A. BAND INFO AND HISTORY

A1. Who is in Everclear?

Everclear is:

• Art Alexakis (Vocals, Guitar)
• Craig Montoya (Bass, Vocals)
• Greg Eklund (Drums, Vocals)

A2. How did the band form?

In 1992, after moving to Portland, Art placed an ad in a local newspaper. The ad garnered two responses, one from bass player Craig Montoya, and one from drummer Scott Cuthbert. In fact, their first practice as Everclear was four days after the birth of Art's daughter, Anna. They recorded their World of Noise demo for $400 as a tape to give to clubs to get gigs. It later became their 1993 debut album.

In 1994, Scott Cuthbert was dismissed from the band. Local drummer Greg Eklund had wanted to join the band for a while. He eventually got a hold of Art's telephone number, and called him up. The band held an informal audition, leaving out any mention of Capitol Records' interest in the band. Having passed the audition, Greg joined Everclear.

In 1995, they released Sparkle and Fade, followed by So Much for the Afterglow in October of 1997.

A3. What bands were the members in prior to Everclear?

Alexakis, while in Los Angeles, led a band called Shakin' Brave. Later, after moving to San Francisco, he started cow-punk band known as the Easy Hoes. The Easy Hoes released one cassette, called Tragic Songs of Life, in 1989 on Shindig Records.

A 1990 solo project turned into the alternative/country band Colorfinger. Colorfinger released one full length album, Deep In the Heart of the Beast in the Sun, and one demo EP on Alexakis' own Shindig label.

When Shindig's distributor Rough Trade went bankrupt, Shindig soon followed, and no Colorfinger or Easy Hoes material is currently in print. In fact, Art himself has been unable to obtain a copy of the Deep in the Heart CD - Shindig sold every copy they had. Soon after Shindig closed, Colorfinger also disbanded, prompting Alexakis to move to his girlfriend's hometown of Portland where they subsequently married and had a daughter.

Montoya, previously residing in Spokane, Washington, played with a band called Soul Hammer. Soul Hammer relocated to Portland but then disbanded. Montoya then teamed with Alexakis to form the first version of Everclear, which included Scott Cuthbert. Soul Hammer released no albums.

Eklund, previously residing in Eugene, Oregon, played with a band called Jollymon. He left Jollymon to move to Portland after the release of the album "Sailing" on Elemental Records in 1993. Following a short stint with a band called Nero's Rome, Eklund joined Everclear after Cuthbert was dismissed.

A4. How can I reach Everclear?

Everclear can be reached at Art Alexakis' personal mailbox:

Everclear
P.O. Box 15055
Portland, OR 97215

A5. Is there an official fan club?

Sort of.

In late 1997, Everclear organized an official fan club through Liberty Lyle Productions, a company that maintained official fan clubs for several bands, including Orbit and Garbage.

However, in recent days, the band has expressed displeasure with the operation. The Fan Club has been unwilling or unable to update the band's "official" web page with any regularity, and has been slow to respond to members' purchases and subscriptions. Additionally, the promised "quarterly" newsletter has never really materialized, save for one edition early in 1998.

Early in 1999, Everclear shifted their online merchandise operation from the Fan Club to a new website called EverclearDirect, maintained by ArtistDirect.

To date, there have not been any official announcements from the band as to the future of the Fan Club. However, such a future appears dim.

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