Everclear and American Hi-Fi

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.

Not many artists ever get to stand in the immediate vicinity of The Rolling Stones' Keith Richards, and even if they did, fewer still would have the guts to even talk to him. However, Stacy Jones was one of the lucky, brave people to talk to the rock legend during a chance meeting with him in a club in the late 90's. It's pretty much safe to say that it went pretty well for Jones. At the time, he was most known as a journeyman drummer who'd played with the likes of Veruca Salt and Letters to Cleo. However, while talking to the bona-fide legend Jones mentioned that he had formed a new band, but couldn't decide on a name. Keef paused for a moment, and then suggested American Hi-Fi. Being a reasonable human being, Jones immediately contacted the rest of the band to say that they now had a name.

Thanks to the connections Jones had made as a member of several seminal indie bands in the 90's, American Hi-Fi secured a record deal with Island Records shortly after forming properly. Their debut single “Flavor Of The Weak” was released in January 2001 and was an immediate commercial success, charting strongly on the Billboard Hot 100 and hurtling into the top ten of the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart as well. February 2001 saw the release of their self-titled debut album which was another strong seller that seemingly set them up to be the next big thing on the rock scene. Unfortunately, that wasn't to be the case. While not exactly tanking, their second effort, 2003's “The Art Of Losing”, did very similar business to their debut and by the end of the year, the band had been dropped from Island Records.

Ever since then, the band has remained a cult sensation, with a dedicated world-wide fanbase and three more hugely acclaimed albums to their name. They might not have changed the face of rock music, but all the same, American Hi-Fi come highly recommended.