Everclear (band)

Everclear is an American rock band formed in Portland, Oregon, in 1992. The band was formed by Art Alexakis, the band's lead songwriter, vocalist, and guitarist. For most of the band's height of popularity, the band was filled out by bassist Craig Montoya and drummer Greg Eklund. After the limited release of their independently released debut album, World of Noise (1993), the band found success with their first three albums on Capitol Records: Sparkle and Fade (1995), So Much for the Afterglow (1997), and Songs from an American Movie Vol. One: Learning How to Smile (2000), which were all certified platinum in sales in the United States. However, the following two albums Songs from an American Movie Vol. Two: Good Time for a Bad Attitude (2000) and Slow Motion Daydream (2003) stalled commercially, with Montoya and Eklund leaving shortly after.

After a brief stint of solo performances, Alexakis decided to push forward with the Everclear name with new members, releasing three more studio albums, Welcome to the Drama Club (2006), Invisible Stars (2012), and Black is the New Black (2015). The band remains active in touring and live performances to-date, including many iterations of band's long-running 1990s nostalgia music festival Summerland Tour throughout the 2010s. A studio album of new material is scheduled for release in 2026.

Prior to forming Everclear, frontman Art Alexakis struggled through a number of hardships that would later shape the course of the band and its music. As a child, Alexakis recounted that he suffered child abuse and child abandonment from his father at the age of five, struggled with drug addiction, and witnessed his brother die of a drug overdose aged 12 and later his girlfriend commit suicide due to drugs in the same year. Between his rough upbringing, and almost overdosing himself in his twenties in the 1980s, motivated himself to get clean. Alexakis changed his focus into creating music; early efforts trended closer to country music Alexakis listened to growing up than Everclear's alternative rock sound; which included a brief stint in a cow punk band named "Easy Hoes". Originally just a hobby, after a co-worker at his day job attended a live show, they referred him to the minor record label Shindig Records. There, Alexakis formed a band named "Colorfinger" and recorded an album and EP as "essentially a solo album", which Spin magazine described as "a country-tinged thing that sounds like Everclear without the distortion pedals". However, shortly after, their distributor went out of business, the band broke up, and Alexakis found out his girlfriend was pregnant, leaving him to make changes on how to proceed with his life.

Alexakis and his girlfriend moved to her hometown, Portland, Oregon, where he placed a local ad searching for band members, through which he recruited bassist Craig Montoya and drummer Scott Cuthbert; who were impressed by Alexakis's enthusiasm and ambition for the band. Alexakis chose the name "Everclear" for the band, after the strong alcoholic beverage of the same name. He chose the name as a metaphor for the band itself; explaining

"We [were] pretty innocuous looking little white boys that played pretty serious music. When we came up, the sound was a lot of feedback and big guitars and ballads. I liked the dichotomy [of] Everclear, that it looks like water but it's really just pure evil. It's got very little water in it, I think it's 190 proof, or 180 proof... I liked that dichotomy of looking innocent but packing a punch and I just thought the word would roll off the tongue really well. I was amazed that there had been no big band named Everclear, I thought it was the perfect name for a band. I thought that one night when I was super drunk on Everclear when I was like 14".

The band officially formed in 1992. The band spent of the next year writing and recording the band's first batches of music; an EP named Nervous and Weird, and then the band's first album, World of Noise. The sessions were plagued by a lack of resources and funds, with the band only have their own pooled $400 to fund the album's recording. This in itself defined the album's sound; Alexakis noted the album's lo-fi rock sound was "not because we were cool, just because we couldn't afford anything better" The album's name was self-referential, both in the anger and frustrations Alexakis felt about the hardships of his life up at that time, and that the band's old guitar amp would overheat at times, causing sparks and "a cacophony of feedback and noise. Retrospectively, the album would receive praise; AllMusic described it as "alternately crisp and noisy indie-punk...Alexakis's witty, gravelly vocals make this album a left-hook of a debut." However, at the time of the release, Alexakis became frustrated at the lack of exposure the albums received, citing a lack of promotion and marketing from his label Tim/Kerr Records. Alexakis became more active in promoting it himself, and hiring outside contractors to assist.

The band spent much of 1994 seeking out a major label deal. Alexakis became very involved in the business aspect of the band which proved to be a double-edged sword; while he could outline realistic proposals on the financials he would need for recording music and touring, he also refused to budge on retaining complete creative control of the band's music, which scared away many potential record labels. After a modest bidding war, they were signed to Capitol Records by Gary Gersh, who was responsible for signing Nirvana, Sonic Youth, and Counting Crows to DGC Records. Just before their signing, Everclear parted ways with drummer Cuthbert, citing personality conflicts, and brought in former Jollymon drummer Greg Eklund. In May 1995, the band released their first album for the label, Sparkle and Fade.

The album's first single, "Heroin Girl", received some modest airplay via MTV's 120 Minutes, but was generally missed by the mainstream. However, near the end of 1995, the second single, "Santa Monica", found a strong audience via the burgeoning alternative radio format, which eventually carried over to mainstream success. The album subsequently was certified platinum. However, two ensuing singles, "Heartspark Dollarsign" and "You Make Me Feel Like a Whore", failed to find a wide audience, and the band ended 1996 fast at work on their second major label full-length album.