The Michigan Daily - Wuc,44, 4 . - Thursday, February 8, 1996 - 5B
Goodbye, lo-fi: Everclearifinds major-label success
By Use Harwin
Daily Arts Writer
People have been making comments
about the Pacific Northwest music scene
for a while now - and they aren't
talking about Seattle. Portland, with a
series of popular bands such as Hazel,
Pond, Dandy Warhols andThirty Ought
Six, is lately being referred to as the
"next Seattle," or even "Seattle's south-
ern little sister." And, with Portland
bands like Everclear getting heavy ro-
tation on both radio and television, for
once thepublic might know what they're
talking about.
Though not all band members hail
from Portland, Everclear is truly a West
Coast band. "I moved to Portland about
4 1/2 years ago from Spokane, Wash.,"
said bassist Craig Montoya. "Art
[Alexakis, Everclear's vocalist] moved
up here about 5 1/2 years ago from-San
Francisco." But, even with their second
album, Everclear proves that they aren't
ready to leave their roots behind. Sev-
eral songs on "Sparkle and Fade" are
about cities on the West Coast, includ-
ing"Santa Monica" and"Summerland,"
named after a little town right off High-
way 101.
Alexakis began his musical career in
California in a pop-punk band called
Colorfinger. When Colorfinger fizzled
out due to members with drug prob-
lems, Alexakis made the decision to
move to Portland to distance himself
from the drug scene and to start his own
family.
"Art started getting odd jobs around
town, was miserable, and decided that
he should give music one last shot,"
Montoya said.
At this point, Montoya and Alexakis
got together, along with drummer Scott
Cuthbert, to form the first embodiment
of Everclear and to record "World of
Noise." After Cuthbert was fired due to
drug use, current drummer Greg
Eklund's talent and persistence won
him a spot in the band ."Somebody told
Greg that we were looking for a drum-
mer, but nobody would give him our
phone number. They didn't want
Everclear to keep going or something,"
Montoya remarked.
"He finally got Art's number from a
neighbor and he calls up and says, 'I'm
your drummer.' So, we went to go prac-
tice after-hours and we played one song
with him, 'Nervous and Weird.' And he
hit so damn hard. He was so groovin'
and such a nice guy that we didn't even
have to discuss it."
When Eklund joined the band, he
may not have realized the magnitude of
the situation that he was entering. "We
said, 'Are you ready to sleep on floors
and eat dog food and Taco Bell? Live
like a bum?"' Montoya said. "He said
'Yeah,' not knowing at the time that we
were being courted by major labels."
"Sparkle and Fade" shows just how
well the union worked out for both
Eklund and the rest of the band. This
latest release from Everclear was re-
corded at Butch Vig's Smart Studios in
Madison, Wis. with additional record-
ing at A&M studios in Los Angeles.
"We spent two weeks rehearsing, two
EVERCLEAR
Where: St. Andrew's Hall
When: Tonight. Doors 7:30 p.m.
Tickets are sold out.
weeks recording and two weeks mix-
ing, so the whole thing took about six
weeks," the bassist said. "We recorded
about 18 or 19 songs and a couple of
them didn't turn out the way we ex-
pected them to, so we pulled them off.
Then, when we stopped in L.A. on tour,
we wrote two new songs and put them
on instead."
Overall, Everclear felt that the record
was a success, even with the minor
changes. "When we finished with the
album, we said, 'Even if this album
totally flops, we're totally happy with
it.' This is the record we wanted to
make our whole lives."
With "Sparkle and Fade," Everclear
proves that they have made a total
change since the previous "World of
Noise." "I think 'Sparkle and Fade' is a
little more personal for Art, as far as the
lyrics go," Montoya commented. "It's
not so social as 'World of Noise' is."
