Hey everybody, this is Art Alex Hawkus from the
band Everclear, and you're listening to My Weekly
Mixtape with Brian Colburn. Take a listen. Welcome
to My Weekly Mixtape, a podcast that takes the
classic mixtape approach to building a modern
playlist. I'm your host, Brian Colburn. One of
my favorite aspects of My Weekly Mixtape is speaking
with some of the amazing artists whose songs
have graced my mixtapes and playlists throughout
the years. And I'm excited to continue that tradition
on this episode by welcoming tonight's guest,
Art Alexakis of Everclear. Art, thank you so
much for joining me on My Weekly Mixtape. Thanks,
Brian. Thanks for asking me, man. Sounds cool.
I used to be a killer mixtape maker back in the
day. Well, Art, I'm glad you said that because
I start every episode by asking each guest the
same question. What does the word mixtape mean
to you? Cassettes. Yeah, that's a mixtape. I
mean, now it's a playlist. And I still make playlists
for my wife, but back in the day I'd make mixtapes
for people. But that was really before, you know,
my life became making music all the time. I just...
I don't have the time or the bandwidth to think
of stuff like that. I do, though. I make it for
my daughter, like my 15 -year -old, and even
my eldest daughter, I would do that for her as
well. Well, that's parenting done right. You
think so? Oh, 100%. Anything that I can do to
pass any bit of my musical tastes onto my children
in the next generation, I feel like we're doing
something right. That's right. So I want to start
by talking about an album that we're celebrating
its 30th anniversary this year, World of Noise.
I love the raw aggressiveness that breathes throughout
the entire album. And I'm consistently blown
away by the fact that it was recorded with a
$400 budget. Right. When you listen back to songs
like Your Genius Hands and Fire Maple Song, which
are my two personal favorites from the album,
what does three decades of hindsight and retrospect
for you bring to these songs as well as the album
as a whole? Well, personally, as songs and even
as those master recordings, even though they
were recorded seriously lo -fi, I still think
they're exciting. I still think they're good
songs. They're written by a different guy. They're
written by a guy 31 years ago who's grown a lot
and been through a lot of different stuff and
experimented a lot. And, you know, at that time,
I had never really been in a real studio. I've
been in like some studios, but not. With like
a major label budget behind me, that wasn't going
to happen for another year or two. And when I
listen to Your Genius Hands, I still think that's
a great album opener. And that was the show starter
for years and years and years until So Much for
the Afterglow. And now we start with So Much
for the Afterglow. But every now and then, we'll
break out Your Genius Hands for sure. And we
play Fire Maple song all the time. I just did
a four -show run. And we did it in two of the
shows. And Fire Maple Song is also featured on
Live at the Whiskey A Go -Go, which is the new
live album from the band that is coming out on
Friday, September 8th. Yeah. Now, in 1995, the
band released its major label debut, Sparkle
and Fade, on Columbia Records, and the album
produced classics like Heroin Girl, which Patreon
playlister Mally Hart chimed in with as her go
-to track, Santa Monica, which was the song that
introduced me and countless others to the band,
You Make Me Feel Like a Whore, and Heart Spark
Dollar Sign. Now on this album, the budget was,
I'd say slightly increased versus the $400 for
World of Noise. What was that indie to major
label transition like for you? You know, I think
I weathered it pretty well. I mean, I had a lot
of knowledge. I had a lot of, from doing a lot
of indie stuff over the years and being around
other people who had done it wrong, right? Who
had signed major labels and just. They got cars
and they did this and they did that. And I'm
just like, man, you know, none of this is real
until you make a record that does something.
Then it's real. Because if you make a record,
well, we're going to make, we have a three record
deal. None of you don't. You have one record
and two options. And I was like, these kids didn't,
and these kids were my age. They didn't know
what they were talking about. And when I signed
to Capitol, I read everything. And I made the
lawyer sit there with me, my lawyers, their lawyers,
everybody. We read, oh, that's just boilerplate.
