If you can't say it in three minutes, I don't want to know about it.
— Art Alexakis
You don't have control of the car, but you can drive it. Life takes you where it wants you to go and where you need to go.
Do not trust anybody but yourself. If people want to help you, fine. Put it on paper and understand exactly what every word says.
About one or two songs per record is me doing a little bloodletting.
My favorite drive is Highway 101 in California between Los Angeles and San Luis Obispo. I love the 101; Highway 1 is too windy, and 5 is too boring - the 101 is just right. It's like the Mama Bear of scenic drives.
I think The Police made five great records and then called it a day. They went out on top.
People's perceptions of me have nothing to do with reality. I'm basically just your average dork.
That's what I think our jobs as parents are, to educate as much as possible... I tell them to follow their bliss. The people who follow their bliss in this world tend to be the more happier people.
Any artist manages his own business along with his manager. Every band should.
I'm a pretty tenacious person; I get that from my mom. So sometimes, I use dark humor. I can't take myself too seriously.
I like Nirvana, but I couldn't say that I was influenced by them. I like to tell a story.
I love Australia! I got a boot thrown at me there.
I have a pet peeve about bands that don't play their hits. I think it's kind of selfish.
I like acting when I can pick my own roles, and I do. It's fun. I like being creative, and it's a creative process.
I like people who tell stories. I like storytellers. A lot of my songs are misconceived as being auto-biographical when they're not because I write in the first person.
My frustration has always been that I'm a Christian, but I don't buy into, never have bought into, the belief that Jesus and God are these men who just dictate that this is how you have to live your life or you are going to burn in hell.
Being a musician, especially at the major label where you work for so long, it becomes a cycle. Write a record, make a record, tour. It's just this cycle, and I don't think there's any life built into it with time to assimilate what's going on in front of you and what's going on in your head.
I think I write very good songs. But I don't know if anybody could record my songs with as much fervor. They sound good sung by me, and they especially sound good with my band.
I loved hard-rock bands, and I loved songwriters who told stories.
People have had the idea to do a '90s alternative tour for a long time. I didn't come up with that; I was the first guy to basically say it was time.
I've always loved aggressive, hard, noisy, yet melodic bands, and at the same time I've always loved 'Blue' by Joni Mitchell.
If you live in L.A. long enough, you get into having a cool car.
A lot of people do not like singer-songwriters, and a lot of people who like them do not like hard rock. It's either-or.
I wish I could come home to a life that looks like a TV show. I wish I could see my television family waiting for me, where no one fights and no one screams, no one lies and no one leaves.
Fatherhood, both times for me, was a choice.
Maybe I'll work for a label someday, write some fiction, nonfiction. Someday I'd like to go back to school and get my teaching degree. I want to be a grandpa. I want to have more kids.
I have my dark side like anybody, you know, depression, anxiety... and I write about gritty, real-life stuff.
The thing I love about Myspace is it's a safe place where I can talk to fans every day.
Call me, and I'd do anything for the Democratic Party.
I saw Cheap Trick play 'In Color,' and it was awesome.
I like acting, but I like filmmaking better. I went to film school. I want to make films.
Forgiveness is hard for me, man. It is for most American-Western males. It's a sign of weakness.
I still fall back a lot on my Les Paul, and there is just no getting away from a Les Paul and a hot pickup.
I'm a 50-year-old guy making music for over 20 years. I've been writing songs since I was 20, so it's really been 30 years, and it's always been personal, but I've always told stories.
'Santa Monica' was a big song, and I always knew it would be radio friendly. But it's not a defining song for me, though for a lot of people it is.
I've always kind of been a little skeptical about bands that won't play their hits. That's really arrogant to me as a music fan. I do want to hear obscure songs, but like most people, I want to hear the hits, so we always play them.
For the most part, I don't like people who soapbox.
I'm a 'Power of Now' kind of guy, always have been. I don't really hang on to a lot of pictures. I have pictures of my daughters.
I like older people; I think older people have a lot of flavor.
I think Everclear is a weird combination of a singer-songwriter and a hard-rock band. That's why some people really dig the band, and some don't.
My goal is to make my kids as happy as possible.
I'd actually like to make a country album one day. One of my idols is Neil Young, because he's kept himself from being bored.
I don't talk about my past; people ask me about it. I've done things I'm ashamed of, but one thing I can honestly say is that things I've done that I regret, I've never done twice. I work really hard at that.
I try to talk about things I know about. But my characters are more of a combination of people or how I imagine people would feel.
Success to me is being able to do what I love, make a living at it and to support myself and the ones I love.
As a songwriter, I do kind of look at 'Santa Monica' as a thing outside of itself, because it isn't just my song. This is a song a lot of people tell me is a part of their high school or college years. That means a lot to me.
I do like my sugar at night, but I try to keep it to a minimum.
I'm constantly working, even when I'm at home.
I'm not a politician. I'm not running for office. I can say what I think.
I lived in Portland for almost 20 years, and that's where my eldest daughter went to college. I missed the sunshine. I grew up in L.A.
