Andy Interviews...

Everclear

With the Beach Boy harmonies opening the first song, I nearly thought I had the wrong Everclear here. No, these are the same heroin affected, grunge rockers, but they've gone a little too fond of their prozac, and come out the other side a pop band.

Or so you'd think. Admittedly the title track is a classic teenage disco rock song, destined to be remembered for all the wrong reasons. Still heavy guitars, but with a more upbeat feel. "Everything To Everyone" still shows those old fashioned whining tendencies, but with a syncopated upbeat rock style that sounds like a 70's throwback...you know, when music WAS music. They even have a tune called "One Hit Wonder", a pinch of salt to the whole four to the floor poppiness thing.

Then there are the tunes like "Ataraxia", a simple sample, discussing the use of "Medicine" for depression. How about "Normal Like You"? Lightweight guitars and cheery sounding vocals, singing "The prozac doesn't do it for me anymore." Contradictory bastards. Seriously though, there is some real emotion here, blatant and wide open, not hidden in metaphors. "Father Of Mine", again despite the comparatively upbeat tunes, is a plea from A.P. Alexakis to his errant father. Gone since he was 10. Similarly the country slide and picked guitars of "Why I Don't Believe In God", all about his mother's nervous breakdown when he was 8. Poor kid.

It's good to see that still Everclear manage some variety to their music, whilst burying themselves heavily in irony. "El Distorto De Melodica" is a teenage rockout instrumental, the kind that all bands have locked up somewhere in side. "Amphetamine" has a suitably fast pace to contrast the slower moments on "So Much For The Afterglow", and shock the system back to life.

It's hard to argue with an album that throws its deepest emotions at you hidden in ball of fluffiness. If you want to be cheered up, or stay happy, ignore the lyrics. If you want to be touched, listen as closely as you can. Simple as that. "So Much For The Afterglow" is easy to get into, but very hard to get out of your head. The mark of a good album.

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