Summerland Tour 2021

ABOUT EVERCLEAR:

Considering Everclear has written and recorded some truly iconic ’90s alt-rock hits, it would be all too easy these days for the band to be a victim of its past successes, relegated to performing as a glorified jukebox, existing to satisfy the nostalgic cravings of Gen Xers everywhere. But singer-guitarist Art Alexakis isn’t about to start phoning it in now.

Although the band hasn’t released a new studio album since 2015’s triumphant Black Is The New Black, Everclear continues to tour actively. And while it’s a virtual surety that no Everclear gig is complete without a rendition of “Santa Monica” and “Father of Mine,” lately the band has found that exploring the full range of past material—especially the “deep cuts”—not only gives fans a rare treat, it also injects new life into the band’s live dynamic.

“By mixing it up and digging into the catalogue, it still makes it fun and relevant for us, and I think for the fans as well,” says Alexakis. “It’s still important to play the hits, but by playing those other songs as well, it makes it all seem more vibrant and real. Even though I recorded some of those songs 20 years ago, I haven’t played them in a long time, so it’s like reinventing the wheel. I’m having more fun now than I have in years. I think all of us are.”

Formed by Alexakis in 1991 in Portland, Oregon, Everclear has enjoyed a lengthy career spanning 11 studio releases, numerous videos, thousands of shows and accolades that include a 1998 Grammy nomination. Like a true survivor, Alexakis has soldiered on through multiple lineup changes over the years: During the “classic” era, the band also included Craig Montoya on Bass and Greg Eklund on drums; the current touring lineup features longtime members Dave French (guitar) and Freddy Herrera (bass), as well as drummer Brian Nolan (also with American Hi-Fi), who has performed with Everclear on multiple past tours.

Everclear spent May and June of 2017 touring in honor of the 20th anniversary of So Much For The Afterglow, the band’s massively successful sophomore major-label release. The 40-date run was an incredibly emotional and personally satisfying experience for Alexakis, who was able to perform obscure cuts from that time period for the first time in many years. Connecting with fans in that setting also reinforced the lasting impression the album has made.

“The tour was phenomenal. It left me and the band stunned at how important that record was to so many people, and to be a part of that, both then and now,” says Alexakis. “The legacy of it is still vibrant for so many people. It was great just watching people react when we were playing not just the hits, but deeper songs on that record. I always liked the deeper songs—they were usually my favorite songs—and when the band would play those, it would be really exciting and important for me. That was fun, seeing that reaction, and just talking to people after the show.”

Prior to that, Everclear experienced a career resurgence thanks to 2015’s Black Is The New Black, which not only proved the band could still rock, but also that Everclear remains creatively relevant, decades after their platinum years. As is common for many artists these days, Black didn’t set records for traditional album sales, but the release did see significant streaming activity and sparked a heightened social media presence, putting the group firmly back in the listening public’s mind. The band continues to ride this latest wave of interest.

“I personally think [Black] is one of the best records Everclear has ever made,” Alexakis says. “It sounds like both old Everclear and new Everclear: It has a contemporary production sound, but it’s just old-school, angry rock songs. It’s kind of dark, very reminiscent of the early stuff. The sales weren’t great on it, but a lot of people streamed it. It got millions and millions of streams, so people were listening to it, and it resonated.” “We might make another record in a couple years,” he says. “Maybe later on this year I’ll feel like it. I don’t know yet.”

That said, the band’s live itinerary certainly makes up for its recent studio absence. Alexakis is excited to revisit songs from fan favorite records like Afterglow, Sparkle and Fade and the double album Songs From The American Movie, but also compositions from more underrated collections, like 2012’s Invisible Stars.

“There are people asking for songs, so we’ll just try and learn songs as we go,” Alexakis says. “If we get a lot of response from people to play a certain song, we’re going to learn it and go on the road and play it. You don’t think, ‘Wow, I can’t sing that high anymore.’ We’re not going to worry about it. We’re going to play some rock n’ roll, and just do it.”

ABOUT LIVING COLOUR:

During the 1980s, rock had become increasingly segregated and predictable, a departure from the late ’60s and early ’70s, when such musically and ethnically diverse artists as Jimi Hendrix, Sly & the Family Stone, and Santana topped the charts. But New York’s Living Colour was one band that helped break down the doors by the end of the ’80s, leading to a much more open-minded musical landscape that would help pave the way for future bands such as Rage Against the Machine and Sevendust. The group (singer Corey Glover, guitarist Vernon Reid, bassist Muzz Skillings, and drummer Will Calhoun) first formed in the mid-’80s, with Reid being the only member with real prior band experience; he was a member of Ronald Shannon Jackson’s experimental jazz outfit, and had recorded with Defunkt and Public Enemy, as well as issuing a solo album with Bill Frisell, 1984’s Smash & Scatteration.

