August 7, 2024 • 7 mins
We catch up with the lead vocalist of Everclear, Art Alexakis!
The boys use him to cheat a hopeful win in Thursday Throwback. He shares his opinion on Ben's Trump sticker... We dive deep into his struggles growing up and how he used songwriting to control his emotions.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
With the John and Ben podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Cheers to Dilma making the world a bitter Tea. Well,
good morning to you. It's afternoon here, but I'm glad
you guys are having a good morning.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
Where are we at the moment?
Speaker 1 (00:11):
I talk roomily and I can see a lot of pimes.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
I'm in my office. I have a studio in the back.
I'm in Pasadena. I'm about a mile from my house.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Oh that's great. Are you next door to the other businesses?
And do they know what you're doing in there?
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Well, there are a couple of businesses over here. They
know who I am, but they're older people. They don't
really care.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Yeah, So you're about to go on tour to New Zealand.
You're coming back. You haven't been here for what seven years?
I think very exciting. It's been a minute coming over
a summertime as well. That's when the weather hope, well
now I say it's probably not going to be, but
hopefully we put on our best weather for you.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
There's never a bad time to come to New Zealand.
I've been there every season and it's always been lovely
and seriously, we're looking forward to coming back. Going to
be great.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Yeah, no, it's good and appreciate you not forgetting us
so sometimes we left off the world map.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Yeah, we are in New.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Zealandery we're a very forgettable country. So we appreciate you
you including us. Now we must let you in on
a little Every week we do a game where we
each pick a song, a song from yes to year,
and we champion it and then the listener votes which
one we play every week, and being and myself, we've
never had a win. We've never had a win with
(01:25):
this Meghan, who we work with one hundred percent success
rate in this game.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
Yeah, she's pretty good. And so we thought today John
and myself will team up and we choose ever clear
you know, a song from you, maybe Santa Monica, and
we might surprise Meghan with the fact that you're joining us,
just to make our case for your song a little stronger.
Is that?
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Okay, it's okay, but you're going all loose. Women are
always SMARTERO.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
You figure that out, amen, we're slowly figuring it out.
Meghan knows this. There's something I thought.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
So something's gone on now. Meghan, you know every week
how you and throwback Thursday?
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Yeah, I like that. You point that out. I do, Yeah,
you do.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
And we're John and I. We've been gutted about the
fact that we haven't won. So we thought we'd team
up together and we'd pick a great song, Santa Monica
from Evercleaire, And just to really help our case, we've
got Art, the lead singer of Everclear, with us right now.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Hello, Hello, Oka, Hi, how's it going? They've really what
up to me? Now?
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Have you got the artist for your song? No, you haven't,
We've got the artist. No, Art wrote this song. This
is a song that you wrote, the safe Place, the
safe haven in your life? Right Art? Santa Monica.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Well, I was missing living next to the ocean. I
was missing Santa Monica. So I wrote the song about
comfort zones which I don't mention Santa Monica one, and
I named it Santa Monica, which irritated the record label.
What's the World Get? Swim out past the Breakers? Oh?
Such a good song.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Actually, my favorite movie is Romeo and Juliet, and your
song Local God as a big five of mine as well.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Are you going to pick another?
Speaker 3 (03:04):
Ever you never went out?
Speaker 1 (03:08):
That's a smart place.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
I'm going like, who got Okay? All right, Well we
go everyone, Megan, you didn't hear me before I go.
It doesn't matter what song you're gonna pick, you're gonna
lose because women are smarter and better than that. Yeah,
and I figured that out my forties.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
These guys it was.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
It was a song that was banned temper reily, wasn't
it after the Horrible of Eats? Not eleven? But it
seemed an unusual one to be banned from radio play.
Which one WI song was that Santa Monica?
Speaker 2 (03:38):
Was it?
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Band was on the list of band songs.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
So yeah, yeah, because it said watch the world die
a cup bam. You got to remember art conservatives were
in power over here as they raised their heads up
every you know, eight to twelve years. The religious right,
who just you know, try to control everybody and make
them think like they do. So they're they're the book
in my world.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Politicians even ask to use your music. Sometimes you hear
those stories.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Oh really, usually politicians that I don't like, And I'm like,
they're always trying to use Born in the USA. Yeah,
And Bruce is like, man, if you guys listen to
the lyrics of the song, it's not Yeah, this is.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
Very unpatriotic hasn't been a war veteran, right, It's.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Like it's a protest song. Yeah, it's a hardcore protest song. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Well I guess, I guess if you if you don't
listen to the verses and just the chorus, it's a
hell of a patreoon again.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Yeah, yeah, just the one line.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
We're very excited about efically coming to New Zealand and
then yourself being back here because you have really interesting life.
