Songs From An American Movie - Volume One - Learning How To Smile

"It's kind of looking at life growing up in America. It's like a bad movie just waiting to happen. There's a lot to do with watching movies on TV and listening to the radio on this album. It's kind of a concept record...I'm writing songs to tell smaller stories that are part of a bigger story. The songs have connecting threads, and I'm just tying those stories together."
- ART ALEXAKIS

Everclear return with 'Songs From An American Movie, Vol. One: Learning How To Smile'. It's the first of two different Everclear releases slated for the year 2000, with the noisier 'Songs From An American Movie Vol. Two: Good Time For A Bad Attitude' on tap for spring.

Originally conceived as a solo album, 'Learning How To Smile' evolved into a group effort when Alexakis brought in Craig Montoya and Greg Eklund to provide some extra punch to songs he had already written. The results crackled, and they stayed for the entirety of the record, setting the stage for the follow-up to 1997's 'So Much For The Afterglow' and the 1995 'Sparkle And Fade'(both albums had Platinum sales here in NZ).

Everclear glazes its unique sound on a cover of Van Morrison's classic 'Brown Eyed Girl' and samples Public Enemy's Chuck D on 'Here We Go Again.' A yearning, hypnotic number is titled 'Otis Redding,' while the butt-shaking riff from Jean Knight's 1971 'Mr. Big Stuff' kicks off the nostalgic 'AM Radio.'