EVERCLEAR
Wednesday, September 11th, 2024
The Western Fair
Doors: 6:00PM Show: 7:00PM
Concert Ticket Includes Admission to the Western Fair on Day of Show
Order online at https://www.westernfair.ca/
Tickets: $75.00 (plus HST and fees) All Ages / General Admission Floor, Reserved Seating
Everclear
Art Alexakis – Vocals, Guitar
Davey French – Guitar
Freddy Herrera – Bass
Brian Nolan – Drums
Everclear, one of the leading alternative rock bands to emerge from the ‘90s, celebrated their 30th Anniversary in 2022, and founder, vocalist and guitarist Art Alexakis has made it clear that he has no plans to slow down. Since forming in 1992, Everclear has enjoyed a lengthy career by any measure, spanning 11 studio releases, including four that have been certified Gold or Platinum, selling over 6 million records, and achieving 12 Top 40 Hit Singles on Mainstream Rock, Alternative, and Adult Top 40 radio, including “Santa Monica,” “Father of Mine,” “I Will Buy You A New Life,” “Wonderful” and “Everything To Everyone,” as well as numerous videos, thousands of shows, and various other accolades, including a 1998 Grammy nomination.
After the demise of his band Colorfinger in 1992, Alexakis was struggling to make it in Portland, where he’d moved from San Francisco. That extremely difficult personal and creative period was the crucible that forged Alexakis into the fiery songwriter heard on the early Everclear demos, the Nervous & Weird EP (1993), and ultimately the World of Noise LP, both released on the Portland independent label Tim/Kerr Records. The original 1993 release of World of Noise, paired with the band’s significant efforts to break into college radio and the buzz they’d created within the Portland music scene, attracted the attention of major labels, including Capitol Records, which signed the group soon after. Beginning with their major-label debut, 1995’s platinum-selling album Sparkle and Fade, and its massive chart-topping hit “Santa Monica,” Everclear was soon a household name and catapulted into the masses, thus allowing their impressive three-decade career to prosper and endure.
In 2019, while being treated for an injury caused by a minor car accident, Alexakis was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) and learned that he had likely been living with the disease for nearly twenty years. Since being diagnosed, Art has donated one dollar from every ticket purchased for his performances to charities such as Sweet Relief Musicians Fund and National MS Society.
In 2022, Everclear reissued World Of Noise as a special 30th Anniversary remastered, deluxe edition, making the album available for the first time on digital streaming platforms with 6 bonus songs in addition to its original 12 tracks. Adding to the celebrations that year, Everclear released a commemorative anniversary video, “Everclear – 30 Years Gone: A Retrospective,” hosted by former MTV VJ, current radio host and longtime friend Matt Pinfield, and embarked on a lengthy North American Tour. One special stop on the tour, back in Alexakis’ hometown of Los Angeles, was recorded and filmed for a new live album. Live at The Whisky a Go Go, set for release September 8, 2023 via Sunset Blvd. Records, features all the hits and hidden treasures from throughout Everclear’s extraordinary catalog as well as two new original bonus studio tracks.
In addition to his thousands of Everclear performances over the band’s lengthy career, Alexakis created and runs the annual Summerland Tour, which features a package of popular ‘90s alt rock bands, and he released his first solo album, Sun Songs, in 2019. More than three decades later, Everclear’s enduring legacy and ongoing appeal as a live band continues.
Treble Charger
Hailing from Sault Ste. Marie, Ont, Treble Charger was formed by singer Greig Nori, guitarist Bill Priddle, and former members, Rosie Martin and Morris Palter. In 1995, they released SELF TITLE on their own. Along with grungey guitar solos and pounding backbeats in songs like “Even Grable,” Cleric’s Hip,” and “Motor Control,” the album included a CD-ROM promoting 30 of the band’s favourite Canadian indie bands, including The Inbreds, By Divine Right, Hayden, and Change of Heart. Music from the album, as well as the debut started getting airplay on campus radio around Toronto, and then MuchMusic picked up the indie video for the single “Morale.”
MAYBE IT’S ME was in the stores in the spring of ’97, and in the US a couple of months later. The album was more polished and commercially accessible than their previous works, and with the help of the singles “Friend Of Mine” and “How She Died” (featured on the soundtrack to the TV series, “Buffy The Vampire Slayer”), the album broke ground on the homefront, giving them a pair of top 20 hits in Canada and gave them their first gold record for sales of over 50,000 copies.
The band’s evolution to a refined but hardcore punk rock sound was complete with the 2000 release of WIDE AWAKE BORED, produced by Matt Hyde. With the smash hit singles, “American Psycho” and “Brand New Low” both making the top 10, the album went platinum for 100,000 sales in Canada, and gold in the US (50,000). The album earned the band a JUNO nomination in ’01 for Rock Album of the Year, and “American Psycho” was up for Best Single, but neither brought home the band a doorstop.
The band released DETOX, its final album in 2002. Along with newcomer Deryck Whibley, Hyde returned as producer, and the songs weren’t necessarily tamer, but were more palatable to a general audience, even featuring some horn arrangements here and there. As well as the hit singles “Hundred Million” and “Don’t Believe It All,” the album also included “Once Again” and “In Conclusion To Myself,” a pair of tracks only available on the Japanese release. But after only a few shows during the subsequent tour, Priddle left in 2003, citing musical differences. Kelly Osbourne’s guitarist Devin Bronson filled in on guitar for the remainder of the tour, and the album eventually made it their third straight gold or better album.
The band was put on hiatus, and eventually informally dissolved while everyone went off to other projects. Nori went on to continue producing and managing Sum 41 until the mid ’00s, which he’d been doing since
the late ’90s.
Treble Charger has enjoyed renewed exposure since their last album, as several hits have been featured in video games. “American Psycho” and “Brand New Low” appeared in EA Sports’ NHL 2002, “Wear Me Down” and “Business” were used in Triple Play 2002, and “Hundred Million” was used in both NHL 2003 and in SPlashdown: Rides Gone Wild. “American Psycho” also appeared in the movie, “Dude, Where’s My Car?”
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