» 1990s alt-rock

Jul
27thA-Sides With Jon Chattman: Everclear’s Art Alexakis Opens Up, Wild Adriatic Take Off, and Abby Bernstein Talks ‘in Tongues’

You wore flannel, and it was widely acceptable. You grew your hair out, but shaved it on the sides to create an awkwardly overgrown mushroom look. You moshed at any club who’d have you no matter which band was playing. Yep, you were so much cooler back in the 1990s. We all were. Well, not all of us. If you were in New York City last week — specifically the legendary Roseland Ballroom — you saw firsthand that alt-rockers Everclear are as cool now as they were back when you were grunging things up as a punk kid. The band brought its Summerland Tour to the Big Apple last week along with co-headliners and fellow 1990s icons Sugar Ray, and killed it. The tour, which also features Pog decade staples The Gin Blossoms, Lit, and Marcy Playground, comes on the heels of Everclear’s first album in six years entitled Invisible Stars. Hours before he took the stage and led a good old-fashioned mosh pit, Everclear frontman Art Alexakis sat down backstage for an honest and deeply-felt interview. It’s good to have the band — responsible for one of the ’90s best songs (“Santa Monica”) as well as its most underrated ones (“Amphetamine”) — back together again. Watch the interview below, and we’ll forgo the live performance A-Sides in favor of the band’s new music video for “Be Careful What You Wish For.” Watch. Listen. Love. Just Under Seven Minutes With Art Alexakis: [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWgT4KzL9mY&w=560&h=315] Everclear: “Be Careful What You Ask [...]
Apr
7thCandlebox Is Never “Far Behind”

For the better part of the 1990s, plaid shirts and Seattle grunge rock were king. I’m not saying Biggie Smalls and Jewel weren’t top stars of the decade, but for me, I was all about that lethal combination. Back in the “pogs” decade, my late best friend Stephen and I would mosh in the pit — whether it was at the Roseland or Randall’s Island in New York City (it didn’t matter where), wrap our plaid shirts around our waist 24/7, and would go out for beers (assuming bars would serve us) while rocking out to songs from artists like Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, and Candlebox. Speaking of the latter, that Seattle band was caught up in the whole grunge scene even though the band admits now they weren’t really a part of it. To paraphrase the band, whose members Kevin Martin, Peter Klett and Sean Hennesy sat down for an A-Sides session late last month, they made rock songs that just happened to be put out in grunge-Mecca of the world: Seattle. In other words, they were grouped with bands from the area but not once did they try to bite off their sound. Think about it — how many Alice in Chains clones can you name? Dozens, right? Anyways, the multi-platinum rockers are back with their first studio album in almost four years called Love Stories & Other Musings. The album features nine new tracks including first single “Believe In It” as well as five bonus recordings [...]