It was 27 years ago when Everclear frontman Art Alexakis flew into Sydney's Mascot Airport for the first time unsure how his Portland three-piece would be received in Australia.
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Given that their blistering punk single Heroin Girl had caught fire on triple j, and would eventually poll sixth in the Hottest 100 of 1995, the band were optimistic.
But the reception they received was beyond their wildest dreams.
"There was 500 people at the airport to see us," Alexakis says this week from his hotel room, the morning after a show in Townsville. "It felt like The Beatles. We were like, 'what the f--k is going on here?'
"The reason [we're popular in Australia] is due to triple j and Triple M, to a lesser extent.
"For some reason '90s American rock really resonated here and harder rock'n'roll has always resonated in Australia.
"I think it's one of those places if you keep coming back, people will keep coming out to see you."
Ever since that heady first visit, Everclear have continued to return to Australia.
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Their latest tour to celebrate the 30-year anniversary of the band's 1993 debut album World Of Noise is Everclear's 10th trip to Australia and their biggest.
The 17-date tour, which began last Thursday in Ipswich, passes through venues like Kellyville Ridge's Ettamogah Hotel, Gosford's Drifters Wharf and the Torquay Hotel, which rarely see major acts.
Alexakis says the success of the Hotter Than Hell festival tour in early 2020 convinced him there was a demand for rock music outside of the traditional capital city circuit.
"We have a long history with Australia. It's always been our biggest market after the States for sure," he says.
Everclear rose to prominence in 1995 with the release of their second album Sparkle and Fade, which spawned the post-grunge classics Santa Monica, Heroin Girl and You Make Me Feel Like a Whore.
The more pop-driven 1997 album So Much For The Afterglow enjoyed even greater success going gold in Australia and receiving mainstream radio airplay for Everything To Everyone and Father Of Mine.
While the mid-2000s brought the departure of mainstay members Craig Montoya (bass) and Greg Eklund (drums) and diminishing interest in Everclear's subsequent albums - the last being 2015's Black Is The New Black - they remain a powerful live act.
Much of Alexakis' most beloved material was inspired by his traumatic childhood, which involved his father leaving the family and his older brother dying from a heroin overdose.
Alexakis also lost his girlfriend to a drug overdose at 15 and battled with his own cocaine, heroin and alcohol addiction into his 20s.
Yes, you're going to alienate some people and you have to get to a point where you don't give a damn.
- Art Alexakis
However, by the time Alexakis formed Everclear in 1991, the almost 30-year-old was clean and sober and squarely focused of giving music everything.
Alexakis, 60, believes finding fame in his 30s meant he was better equipped to cope with the excesses of the music business, unlike some of his contemporaries.
"The fact I was sober before success, and I got clean and sober going on 34 years ago, that has helped me a lot," he says.
"Not only physically but emotionally. I know what I wanna do, I know who I am. I'm not out there finding myself.
"That doesn't mean I'm not growing and evolving and changing, but when I started Everclear it was my last band. I was 30 years old and I knew what I wanted."
While Alexakis says he's done making albums, he still enjoys releasing singles.
In November Everclear released the track Year Of The Tiger, an unapologetic middle finger to American far-right politics.
Alexakis says he's always written political songs and points to examples like 1997's I Will Buy You A New Life and the 2008 single Jesus Was A Democrat that "pissed off a lot of people".
However, he says the rise of Donald Trump means taking a stance is more important than ever.
"Yes, you're going to alienate some people and you have to get to a point where you don't give a damn," he says.
"This is what I am and this is what I believe. I've always been more democratic, more liberal, whatever you wanna call it, but it's never been this divided before thanks to Trump.
"People are openly racist now and they think it's OK, and it's not. People have gotta stand up and tell them, 'f--k you, it's not OK'."
Alexakis has also had his own personal battles to overcome in recent years.
In 2019 he went public about his multiple sclerosis diagnosis and he was hospitalised for several weeks in 2021 due to complications from COVID.
"It progressed my MS a little bit, I'm doing really well now with medication, diet and exercise," he says. "I'm doing way better than I was a couple of years ago.
"It is what it is. My prognosis is good, not as good as it was before COVID, but I wanna work as hard as I can for as long as I can and make music and connect with people before this disease tells me I can't.
"I think I've got a good 10 years."
- Everclear return to Canberra to play The Basement on Thursday.
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