “American Girl.” I wanted to do “American Girl.” It’s my favorite Tom Petty song. I didn’t want to do any other song. My drummer had never heard the song. We recorded it in five hours.

Your bio paints you as an angry man…
The bio is totally true. I’m not so angry anymore, but I still have it inside of me. I draw on it and I get rid of it through playing. If you see us play, we are pretty in-your-face. But I try not to take it too seriously on stage, we try to have fun. And sweat a lot. To me, there is nothing worse than watching people take themselves too seriously.