Pop
Music Driving punk rhythms conceal a gentle grace
By ROBIN TAYLOR
Someday my husband and I will finish paying our student loans.
Both of us embarked on expensive postgraduate programs after college -- my
husband has a theology degree with an emphasis in youth ministry, while I have
a teaching credential.
Right now, he works as an electronics technician, and I am a
waitress.
We realized not long ago that although the loans were a burden, it
was far worse to stay in the jobs it bought us if they made us miserable.
Still, every month, we make payments that barely seem to make a dent in how
much we owe. We try to live simply, to get by on less, partly so that we can
throw anything thats leftover at the loan beast.
Maybe its because we live in Nevada, where slot machines
clank at the grocery stores and jackpot winners make the 11 oclock news,
that we sometimes dream about winning big. What if we dropped three nickels in
a slot one day after Sunday brunch and scored a $500,000 jackpot? Its
happened to other people, hasnt it?
We already know how it would change our lives. Wed pay off
our debts, starting with the loans and our lingering credit cards. Wed
put money in savings. Wed buy a car built in the current decade, one with
less than 150,000 miles on it. Wed clear out some of our hand-me-down
furniture. Wed support our favorite charities. Wed travel.
Wed quit our jobs. Wed be free.
Everclear, a Portland, Ore., band, speaks to these kinds of
financial fantasies. Its latest release, So Much for the Afterglow, has
been on the charts for more than 45 weeks. Its current hit, i will buy
you a new life (spelled, like everything else on the album, entirely in
lower case) delves into bills and poverty, into the stuff wed like to
have that well probably never get, and the way riches change us.
Though some young adults have probably made it big in the stock
market, with portfolios and healthy 401(k) plans, I suspect that my husband and
I are not alone in trying to figure out how well make it. Thousands of us
left college with significant debt, debt that grew as we used easy credit to
buy career wardrobes, furnish households and keep up with the technological
revolution.
Money is indeed a problem for many Generation Xers, and its
a relief that somebody is finally singing about it. Art Alexakis,
Everclears lead singer, talks about buying a new life for his
babys mother, one that includes a garden where your flowers can
bloom, a big house, way up in the west hills, and a car that
is perfect, shiny and new.
Its hard to argue with a life like that, one that includes
beauty, space and safety. The part about the car is especially attractive to
anyone whos ever stalled at a red light, windows rolled down in
100-degree heat, cursing folks who honk and whiz by in air-conditioned
comfort.
At such a moment, there is nothing you want more than a new car,
especially one thats paid for. You understand Alexakis when he sings,
i hate those people who love to tell you/money is the root of all that
kills/they have never been poor/they have never had the joy/of a welfare
christmas.
Its one thing to preach about the dangers of money, to laud
voluntary poverty and simplicity when you have a reliable vehicle and just
about everything youve ever wanted. Its another story altogether
when youre broken down on the side of the road.
I will buy you a new life is perhaps the most
mainstream, pop-sounding song on the album. The rest of So Much for the
Afterglow employs a harder core punk-pop style to grapple with issues both
timely and taboo. In normal like you, Alexakis sings about Prozac,
depression and mental illness. Medication, he implies, changes people to make
them normal, a state that leads to complacency and being a
good dog, living life in a wonderful way.
He sings, tell me why/you want to be blind/i dont want
to be/normal like you though everyday/i get closer/to the place
inside/where i can be complacent ... sedated ... [and] normal too.
This is a song with a startling vulnerability, and though
its dangerous to assume its autobiographical, Alexakis does not
hide his long struggle with depression. Vulnerability is one of his trademarks.
It makes the album accessible not only to younger fans, the traditional lovers
of hard core punk, but also to older listeners, folks who will tolerate a
heavier sound if the lyrics speak to them.
Alexakis vulnerability peaks in father of mine,
a song chronicling a childs abandonment by his father. Though the song is
not necessarily about his own life, Alexakis acknowledges on the bands
Web site that his father never paid child support and was basically an
asshole.
He sings, father of mine/tell me where have you been/you
know i just closed my eyes/my whole world disappeared ... take me back to the
day/when i was still your golden boy/ back before you went away.
Its a loss that stays with him forever, one that makes him feel that he
will never be safe ... never be sane, that hell always
be weird inside ... always be lame.
If theres any good to be had from the suffering, its
in the fierce promise it leads him to make to his own child. now im
a grown man/with a child of my own/and i swear that im not going to let
her know/all the pain i have known.
Its a promise that Alexakis seems to be trying hard to keep.
Married, he wears a wedding ring and often refers to his wife and daughter in
interviews. On a recent episode of Politically Incorrect with Bill
Maher he talked at length about parents love for their
children.
In his mid-30s, he is older than many punk pop musicians, and his
younger fans respond to him accordingly, viewing him as a sort of hip parental
figure, someone who understands them.
Alexakis grew up in a housing project, struggled with addiction,
lost friends to drugs and survived a suicide attempt before quitting drugs for
good. He is the antithesis of the stereotypical rock musician, someone who
sleeps around, fathers children indiscriminately and abuses drugs and alcohol.
His fans seem to know this -- they write letters asking for help and advice. He
says that his therapist tells him that he cant be a father to all of
them, that he has to distance himself. Its something he is still learning
to do.
Alexakis is joined in Everclear by drummer Greg Eklund and bassist
Craig Montoya. All three sing vocals and play keyboards. Together, theyve
made an album that frequently catches the listener by surprise, both with its
startling vulnerability and fusion of distinct musical styles.
The lead song so much for the afterglow starts with
acappella harmonies reminiscent of the Beach Boys before flowing into a
hard-hitting rock melody that takes your breath away. atraxia (media
intro) uses a piece from Prelinger Archives called The Relaxed
Wife, about that breakthrough time when doctors could first
prescribe medicines in cases of nervous apprehension. These
medicines, the announcer says, help people bid their darkened spirits
goodbye for the calming peace of a cloudless sky.
normal like you follows, its pounding beat and lyrics
a stark contrast to the soft orchestral sounds and soothing narration of
atraxia.
So Much for the Afterglow is popular with young teens, both
male and female, with lots of chains and multiple facial piercings. Its appeal
is not limited to them, however. All of us have our monsters, whether they be
depression, doubt, haunting parental relationships, even student loans.
Alexakis and band draw close to the listener through the sharing of pain,
confusion and darkness.
This album is a worthy addition to any collection, even one
thats light on heavy-hitting music. Through the driving beat and rhythms,
there shines a gentle grace, one that catches you by surprise.
And that, in the end, is what grace is all about.
Robin Taylor writes from Dayton, Nev.
National Catholic Reporter, September 11,
1998
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