If you need a punk rock role model, you could do a lot worse than Everclear leader Art Alexakis. The Portland singer/guitarist has come through numerous roadblocks — addiction, health setbacks, and family issues that he famously channeled into song — and none of it has kept him down.
“I don’t try to be inspiring, I’m just doing my thing. And people might look at me and say, ‘Man, if this dorky dude can do it, then so can I,” he said last week. “I can draw from the darker things when I write songs — really I draw from everything, but the darker stuff tends to be the squeakier wheel. But here I am living with a chronic disease — actually two chronic diseases, because I’m a clean and sober alcoholic and drug abuser for 35 years. But hey, I still get to do this for a living.”
He and the current Everclear lineup — bassist Freddy Herrera, drummer Brian Nolan and guitarist Dave French — hit the Cabot in Beverly on March 6.
From the start, Alexakis had an ability to make radio-friendly songs out of unlikely topics. Everclear’s breakthrough hit, “Father of Mine” concerned his father’s desertion of the family when he was a child; more recently he wrote “Sing Away” (a bonus track on Everclear’s recent live album), a sympathetic song about teenage bullying and its tragic effects.
“People tend to talk about ‘Father of Mine’ a lot, but if they want to glom onto something, I’m just glad that it’s something of mine. When I talk about songwriting, I can always tell people certain ways to craft songs and make them better. But that whole thing of coming up with a riff or melody — you can’t teach that, and I’m just grateful I can do it. I’m writing all the time, and I think I throw away more lyrics than most people ever write.”
Alexakis has needed to make some changes since he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis nine years ago — for one thing, he’s moved his long-running, ‘90s-themed package tour Summerland to the fall, when temperatures are milder. “It scared the hell out of me, because I didn’t know at first that it wasn’t terminal. Two days after my MRI I show up and there’s six guys in long coats and stethoscopes, they all stop talking and look at me. And I’m thinking ‘I don’t know what this is, but it isn’t good.’ But as I’ve learned more about it I’ve learned all the protocols— exercise and physical therapy, swimming, medication. Touring is harder now because of my age and MS. But the adversity is really good for me, and I truly believe that. Some people who get chronic diseases tend to fade away fast, and I believe that pushing through is good for anyone.”
Everclear had the good fortune to sign with a major label in the post-grunge era, when a certain kind of free-thinking rock band could still get a record deal. This may not happen again anytime soon.
“I always thought it could but it sure isn’t happening now, is it? Everybody’s waiting for the new Nirvana but I don’t see it happening. The record industry is more like the ‘50s now, where the songs are written by committee, there’s six or seven producers, a kid gets to have one hit and then they’re done.”
In that sense Everclear is proudly old school. “We’re a rock band. We don’t use backing tracks and we don’t use auto-tune. If we’re on, then you win. If we’re not on — oh well, come back next time. But we’re on most of the time.”