Well, I'm a guitar player, singer. I don't know
what boilerplate is. Yeah, you do. Yeah, I do,
but I don't. Explain to me what this means. You
know, I was kind of a D about it, you know, but
you have to be because it's your, to me, I was
32 years old. It was my one chance. And if I
failed because of me, because I didn't write
the best songs, I didn't get the band to perform
them well enough or whatever, I could live with
that. But because it was someone else, I couldn't
live with that. So I was kind of a jerk about
it, but politely a jerk. But we got it done.
My career at Capitol Records was millions of
records sold, and I got to experience the stuff
I dreamed about. I mean, my dream was to grow
up, play guitars, not even sing in a rock and
roll band, play guitar and have a house, nice
house, not a big house, not be rich. I've never
wanted to be rich and I'm not. So there you go.
And have a family. That was the dream to me because,
yeah, remember, I grew up with a housing project,
single mom, always worried about money, always.
And I just wanted to get one of the best things.
Signing to the label and having success was not
having to worry about paying the damn bills.
You know? Amen. I mean, that's something everybody
can relate to. And it's just like, for a few
years there, I didn't have to worry about it.
It was wonderful. But I'm digressing. It was
just making that transition over there with that
money behind you. The way I likened it, Brian,
was I had a car ready to go. but I didn't really
have an engine. And the major label provided
that with money, expertise, because all the people
that work there know what they're doing. If you
listen to them, that doesn't mean they know more
than you, but they know more than you about what
they do. I didn't argue with people about how
to do marketing. I would tell them how I wanted
the marketing and publicity done, and they'd
run with it. And we were really blessed to have
a great team. In the 90s, in capital under Gary
Gersh and Perry Watts Russell was my N .R. gun.
So I have really just, for want of a better word,
a blessed experience, man. I just, we didn't
mean we didn't knock heads. We did. Of course,
of course. And then, due to the popularity of
Sparkle and Fade, you were able to go back to
the studio and record the two times platinum
So Much for the Afterglow, which spawned anthems
such as the title track that you mentioned you've
opened up every show since, Everything to Everyone,
I Will Buy You a New Life, Father of Mine, and
Amphetamines, which several of the mixtapers
chimed in as one of their personal favorites
across the My Weekly Mixtape social media channels.
Art, did you know you were turning in a truly
special album when you submitted it to the label?
It's hard to define the word special. Did I know
it was going to sell three million records? No.
But I knew that I was giving them everything
that they needed. And they told me that. You've
given us three extremely song singles. You've
given us a great record, great artwork, just
a vision. And we're going to run with it. And
it's funny because there's a story, I don't know
if you've heard this story before, but when I
went in to make the record in late 96 after Sparkle
and Fade, after touring that summer, we went
in and we recorded about 15 songs and I was going
to call the record Pure White Evil. Go figure.
And we recorded some songs up through Christmas
and I wrote some more songs over the holidays.
In January, late December, early January, I recorded
a new song I had written called I Will Buy You
a New Life. And we finished that song. We went
in to mix it in January in New York, and I'd
used the same mixer, Brian Maloof, who had mixed
Sparkle and Fade. And back then, there was no
way to get stuff quickly to people except for
ISDN. Do you remember ISDN? Yes, I do. Yes, from
radio, for sure. So we had to get an ISDN line
from Electric Ladies. to my A &R guy, and I played
a line for him, and he listened to it. Perry,
he's a British guy, and he's like, Arthur, I'm
not going to try to do this action. He goes,
Arthur, this is a good album. It's not great.
There's songs on it that could be great, but
they're not great. What? And this record is not
going to do what you want it to do. Wow. it kind
of kicked my ass you know and I'm grateful to
him because that was his job and my wife at the
time had flown out to be with me and I just like
she went home when I stayed in New York for two
weeks and just walked around kind of like blind
and dumb and just walked around kind of in shock
for a couple days and a movie called Jerry Maguire
had just come out and I went and saw that movie
like Eight times, right? And there was a song
in it. I didn't know at the time, but one of
my favorite guys in the world, but I couldn't
tell who it was, Bruce Springsteen, Secret Garden.
