Everclear founder Art Alexakis primed for February solo tour

Alexakis and tour partner, Brendan B Brown from Wheatus (of Teenage Dirtbag fame), will play 15 dates beginning February 1 at the Cleveland Sands Hotel and finishing February 25 at the King St Ballroom in Newcastle. Both artists' solo sets will also see them telling in-depth stories about each of their songs and interacting with the audience.

The tour is a tribute to the enduring love Australia has for what the veteran rock 'n' roller delivers: punchy, clever, punkish songs with memorable choruses and great storylines.

With a catalogue of hits like Santa Monica, Heroin Girl, Wonderful, So Much for the Afterglow, Father of Mine, I Will Buy You a New Life, Strawberry, Everything to Everyone and AM Radio, it would be easy for Alexakis to live in the past. But he doesn't stop there; his 2019 solo album (Sun Songs) has a handful of catchy tunes as well, like House With a Pool, California Blood and Orange.

House With a Pool is a classic Alexakis song -- a dark sense of humour stirred with a giant dollop of reality: Drug dealers' girlfriends wanna come home to a house with a pool / Guys in their 40s wanna live with their moms in a house with a pool / Even if they don't know why they still need a reason for what they do, Everybody wants a house with a pool.

Of course, it begs the question: do you have a pool, Art?

"F - - k yes, I have a pool," he says. "I have a 60-foot pool."

As a matter of fact, after our interview is finished, he's going home to jump in the pool for the second time that day and then cook dinner for the family.

Alexakis did live a wild life in his younger days, but he's been sober for decades. And he's been seriously looking after his health since he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis seven years ago. Swimming is a key part of his exercise regime.

Raised in California, Alexakis, now aged 61, lived in Portland, Oregon, during Everclear's heyday before returning to live in Pasadena more than a decade ago. His songs reflect a certain California attitude, frequently name-dropping suburbs, band names and the like. If you listen hard enough, it also reflects a humble childhood. Friends would complain to him about having to take piano lessons when he was a kid.

"I would say, let me do it. I'll tell them I'm you," he says. "I was poor. I couldn't afford piano lessons. I lived in a housing project. I was going home to eat crap macaroni and cheese."

His life experience gave him a gateway to write songs infused with the reality of the wicked side. But that's not the whole story.

"One thing I've always tried to do, even though I write dark songs, there is always light at the end of the tunnel," he says. "Very rarely, if ever, is there not light at the end of the tunnel. It might be hard to see sometimes - I have to squint, but it's there. I do honestly believe, just from the example of my life, that no matter how bad things get, if you persevere and you have tenacity, you can get to a place that's better."

For a guy who carries a major health issue, he's far from finished on stage. He still gets a high from performing.

"It's one of my last few avenues of dopamine," he says. "When I walk on stage I still get the butterflies and anxiety. And I've learned to turn them into pure energy. Every step I walk to the mic, you can hear the crowd making noise, that crescendo goes up, that's a buzz and I still get it."