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By Jeb Wright
Everclear may be known as
a Grunge band who hit fame and fortune in the 1990's but their
front man, Art Alexakis, is a big classic rock fan, so much so
that the band's new album, The Vegas Years, is nothing
but classic covers the band has made over the years.
Art has eclectic tastes
and the covers here range from Thin Lizzy to Neil Young to Tommy
Tutone. In each case, the cover is not done true to the
original; instead Alexakis prefers to put Everclear's unique
sound on each track. The result is a pretty fun album to listen
too.
Read on as we discuss
bands like Cheap Trick, the Yaz and even Little Jimmy Dickens
and learn why each song is special to Art - even the one I don't
like the remake of!
Jeb: You have wanted to
do a covers album for sometime.
Art: I have always liked
doing covers but they have to sound like the band I am in. I
think they are a good idea. If they sound just like the band
you are covering then you are a Top 40 band but if you are doing
a representation of it then I think it is fun.
Jeb: These cover songs
are all done in the style of Everclear.
Art: It sounds like us.
We have had a few misses but most of them end up in the
wastebasket where they ought to be. You record it and you play
it for some people and if they laugh about it then you throw it
away.
Jeb: Some of the songs
are not ones people would expect. Take for instance
"Pocahontas" by Neil Young.
Art: I just love that
fucking song. I've always wanted to hear a rocking version of
it. I love the way Neil does it and I don't think we are
bettering it but we do it with a lot of respect. I broke out
with this Ted Nugent like lead guitar in the middle of it and it
seemed to fit. It is a pretty pissed off song. Lyrically, it
is talking about some serious atrocities and I just think that
it calls for some anger.
Jeb: You even have a
cover of "Land of the Lost."
Art: Did you used to watch
that show?
Jeb: I did and I
laughed my ass off.
Art: We were asked to
record it for a tribute record of Saturday morning songs. We
recorded that song and we also recorded "Best Friend" that was
the theme song from Courtship of Eddie's Father. It ended up
not working out so we just decided to re-record "Land of the
Lost." It came out almost Zeppelin.
Jeb: You have "Speed
Racer" on this album as well.
Art: We recorded "Speed
Racer" for ESPN back in 1996.
Jeb: You covered a
great Cheap Trick song. You pulled out "Southern Girls."
Art: We recorded that in
1996 for a Cheap Trick tribute record that never saw the light
of day. I wanted to put some organ and bigger guitars on the
song when I heard the song when we were going through the
vaults.
I grew up loving Cheap
Trick. My fifteen-year-old daughter adores Cheap Trick. When
you call her cell phone you get the original version of
"Southern Girls." She said that I got that from her and I told
her that she needed to step back because I had been rocking to
that song since I was sixteen.
Jeb: I think your era
is heavily influenced by Cheap Trick.
Art: Absolutely. They
were a huge influence on Nirvana and us and any band that has a
Beatles twist to it mixed with melodically rye lyrics and
aggression.
I have a funny story I
want to tell you. I went to see Kansas on New Years Eve but the
main reason I went - this is back in 1977 - is
because I had been reading about this band called Cheap Trick in
Rolling Stone but I didn't have any money to buy the album
because I was only fifteen. I went with my buddy in his car and
he had a cassette of Cheap Trick. We listened to it all the way
there and then I saw them and I thought they were fucking
awesome. Driving back that night I took my friends cassette - I
didn't steal it, I just told him I was taking it. I went up to
my room when I got home and I put my big old Koss headphones -
actually they were my sister's; I snagged them out of her room.
I locked my door and I sat there and I learned how to play that
whole record. I stayed up all night figuring it out.
Jeb: Which album was
it?
Art: It was
In Color. I
have to do this thing for this online survey of my Top 10 albums
of all time and I am not sure where it is going to end up but it
will be on there because it is just a classic rock n' roll
record.
Jeb: Cheap Trick is
still awesome in concert.
Art: Robin Zander's
voice? He could break glass with that thing.
Jeb: You did "Kicks" by
Paul Revere and the Raiders and you really breathed life into
that track. It is one of my favorites on the CD.
Art: It was a lot of fun
doing that one. Some songs just seem like they need to rock a
little more. When it came out in 1964 it was really rocking and
the lyrics were pretty deep for that time period. The song came
out when the Beatles were singing "I Want to Hold Your Hand."