And that song, for some reason, just hit me really
hard. And I went back and I wrote a song called
Song from an American Movie. And even though
that was going to be on the next record, I just
started writing songs. And I got two notebooks
from the drugstore. I got a notebook to write
songs in. And I got a notebook to make notes
on what I was going to do, like different production
things I was going to do. And some songs were
like, just get rid of them. Not going to make
the record. Some songs were like, re -record
the drums. Some songs, re -record everything.
Some songs were like, add keyboard. Add some
sort of bell -like sound here. Do this. I went
through everything. Two weeks. I stayed there
for two weeks. made all these notes, got on a
conference call with everybody, my A &R guy,
management, all the guys in the band. I'm like,
this is what we're going to do. We're going to
go into this studio. I need you to book this
studio for this time. I want Andy Wallace to
mix it. Please call him, see if he'll mix it
and what his schedule is, this and that and this
and this. And that was it. And we did all that.
I had like this. It looked like the Debussy Scrolls.
It was like, this is what we're going to do.
And we did all that stuff. And I added some new
stuff as time went on. So when I handed that
in with the artwork, Perry's like, well, the
first song's too punk rock. And even with that
Beach Boys intro, I think people are going to
think there's no changes. I'm like, look, and
here's a list. Here's a, here's a, here's a.
a list of how I we think the song should go on
the record and I go oh great can I have that
I go you didn't even read it I go no I have creative
control this record is the best it can be leave
it alone don't f with it leave it alone and yeah
so I did feel like I was giving them something
that was that had hit all their benchmarks of
what they wanted and Get everything inside me
creatively for what I wanted. I couldn't make
that record any better. And I got to say, that
record and the record after it, Songs from American
Movie, are two albums that have very little or
no cringe factor, meaning you listen back and
go, we should have done that differently. I don't
have any of that with those records. Not really.
A little bit with Sparkle and Fade. That's like
sacrilege to some people, man. Some people are
like, that's it. Leave it alone. That's a masterpiece.
I go, nah, it's my work. I can decide what it
is. No, they'll argue with me all day about it.
And I love the passion, man. People that have
that kind of passion for what you do, how wonderful
is that? It's amazing. It's amazing. When people
love music, man, that's all that needs to be
said. It's love. Now you mentioned this song
just a moment ago, but when you're following
up an album like Afterglow, I'm sure you're aware
it's no easy feat. But the band did that in what
I would call epic fashion, releasing two albums
in one year, 2000's Songs from an American Movie
Volume 1, Learning How to Smile, along with Volume
2, Good Time for a Bad Attitude. Now between
those two albums, fans were treated to songs
like AM Radio, Wonderful, Your Incredible cover
of Van Morrison's Brown Eyed Girl, When It All
Goes Wrong Again, which Patreon mixtaper David
Owens chimed in with as his go -to track, and
Unemployed Boyfriend, which Patreon playlister
Cactus Pete chimed in with as his go -to track.
Can you talk about the mindset behind releasing
two albums in one year versus maybe releasing
a Songs from an American Movie double album?
Was that you? Was that the label? It wasn't the
labels at all. They didn't want to do that. Originally,
I pitched it to them saying, and pitched it to
them. I told them, I'm going to give you a double
album. And they're like, as long as it's got
two to three singles on it that we can sell,
great. And I'm like, I will give you that. I
don't write singles, but I'll keep writing songs
and recording them until I feel like you have
singles. And then when you agree, we'll move
forward. That's fair. I don't mind doing that.
I never wrote songs to be singles. That's creepy.
That's like trying to produce product instead
of making music. Right. And it does become product.
