Everclear singer Art Alexakis talks hits, and what to expect from Jergel's show

MARSHALL TWP. ― When listening to "Live at the Whisky A Go Go," the most recent Everclear album recorded one solitary night at Los Angeles' most legendary rock club, you can practically smell the sweat and feel the bodies bumping together.

"I really appreciate you saying that because unlike a lot of live albums we might have grown up with, that really is a live album," Everclear singer Art Alexakis said. "We placed guys in the crowd with extra mics doing the mix and you hear glasses tinkling and people talking. The conventional wisdom is to record different shows, so you get different takes of songs, but we just recorded one show. If it sucked, we would have done another one and seen if it would have come out better, but it came out really great. You'll hear some off-notes here and there. Some screw-ups on guitar. But for most part, I think the energy and the sound of the instruments is pretty great. And my voice sounds good. It's a lot rougher than it was 30 years ago, but what are you going to do? It sounds honest and it still sounds like the band."

Everclear fans can expect a similar measure of raw energy, excitement and honest − if not flawless − alternative-rock, when the band headlines Jergel's Rhythm Grille on May 23. Tickets are $51 and $68 at jergels.com.

As with that 2023 live album, Alexakis will toss in amusing banter, drawing from the wisdom he's accrued as both a parent, and 30-year veteran of the road.

"I always talk a lot of smack between songs. It's just how I am," Alexakis said. "The setlist is pretty similar. We change four or five songs every show, and we'll move things around. And we try to put a request in if we know it. We get a lot of requests for songs we haven't played in a long time. If we don't know them, we have to rehearse them. We've written and recorded over 220 songs. It's impossible to know how to play that many songs unless that's all you do is play cover songs. People will hit us up on social media. Like where are we playing tonight? Virginia? I just got a text from Freddy (Herrera), our bass player, who goes through social media and looks for requests. We got four songs tonight we'll put in the set. But we do all the hits and fan favorites. We throw those in for continuity. If you like the live record, you're going to like the show at Jergel's."

Maybe a Jergel's-bound fan will request the deep cut "Pennsylvania Is...". Another of Everclear's 1993 rookie album tracks, "Fire Maple Song," appears on the live album.

"Our first record I made with just $400 in a basement with quarter-inch 8-track tape in Portland," Alexakis said. "True story. 'Fire Maple' got played a lot on college radio before we got signed to a major label deal."

Among the earliest Portland, Ore. alt-rock bands to get inked to a major label, Everclear struck it big in late 1995 when alt-rock radio stations discovered "Santa Monica" from Everclear's sophomore release, "Sparkle and Fade."

Santa Monica catches a wave

Which came first: "Santa Monica's" push and tug guitar riff, or Alexakis' lyrics about swimming out past the breakers and watching the world die?

"That's a really interesting question," Alexakis said. "I think I played around a lot with the riff. The staccato riff. It wasn't like something I was currently working on. The whole idea of 'Santa Monica' is comfort zones."

Alexakis elaborates "Santa Monica" was the final song written for "Sparkle and Fade," coming at a time when he suffered from anxiety and depression. He remembers driving with his wife and daughter from Portland to Southern California, "and at one point, we got close to the ocean and my anxiety went away. I had grown up in Santa Monica and I was living in Oregon. And just the feeling of being by the ocean again, my anxiety went away. And when we turned around and went to Portland it all came back. So, I started writing about comfort zones and just started rhyming words at night and putting lines together and not trying to be autographical with that song but just talking about experiences.

"Once I wrote the line, 'I am still living with your ghost,' that just ... bang!" Alexakis said. "That was the line.

"And then I wrote the chorus 'we can live beside the ocean, leave the fire behind, swim out past the breakers, watch the world die.'"

The next morning, after dropping off his daughter at daycare, Alexakis arrived two hours early for band rehearsal, fine-tuning the song before his bandmates showed up and added their melodic and sonic touches.

"We just put it all together that day and the next day and finished the lyrics," Alexakis said. "About a week later, our A&R guy from Capitol (Records) came in to hear us play all the new songs, and after we played 'Santa Monica' he said. 'That song ... that song right there. What's that song called?"

"I said I call it 'Santa Monica.'

"He goes, 'but you don't say "Santa Monica" in it.

"And I go, 'I know. But we still call it "Santa Monica" and it's about comfort zones.' And he loved the song and thought it was a hit though he didn't think it was done as a whole."

Then came a mental tug-of-war where ultimately against his will, Alexakis heeded the Capitol rep's request to make the song longer.

"And he was right. It came out great," Alexakis said. "But the label kept trying to get me to change the song title. They said, 'Well write another line that says 'Santa Monica.' I told them first of all, you're not going to tell me how to write songs, and secondly, no, that's just the name of the song."

When Capitol finally sent "Santa Monica" to radio stations, the label added in parenthesis a subtitle making the song appear as "Santa Monica (Watch The World Die.")

Alexakis was upset until the band's manager assured him "Santa Monica" minus the subtitle would appear on the CDs and cassettes sold in music stores.

'Father' makes impact

Everclear attained more mainstream radio three years later with "I Will Buy You a New Life."

Following an extensive tour of the United States with Marcy Playground and Fastball, Everclear released "Father of Mine," Alexakis' most poignant song, about a father who abandons his family. With pointed lines like "My daddy gave me a name/Then he walked away," countless fans felt seen and heard by "Father of Mine.".

"Even now," Alexakis said. "I was with my family the other day in line to be taken into a restaurant where you have to check in, and there were like 15 people waiting in the front room. This guy walks up to me and asks if I'm Art, and I said 'yeah.' He said, "'Father of Mine' changed my life.'"

A younger woman in that same restaurant lobby overheard their conversation and chimed in with how "Father of Mine" deeply impacted her, too.

"That song and 'Wonderful' really connected cathartically with a lot of people," Alexakis said. "It's a blessing that's part of my life."

More: Lucero frontman Ben Nichols talks about the band's evolution, Pennsylvania tour dates

Pittsburgh area concertgoers will expect to hear "Father of Mine." There's a good chance another song from the 1997 album, title track "So Much for The Afterglow," will launch the Jergel's show.

"It's kind of hard to start with anything else," Alexakis said. "It's a great starter with the Beach Boys intro thing. We walk on stage to that and start yelling. It's exciting. That's how you kick off, with a power-pop-punk song. We won't play the song sometimes, but it gets people excited like that, so if it ain't broke, don't fix it."

That philosophy successfully has served Everclear for 31 years and numerous tours.

When it comes to Pittsburgh, "I remember the IC Light amphitheater on the river there. That big white tent," Alexakis said. "We had killer shows there. And playing the Metropol. There were always good shows in Johnstown, and just all over that western Pennsylvania area."

The lone original member still left in the band named after an infamous grain alcohol, Alexakis pledges an Everclear show as gritty and sweaty as the old days.

"We don't play with (pre-recorded) beats or tracks. We're old school-ers. We just crank it up and go. Big old-school alternative '90s rock and roll, for which Jergel's is a great club. It's going to sell out."

Scott Tady is entertainment editor at The Times and easy to reach at stady@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Everclear singer talks hits, and what to expect from Jergel's show