It took the fledgling band a few years for their sound to gel, as they honed their act at N.Y.C.’s famed CBGB’s. The group found an unlikely supporter in Mick Jagger, who took the band under his wing, produced a demo for them, and helped them secure a record deal with Epic (just prior, Glover had to take a brief leave of absence from the band, as he landed a role in Oliver Stone’s Vietnam War epic Platoon). Living Colour’s debut album, Vivid, was issued in the summer of 1988, but it took a few months for momentum to build. By the winter, the band’s striking video for their anthem “Cult of Personality” was all over MTV, pushing Vivid to the upper reaches of the charts and to platinum certification. Living Colour also took home their first of several Grammy Awards, as “Cult” won Best Hard Rock Performance at the 1989 ceremony, and the band supported the release with a string of dates that autumn, opening for the Rolling Stones’ first U.S. tour in eight years.

Starting with Vivid and continuing on future albums, the band showed that rock could still convey a message (as evidenced by such tracks as “Open Letter to a Landlord” and “Funny Vibe,” among others). The quartet regrouped a year later for their sophomore effort, Time’s Up, an album that performed respectably on the charts but failed to live up to the expectations of their smash debut. An appearance at the inaugural Lollapalooza tour in the summer of 1991 kept the group in the public’s eye, as did an EP of outtakes, Biscuits. Skillings left the group shortly thereafter (replaced by studio vet Doug Wimbish), and their darkest and most challenging release yet, Stain, was issued in 1993. Although it failed to sell as well as its predecessors, it retained the band’s large and dedicated following, as Living Colour appeared to be entering an interesting and groundbreaking new musical phase in their career. The band began writing the following year for what would be their fourth full-length, but an inability to settle on a single musical direction caused friction between the members, leading to Living Colour’s demise in early 1995.

In the wake of Living Colour’s split, all of its former members pursued other projects. Reid issued a solo album, 1996’s Mistaken Identity (as well as guesting on other artists’ recordings), while Glover attempted to launch a career as a solo artist, issuing the overlooked Hymns in 1998, appearing as a VJ on VH1, and acting in the 1996 movie Loose Women. Calhoun and Wimbish remained together and launched a new outfit, the drum’n’bass-inspired Jungle Funk, who issued a self-titled debut release in 1997 (Wimbish also issued a solo album, Trippy Notes for Bass, in 1999). With Living Colour out of commission for several years by the early 21st century, Calhoun and Wimbish teamed up once more with Glover in a new outfit, Headfake, playing often in the New York City area. A few days before Christmas in 2000, Headfake played a show at CBGB’s and were joined on-stage by Reid, which led to rumors of an impending Living Colour reunion. The rumors proved to be true, and Living Colour launched their first tour together in six years during the summer of 2001.

In 2003, Living Colour secured a deal with Sanctuary and released their most experimental release to date, Collideøscope. Two years later, the rarities collection What’s Your Favorite Color? was released, followed by Everything Is Possible: The Very Best of Living Colour in 2006. The all-new The Chair in the Doorway followed in 2009, the result of a new label deal with Megaforce. Busy with their respective families, the band maintained a relatively low profile over the next few years, finally reconvening in 2014 to begin work on some new musical ideas. Recorded sporadically over two years with pop/R&B vet Andre Betts, their “blues-inspired” sixth album, Shade, was eventually released in 2017, preceded by the lurching, aggressive single “Come On.”

ABOUT HOOBASTANK:

Sometimes even a multi-platinum band with three GRAMMY nominations under their belt needs the kind of pop talk which helped inspire Hoobastank’s sixth studio album, Push Pull, their first since 2012’s Fight or Flight, and debut for noted rock independent label Napalm Records.

“We never stopped exchanging musical ideas,” says vocalist/guitarist Doug Robb, who co-founded the band with high school classmates, Dan Estrin and Chris Hesse, almost 20 years ago in Agoura Hills, CA, a suburb of Los Angeles he still calls home. “We waited until we had enough material to start recording an album. We love creating music, even if no one else ever hears it.”

Push Pull, so named for the power struggles and codependency that goes on within any long-term relationship–including, but not only, marriage and a rock band–was produced by longtime pal (but first-time collaborator) Matt Wallace at his Studio Deluxe facility in the heart of the band’s San Fernando Valley turf. Sifting through the musical demos provided by both Estrin and bassist Jesse Charland (a band member since 2009), then Robb’s lyrical and melodic ideas, Wallace provided not just the requisite encouragement, but the creative midwifery, which set the wheels in motion for the album. The result nails a bull’s-eye to the underappreciated ‘Stank’s sweet spot–the large-scale, muscular ‘80s-‘90s alternative rock of U2, Duran Duran, INXS and even Tears for Fears, whose “Heads Over Heels” gets a brawny, Bowiesque take on the new collection.

