Meanwhile, Alexakis became a major alternative media figure, even reporting from the 1996 political conventions for MTV. Alternative radio outlet lent their support to the singles “Santa Monica” and “Heroin Girl,” and the album eventually rose to platinum status. Their second album, Sparkle and Fade, appeared in 1995 and attracted a much wider audience. Throughout the following year, the group toured relentlessly and underwent several key changes, replacing Cuthbert with Greg Eklund (born April 18, 1970) and signing to Capitol Records in June. Alexakis grew frustrated with the company’s lack of promotion, so he hired an independent promoter to push the EP and personally mailed copies to media outlets and distributors.Įverclear then added several songs to the EP, retitled it World of Noise, and issued the expanded package in 1993 on Fire Records. In 1992, he met Craig Montoya (born September 14, 1970) and Everclear’s first drummer, Scott Cuthbert the trio recorded a demo EP for $400 and released the disc on Portland’s Tim/Kerr label. The band subsequently imploded, and Alexakis moved to his girlfriend’s hometown of Portland, Oregon. The group released one LP on Alexakis‘ own Shindig label, but the album (and an EP) went out of print after distributor Rough Trade folded. The dual deaths of his brother and girlfriend (his brother by heroin overdose his girlfriend by suicide) convinced him to kick his own cocaine habit in the mid-’80s, and he later formed a country-punk band named Colorfinger in San Francisco. His father left the family during Alexakis‘ childhood, an incident that would later pepper many of Everclear’s most popular songs. Also instrumental to Everclear’s success was the group’s obsessive touring schedule and aggressive self-promotion tactics.Īrt Alexakis (born April 12, 1962, West Los Angeles, California) was raised in a lower-middle-class household by his single mother. Everclear’s sound reflected the rock, post-punk, and singer/songwriter influences of frontman Alexakis, including acts like X, the Replacements, the Pixies, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, and Elvis Costello. Though Everclear‘s Northwestern grunge-punk style was hardly revolutionary when the band rose to popularity in 1995, the trio’s hook-ridden songs and Art Alexakis‘ “us against them” lyrics were taken to heart by bored Gen-X teens. The band recently finished their best selling tour in 15 years, The Dead Letter Tour, with support from Local H. The latter reflects Soul Asylum’s usual eclectic approach: thrashing songs indebted to punk (“Hopped Up Feelin'”) and classic rock (“Got It Pretty Good”), folk-influenced pop-rock (“Silly Things”), and gorgeous jangle-pop (lead single “If I Told You”). In the ensuing decades, the band-which also includes drummer Michael Bland, lead guitarist Ryan Smith and bassist Winston Roye-has released a steady stream of albums, including 2020’s Hurry Up And Wait, their highest charting album in 25 years. That album spawned several international hits, including “Runaway Train,” which won a Grammy Award for Best Rock Song, and “Black Gold,” and made Soul Asylum alternative radio and MTV staples. The band entered the major-label mainstream with 1988’s Hang Time and its 1990 follow-up, And the Horse They Rode In On, before achieving a commercial breakthrough with 1992’s triple platinum Grave Dancers Union. Soul Asylum initially formed in the early ’80s under the name Loud Fast Rules when vocalist/guitarist Dave Pirner was still in high school with friends Dan Murphy and Karl Mueller, and became part of the celebrated Minneapolis local music scene alongside fellow indie bands the Replacements and Hüsker Dü. Tickets are now available for Soul Asylum & Everclear at Rescue Rooms!! SOUL ASYLUM
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