he says he wants to live the kind of life that will make the folks back home all bitch and whine

AP(alternative press) Magazine: 138 January 00

Everclear

Album Titles: Learning How To Smile [and a second as-yet-untitled album]

Release Dates: April 2000 and late summer, respectively, on Capitol

What Can We Expect? A lot. After a tumultuous year marked by his second divorce, major throat surgery and two concert-related lawsuits, Everclear's Art Alexakis is diving head first into his craft. Workaholism's a great coping mechanism, but aren't two discs a bit too much? "We're schizophrenic," admits Alexakis. "Theres a dichotomy between the pop and rock in this group, and that's why we're putting out two records." Alexakis characterizes the material on the first disc, which was initially designed for a solo project, as a "very pop/R&B-leaning thing. More groove, more loops, more breakbeats-but still rock. It sounds like stuff you'd hear on AM radio in the '70s. It has a Cheap Trick feel to it. It's less intense, and more uplifting than anything I've done before. I say that, but the lyrics I'm writing are coming out heavy, as always. I try writing light-hearted lyrics, but that's not what I do." The second installment, which the pensive frontman is producing in his basement studio, along with Learning How To Smile, promises to be "Zeppelin meets Chemical Brothers," according to Alexakis. "Just a big rock record, but it doesn't sound like Limp Bizkit." Not that theres anything wrong with that.