That's fine. Once you give it to the label, it's
product. But that means when I give it to them,
when an artist gives it to them, you got to feel
100 % about everything about it from the artwork,
credits, everything on down the line that you
feel like it represents you artistically. And
I used to think that rock and roll people that
call themselves artists were pretentious. It's
not. I was wrong. Creating something from nothing
is art. It's maybe not higher. It's probably
not Rodin, you know, doing the thinker. But it's
art that has lived for me for 30 years plus,
and it's still going strong. We're playing the
war, people. We have more people online. We're
getting more downloads than ever. There's like
a 90s thing going on, but there's also an Everclear
resurgence right now. That's really interesting
considering I'm 60 years old with gray hair.
I know people are like, he's bald. Not bald,
just gray. My father doesn't even refer to it
as gray. He just calls it going chrome in car
terms. Now, since I mentioned earlier your cover
of Brown Eyed Girl and being a massive fan of
cover songs, there's an artist that you have
covered not once but twice in your career. And
that is my favorite artist of all time, Tom Petty.
Right. In 1994, on the You Got Lucky, a tribute
to Tom Petty compilation, you released a cover
of American Girl. And in 2011, you covered I
Won't Back Down for the Return to Santa Monica
release. So I'd be remiss if I didn't ask. What
does Tom Petty's music mean to you as a fellow
musician and artist? Well, I've always put Tom
Petty on a pedestal. Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty,
to a lesser degree for me, John Cougar, Mellencap,
Coog, as they call them. These are American rock
and roll singer -songwriters. And they all derive
from Dylan and, to a certain extent, Van Morrison
and different people. But what Tom brought...
was more rock and roll. And there was almost
like new wavy punk edge to his early stuff where
it was unapologetically rock and roll. It didn't
sound like the cool new wave stuff coming out
of the UK. It didn't sound like the stuff coming
out of Hollywood. And it was hugely successful
because I believe that good rock and roll, and
if you ask me to define Everclear, I've always
said it. We're a hard rock and roll band. Call
us alternative if you want. If that sells it
for you, that's fine. I don't know what we're
alternative to when you listen to bands that
are truly alternative. We're a rock and roll
band. Tom Petty brought lyrics, an American voice,
and just a sense of himself and the world around
him, as did Bruce Springsteen before him and
while he was doing it. Yeah, those two guys are
very big for me, influential bots. Well, I want
to pivot now to my personal favorite Everclear
song because this show is something that is special
to me. And this is a song that might be considered
a deeper cut to people, but I've always wanted
to ask you about it. And it's the song The Drama
King from 2006's Welcome to the Drama Club. Just
hits me to my core. And I'd love to hear the
story behind this one because it means so much
to me. And you did go deep. I thought you were
going to say learning how to smile. You went
deep. You know, it's funny. I listened to that
album the other day just out of nowhere. It came
up in my playlist. And I'm like, I listened to
it. That's a good record. I don't know that in
hindsight it should have been an Everclear record.
I think it probably should have been a solo record.
Because those songs are really personal. I was
going through a divorce. And even though... I
have 34 years of sobriety and I haven't drank
or used drugs for 34 years. In the program, a
lot of times we'll say someone's tri -drunk,
which means they're not using or drinking, but
they're not working their program and they're
acting in alcoholic behavior. And I've gone in
and out of that over the years. The last four
years, my program is strong and wonderful and
I've done the steps again. I'm just... I'm doing
really well right now. But at the time, I had
just started. I got a sponsor again because I
went through this breakup and emotional issues
and stuff like that. So I was really present
when I wrote the songs on that record about amends,
about my part in it instead of assigning blame
to people. So that's an intense, lyrically intense
record. Yes, very much so. To me, it's kind of
like... You just need to listen to it once or
twice, and then you're good. Kind of like Schindler's
List. Fantastic movie. Saw it. Don't really feel
the need to see it again, you know? I probably
will every 10, 15. No, I think I've watched it
again. I watched it with my daughter, and she's
like, that's wonderful. Man, that's amazing,
Daddy. She's crying. She goes, can we never watch
that again? I go, absolutely. That's my kid.
