Editing Art Alexakis (section)

==Music career==
===Early bands===
While living in Los Angeles in the 1980s, Alexakis was in a band called Shakin' Brave. Shakin' Brave featured a rather rough rock sound, but failed to emerge from the sea of music in [[Southern California]]. Alexakis and his first wife Anita relocated to [[San Francisco]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.wweek.com/music/2017/05/09/i-think-weve-got-a-problem-an-oral-history-of-everclears-so-much-for-the-afterglow/|title=I Think We've Got a Problem: An Oral History of Everclear's "So Much for the Afterglow"|last=Cizmar|first=Martin|date=May 9, 2017 |access-date=2022-06-19}}</ref>

While living in San Francisco, Alexakis discovered a genre of music known as "[[cowpunk]]", a style merging two prevalent forms of music with which he grew up — the tunefulness of [[country music|country]] and the distorted guitars/fast tempo of [[rock and roll]]. Inspired, Alexakis established Shindig Records. He spent several years with his cowpunk band, the Easy Hoes that formed in the late '80s and released one album, ''Tragic Songs of Life'', in 1989.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.wweek.com/music/2015/11/17/its-a-real-small-town/|last=Cizmar|first=Martin|title=It's a Real Small Town: The story behind Everclear's Sparkle and Fade—and why everyone hates the man behind it.|date=November 17, 2015 |access-date=2022-06-19}}</ref>

Alexakis's next project began as a solo album but grew into a group project under the name Colorfinger.  This band released the album, ''[[Deep in the Heart of the Beast in the Sun]]'' as well as an [[Extended play|EP]], ''Demonstration''.  Only the full-length album was made available for sale. Both were released on Alexakis's Shindig Records. A few songs originally performed by Colorfinger were made into Everclear songs, such as "Why I Don't Believe in God", "Invisible," "The Twistinside", "[[Heartspark Dollarsign]]", and "Hateful".

===Everclear===
[[File:Art Alexakis in 1999 with Everclear.jpg|thumb|Alexakis singing with Everclear at [[Woodstock '99]]]]
Following a move to Portland, Alexakis placed an ad in ''The Rocket'' seeking a bass player and a drummer to form a new band. Alexakis had two respondents, [[Craig Montoya]] and Scott Cuthbert. The trio became the first incarnation of Everclear. After Cuthbert was replaced by [[Greg Eklund]], the band spent the better part of a decade as a dominant act on [[alternative rock]] radio.  The band scored three [[platinum album]]s in ''[[Sparkle & Fade]]'', ''[[So Much for the Afterglow]]'', and ''[[Songs from an American Movie Vol. One: Learning How to Smile]]''.

The instability and personal turmoil Alexakis experienced throughout his life would directly inspire his lyrics. "[[Father of Mine]]" and "Why I Don't Believe in God" described his difficult youth, while "[[Heroin Girl]]", "Strawberry", and "Color Pit" touched upon his drug addictions.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.whitelightning.org/resources/faq-b.htm |title=WL Everclear FAQ&nbsp;– Section B |publisher=Whitelightning.org |access-date=2012-02-27}}</ref> Everclear's breakthrough album, ''[[Sparkle & Fade]]'', deals with the themes of escape and redemption that pervaded his life upon leaving San Francisco.

===Songwriting and industry roles===
While finding success as a musical act and songwriter, Alexakis took on other projects within the music industry. For several years, he served as an A&R representative for [[Capitol Records]]. In 1996, he produced Frogpond's album, ''Count to Ten''.

In the early 2000s, Alexakis established his own label, Popularity Recordings, as a subsidiary of [[Artemis Records]]. He produced the label's first release, the 2002 album ''Volume'' by [[Flipp]]. The label closed in 2003.

Alexakis dabbled in songwriting with other artists, including co-writing and duetting the song "At the End of the Day" released on [[Marion Raven]]'s 2005 and 2007 albums, ''[[Here I Am (Marion Raven album)|Here I Am]]'' and ''[[Set Me Free (Marion Raven album)|Set Me Free]]'', respectively.

In October 2008, Alexakis entered the studio with the [[Minneapolis]]-based band Apparently Nothing (previously a Madison band and later renamed to The Usual Things) to produce their debut album, tentatively titled ''The Middle Coast''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.apparently-nothing.com/2008/10/04/fall-glimmer-sparkle-and-fade |title=Apparently Nothing blog post |publisher=Apparently-nothing.com |date=December 10, 2011 |access-date=2012-02-27 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090306194050/http://www.apparently-nothing.com/2008/10/04/fall-glimmer-sparkle-and-fade/ |archive-date=March 6, 2009 }}</ref>