Frontman Art Alexakis played in alt-country bands and ran his own record label in San Francisco before moving to Portland and forming Everclear. ∙ In 1996, “Santa Monica” got so much radio airplay that it topped Billboard’s Mainstream Rock chart for three weeks, even though it was never released as a US single. ∙ Their biggest album, So Much For the Afterglow, was certified double Platinum and features the Grammy-nominated instrumental “El Distorto De Melodica.” ∙ “Local God,” an outtake from the So Much For the Afterglow sessions, was prominently featured in Baz Luhrmann’s 1996 film, Romeo + Juliet.