“There were always plenty of demos floating back and forth; some of them I played for Matt even before the rest of the band heard them,” says Dan about the record’s conception, which took place over a two-year period

Freed from the pressures of a hovering major label, listening to critical jibes or even the expectations of their fans, Hoobastank approached Push Pull with the swagger and confidence of a band whose first three albums all went either gold, platinum or multi-platinum, “The Reason” garnering GRAMMY nominations for “Song of the Year,” “Best Rock Album” and “Best Pop Performance” for a Duo or Group. Of course, about that name, which means, exactly what?…

“Sometimes you make dumb decisions when you’re young, and that might have been one of them,” laughs Robb about being the punchline to SNL jokes and snooty rock critic snipes. “It’s too late trying to peel that off and start something else at this point.”

As for the formidable bar-setting success of “The Reason,” Doug is similarly sanguine.

“We finally stopped attempting to recreate any formula,” he says. “Instead of trying to be trendy or anticipating how people will react, we did what made us happy. We played to our strengths. Take it or leave it.”

That go-for-broke theme is best expressed in “Just Let Go (Who Cares if We Fall),” which sums up Hoobastank’s attitude. “At least we get to fly,” sings Robb. “Learning to swim’/Is more than just learning how not to drown.”

In the title track and “More Beautiful,” Doug unleashes his falsetto, while the funky R&B feel is a tribute to Dan’s early, late-‘90s penchant for Chic and “groove-based” dance music. “When we first met, he didn’t even own a distortion pedal,” laughs Doug about his guitarist’s love of soul and R&B

Comparing the requirements of keeping both a marriage and a rock band thriving (it has to do with communication), Push Pull songs like “True Believer” and “Buzzkill (Before You Say Goodbye)” show Hoobastank maturing from adolescent to adult relationships, often examining the difficulty of keeping alive the sexuality that fuels them. “We Don’t Need the World” and “There Will Never Be Another” explore the protective bubble and the memories which also bind two people together. Doug’s lyrics to the headphones-worthy “Fallen Star” were inspired by a memory of him watching television one night and seeing a military family of a soldier who had died in combat. It made him think of the brave men and women who serve and even more so now the parents of those who serve. Being a parent now it clicked, the unbelievable sacrifice made by both soldier and their families. “I wanted to say thank you” says Doug.

“I usually work best with personal experiences, what’s going on with my wife, kids, the band and our fans,” says Robb. “Those are my family.”

With Push Pull, Hoobastank look back to the future, combining the best of what brought them here and establishing their presence in the current pop-rock spectrum. When Dan’s asked whether the simple act of recording and releasing these songs provided its own reward, he notes, “That’s what the voice in my head tells me. But then there’s the voice inside the voice that says, ‘You dumb mother***ker. Of course you want this thing to be huge.’”

Estrin grows serious. “We’ve been doing this from day one because we love it,” he says. “We didn’t do it for money or fame. It was our drug. Didn’t need anything more than that. This is still like summer camp for adults. But these days, even my mom asks if there’s a hit on the new record.”

ABOUT WHEATUS:

It’s hard to believe Wheatus are just one year away from the 20th anniversary of their debut album and still ubiquitous single “Teenage Dirtbag.” Yes, that’s right – Dirtbag is currently in its final year as a teenager. What happens when the song ends its adolescence remains to be seen, but one thing is for sure: come 2020, Wheatus will release a new and expanded edition of their now classic debut album, in conjunction with a world tour. Says Brendan B Brown, “We found demos of about 10 songs written alongside the tracks that made the album, but they didn’t get finished. Looking at them now, they feel surprisingly fresh and deserving of a proper chance to be heard. So we’ll have a brand new 20-song version of our album on its 20th anniversary… and that all happens in 2020.”

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves… 2019 is anything but a holiday for Wheatus. The band will spend February and March doing a coast-to-coast, almost entirely sold-out tour of America opening for (and then collaborating with) Mike Doughty on his Ruby Vroom 25th Anniversary shows. That tour culminates in a super special hometown headline show where the “classic” line-up of Wheatus will reunite for one night only… their first time on stage together in 18 years. A few short days after that, the current line-up flies to South Africa for some festivals, and then make the short journey to The Netherlands to begin a ridiculously dense tour of the EU and UK.

The remainder of the year will be spent working on the aforementioned re-release of album 1, finishing their 7th full-length album (all the while keeping their fans up to date on the process at patreon.com/wheatus) and getting ready for a somehow even busier 2020. No rest for the wicked, indeed.