Although "World of Noise" didn't
confront as many personal issues, it still
had a unique sound. As Montoya men-
tioned, "People always say, 'Hey, how
did you get that to-fi sound (on 'World
of Noise')? Were you looking for that
for 'Sparkle and Fade'?' The truth is
that's all we could afford at the time. It
was done in a basement at a friend's
house with microphones duct taped to-
gether ... Art sold some of his guitar
gear to pay for the bill. If we could have
afforded better, I'm sure it would have
sounded better."
So what's up next for this MTV Buzz
il
0
Portland-based Everclear makes a splash at St. Andrew's Hall tonight.
Clip band? "We're going over to Europe
for two weeks with Silverchair. I'm sure
it will be good exposure for us, but I'm not
sure if it's the best move," Montoya ad-
mitted. Despite the amount of time that
Everclear has already spent touring this
year, they still hold fast to the notion that
they're not a big partying band.
"We don't drink fifths of whiskey
backstage. No one does any drugs in
our band." While they do admit to car-
rying around a six-pack occasionally,
one has to wonder what else they do for
fun. "We shoot pool, we watch movies,
and we all get together in one hotel
room, watch Spectravision together and
eat snacks," Montoya quipped.
For now, the band plans on continuing
to make music, though Craig Montoya
isn't sure how long it will last. "I see
Everclear making two or three more
records and then going out on top. I might
start my own band. Play guitar, do the
vocals. In the last two years I've learned
how to be a backup singer and a bass
player, and I've even started to write my
own songs. It's aleamingprocessthough."
In any case, don't expect this particu-
lar Portland band to be "fading" any
time soon. While they may seem a bit
timid when it comes to trashing their
hotel rooms, their music will kick you
in the behind, just like the hard liquor
they take their name from. "Odorless,
colorless, and it kind of looks like Water
... but when you drink it you go mad.
Pure white evil. Everyone has an
Everclear story. 'I used to drink that
stuff out of garbage cans, wake up in a
different city, with a dress on with some
strange girl.' It's like us; a bunch of
white guys; not very punk. Innocent
looking, but yet ... crazy."
Tracey Ullman takes on television with new series
Los Angeles Times
The setting is a swank old Pasadena
mansion, where comic Tracey Ullman
come for a news conference to pro-
te her new half-hour, almost one-
woman series on HBO, "Tracey Takes
On...." Sitting on an embroidered Vic-
torian couch, a crackling fire nearby,
the British-born actress swiftly trans-
forms the ever-so-proper mood of the
place into a den of hilarity.
She impersonates co-star Julie
Kavner trying to impersonate Ullman
- a screechy babble. "Julie Kavner
does a terrible (impression).... She pre-
she's doing me," Ullman says,
an expression of superiority.
She imitates 9-year-old daughter
Mabel, the elder of her two children,
with a sort of upper-crust accent, cau-
tioning her mother not to bring any of
her characters along on a school field
trip. "Mommy, I know it makes you
happy, but don't do your voices."
But she's funniest as one of her own
creations - Mrs. Noh Nang Ning, a
Oghnut shop owner, modeled after a
doughnut shop owner Ullman. met in
Los Angeles while "Takes On" was
being written.
"I'd just sit and get a cup of coffee
and watch her.... Some guy there was
trying to sell her shelving, and she was
just very skeptical." She goes into char-
acter. "Ummm-ummmm! ... I don't
know you put that on the waaalll."
Ullman is a woman of many parts and
ltiple characters - 17, to be exact,
Phe 10 episodes of "Takes On" - as
she tackles such weighty matters as
romance, law, fame and death. At 36,
with five Emmys, Ullman is creator and
executive producer of the series with
her businessman husband, Allan
McKeown, as well as the head writer
and occasional editor. This social sati-
rist sings and dances too.
It is another take on Ullman one gets
at her offices at Takes On Productions
in Santa Monica. While still funny and
jumping out of her chair just to show
you how she plays her roles, she shows
she's a much more serious and ambi-
tious personality.
