Everclear’s Art Alexakis on How He Keeps Moving Forward

Art Alexakis hasn’t had the easiest life. But you don’t need us to tell you that; it’s all in the lyrics to some of the most popular songs by his alternative rock band Everclear. Growing up with an absentee dad? “Father of Mine.” Being a child of divorce? “Wonderful.” Brother succumbing to a heroin overdose and his girlfriend dying by suicide before he was even a teen? “Heroin Girl.” Relapsing after desperately trying to stay clean from the clutches of addiction? “When It All Goes Wrong Again.”

These days, even though he’s got 36 years of sobriety under his belt, the path hasn’t gotten easier. Back in 2019, the singer revealed that three years prior, he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis following a car accident. Alexakis penned a letter to fans of the band letting them in on his health battle, partly to assure them that if they saw him “stumbling… sweaty, looking both tired and anxious at the same time,” it was due to the autoimmune disease and not from falling off the wagon.

Incredibly, the battle with MS hasn’t appeared to slow the 63-year-old Alexakis down – at least to the naked eye. Last month, he kicked off a 43-date outing to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Sparkle and Fade, Everclear’s major label debut, which features the hits “Santa Monica” and “Heartspark Dollarsign” alongside fan favorites like “Summerland.” On Tuesday night (October 21), the trek rounds the corner into its final stretch with a stop at Big Night Live in Boston’s North Station.   

“I do everything I’m supposed to do to make myself as healthy as I can,” he tells Vanyaland. “I do my physical therapy, my medication diet, working out, swimming – to slow down the MS because it’s inevitable. It’s a chronic disease…”

Read the rest of my interview with Alexakis over at Vanyaland, where we talk about his suicide attempt at the age of just 12 years old, the 30th anniversary of Everclear’s Sparkle and Fade LP, and why now is the right time for the band to make a new record. But first, here’s a song from Art that appeared on the soundtrack to the film Permanent Midnight, which I put on more mix CDs than I can count back in the day.

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