Two: Good Time for a Bad Attitude and Slow Motion Daydream, were not as well received, and as sales suffered, Montoya and Eklund left the band shortly after in 2003.

[5] In the late 1980s, Alexakis played in a short-lived rock band in Los Angeles called Shakin' Brave, where he began to hone his songwriting skills.

There, he placed an ad in local music weekly The Rocket, which earned two responses: bass player Craig Montoya and drummer Scott Cuthbert.

However, near the end of 1995, the second single "Santa Monica" found a strong audience via the burgeoning alternative radio format, which eventually carried over to mainstream success.

However, two ensuing singles, "Heartspark Dollarsign" and "You Make Me Feel Like a Whore", failed to find a wide audience, and the band ended 1996 fast at work on their second major label full-length album.

As Sparkle and Fade reached its audience, Everclear had to endure consistent comparisons to Nirvana,[5] particularly given the album's subject matter and drug references.

Alexakis, however, was dissatisfied with the results and decided to work on more songs for the effort, including "One Hit Wonder" and the eventual title-track to the album, So Much for the Afterglow.

Tensions erupted backstage, with touring guitarist Steve Birch refusing to continue, and Montoya getting into a heated argument with Alexakis.

The band decided to cancel the remainder of their tour following a final show on the Gold Coast, during which Alexakis was hit with a shoe (while the crowd was singing him "Happy Birthday") and Montoya's acoustic bass guitar was stolen.

Montoya declined to join the band for the ensuing tour of the United Kingdom, with then-bass-tech David LoPrinzi filling in.

[7] Following an extensive tour of the United States with Marcy Playground and Fastball, the band released Afterglow's third single, "Father of Mine".

Afterglow provided the band their only Grammy Award nomination to date, a Best Rock Instrumental nod in 1998 for "El Distorto de Melodica".

Unhappy with the results of the initial sessions, Alexakis decided to bring in Montoya and Eklund and transform the effort into an Everclear album.

Alexakis believed he had enough of a catalog of unreleased songs at the ready, and was eager to show the opposing sides of Everclear's sound.

Capitol attempted a final push by re-releasing Learning How to Smile with "Out of My Depth" and "Rock Star" from Good Time for a Bad Attitude as bonus tracks.

A cover of Van Morrison's "Brown Eyed Girl" received some modest airplay as a result, but couldn't help revive the momentum.

Alexakis, however, had previewed a tongue-in-cheek ode to suburbanite housewives, "Volvo Driving Soccer Mom", during a solo tour in 2002, and had received a fair amount of media attention.

At the end of the tour support for Slow Motion Daydream in August 2003, Montoya and Eklund decided that it was time to move on, and departed the band to pursue other interests.

Capitol compiled a Greatest Hits album reflecting the band's tenure at the label, titled Ten Years Gone: The Best of Everclear 1994-2004, which was released in October 2004.

After a solo tour in the fall of 2003, Alexakis decided to continue with Everclear, organizing a new band that made its debut in March 2004.

The new lineup consisted of bassist Sam Hudson, guitarist Dave "Davey" French, and drummer Eric Bretl.

In the summer of 2004, the band added keyboardist Josh Crawley, and swapped Bretl for former Everclear drum tech Brett Snyder.

Alexakis, an Oregon delegate, performed the song (as well as "Everything to Everyone") with an acoustic guitar during a CNN interview at the 2004 Democratic National Convention.

Free of a major label, Alexakis spent the ensuing year and a half slowly recording material for a new Everclear release.

He admitted that the time after the breakup of the original lineup served as a "wake up call", during which he suffered his third divorce and filed for bankruptcy and did not retain sole custody of his family pet, a dog named Scooby.

[8] The collection also featured two new Everclear songs, "Here Comes the Darkness", which was actually a leftover track from Welcome to the Drama Club, and "At the End of the Day", which Alexakis had written and performed with Marion Raven.

On September 13, 2009, Alexakis posted a blog on Myspace that all of the current members had left the band, and were replaced by all new musicians, including Freddy Herrera who was the bassist of The Exies, who had previously toured with Everclear.

In another Myspace post on December 28, 2009, Alexakis announced that former Everclear guitarist Davey French had returned, and Johnny Hawthorn was exiting the band.

The band released Extended Versions on August 16, 2011, which contained 10 live songs recorded on October 15, 2010, in Seattle, WA at the Historic Columbia City Theatre.

"[14]Everclear is influenced by the Beach Boys, the Beatles, Public Enemy, X, the Replacements, the Pixies, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, Elvis Costello, and Green Day.