Music really helped you tune your life around, right, Well.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
Yeah, you know, music was the vehicle that I you know,
it helped me overcome my low self esteem. I grew
up very poor. I was abused very badly when I
was younger. My brother died when I was young. My
parents divorced and lived in a housing project, and it
was It was a rough childhood growing up. I would
(05:09):
use that damage as a motor sometimes with anger and
rage to be successful. It took me finding songwriting for
a way to do that without hurting people. Because I was.
I was a drug dealer, I was violent, I carried
a gun. I was I was not a nice personally.
(05:32):
I was a nice person, but I was just I
was scared when people are scared they do bad things.
And when I finally came into my own, like this
is something that's mine that I can do, it sounds
like me.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
People can scenes when you're not being all scenes, you
can't they.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Yeah. Man, we're in the middle of a presidential election
that is just on fire right now. I mean, I'm
sure you gout. You know it's going on and everyone's
losing their mind. I'm enjoying it. Can you guys read
my shirtc.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Is not as spectator as they sport down the bottom exactly. Now,
it's probably a terrible time to tell you that being
is a Trump.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
Supporter, say, American politics is something that we were not
a lot about, but we're just like, wow, there's a
lot going on.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
As you say, man, if you're a Trump's supporter, you're
just must be driven too much. He just came back
from America.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
Look what he got me as a prison do you know?
I was a cam driver. On the way back. He
was like, I'm not into politics, and then he and
I was like, oh god. But so we had a
chat and then he gave me a sticker that said
Trump into Greatness.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Yeah, okay, let's talk about greatness.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
Disturbing thing is it's a homemade sticker. It's not even
like a professionally printed sticker as well. Yeah, no, he's gone.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
He said he was not political.
Speaker 3 (06:57):
But then then I left. I said, I left with
a stick and I was like, and I felt in
New Zealanders, we're too polite to say no, do anything
because you're like, oh yeah, yeah. Anyway, Well, we can't
wait to have you back. It's going to be amazing
playing all the hats, and thank you for putting your
weight behind and well both your songs that we're going
to play in just a moment, one of them is
going to wait.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Means going to work.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
You're right, she's got your vote. Good on your lovely
chatting with your mate, and I look forward to seeing you.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
You're chatting with you guys. Thanks for having me. I
hope you guys come out to the shows.
With the John and Ben podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Cheers to Dilma making the world a bitter Tea. Well,
good morning to you. It's afternoon here, but I'm glad
you guys are having a good morning.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
Where are we at the moment?
Speaker 1 (00:11):
I talk roomily and I can see a lot of pimes.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
I'm in my office. I have a studio in the back.
I'm in Pasadena. I'm about a mile from my house.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Oh that's great. Are you next door to the other businesses?
And do they know what you're doing in there?
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Well, there are a couple of businesses over here. They
know who I am, but they're older people. They don't
really care.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Yeah, So you're about to go on tour to New Zealand.
You're coming back. You haven't been here for what seven years?
I think very exciting. It's been a minute coming over
a summertime as well. That's when the weather hope, well
now I say it's probably not going to be, but
hopefully we put on our best weather for you.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
There's never a bad time to come to New Zealand.
I've been there every season and it's always been lovely
and seriously, we're looking forward to coming back. Going to
be great.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Yeah, no, it's good and appreciate you not forgetting us
so sometimes we left off the world map.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Yeah, we are in New.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Zealandery we're a very forgettable country. So we appreciate you
you including us. Now we must let you in on
a little Every week we do a game where we
each pick a song, a song from yes to year,
and we champion it and then the listener votes which
one we play every week, and being and myself, we've
never had a win. We've never had a win with
(01:25):
this Meghan, who we work with one hundred percent success
rate in this game.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
Yeah, she's pretty good. And so we thought today John
and myself will team up and we choose ever clear
you know, a song from you, maybe Santa Monica, and
we might surprise Meghan with the fact that you're joining us,
just to make our case for your song a little stronger.
Is that?
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Okay, it's okay, but you're going all loose. Women are
always SMARTERO.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
You figure that out, amen, we're slowly figuring it out.
Meghan knows this. There's something I thought.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
So something's gone on now. Meghan, you know every week
how you and throwback Thursday?
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Yeah, I like that. You point that out. I do, Yeah,
you do.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
And we're John and I. We've been gutted about the
fact that we haven't won. So we thought we'd team
up together and we'd pick a great song, Santa Monica
from Evercleaire, And just to really help our case, we've
got Art, the lead singer of Everclear, with us right now.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Hello, Hello, Oka, Hi, how's it going? They've really what
up to me? Now?
