Author: Michael Christopher

Few 78-year-olds in rock and roll have as much going on as Michael Des Barres. But before running down the current résumé – and we’ll get there – it helps to understand where he comes from. And we’re not even talking about the six-century-old French title he carries as the 26th Marquis Des Barres. That’s besides the point. What matters more is that – raconteur streak a forest wide – Des Barres has done the bulk of his life’s work sober, beginning at a time when that was the least fashionable thing a rock musician could be. Yet, somehow, he…

If you’ve followed Everclear at any point over the last three decades, you already know that beneath the sweet-sounding, radio-ready power pop of the Portland, Oregon outfit’s music, frontman Art Alexakis never sugarcoated a damn thing. He’s always been the guy who turned the ugliest parts of his life into songs, ones that just happened to be incredibly catchy and resonated with millions. But hearing those tracks now, with everything we know in hindsight, you realize they weren’t just hits; they were flare-bright warnings and often brutally autobiographical. Alexakis lost his brother to a heroin overdose and his girlfriend to…