See why Everclear is still '90s proof at H.O.M.E. show

Everclear's Art Alexakis has gone and pulled a Dave Grohl, breaking his foot just before his alternative rock band embarks on the 2015 Summerland Tour that will bring him to H.O.M.E. in Arlington Heights this week.

“The cast will come off by the time the shows start,” he assures, though he's keenly aware it's a rather opportune moment to be in the company of Grohl again as Everclear's new album attempts to recapitalize on the guitar-heavy radio juice of songs like “Santa Monica” that made the two contemporaries in the '90s.

The 11 tracks on “Black is the New Black,” from aggro anthem “American Monster” to the guitar buffet of first single “The Man Who Broke His Own Heart,” are being heralded as a return to form for the band Alexakis formed in Portland in 1991 that found platinum success with their first three records before hitting a lull in the early 2000s amid low record sales, a shift to more pop-oriented music and a revolving lineup. (He remains the only original member.)

It was one of the reasons Alexakis came up with the idea in 2012 to conceive the annual Summerland Tour to provide a platform for bands that “still live and breathe rock 'n' roll every day.” In addition to Everclear, the tour features contemporaries including The Toadies, Fuel and American Hi-Fi on the current lineup and alums such as Filter, Sponge, Live, Soul Asylum and Spacehog.

“They're not just active bands from the '90s but platinum bands who had iconic radio hits and still have a fire in their bellies to tour and make albums while adapting to the new music business. I find that exciting,” Alexakis says.

In watching the Summerland shows night after night the past three years, he says he got the idea for how to write “Black is the New Black.”

“I loved watching all these big guitar bands. It reminded me of when guitars used to actually be on the radio. That's why I made the record more old school,” he says, also calling it an uncharacteristically dark album.

“It's weird though because I'm in such a good place in my life right now, you know, besides the foot thing. Maybe it's because I feel safe where I am that I could go to the dark places — and I have plenty of those.”

He's not exaggerating: Over the course of his life, Alexakis has dealt with abandonment, sexual abuse, drug addictions and suicide, all of which often inform his music, directly or indirectly. “I take things from my life that I relate to and make characters out of them for each song,” he says, often sharing the insider tales on his annual “Songs & Stories” solo acoustic tour.

“Black is the New Black,” though, might be his most personal yet, with a song written for his youngest daughter after watching her being bullied at school (“Pretty Bomb”).

“The Man Who Broke His Own Heart,” he says, is “about me and a lot of people like me that tend to do the same things over and over and think it will come out differently. … I've shattered hearts, my own included, but at the end of the day you have to own your choices and decisions.”

In owning his choices though, the one thing Alexakis is not is nostalgic — about either his journey or his music.

“‘Black is the New Black' connects to older stuff, sure, but it's also contemporized with new sounds, and that's the line I wanted it to walk,” he says. “For me that's not nostalgic because what's coming out of me is still present and new and relevant, but that doesn't mean we can't still have good old rock 'n' roll around; in fact, there should be more of it.”