Everclear’s Alexakis Keeps Demons at Bay

As he walked onstage at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium on Wednesday, Everclear’s frontman Art Alexakis bore an eerie resemblance to Kurt Cobain.

And the singer-guitarist has battled many of the demons Cobain did. Fallout from Alexakis’ decade-past drug abuse rages throughout last year’s “Sparkle and Fade,” the Portland-based trio’s second album of startling, literate lyrics and taut, stormy post-punk.

But his demons remained safely within the songs as Alexakis, who grew up in Culver City, played the lighthearted host. Wearing a Hawaiian shirt and planted between two inflated plastic palm trees, he reminisced about childhood trips to the Civic to see surf movies and dusted off some of his old favorites, including the theme from the cartoon “Speed Racer” and Tom Petty’s “American Girl.”

This stop on Everclear’s Summerland tour (with 7 Year Bitch, Tracy Bonham and Spacehog) was clearly a special homecoming for Alexakis, who probably never imagined he’d live long enough to see this day. Everclear celebrated with a hard-rocking, buoyant romp of a show that rode the tone of high spirits established earlier by Bonham’s accomplished, playful set and by wacky between-acts entertainment by one-man band Arthur Makane.

Alexakis’ demeanor reflected his songs’ desperate urgency only once--when the crowd sang along to “Strawberry’s” words of warning, “Don’t fall down now, you will never get up.” Obviously affected by the support, Alexakis seemed moved. “Thanks a lot for helping me out,” he said. “That was cool.”

* Everclear plays next Friday at Billboard Live, 9039 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, 9 p.m. $20. (310) 274-5800.