THE ART OF
Band set to sparkle at Sokol
Duffy’s Tavern, 1412 O St
Monday: new band night
Thursday: live karaoke with
Shithook
Duggan’s Pub, 440 S. 11th St
Monday: open stage with
Dangerous Dan
Tuesday: St Patrick’s Party with
Giles Kirk and Kiltie Band
Wednesday: Rhythm Method
Thursday-Friday: Travis Wagner
Kimball Recital Hall, 11th and
R streets
Tuesday: Moran Woodwind
Quintet
Wednesday: University Chorale
Invitational for Women’s
Choruses
Knickerbockers, 9010 St
Wednesday: (19 & over show)
Apparition and Denison Band
Lied Center for Performing
Arts, 301^12* St
Thursday: Jon Nakamatsu, Van
Clibum International Piano Gold
Medal Winner
The Zoo Bar, 136 N. 14th St
Monday: Chris Duarte Group
Tuesday: Slim Dunlap
Wednesday: The Atoll
Thursday: Boss Philly
Friday: The Grateful Dudes
Studio Theatre, Temple
Budding, 12th and R streets
Tuesday-Saturday: the UNL
Theater Department presents
“Doctor Faustus”
Gallery of the Department of
Art and Art History, 102
Richards Hall
Thursday: Annual Undergraduate
Art Exhibition closes
Great Plains Art Gallery, 205
Love Library
Monday: “Reflections on Life
and Well Being: Drawings by
Elizabeth Layton” exhibition
opens
The Week in Preview runs
Mondays in the Daily Nebraskan
and is compiled by members of
the arts and entertainment staff.
Send all listings to The Week in
Preview c/o Daily Nebraskan,
Nebraska Union 34, 1400 R St.
Lincoln, NE 68588-0448
---:___ll_l
By Jim Zavodny
Staff Reporter
Pop/punk trio Everclear is
preparing to invade Nebraska for the
first time this Wednesday, and Art
Alexakis is planning a rowdy per
formance.
“(Nebraska) is a place that I’ve
been wanting to come to,” Alexakis
said. “But before the success of
‘Sparkle and Fade’ and the song
‘Santa Monica,’ there really wasn’t
an interest to play here, not at the
indie level and not before we signed
with Capitol.”
Originally scheduled to take
place at the Ranch Bowl in Omaha,
Everclear’s show moved to Sokol
Hall, which is a much larger venue,
after the Ranch Bowl show sold out.
“I wanted to move the show to a
larger venue so more people could
see it,” Alexakis said. “(Sokol) is the
perfect size, I like the 1,400- to
1,500-sized venues, and I’m look
ing forward to it. It’s going to be
fun.”
Everclear’s current headline tour
of the United States includes the
bands Jimmie’s Chicken Shack and
Feeder, both of whom Alexakis had
spirited words for.
“We’ve had sell-outs every
where, and it’s been a lot of fun,” he
said. “Jimmie’s is kind of a rock ’n’
jam band, and Feeder is just an
amazing power-pop band from
England. I think they’re great.”
“So Much For The Afterglow,”
Fvprrlpar’c latpst rplpacp onrl
album since they formed in 1992,
has much more of a pop feel to it
than their other two punk inspired
releases, 1993’s “World of Noise”
and 1995’s “Sparkle and Fade.”
Alexakis, who will turn 36 in
April, said younger kids would have
a hard time with “Afterglow”
because it’s more poppy. But, he
said, he doesn’t write music for ,
teenagers. 4 .. ... j
“1 think this is a much better
record because it’s a more diverse v?
record. But the whole point is '
that ‘Sparkle and Fade’ was a ^
more diverse record than ‘World
of Noise,’ and the next record is
going to be even different than
this record,” Alexakis said.
“I don’t want to do the same
thing over and over again, that’s
boring.”
