Songs like “Summerland”, “Volvo Driving Soccer Mom” and “I Will Buy You a New Life” have immortalized Portland rockers, Everclear, but that’s just the icing on the cake for lead guitarist and vocalist, Art Alexakis. After talking with him in depth I found his passion really lies in… well, making the world a better place. Though his childhood was rough with his father walking out on him, which in part, or maybe indirectly, led to heavy drug use down the road, Art has persevered, channeling his past demons into a newfound energy called Everclear (formed in 1992). Since, Art has used his platform as one that promotes world peace and harmony whether by anti-war protesting, playing overseas in support of the troops, who are just doing their job, or performing at events to support the Democratic Convention. Though world politics are certainly in Art’s interests, Everclear’s music connects mostly with the band’s fans and Alexakis, himself. Much of Everclear’s content delves into recovery, finding peace and dealing with the past, which is always going to be a part of one’s self-discovery.

I called Art at his Portland home where he found himself home for the holidays before hitting the road once again come mid-January – one of Everclear’s first stops, Chicago’s House of Blues, January 27^th. A small child’s voice was faintly heard in the background. Art explained that his two-year-old was sitting on his lap.           

Buzz – So it looks like you’ll be hitting Chicago on January 27^th at the House of Blues.

Art – Yeah, I’m so excited. I love Chicago, man. I almost moved there years ago. I almost moved to Wicker Park.

Buzz – Oh, Really. That’s such a great neighborhood – such a haven for artists.

Art – I think so, too. But this was back in ’94 when it was still pretty rough.

Buzz – Well, it’s transitioned nicely since. After reading about your past I realized we have a few things in common, such as your father leaving while you were at a young age and the moving around from neighborhood to neighborhood. How much does that play into Everclear’s music – if at all?

Art – When you’re writing songs – even if you’re writing pure fiction and storytelling – I don’t think it can’t come into what you do. I think our childhood and our past kind of defines us and as we get older, we get better at saying, “I don’t want this part to define me,” like abuse or abandonment or something like that. You can be more selective, but inherently I don’t think you can get away with it. It probably comes up in your writing, even though you are interviewing. It probably has an impact in some way, shape or form in the way you express yourself, just like it does me. It’s impossible for it not to. Sometimes it’s more literal, or present, like in “Father of Mine” or “Wonderful”, or something like that, but I think it’s always there because it helped define who I was.

Buzz – Right. I see what you mean. Getting to Everclear’s most recent release, In a Different Light, what was the inspiration behind making that album?

Art – Well, there’s two things: One, fans have been wanting me to do acoustic versions of our songs for a long time, and also, I’ve always wanted to kind of document the way songs evolved, and one way bands have always done that is through the live album. But so many live albums sound pretty crappy, really. The ones that don’t sound crappy aren’t really live albums. I could give you a list of some of the biggest live albums of all time and they are not live albums. There’s only a couple live albums I know of for sure  - Frampton Comes Alive – and it sounds terrible – I’m not a fan of Peter Frampton, and The Who: Live at Leeds, which I think is the best live album ever. Do you know that album?  

Buzz – Absolutely.

Art – I keep coming back to it. I was listening to it when I was 13, 14 years old. Gene Simmons mentioned it in an interview and it was in my sister’s record collection so I listened to it and I never took it off. So instead of making a live album, I thought I’d combine them, go in, and be very live in the studio – not a lot of overdubs – and record more acoustic versions of these songs that would still rock, just instead of using bombastic guitars trying to do it different texturally while maintaining the intensity of the song.

Buzz – That sounds like a great idea.

Art – I think overall that the record will work. Some songs work better than others.

Buzz – Are you playing some of the songs acoustically now as you tour?

Art – No. Not really. We’re just rocking. I do a couple acoustic songs in the middle of the set, but nothing more than that. That was never really anything I wanted to do. I didn’t want to go out and do an unplugged Everclear thing. We’re kind of an old school rock band.

Buzz – What was your involvement with the 2004 Democratic Convention?

Art – I was a delegate to the 2004 convention. I was an elected delegate. I had to get elected in my district, and it wasn’t that easy. A lot of the old people were like, “I don’t like your hair.” I’d have to go online, or go to their doors, and talk to them about what I wanted to do at the convention.

