Just days before the band decided to curtail its Australian tour for "personal
reasons," Everclear's frontman Art Alexakis and bassist Craig Montoya
allegedly scuffled onstage during a gig at a university in that country's New
South Wales province, according to the show's promoter.
University of Wollongong entertainment manager Don Beale, who explained
that he was in attendance at the April 9 show, said the disagreement came after
Alexakis was hit with a shoe thrown by someone in the audience.
"He got hit with a shoe and sort-of proceeded to stop the show," the 42-year-old
Beale said. "He had a bit of a chat with the audience to quit throwing shoes,
and then he got really upset for some unknown reason, theoretically a stage
type of thing, and he got a bit shitty toward the bass player.
"Alexakis asked Montoya 'what do you want to do, I want to stop,' " Beale said,
adding, however, that the bass player wanted to keep playing. Alexakis then
shoved the bass player forcefully and walked over to the mic, threw his guitar
down onstage and walked off defiantly, he added.
The band, including Montoya, subsequently played one more show in Australia
before returning home after canceling an Australian gig and two more shows in
New Zealand.
The Portland, Ore.-based pop-rock act Everclear are currently touring the U.K.
on a two-week tour in support of their third album, the gold-selling So Much
For The Afterglow. The tour wraps up Friday. The band's bass tech, David
Loprinzo, is filling in for Montoya, who, according to band publicist Donna
Salazar, is at home recuperating from "exhaustion" and will rejoin the band for
the May 14 start of their U.S. tour with fellow pop-rockers Marcy Playground and
Fastball.
Claiming that she had heard nothing about any onstage scuffle, Salazar, from the trio's
Capitol Records label, said the band returned home early because one of the
members had to go home for personal reasons. She refused to elaborate on the
reasons or say which member needed to return early.
"I don't know where those rumors got started," Salazar said of the alleged
onstage scuffle. "That's not true. The band went home early because one of
the bandmembers had a personal situation to deal with in the States."
After Alexakis stormed off the stage, the singer did return, and the band played
an additional 20 minutes together, Beale said. But security was called to
separate bandmembers from each other backstage after the show, he added.
Everclear first burst into prominence in 1995 with the platinum-selling album
Sparkle and Fade, which surged ahead on the strength of singles such
as "Heartspark Dollarsign," "Santa Monica" and
HREF="http://www.addict.com/music/Everclear/Heroin_Girl.ram">"Heroin Girl"