Alexakis thinks the song
writing on “Afterglow” is much
better lyrically than the group’s
previous albums. The backing j
vocals on “Afterglow” were A
something the band worked hard |
on during the recording of the i|
album, he said. |1
“I love vocals as an instru- 'm
ment, and I ended up pushing
the boys to do it,” Alexakis said, if
“1 told them that we were going Jy
to throw down on this record .
and really work on it. And things
have come a long way.”
IN THE MIX
Everclear’s lineup - which
includes bassist Craig Montoya and
drummer Greg Eklund - was recent
Cf ovi't zfnim
ii:
ly supplemented with the addition
of guitarist Steven Birch.
But any rumors of Everclear
becoming a four-piece band are
greatly exaggerated, Alexakis said.
“We’re not a four-piece, we have
a touring guitar player to help fill
out the sound live and let me con
centrate more on being a front guy
and singing,” he said.
“We also have a percussionist
playing with us ’cause on the record
we use loops and samples and a
lot of percussion, but we
didn’t want to play
with machinery '
on stage.” ;; ''.^0*
Along
with
writing
Everclear’s songs and helping direct
the band’s business affair^Alexakis
has produced every Everclear
album.
“(I produce Everclear’s albums)
because it works. Why f**k with it if
it’s not broke?” he said. “It would be
nice to see what someone else can
bring to the table, but it seems, even
in videos, to work better when I am
very involved with it.
I just want to get it right. I don’t
care who gets it right. I don’t care
about the ego aspect of it. I
just .want to get it
■*&; right.”
And for
Alexakis, part
of getting
things right
with
Everclear
involved
kicking out
the group’s
former drum
mer, Scott
$ Cuthbert.
Cuthbert,
who
Matt Haney/DN
played on “World of Noise,” was
asked to leave the band in 1994.
“’World of Noise’ is basically
Craig and I telling Scott what to play
’cause Scott had no idea what the
hell he was doing, and he was very
inconsistent,” Alexakis said. “He
could never play the same thing
twice, and he had real bad emotion
al problems and a problem with
marijuana to the point of addiction.
And he couldn’t function really, but
now he’s doing really well.”
Shortly after Cuthbert’s depar
ture, Eklund and the remaining
bandmates hooked up; and, with
their new drummer in hand,
Everclear prepared to take over the
world. They signed a major label
deal with Capitol Records in June
1994, released their platinum-sell
ing album “Sparkle and Fade” in
May of 1995, and the rest is history.
LIFE LESSONS
Over this same period of time,
Alexakis quit drugs, got married
and witnessed the birth of his
daughter. He said these things
affected not only his lifestyle, but
his music and lyrics.
“All of those are just a phase of
growing up,” Alexakis said. “I’ve
been married twice, and the more
life you live, the more experiences
you have to draw from.”
Alexakis has plenty of material
he could pull from his life and
include in his lyrics, but he said
there were only three autobiograph
ical songs on the new record:
“Father of Mine,” “Why I Don’t
d»i:_i at11 n_
AJV11VTV XU VIUU UUU X TT 111 LIUJ
You a New Life.”
“I think for the most part, those
songs are things taken from my life,
but I wouldn’t put them on the
record if I didn’t think they were
universal themes that other people
could relate to,” Alexakis said.
While “Father of Mine” is about
Alexakis’ own father, “Why I Don’t
Believe In God” concerns finding
out about things as he got older and
learning to perceive things that he
learned as a child as an adult and
learning to make that change,
Alexakis said. -
STf “I believe in God. I just
I don’t believe in religion,”
he said. “I didn’t need it
forced down my throat,
and that’s kind of what it’s
like growing up with a
religious mom.”
Most of the record is
about relationships, .
Alexakis said, whether
they are boy-girl relation
ships, parental relation
ships, relationships with
the world outside or rela
tionships with one’s self.
“I’m really proud of
the record the more I listen
to it now, and I haven’t lis
tened to it for awhile until
recently,” he said. “But I’m
proud of it; it turned out
good.”
Everclear’s concert at Sokol
Hall in Omaha begins at 7 p.m.
Wednesday. Tickets for the all-ages
show are sold out.