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Have you got the artist for your song? No, you haven't,
We've got the artist. No, Art wrote this song. This
is a song that you wrote, the safe Place, the
safe haven in your life? Right Art? Santa Monica.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Well, I was missing living next to the ocean. I
was missing Santa Monica. So I wrote the song about
comfort zones which I don't mention Santa Monica one, and
I named it Santa Monica, which irritated the record label.
What's the World Get? Swim out past the Breakers? Oh?
Such a good song.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Actually, my favorite movie is Romeo and Juliet, and your
song Local God as a big five of mine as well.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Are you going to pick another?
Speaker 3 (03:04):
Ever you never went out?
Speaker 1 (03:08):
That's a smart place.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
I'm going like, who got Okay? All right, Well we
go everyone, Megan, you didn't hear me before I go.
It doesn't matter what song you're gonna pick, you're gonna
lose because women are smarter and better than that. Yeah,
and I figured that out my forties.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
These guys it was.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
It was a song that was banned temper reily, wasn't
it after the Horrible of Eats? Not eleven? But it
seemed an unusual one to be banned from radio play.
Which one WI song was that Santa Monica?
Speaker 2 (03:38):
Was it?
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Band was on the list of band songs.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
So yeah, yeah, because it said watch the world die
a cup bam. You got to remember art conservatives were
in power over here as they raised their heads up
every you know, eight to twelve years. The religious right,
who just you know, try to control everybody and make
them think like they do. So they're they're the book
in my world.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Politicians even ask to use your music. Sometimes you hear
those stories.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Oh really, usually politicians that I don't like, And I'm like,
they're always trying to use Born in the USA. Yeah,
And Bruce is like, man, if you guys listen to
the lyrics of the song, it's not Yeah, this is.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
Very unpatriotic hasn't been a war veteran, right, It's.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Like it's a protest song. Yeah, it's a hardcore protest song. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Well I guess, I guess if you if you don't
listen to the verses and just the chorus, it's a
hell of a patreoon again.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Yeah, yeah, just the one line.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
We're very excited about efically coming to New Zealand and
then yourself being back here because you have really interesting life.
Music really helped you tune your life around, right, Well.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
Yeah, you know, music was the vehicle that I you know,
it helped me overcome my low self esteem. I grew
up very poor. I was abused very badly when I
was younger. My brother died when I was young. My
parents divorced and lived in a housing project, and it
was It was a rough childhood growing up. I would
(05:09):
use that damage as a motor sometimes with anger and
rage to be successful. It took me finding songwriting for
a way to do that without hurting people. Because I was.
I was a drug dealer, I was violent, I carried
a gun. I was I was not a nice personally.
(05:32):
I was a nice person, but I was just I
was scared when people are scared they do bad things.
And when I finally came into my own, like this
is something that's mine that I can do, it sounds
like me.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
People can scenes when you're not being all scenes, you
can't they.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Yeah. Man, we're in the middle of a presidential election
that is just on fire right now. I mean, I'm
sure you gout. You know it's going on and everyone's
losing their mind. I'm enjoying it. Can you guys read
my shirtc.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Is not as spectator as they sport down the bottom exactly. Now,
it's probably a terrible time to tell you that being
is a Trump.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
Supporter, say, American politics is something that we were not
a lot about, but we're just like, wow, there's a
lot going on.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
As you say, man, if you're a Trump's supporter, you're
just must be driven too much. He just came back
from America.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
Look what he got me as a prison do you know?
I was a cam driver. On the way back. He
was like, I'm not into politics, and then he and
I was like, oh god. But so we had a
chat and then he gave me a sticker that said
Trump into Greatness.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Yeah, okay, let's talk about greatness.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
Disturbing thing is it's a homemade sticker. It's not even
like a professionally printed sticker as well. Yeah, no, he's gone.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
He said he was not political.
Speaker 3 (06:57):
But then then I left. I said, I left with
a stick and I was like, and I felt in
New Zealanders, we're too polite to say no, do anything
because you're like, oh yeah, yeah. Anyway, Well, we can't
wait to have you back. It's going to be amazing
playing all the hats, and thank you for putting your
weight behind and well both your songs that we're going
to play in just a moment, one of them is
going to wait.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Means going to work.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
You're right, she's got your vote. Good on your lovely
chatting with your mate, and I look forward to seeing you.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
You're chatting with you guys. Thanks for having me. I
hope you guys come out to the shows.
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