But Drama King is just basically from, The perspective
of my breakup that I was going through and other
breakups I've known, a lot of times things were
autobiographical, and this was kind of that,
not really 100%, but it was also a lot of times
I'll make amalgams and composites of characters
that are me from different experiences and put
them together. So a third of my songs were probably
autobiographical, 100 % like Father of Mine,
I'll Buy You a New Life, stuff like that. And
then I think another 30 % are those, are the
composites. And then another 30%, I just write
songs. Just write songs. Well, out of all of
those songs, if you had to sum up your musical
legacy in three Everclear songs, which ones would
you choose? I don't know. Definitely Santa Monica.
Definitely Santa Monica. But I could do three
songs a record. I don't know if I could do three
songs for the whole career. I could definitely
do three songs a record. Learning How to Smile,
I think, is one of my best songs I've ever written,
ever produced. I think that came out. We just
started playing that live again. So if you see
us in the fall, we've got a fall tour with the
Ataris and Pink Spiders. It's going to be a great
tour. It starts in... september 6th and we got
a double live album coming out yes september
8th called live at the whiskey a go -go i actually
kind of wanted to name it double live at the
whiskey a go -go because growing up in the 70s
and 80s all the cool bands put out double live
record yes and we're putting out final man it's
gonna be cool super cool vinyl cds and electronic
i don't think we're doing cassettes i hope i
don't think i don't know i don't know that's
up to the label but um Let's see, one more song.
I'm getting off of Drama Club. I really like
a song on that record called Under the Western
Stars. Oh, yeah. I was going to name that record
Western Stars. That was the working title. You
can see it on the tapes that the working title
of that record is Western Stars. And then I changed
it to It Became So Personal. Welcome to the Drama
Club was the right name for it. But then Bruce
Springsteen came out with a record a few years
ago called Western Stars. Coincidence? Totally.
It's totally coincidence. He's going to take
something from me. Third song. What would your
three songs be? Oh, my three, going down the
list, I'd have to go with Santa Monica, the Drama
King, because we talked about it. And third,
I'm actually going to go with Be Careful What
You Ask For from Invisible Stars. Wow. Okay.
Okay. That's a good one. Yeah. I didn't even
think about the later records. I mean, I think
there's some great songs on Black is the New
Black. Oh, I absolutely love that album. Probably
the band's most hard rock album to date. The
Man Who Broke His Own Heart really just hits
the nail right on the head for me. Yeah. Yeah.
You, the song You, but that's so personal. I
mean, I've never played that live. That's about
me getting raped when I was eight. Pretty 100
% autobiographical. I don't think I'll ever play
it live. Understandably, of course. I don't,
you know, it's there. You want to listen to it,
listen to it. I think the version came out great.
Yes. Recorded. But yeah, I mean, let me pick
a third song. I don't know. Man That Broke His
Own Heart is a pretty good song. I'd go with
that. One I can definitely agree with. It's hard,
man. It's hard to choose between your babies.
I don't know if you have kids, but. I do. Two
girls. There you go. Which one's your favorite?
I'm sorry. You're breaking up art. See, and everybody
kind of has a favorite, but you'll never tell.
You'll never say it. Never in my lifetime. That's
for sure. Art. I know you're pressed for time.
I know you've got other interviews to do. So
I thank you so much for taking the time to speak
with me here tonight on my weekly mixtape. See
you later. Remember to connect with My Weekly
Mixtape on social media at My Weekly Mixtape.
You can also head to myweeklymixtape .com to
hear all the music we've discussed in tonight's
episode via the playlist embedded on the episode
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myweeklymixtape. That's all for this week. Thanks
again for listening. Until next time, enjoy the
tunes.