Three decades have come and gone since the California band Everclear’s breakthrough album, the multi-platinum Sparkle and Fade, appeared in a flush of punk guitar riffs and power chords, alongside killer melodies and catchy choruses. Everclear arrived in the immediate wake of Nirvana, and then Green Day, guitar-bass-drums trios that took apart and re-assembled where rock ‘n’ roll was, and where it was going.
Yes, kids, this is what people who just had to put labels on things called “alternative rock.”
Then, as now, Everclear’s creative wellspring – and energizer bunny – was singer, songwriter and guitarist Art Alexakis. All of the band’s signature songs – “Santa Monica,” “Wonderful,” “Heroin Girl,” “Everything to Everyone” – came from him.
The band, now a quartet with Alexakis the sole original member, performs Wednesday at Clearwater’s Capitol Theatre…