'Fuck All That Poppy Music With Boys, Acoustic Guitars And Weird Haircuts'

Two decades ago Portland-bred outfit Everclear managed to soundtrack the ‘95/‘96 Australian summer with their second album, Sparkle And Fade, its smash singles Heroin Girl and Santa Monica seemingly omnipresent with their incessant mix of catchy rock’n’roll and edgy, relatable lyrics. The band had plenty more wins over the years with ensuing releases, but never again managed to tap into the zeitgeist as they’d succeeded in doing 20 years ago.

 

“Sparkle And Fade was when it started for us in Australia, although [1997 follow-up] So Much For The Afterglow was pretty big there for us too,” recalls Everclear’s frontman and sole constant member Art Alexakis. “Our next record didn’t do so well down there because I think it was too pop, and you guys prefer the rock down there, but those other two records did really well.

 

“Australia’s one of the few places in the world that likes Americans and American culture – that really like it and we get along. It’s an easy cultural blend for some reason – I love New Zealand, but New Zealand seems a little bit more English still, where Australia’s a mix of a little bit of [American] culture and then your own unique culture as well. If I go down there with an American accent people are, like, ‘Ooh, hey sexy!’ but if you go to Europe with an American accent you get dirty looks.”

 

Despite this synergy Alexakis is at a loss to explain why his band’s music briefly resonated so strongly here.

 

“I just think we were a balls-out rock’n’roll band with a strong singer-songwriter who wrote good stories,” he suggests. “I don’t think my lyrics are just indigenous to American culture, I think it translates really well down there and I think a lot of people connected with it for whatever reason – I think what we discussed about cultures had a lot to do with it. Plus I think we were at the right place at the right time. I just love being in Australia and I’m excited to be coming back.”

 

But it’s not all an exercise in nostalgia; they’re bringing brand new and ninth album, Black Is The New Black, to introduce as well.

 

“It’s funny, I made this new record knowing that alternative radio here is playing a lot of pop music – like poppy, poppy music with boys with acoustic guitar and weird haircuts going, ‘Waahhaaa’ – and this is just a record of me screaming,” Alexakis laughs. “It’s not timely, but I just went, ‘You know what? Fuck all that! I’m just going to make the record that I want to make and the band wants to make.’ So I talked to the band and they just went, ‘Let’s make a rock record and play some fucking rock songs!’ So I decided to do that – make ourselves happy and make our fans happy, and see what the rest of the world thinks. So far it seems to be working. If you try to fit yourself to someone else’s idea of what you should be it’s never going to work – at least not for me.”