Everclear

The group originally consisted of the trio Alexakis as lead vocalist and guitarist, Craig Montoya on bass and Greg Eklund on drums. They found success with their first three full length albums, 'Sparle and Fade', 'So Much for the Afterglow' and 'Songs from an American Movie Vol. One: Learning How To Smile' which were all released on Capitol Records.

All three of these releases were certified platinum selling in the States, yet the band couldn't maintain the success for their next two releases and in 2003 both Montoya and Eklund decided to leave the project. Although Alexakis decided to persist with Everclear and released a further two albums with other musicians. Everclear have struggled with promotion campaigns and record label support throughout their career, one of the main reasons American Movie Vol. Two wasn't considered a successful album was due to the fact it was released just four months after the first and the public became confused as to why the band were releasing original material whilst singles were still being promoted from the predecessor.

Similar disputes occurred during the promotion of Slow Motion Daydream due to Alexakis demanding an early solo track that had been toured the previous year be chosen as the lead whilst record bosses were far more keen on 'The New York Times'. The end result meant that neither received consistent backing and the album stalled after passing 100,000 copies and the demise seemed unavoidable after both Greg and Craig decided they were leaving. However Alexakis managed to salvage the reputation of the band and worked on the successes they achieved in the 1990s.

In a way, debuting so early was the best and worst thing that could have happened to Eve 6. The band signed their first major label record deal when every member was still in high school, and while that gives you a fast track to genuine success and a shot at having a decades long career right off the bat, it also means growing up in public. In all seriousness, who wants to do that? Originally named Eleventeen, the band signed to RCA soon after their very first concert at the North Hollywood rock club Eagle’s Coffee Pub in 1995. Within a year, the band had changed their name to Eve 6 (a reference to the sci-fi TV show The X-Files, which the band’s drummer was a big fan of), and in 1998, the band released their self-titled debut album. The record was a platinum sellling success, helped massively by its lead single “Inside Out” hurtling into the Billboard Modern Rock charts at number one and eventually climbing into the top 30 of the Billboard Hot 100.

The band were comfortably on top of the world, and stayed there once the 2000 release of their second album “Horrorscope” came along. Their sophomore effort was a Gold-ceritified success with another mainstream hit single in the form of high school graduation standard “Here’s To The Night”. However, cracks had begun to show in the band and by the release of their third album “It’s All In Your Head”, singer Max Collins’ drinking had spiralled out of control and the sales of their newest effort were slow enough to get them released from their RCA contract in 2003. The following year, the band went on hiatus, citing a need to grow up a little more away from the public eye. Even though they’d been performing together for just under a decade, the average age of the band was still 26.

Three years later, after some low-key solo efforts from the band members, singer Collins and drummer Tony Fagenson came back together in 2007 for a few eagerly awaited live shows. The band resumed business properly in 2008, touring the world, writing new material and generally reconnecting themselves to their fan-base. Wisely, they waited until they felt truly ready to release anything and their first album since reconvening, “Speak In Code”, was released in April 2012. The record ended up getting the best reviews of their entire career, and ever since then, the band have enjoyed one of the most succesful career renaissance’s of any reunited band of today. For that, Eve 6 come highly recommended.