She says that after doing "Tracey
Ullman Takes On New York" for HBO in
1993, the premise of a multiperson cast
taking on a single subject each week
2ELrn.
on
ibe
7
zinc publisher Janie Pillsworth, whom
she notes is an amalgamation of those
famed British editors such as Tina
Brown and Anna Wintour; and her long-
est-running personage, "spinster" Kay
dlark, now working as a bank teller -
are familiarfrom "Takes On New York,"
HBO's "A Class Act" and Fox's "The
Tracey Ullman Show."
Now come a dozen newcomers, in-
cluding Mrs. Noh Nang Ning; Chic, a
macho Middle Eastern cab driver,
everyone's worst nightmare of a cabby,
who drives 90 mph 18 hours a day; and
Los Angeles lawyer Sydney Kross,
whom TV critics are assuming is Erik
Menendez lawyer Leslie Abramson.
"She has a fascinating look," Ullman
says of Abramson, "and I thought it was
time to do a lawyer, especially with the
O.J. Simpson trial. It would have been
passe to play an agent."
Ullman hasabeen at her game a long
time. She began miming as a child after
her father, a Polish emigre to England
-he was at Dunkirk during World War
II as a member of the Free Polish Army
- died of a heart valve operation when
she was 6. She recalls "trying to cheer
everyone up, and I felt I could by being
funny. It was just a great relief for my
mother to see me perform on her win-
dow ledge.... British people love laugh-
ing at themselves."
She received a scholarship to stage
school at age 12, retelling the heart-
rending moment when she stepped for-
ward at an audition for" 'Flower Drum
Song' or something" and the director
was actually pointing to "the little blond
girl nexttome. It was always about eute
little blonds," notes the dark-haired
Ullman. "So I laughed at myself even
more to cover the pain." By 16, she was
dancing in "Gigi" in Berlin.
Back in England, she joined a popu-
lar dance troupe and had a hit album.
Her breakthrough came at the innova-
tive Royal Court Theatre, creating the
role ofa bizarre club singer that won her
the London critics' award for the most
promising new actress in 1981.
A year later, McKeown saw her in
a popular British Broadcasting Corp.
soap and told himself, according to
Ullman, " 'I'm going to marry that
girl."' It was his idea to bring her to
the United States.
Ullman and McKeown await word
on whether HBO will pick up the
series for a second season.
Ullmanalready is brimming with new
ideas-taking her characters to Wash-
ington, perhaps to Las Vegas.
"I've given myself the confidence
to know how to write, direct and insti-
gate my own projects. Whereas I was
always waiting around for someone
to say, 'Would you like to be in my
film?' - that may still happen and
that's great - but I know I can do it
myself, and it's an enormous relief."
Logan brings his Liquor Cabinet
You've read about him in such prestigious national publications as Rolling Stone,
Billboard and People magazines. You've seen him on the "Today" show. You've...
never heard his music. That's all right, because Jack Logan and his band the
Liquor Cabinet are here today to give you a double-dose of what you've been
craving. With more than 700 songs to his name (but only 2 CDs released) Logan
has enough material to surprise even the most die-hard fans. A 5 p.m. free show
at Tower Records will be followed by an appearance tonight at the Blind Pig, with
opening band 19 Wheels. Tickets are $6 in advance. Doors open at 9:30, so be on
time to check out the man who is destined to be the next big thing. In 20 years
your kids will think you're cool.
clicked. McKeown, 12 years her senior
and chairman of SelecTV, an indepen-
dent TV production and cable company,
helped raise money for "Takes On."
"Last year, I was 35 years old, and I
thought, 'It's timeto do it myselfreally,"'
Ullman explains. "I sat at the head of the
table and made myself a boss."
Her premise is her "broad spectrum
of characters" - old and young, male
and female, American, British, an Aus-
tralian, a cabby from the Middle East-
who in sketches and monologues deal
with the week's topic.
Some of the Ullman 17 - including
Fern Rosenthal, transplanted from Long
Island, N.Y.,'to Boca Raton, Fla.; maga-
THE DAS SIfliI
Thank you for your
patience while we
remodeled.
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