Art Alexakis, lead singer of rock band Everclear, has been living with multiple sclerosis for several years, taking meds to slow its progression since the diagnosis in 2016. The good news: to date, he has been able to tour and perform without serious issues.
“I have a very special thing that I’ve achieved in my life,” said Alexakis, who spoke to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in advance of his band’s appearance at Fayetteville Amphitheater on Saturday, Aug. 19. (Tickets are available starting at $25 at freshtix.com.) “I don’t take it for granted. It’s wonderful.”
Despite the rigors of hitting the road at age 61, he said “touring keeps me going cognitively and physically. It’s a good situation. I have a friend who’s a quadriplegic and he does all this stuff, paints, cooks. He’s amazing. When I see that guy and people like that, I just shut up and go about my day.”
His band’s catchy pop-rock blend was a staple on alterative rock station 99X in Atlanta in the 1990s and early 2000s with hits like “Santa Monica,” “Wonderful,” “I Will Buy You a New Life” and “Father of Mine.”
“I am grateful for those songs,” said Alexakis. “I get very frustrated with bands that don’t play their hits. I think that’s arrogant, elitist and lazy. That being said, the perspective changes as time goes on. We’re not the same guys we were in our 30s. The words mean different things for me now.”
At the same time, he added, “I still feel like I can get into the character of those songs to communicate them. My songs aren’t songs you can phone in. I concentrate on singing it, emoting it. I love our music. I love the way the crowds respond to them.”
When told about the recent revival of 99X, he sighed: “It hurts my ego to say that they are now an oldies station. Or let’s call it classic.”
Next month, his band is releasing a double live album taped last year at the Whisky a Go Go in Los Angeles. “That’s what cool bands were doing when I was growing up,” he said, citing Ted Nugent and Kiss.
“We sound much harder live than on record,” Alexakis said. “Always have been.”
Before Everclear was even a thing, Alexakis said he was an alcoholic. He stopped drinking in 1989 and has stayed sober since. But he said during the 1990s into the 2000s, he was a “dry drunk.”
“I didn’t always act sober,” he said. “I’ve been married four times. It’s not a [expletive] accident. I was not a good husband. Thank God I figured it out with my current wife of 19 years. It’s been awesome.”
They have a teen daughter Anabella Rose who he said is “killing it in high school. She’s dating a metal guy. He’s a shredder, a guitar player, and a drummer.” But his read on the dude? “He’s pretty harmless.”
Alexakis said he is open discussing the subject of sex with her and her boyfriend. “My whole rap is I know what you want. I get it. I want the same thing at 61. You just can’t have it here,” he said.
When Alexakis was 15 or 16, he took drugs, drank beer and had sex with older women. “It was,” he said, “a different world.”
IF YOU GO
Everclear
7 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 19. $25-$100, Fayetteville Amphitheater, 301 LaFayette Ave., Fayetteville. freshtix.com
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