Portland's Everclear is one of those bands who released its second and latest album - Sparkle and Fade - quite some time ago (May of last year to be exact) only to have it catch on quite some time later with the release of a single, this being the hugely successful "Santa Monica", which has pushed them to over gold status in the US. Prior to this their critically acclaimed debut album, World of Noise - notedly independently recorded and released, and eventually picked up by Capitol Records (EMI in Canada) - put them on the map.

 Consisting of three members - Art Alexakis (vocals/guitar), Craig Montoya, (bass) and new member Greg Ekland (drums - who replaced Scott Cuthbert) - they're transplants to their Portland homebase, and Montoya readily admits they got a bit of a cold shoulder at first from other bands in the local indie scene. "We're all from different places - I'm from Spokane, Washington; Art's from L.A. and San Francisco; and Greg was kind of a navy brat who grew up all over the place. So we didn't really have a lot of high school friends to come and see our shows. A lot of the bands in Portland are very cliquish - they all kinda hang out together - so it was really hard for us to get gigs at first. Nowadays the bands we've been touring with have been pretty cool so we don't get that anymore, we also pretty much do our own shows. We've only opened up for other bands a couple of times."

 Unfortunately the coldness, and pressure, only widened when, as a then indie band, they were approached by major labels. On the one hand you have the opportunity to be backed financially by a solid and reputable source, but on the other hand, there's always the chance that your friends and peers will see you in a different light and may even call you a "sell-out", especially when commercial success comes your way. Sound familiar?

 "There's always going to be a few people who feel weird about our success," states Montoya. "I don't feel we've changed at all. A few of my friends will act weird around me, but once they've hung out with me for a while it's all the same as it was before. I think they feel that way because a lot of my friends are musicians who I grew up with, and we all kinda had the same dream of getting our songs on records and hopefully someday getting played on the radio. So when they see the band I'm in starting to get successful they're happy for me, but they kinda wish it was happening for them."

Cites Alexakis, on a more business end about their journey to stardom, "A bunch of labels were interested in us - we had toured and toured, put the record out to an independent promoter who pushed it on college radio because our indie label wouldn't do it, and that got us on the top 30 of college radio for a month. That's when the labels who were sitting on the fence wining and dining us started making us offers. I told them what we wanted and some labels said, 'We'll give you more money, but we want someone else to produce your first album.' So we signed with Capitol (US) who gave us creative control."

 The control Alexakis sought left the producing of the album - recorded in Butch Vig's Smart Studios - in his capable hands which was necessary, he felt, if the record's raw energy was to appear on the higher budget sequel. Says Alexakis, "I still wanted to keep the edge creatively so we did it pretty quickly. We wrote the songs, recorded them and mixed them all in six weeks, which is somewhat fast for a major label record of this size."

Adds Montoya, "We considered (an outside producer) at first, but we thought it would be more of a natural progression just to do it ourselves. Our first album was basically just like a demo - we recorded it in a basement for just $400, yet people thought we were trying to purposely give it a lo-fi sound. That's not what we were shooting for - that's all we could afford at the time! Art had to trade guitar gear to pay for some of the recording. This second album was our first chance in a bigger studio, where mics weren't duct taped together."

 Anyone who actually pays attention to lyrics will notice that some of Everclear's songs tend to deal with some social problems and moral debates. Alexakis writes about everything from anti-abortion laws to AIDS to substance abuse. It seems an ever increasing number of bands are using their music as a medium not only to entertain, but also to educate and inform young audiences.

"It's alright for bands to make their opinions known, to a certain extent," attests Montoya. "I don't think bands should preach to kids though, because nowadays, as soon as you start preaching to someone, they'll end up going the opposite way. It's like when you were a little kid and your parents told you not to do something, what did you do? The exact opposite thing. So we try to stay away from preaching, but we still stand behind what we believe in. Nobody wants to be preached to."

 States Alexakis, "This album is more personal while the other record was more topical. It dealt with more rage, while this is more angst and hope. It still isn't a picnic; it's about people who are trying to escape a problem and make a positive change."

 Different fuels drive different bands and in the case of Everclear, the fuel behind this burning engine is pure hell. "I'm pretty angry and frustrated," says Alexakis. "Lots of stuff pisses me off. It depends on my mood. I've still got anger from growing up poor in a housing project and my brother dying at a young age - a lot of shit happened and it still fuels the fire."

But now, with some success at hand, Alexakis has been able to take control of his feelings. "I'm more articulate now and intelligent. I'm also also more experienced so I can now craft the anger better."

 And, if the name Everclear conquers up thoughts of clear flowing mineral water and long hot summer days, then you'll be quite surprised to hear the truth behind the band's name. Alexakis wickedly smiles as he shatters any misconceptions. "It's a 180 proof alcohol in the States. I like the dichotomy of the innocence of looking like water, but really being this white evil. It suits us well because we are these white breed looking boys who are pretty decent, but there is bite underneath all that."