Regrets—Art Alexakis has had more than a few. And he’s had his share of losing, too. But the Everclear frontman has always done it his way. While far too many of his ’90s Pacific Northwest brethren (Kurt Cobain, Layne Staley, Andrew Wood, et al) ended up six feet under, Alexakis has been a survivor, enduring arrests, attempted suicide, drug abuse, divorce, depression, bankruptcy and much more. Despite being dubbed Nirvana lite by music critics, Everclear soldiered on, becoming a platinum-selling, Grammy-nominated, hit-making band, and Alexakis used this success to champion causes close to his heart. The revolving-door group’s latest release, In A Different Light (429), is a collection of (mostly) older Everclear songs reinterpreted in a stripped-down manner. Alexakis is guest editing magnetmagazine.com all this week. Read our Q&A with him.
Alexakis: I used to call myself a serial monogamist because I tended to go from relationship to relationship, but I really wasn’t any kind of monogamist at all. Being in my life was like being on a roller coaster—that no one really wanted to be on, not even me. I cheated on every woman I have ever been with, up until I met my current significant other Vanessa. I know if I fuck this thing up, I will regret it for the rest of my life. She is the one, and I knew it when I met her. I really love saving my sexual energy for her. She is the first person I have ever met who I trust implicitly, and I thank god that when she met me that she was under some kind of spell. I was severely chemically depressed. I was six months divorced, my mom was diagnosed with terminal cancer, and I was 35 pounds underweight and looked like Skeletor! It’s still a roller coaster, but now I have someone who is in for the ride with me.