The song has a guitar riff that I can't get out of my head.
Mark Lindsay, the singer for Paul Revere, got inducted into the
Oregon Music Hall of Fame and he asked us to be his backing
band. We did "Kicks" and then we did a song that I swore that I
would never play and that is "Louie Louie." Can you believe I
got into my mid-forties without playing "Louie Louie?"
Jeb: Not any more!
Art: I will tell you this:
It was a rocking version of the song.
Jeb: I am not a Hall &
Oates guy but you really pulled "Rich Girl" off well.
Art: I think that chorus
is just amazing. The melody is awesome but I never liked the
verses because it sounded like they were trying too hard to be
soul guys. So when we did it I got these background pads going
and these big guitars playing staccato rhythm and the songs
ended up really sounding like Everclear.
Jeb: How much toying
around do you do with the covers?
Art: Most of the time it
just comes right out. "American Girl" was the first song we
recorded with our drummer Greg Eklund back in 1994. We had just
got signed to Capital and they asked us to record this song for
a tribute record. Greg had never heard the original version of
the song so I taught it to him like it was an Everclear song.
We recorded it in three or four hours.
Jeb: I am not going to
kiss your butt too much because I am going to tell you the song
that you covered that I didn't like. I never have liked your
version of "The Boys are Back in Town" by Thin Lizzy.
Art: Really? I
didn't want to do that classic harmonized guitar part that
everybody knows. I did a harmonized part but it was different
than the original. It is funny, I recorded that for a Kiss
movie called Detroit Rock City.
We even did a video for it with a bunch of porn stars. It was
even on our greatest hits. The thing I didn't like about the
original is probably something that you did like. I didn't like
the swinging, Dixieland rhythm.
Jeb: You hit the nail
on the head. I am a huge Lizzy fan and I just could not get
past the rhythm change and the classic lick being altered.
Art: I get that. I
really love that cover. Just to validate the cover, the head of
Island Def Jam at the time had gotten his start back in the 70's
as a roadie for Thin Lizzy. He was a good friend and a drug
buddy of Phil Lynott. After Phil died he got clean. He came to
me and he said, "I have to tell you something. Phil would have
been really impressed with your vocal on that song. You really
made it your own but the version gives respect to the
original." I thought that was cool coming from someone who was
close to the dude who did the song. I wanted to do "Cowboy
Song." I love Thin Lizzy. I am into
Johnny the Fox
and Jailbreak.
Phil had a great voice and the band played amazing melodic hard
rock.
Jeb: I was impressed
that you did "Bad Connection."
Art: The Yaz just got back
together. Back in '81 I was a punk rock kid who would not
listen to any band that played keyboards. We went to see this
cover band and the singer was a really hot chick. We ended up
together for about three weeks just having drunken sex. She was
totally into synth rock. I turned her onto the band X and she
turned me onto the Yaz. It really helped me to recognize that a
great song is a great song no matter what.
Jeb: "Nightrain to
Memphis" is probably the most un-Everclear sounding song. In
fact I think it is close to the original.
Art: Really? Well, I
guess it is if you are talking arrangement. I grew up with that
song. My mom would play that song and play Little Jimmy
Dickens. We would sit in the rocker and she would hold me and
smoke her Kools and drink a half a Coors Light and we would
listen to Country songs. She taught me how to sing harmony.
Jeb: Did your mom
influence you covering Woody Guthrie?
Art: I got into a Woody
kick when I started writing songs when I was twenty-one or
twenty-two. I got into Pete Seeger and then Bob Dylan and then
Woody. I probably shouldn't have done his most famous song. I
did it as an anthem for this environmental cause. They were
trying to stop logging on some land that was coming up for sale
on an auction. We went in the studio and we knocked out "This
Land is Your Land" in a couple of hours. I went back in and we
added some keyboards and more guitars.
