By Kevin C. Johnson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch –
ST. LOUIS — Everclear singer Art Alexakis is putting ‘90s radio rock music on a pedestal with his new tour, Summerland.
The tour also features Sugar Ray, Gin Blossoms, Lit and Marcy Playground.
“People have been talking about doing a ‘90s tour for a while, but it never seemed like the right time and it never got together,” says Alexakis, whose band released “Sparkle and Fade” in 1995. “And I heard about bigger bands trying to do it — bands who can tour on their own. But they couldn’t get their egos together.”
With likely fewer egos to check among Everclear, Sugar Ray and Gin Blossoms, Alexakis pulled together the tour. Instead of waiting for someone to call him, he made a call himself in search of a partner in the venture.
“I needed someone with high visibility and energy for days, and the only person I could think of was Mark McGrath,” he says of the Sugar Ray lead singer. “He was totally down with it.”
He says the tour, which is like a rock summer camp for him and the other performers, is something different for fans.
“It’s giving value and giving people what they want,” Alexakis says. “The word of mouth has been huge. We’re bringing something to people that is bigger than any of us, and none of us could do this by ourselves.”
Some may call the tour an attempt at a comeback or something representing the “new nostalgia,” but Alexakis says he doesn’t care.
“It doesn’t offend me at all. There is a certain nostalgia,” he says. “Everclear has a foot in the past and a foot in the future. We’re still doing it. I still got that fire in my belly.”
That fire still burns with the band’s new album “Invisible Stars,” its first in six years. Alexakis says it took a long time to get “Invisible Stars” going because he wasn’t feeling inspired.
“I hadn’t felt compelled to make an album until two years ago,” he says. “Before, I didn’t have a deal or much money sitting around. Now I’ve got something to say.”
“Invisible Stars” shows off Everclear bringing together the old and the new.
“It sounds like old school Everclear but contemporized,” he says. “That’s what I was shooting for.”
Alexakis says he wanted to make a record that demonstrated he is playing by his own rules, no matter the cost.
“That’s indicative of me at 50,” he says. “I’ve been on a roller coaster. I’ve been up and been down, and one thing I know will happen if you’re down is you’ll come back up. This is me, this is my band, and we put our hearts and souls into this.”