Buzz – Really? You went door to door?

Art – Yeah, and I got elected. We also played an event for the 2008 convention. I took my teenager to it. We were actually in the arena the day before Obama took his nomination in which they went out to the football field to do that. But we were inside and she heard Obama talk. It was a pretty big deal for a teenage girl. My daughter’s pretty liberal. It was a great experience.

Buzz – Election night was crazy here in Chicago.

Art – Oh man, I wanted to be in Chicago for that. Were you at Grant Park when he won?

Buzz – No. Actually I was about a mile away at a party hosted by Common at the Hard Rock, but the whole city was going nuts. I’m guessing it was like it would be if the Cubs ever won the World Series.

Art – That is so awesome. Really bizarre - to also touch on that note, five or six days later we went to Iraq – with the band. We went to Kuwait and Iraq and we played on the bases. And you talk about an electric energy – have you ever spent much time on a military base?

Buzz – Yeah, I hung out at a military base in Hanau, Germany – not too far from Frankfort – when my aunt was enlisted.

Art – And there are plenty of them out there, too. Believe me – we’ve played them. The thing is, I’ve always been pretty anti-war, especially this war. World War II I would have supported perhaps back then… But this war – the Iraq war – is just a stupid war. I had a radio show – anti-war rallies… and stuff like that. But I’ve always been pro-troops because I feel that regardless of what we think of the war, those aren’t the people making the decisions; those are the people who are doing their jobs. They’re Americans. They’re our people and we have to support them doing something they might not want to do. It’s not really for them to decide. So I’ve always been pro-troop. It was interesting in Iraq, there’s like two classes. There’s the ruling class, which is basically white, and they’re the officer class. And underneath them you have the non-commissioned - the enlisted people, who are primarily black, and they were told not to talk politics, with us especially.

Buzz – Hmmm. That’s interesting.

Art – We had just put out a song called “Jesus was a Democrat”. I can’t believe they even asked us to come, but they did and said it would be really cool if I didn’t talk any politics with anyone. But, boy, people just came up to us after we played and it was so exciting.

Buzz – Did you guys play Jesus was a Democrat”?

Art – We were asked specifically not to play that.

Buzz – Was that kind of scary at all to go to Iraq considering everything that’s going on?

Art – Yeah, it was scary. I mean, to get around in the day, you have to get in Blackhawk helicopters where they have two gunners on the side. You know, like in the movies. A couple of times tracers would go off and we’d be in the helicopter.

Buzz – What’s a tracer?

Art – A tracer is a sensor to detect if there is incoming. So if the computer senses that there is anything incoming, a little tracer rocket, or something, will shoot down in the direction where it is.

Buzz – Ok, that would be pretty scary. Well, the song, “Jesus was a Democratic” – what compelled you to write that? It does make perfect sense.

Art – Doesn’t it though? Doesn’t it seem that if you read what Jesus says, he’s a liberal? It just pissed people off even more to say he was a Democrat. And in this country if you’re a liberal, you’re probably a Democrat. At least that’s my culture.

Buzz – Now you’re still located in Portland, is there much a music scene there?

Art – Yeah, there’s a big music scene. You know what’s really cool, is that there’s this really cool, underground r&b scene. Me and my wife went to see these bands play and it was like an old school r&b review – a smokin’ band. They were bad ass. I was like, “Where did this come from.” Then there’re the obligatory white boy alternative bands. Bands tend to move here. Modest Mouse was here for awhile.

Buzz – Well, to wrap this up I thought I’d ask you if there is a particular Everclear song that exemplifies what you guys are all about.

Art – That’s actually a really unique question. Well, there’s the song “Summerland” and it’s always been a song that I connected with – it’s always been a fan favorite. It’s a song I really like a lot. In fact I was just playing it. I’m starting to warm up my vocals – I haven’t sang for a couple weeks – so I broke out the guitar and started writing songs and stuff. I started playing that song for the first time in a long time – just this morning. It really feels kind of like I always feel – I want to find a better place. I think now, compared to when I first wrote that song, instead of finding a better place, I want to make a better place. Maybe not the whole world, but definitely my world. And right now I’m in a really good place.

For more information on Everclear tour dates and latest news, visit www.everclearonline.com.