Everclear
World Of Noise

THE REVIEW

Is it right to classify Everclear as a post-grunge band? Yes, if we consider that they formed only in 1992. No, if we think that this debut album was released in 1993. Yes, given that their breakthrough and television rotation came only later, and after other attempts. No, if we take into account that the production of this "World Of Noise" cost just four hundred dollars. Yes, once we realize that in 1992 Art Alexakis was already thirty years old. No, if we informed ourselves about his life.

The debut of Everclear will undoubtedly be juicy material for those who want to revisit those sounds belonging to the first half of the 1990s. At first listen, their music (at least in the early days) seems very close to certain garage-punk, which at the time saw Mudhoney as standard-bearers. The result is less deliberately sprawling and complacent compared to what was produced by the band from Seattle (some prefer them for that reason, and others, like me, criticize them for it), and it's a bit more melodic. The opening "Your Genius Hands" and the subsequent "Sick & Tired" are eloquent examples of this. More traditional are the very standard garage punk styles of "The Laughing World" (complete with melodic-childish verse as per the worst tradition) or "Sparkle," or even the normal-regular punk of "Pennsylvania Is...".

As is the case with Mudhoney, when they tackle melody, willingly or not, they imitate in execution as much as in interpretation: this is the case with the excellent "Fire Maple Song," in which the cowpunk roots of the band man Alexakis emerge. For those who don't appreciate it, it's fair to clarify that the piece electrifies properly, manifesting what is undoubtedly an innate inclination of the "innocent" Art towards catchiness despite himself.

Further mention for "Loser Makes Good," the story of a bum who, for no reason other than that life generally sucks, shoots and kills a band's vocalist (in reality a friend of Alexakis, and produced by his label which failed a month after starting activities). If the title is itself eloquent, what's striking (not fatally, anyway) about this somewhat less whiny Nirvana-like ballad is that the event in question is narrated from the viewpoint of the bum (or his defense lawyer), almost wanting to justify the occurrence, almost saying "the loser did well"... To the detriment of friendship!

So, are the resonances in this debut a symptom, an indication, an undeniable proof of Everclear's derivativeness in relation to grunge? Considering that the excellent "Malevolent," albeit with entirely different sounds, seems to come straight out of Pearl Jam's "Ten," and that "Nervous And Weird" and the finale "Evergleam" seem to come from Nirvana's "Bleach," the case for Everclear seems indefensible...

If grunge were a genre (even if we know it wasn't that either) born from nothing, generated directly by MTV to amaze or disgust the ears of those who had "Dangerous" by Michael Jackson in their heads, or, in the best case, "Greatest Hits II" by Queen, then Everclear are the sum of the B-side of a random Mudhoney record, half an A-side of "Bleach," a piece of "Ten" and something else that is not present.

But since in 1993 Mr. Alexakis was not eighteen but thirty, he did not live in Australia but in San Diego, considering that this music went on television and charts for the first time in '91 but had been circulating on American streets (especially Western ones) for at least a decade (and given that the stuff present in "Bleach" is the most derivative of Nirvana's repertoire), then it would not be correct to label Everclear as a band of clones and post-grunge: derivative rather, of the music that was always around, from Seattle down, on the streets, in the degraded environments of youth, punk and heroin. Not for nothing "Invisible" is a Californian streetpunk that, if we want, can be compared to episodes of supersonic punk present in "Use Your Illusion" by Guns n' Roses...

A catchy and violent debut, lo-fi and tasty. But, in general, quite impersonal. Not derivative "of" grunge, but derivative "like" grunge. And, for this reason, the debut of a band "of" grunge.