Kids come up to me and
tell me that they used to sing that song in school. That song
was very subversive when it came out. "This land is your land /
this land is my land" is a totally Communist statement at the
time it came out. Woody was a Red through and through. They
didn't take kindly to that back in the 1930's. I recorded that
in 2004 and when I was a delegate to the Democratic National
Convention I played the song on CNN when I was interviewed by
Wolf Blitzer. He said, "There is a guitar over there. Play us
a song." I said, "What do you want?" He said, "Play something
patriotic." I said, "Really?" So I picked up the guitar and
started playing "This Land is Your Land." The producer cut in
and said that was enough but Wolf said, "I want to hear him play
a couple more verses."
Jeb: Are you going to
be pulling these out when you are playing live?
Art: We already play
"Brown Eyed Girl" in our acoustic set and I do "Jenny, Jenny" at
the end.
Jeb: Did you leave any
covers off?
Art: There were some songs
that were recorded that didn't make the record. "Walk, Don't
Run" by the Ventures is one of them.
Jeb: Everclear's
last album came out on a smaller label but
Vegas Days is
coming out on a major. Do you miss being on a major label?
Art: Not at all. They
owned a lot of the masters to these songs so after we brought it
up they wanted to put it out. I wanted them to license me the
songs so I could put it out but they wanted to do it so I went
along with it.
Jeb: You recently said
you were more hungry now than you have been in a long time. Can
you expound on that?
Art: I have that hunger to
express myself through writing. I don't have as much money as I
had at one time but I am not complacent. I got emotionally
complacent for a while and then I had some kicks in my ass. I
think it made me a better person and a better
singer/songwriter. I want to put out a downloaded single every
couple of months because that is the future. We are going to
put out this song called "Jesus was a Liberal." I am sure I am
not going to get invited to Pat Robertson's birthday party.
Jeb: You were out of
control with sex and drugs for a while. Why did the light bulb
go off for you to change?
Art: I don't know. All I
know is that I want to write more songs. I have had less
success and I have had more success but right now I am really
happy. I have a new baby in my life and I have a
fifteen-year-old daughter. I have a woman in my life who loves
me and puts up with my weirdness. She married me when I wasn't
really flowing with money. I had just gone through bankruptcy
and was forty pounds underweight - that has got to be love.
There was no gold digging there. I have my bad days like
anybody but I am really blessed and I am in a great rock n' roll
band.
Jeb: A lot of your fans
were worried that you might become a casualty to rock n' roll.
Art: That is because they
were reading the MySpace pages of the guys who used to be in the
band. If you talk to someone's ex then they are going to say
what an asshole they were. You can't take that serious because
that is not objective. If you want to know what is going on
then just ask me and I will tell you what is going on. I am the
only guy on our MySpace page so if you write me there then I
will get your message. I read all the comments. I think it is
nice having a closer relationship with our fans. I think
technology is really great and allows you to do a lot of things
but sometimes the things people do are not good.
Jeb: What is it
about the classic rock era that sticks with a guy like you?
Art: I don't want to be
judgmental and make opinionated statements on this question. I
think when people are young and they find music they love then
it sticks with them. Bands like Cheap Trick, Kiss and Aerosmith
were all bands I found on my own.
Jeb: I miss the days of
going into a record store and buying an album because it had a
cool cover.
Art: I used to do that
too. I got burned on that a couple of times.
Jeb: I was a total
metal head when I was in my early teens. I bought a live album
by the Grateful Dead - who I love now but did not then. I saw
the skeleton and I thought I was getting metal but I got home
and got a bunch of hippie shit.
Art: I used to look at
Dead records and I thought that skull thing was totally
bitching. I had a friend in school who was totally into the
Dead and he told me they were totally electric and awesome. I
told him to play me some stuff. He played "Truckin'" and I was
like, "Fuck that." I didn't want any part of that.
Jeb: Last one: Would
Ted Nugent's politics keep you from doing a cover version of one
of his songs.
Art: Probably not but I
don't think I would do a tour with him. This is funny: We put
out a song out called "Hater" in 2004. We did a cheap video and
it really pissed off a lot of right wing people. They denounced
me on the PTL Club - I thought that was pretty cool. Bill
O'Reilly asked me to come on the show so I did. A little bit
later on I found out that Ted Nugent's management called my
management and wanted to talk to me about it. I knew Ted was a
pretty right wing freak of nature but that little kid in me
didn't want my hero to be dashed in front of me. Ted called me
and he told me that he was a huge fan of how I handle myself and
he said the video was great.
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