Art Alexakis Sheds New Light on Everclear Hits

Art Alexakis, the riveting frontman behind the multi-platinum powerhouse Everclear, recently dropped his eighth album with a new band in tow. 'In A Different Light' takes a look back at nine of his biggest hits, including 'Santa Monica' from the Top 30 album 'Sparkle and Fade' and 'Father of Mine' from 'So Much for the Afterglow.'

"I've wanted to do a record like this with different versions of these songs that have grown over the years," Alexakis tells Spinner. "We've been slowly evolving the songs without consciously trying to make them different. It felt right to use acoustic guitars instead of big, bombastic ones. It's a much cleaner sound and now the emphasis is on the vocals and the melody."

But make no mistake, Art's thorny past still pokes and prods; just a little gentler this time around. Issues of love, loss, drugs and sobriety still pervade, especially on the new track, 'Here Comes the Darkness.' Exactly what was eating at Art when he wrote it?

"I created that song about five years ago when I was going through a divorce and at the same time my mom was diagnosed with terminal cancer and my therapist, who was the closest thing to a father to me, also died. This all happened within a one-week span and I was literally kicked on my ass."

But it takes more than a few hard knocks to keep him down. "Even though I was going through this dark time, I knew there would be a light at the end of the tunnel, but sometimes that tunnel is really freakin' long (laughs), which is pretty much what I say towards the end of the song," he says. Eight months after writing it, Alexakis saw the light. "I met my wife and now we have a baby girl together. This time I'm not making the same mistakes I made before of not being a good man or a good husband, because I wasn't."

Obviously, it's all about redemption and reinvention these days, but two decades ago the northwest native had a different take on it. "People always ask, 'What was it like being part of the grunge scene?' To be honest, nobody in Portland or Seattle even knew what grunge was," he says. "That was created by other people. We got roped into that whole Nirvana comparison thing, you know, three-piece band from the northwest, angry, screaming, blonde guy. But, actually a lot of bands that got juice from Nirvana had nothing to do with them, like Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and Alice in Chains. We all got lumped together by the critics because we were from the same place, had long hair and wore flannel shirts."

Alexakis shared some of his other war stories with Spinner, such as the effects the song 'Father of Mine' had on his relationship with the man who deserted him as a child. "After the success of 'Sparkle and Fade,' my father attempted to have a relationship with me and my daughters, but I resisted," he says. "When he originally called me in '04, my mother was really sick and going through chemo. He said, 'What do I have to do to be in your life?' and I said, 'Call mom and make peace with her. She's dying. You have nothing to be afraid of.' He said he would, but he never did. Be careful what you wish for. So, he's not in my life."

As far as his other war stories, such as the one in the Middle East, he says "I've spent a lot of time traveling in Iraq for the last two years in support of the troops. It's interesting because I'm very pro-troop but I'm also vehemently anti-war. Some wars seem necessary, but to go into another country like we did when we should have gone into Afghanistan full-throttle and gotten that guy. Now Afghanistan stands a chance of being Obama's Vietnam. I think [Obama is] smart, industrious and he's a tough guy, but trying to appease the other side of the isle just isn't working. You've got a super-majority -- just get it done. If [Afghanistan] had a super-majority, they wouldn't give a s---. Do you think they'd come to us looking for bipartisanship? No way!"

With this type of passion and prolific talent, Alexakis must feel the need to constantly create. "I've got about 15 [songs] that I'm working on right now. We're going into the studio in February or March to make a new record and hopefully, it'll be out by summer," he says. As far as performing, Everclear just finished the West Coast leg of their tour and Alexakis will be going solo with Leigh Nash (Sixpence None the Richer) and Ed Kowalczyk (Live) in a tour called "Open Wings and Broken Strings."