Biography
Art Alexakis handled vocals, guitar, and songwriting duties for Everclear while composing multiple late-1990s alt-radio successes including “Santa Monica,” “Everything to Everyone,” and “Father of Mine.” Before music became his focus, however, his background featured profound instability marked by a difficult upbringing and years of intense drug dependency.
Arthur Paul Alexakis entered the world on April 12, 1962, in West Los Angeles as the youngest of five siblings; his mother raised the children after his father departed when Alexakis was five. The family later moved into a Culver City housing project, where hardship persisted. Seeking relief from domestic strain, he began using drugs early, yet at age twelve his older brother succumbed to a heroin overdose. Rather than prompting him to stop, the loss drove Alexakis deeper into substance abuse; he also watched a girlfriend die from the same cause and attempted suicide soon after his brother’s death.
Throughout his teenage years further legal troubles led to periods in juvenile hall and jail. During this stretch he acquired a guitar, though drugs still dominated his priorities. A 1984 overdose at age twenty-two nearly proved fatal and finally prompted him to quit drugs, cigarettes, and alcohol permanently. With those burdens removed, Alexakis immersed himself in music through local outfits such as Easy Hoes and Shakin’ Brave while also working as a road manager and driver for other acts. Concurrently he studied film at Santa Monica College and UCLA, training he would later apply when directing several Everclear videos.
Relocating to San Francisco in 1987, he launched the independent Shindig Records label, distributed through Rough Trade. Although his tastes leaned toward hard rock, the imprint concentrated on country-rock releases and ultimately folded. Around the same period Alexakis joined the alt-country group Colorfinger, which issued one album, 1990’s Deep in the Heart of the Beast in the Sun; several of its tracks were later reworked by Everclear, among them “Heartspark Dollarsign,” “The Twistinside,” and “Why I Don’t Believe in God.” Despite local traction in San Francisco, Colorfinger disbanded, prompting Alexakis to move again—this time to Portland, Oregon. Inspired by the Pixies and the mainstream breakthrough of alternative rock via Nirvana and Pearl Jam, he placed a newspaper ad seeking musicians and recruited bassist Craig Montoya and drummer Scott Cuthbert, thereby forming Everclear. The trio cut a low-budget 1992 demo, World of Noise, issued as the band’s debut album the following year.
Nineteen ninety-four proved decisive: Cuthbert was replaced by Greg Eklund and Everclear signed with Capitol Records. Two subsequent releases, 1995’s Sparkle and Fade and 1997’s So Much for the Afterglow, established the band among alt-rock’s leading acts. While Everclear’s profile solidified, Alexakis pursued additional ventures in the late 1990s, among them producing Frogpond’s Count to Ten, sharing a 25th-anniversary stage with childhood heroes Cheap Trick (later documented on the 2001 CD/DVD Silver), and testifying before Congress in support of the Hyde-Woolsey Child Support Bill.
During a late-1990s touring hiatus Alexakis began material intended for a solo debut, yet once the other Everclear members participated the project evolved into the band album Songs from an American Movie, Vol. 1: Learning How to Smile. Four months later they delivered the follow-up Songs from an American Movie, Vol. 2: Good Time for a Bad Attitude.
In 2002 Alexakis created Popularity Records as an Artemis subsidiary, producing the debut release by its first signee, Flipp, before the imprint closed in 2003. Another project initially conceived as a solo effort instead became a full Everclear album. Slow Motion Daydream arrived in March 2003 as the band’s final new Capitol release; they concluded their contract with 2004’s Ten Years Gone: The Best of Everclear 1994-2004. Adding guitarist Dave French, the group moved to Eleven Seven for 2006’s Welcome to the Drama Club and then to 429 for 2009’s In a Different Light. A 2011 Cleopatra collection, Return to Santa Monica, featured re-recorded hits, after which the band shifted to eOne for 2012’s Invisible Stars.
Black Is the New Black appeared on The End Records in 2015. Alexakis released his first proper solo album, Sun Songs, in 2019.
Arthur Paul Alexakis entered the world on April 12, 1962, in West Los Angeles as the youngest of five siblings; his mother raised the children after his father departed when Alexakis was five. The family later moved into a Culver City housing project, where hardship persisted. Seeking relief from domestic strain, he began using drugs early, yet at age twelve his older brother succumbed to a heroin overdose. Rather than prompting him to stop, the loss drove Alexakis deeper into substance abuse; he also watched a girlfriend die from the same cause and attempted suicide soon after his brother’s death.
Throughout his teenage years further legal troubles led to periods in juvenile hall and jail. During this stretch he acquired a guitar, though drugs still dominated his priorities. A 1984 overdose at age twenty-two nearly proved fatal and finally prompted him to quit drugs, cigarettes, and alcohol permanently. With those burdens removed, Alexakis immersed himself in music through local outfits such as Easy Hoes and Shakin’ Brave while also working as a road manager and driver for other acts. Concurrently he studied film at Santa Monica College and UCLA, training he would later apply when directing several Everclear videos.
Relocating to San Francisco in 1987, he launched the independent Shindig Records label, distributed through Rough Trade. Although his tastes leaned toward hard rock, the imprint concentrated on country-rock releases and ultimately folded. Around the same period Alexakis joined the alt-country group Colorfinger, which issued one album, 1990’s Deep in the Heart of the Beast in the Sun; several of its tracks were later reworked by Everclear, among them “Heartspark Dollarsign,” “The Twistinside,” and “Why I Don’t Believe in God.” Despite local traction in San Francisco, Colorfinger disbanded, prompting Alexakis to move again—this time to Portland, Oregon. Inspired by the Pixies and the mainstream breakthrough of alternative rock via Nirvana and Pearl Jam, he placed a newspaper ad seeking musicians and recruited bassist Craig Montoya and drummer Scott Cuthbert, thereby forming Everclear. The trio cut a low-budget 1992 demo, World of Noise, issued as the band’s debut album the following year.
Nineteen ninety-four proved decisive: Cuthbert was replaced by Greg Eklund and Everclear signed with Capitol Records. Two subsequent releases, 1995’s Sparkle and Fade and 1997’s So Much for the Afterglow, established the band among alt-rock’s leading acts. While Everclear’s profile solidified, Alexakis pursued additional ventures in the late 1990s, among them producing Frogpond’s Count to Ten, sharing a 25th-anniversary stage with childhood heroes Cheap Trick (later documented on the 2001 CD/DVD Silver), and testifying before Congress in support of the Hyde-Woolsey Child Support Bill.
During a late-1990s touring hiatus Alexakis began material intended for a solo debut, yet once the other Everclear members participated the project evolved into the band album Songs from an American Movie, Vol. 1: Learning How to Smile. Four months later they delivered the follow-up Songs from an American Movie, Vol. 2: Good Time for a Bad Attitude.
In 2002 Alexakis created Popularity Records as an Artemis subsidiary, producing the debut release by its first signee, Flipp, before the imprint closed in 2003. Another project initially conceived as a solo effort instead became a full Everclear album. Slow Motion Daydream arrived in March 2003 as the band’s final new Capitol release; they concluded their contract with 2004’s Ten Years Gone: The Best of Everclear 1994-2004. Adding guitarist Dave French, the group moved to Eleven Seven for 2006’s Welcome to the Drama Club and then to 429 for 2009’s In a Different Light. A 2011 Cleopatra collection, Return to Santa Monica, featured re-recorded hits, after which the band shifted to eOne for 2012’s Invisible Stars.
Black Is the New Black appeared on The End Records in 2015. Alexakis released his first proper solo album, Sun Songs, in 2019.
Albums
Singles
