When Everclear frontman Art Alexakis went back to school a couple of years ago, he wasn’t sure how it would turn out.
“I didn’t think I was going to like being a teacher, because I didn’t think I had the patience for it,” he said. “But I found out that I not only loved doing it, I have an affinity for it. It’s something that makes me happy.”
For two years he taught songwriting at Los Angeles College of Music, where he served as department co-chair. Next year he hopes to once again work with students, teaching songwriting via the Web.
“I’m trying to set that up right now, teaching classes online. I’m really excited about that,” Alexakis said. “My thought process is there is no wrong or right way to do it. I have my process and things I’ve learned over the years. I think I bring something different to the table. Hopefully it will take off. It sure was fun doing the class.”
Alexakis, who co-wrote Everclear hits including “I Will Buy You A New Life,” “Father of Mine,” “Santa Monica” and “Wonderful,” will perform with the band Oct. 1 in Elgin at Grand Victoria Casino’s Rocktoberfest. The event runs 5-11 p.m. in the south parking lot at National and Grove streets.
“We’re really excited. I got asked a few weeks ago, and we jumped at it because what a great time to be in that part of the country,” Alexakis said. “I love fall in Illinois.”
Also performing is Vertical Horizon, whose hits include “Everything You Want” and “Best I Ever Had.”
“We’ve known those guys for years,” Alexakis said. “It will be fun.”
Attendees can bring their tickets to Club GVC to receive an entry in a drawing for memorabilia signed by the evening’s performers.
During the concert, Everclear will perform their hits — just as fans know them, Alexakis said.
“I feel very strongly about bands respecting their hits and playing their hits, and making them sound like the hits,” he said. “No hippie-dippy medleys of hits.”
The band will also play a few songs from their latest album, 2015’s “Black is the New Black.” Released in April of last year, it’s Everclear’s ninth studio album.
“I wanted to make just an old-school rock record. I went into the room with just a bass player and a drummer. We just worked out songs for a couple of months. I’d write songs at home and send it them over email with the idea that we just go in the room and just rock it out. We went into the studio and recorded, just three of us for a couple of weeks,” Alexakis said.
They then brought in guitar player Davey French, who “added vocals and a lot of awesome rock guitar” and keyboard player Josh Crawley.
Currently Alexakis is in the process of writing an acoustic solo record.
“It’s just going to be me and a guitar, just singing songs,” he said. “I’m looking to record that next year. It’s going to be very low-fi.”
He already has about half of the songs written for the album, which takes some inspiration from Bruce Springsteen’s 1982 album, “Nebraska.”
“It’s one of my favorites,” Alexakis said. “It’s just him. You really get the skeleton of the songs on the record. It’s just him and a guitar. That’s kinda what I want to do. I’ve never done it before, so it’s going to be fun.”
Along with recording a solo album and teaching, 2017 will see Alexakis and the rest of the band out on the road.
“This next year’s going to be really busy because we’ll probably do something with Summerland again,” he said. Alexakis created Summerland, an annual summer tour featuring Everclear and several other fellow ’90s rock bands, in 2012 with Sugar Ray’s Mark McGrath.
“And it’s the 20th anniversary of our biggest selling album, ‘So Much for the Afterglow,'” Alexakis said. “So we’re going to go out and do that album in its entirety.”
The album includes “Father of Mine” and “I Will Buy You a New Life,” along with the Grammy-nominated instrumental “El Distorto de Melodica.”
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Playing the entire album allows the listener to experience all of the songs together in a way that doesn’t happen much anymore in the digital age of downloading just one or two tracks.
“I think it hearkens back to a time when, unlike today, rock music was more album-oriented,” Alexakis said. “People bought albums, and they had CDs. Just whole works… not necessarily a concept record. To me, albums are very thematic and they tell stories, song to song. This album is a little piece of me doing that. It’s going to be a lot of fun to do. We did it last year for the album “Sparkle and Fade” and it was hugely successful. We went to three different countries and played that, and this year we’ll probably do the same.”
Everclear, he said, makes its “living primarily, if not 100 percent, from touring.” Alexakis said he has a responsibility when performing the music, and feels lucky that Everclear has several hit songs, when a lot of bands only have one.
“Most bands that ever lived don’t even have one, so we’re very fortunate to have that and build on that and add to that. Everything else is just gravy at this point. You go out and play those songs like they’re brand new, because a lot of people never heard us play it before,” he said. “Fans that have heard us play it, I need to bring something new to it every time I play it. It’s a responsibility to me. It’s something I take very seriously. I’m very respectful of the fact that I created music as a songwriter and produced it as a producer and performed it as a musician. And all the guys that worked with me over the years to make that happen, I’m very respectful of that.”
Alexakis grew up acting on stage and in commercials, but got to a point where he “had to make a decision whether I wanted to put my energies into that or my first love, which is playing in a rock band.” He said he is grateful for the band’s success, and that he is able to have the career he dreamed of a kid.
“I’m 54 years old, and I got a great job. I get to play a guitar in a rock and roll band every night at work,” he said. “I’m living the dream, 100 percent. I’ve got a great family; I’ve got great kids. I got a great life. I’m not the richest guy in the world by any stretch of the imagination. But I’m doing what I love to do. What’s better than that? That’s what we’re all trying to do. That’s the dream.”
Kathy Cichon is a freelance writer.
Rocktoberfest with Everclear and Vertical Horizon
When: 5-11 p.m. Oct. 1
Where: South parking lot at National and Grove streets, Grand Victoria Casino, 250 S. Grove St., Elgin
Tickets: $15 advance; $20 same day
Information: 847-468-7000 or GVCTickets.com