HUNGRY & HOLLOW SESSIONS GUIDE: EVERCLEAR: SLOW MOTION DAYDREAM

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Recording: 01/XX/02 – 07/XX/02
(Kung Fu Bakery - Portland, OR)
Recorded by: Geoff Walcha and Lars Fox

Band Members: Arthur Alexakis (guitar, vocals), Craig Montoya (bass), Greg Eklund (drums), Rami Jaffee (keyboards).

Recorded:
[O] Science Fiction
[O] How to Win Friends and Influence People
[O] Blackjack
[O] New Blue Champion
[O] Chrysanthemum
[O] TV Show
[O] Volvo-Driving Soccer Mom
[O] Sunshine (That Acid Summer)
[O] A Beautiful Life
[O] Your New Disease
[O] Happy
[O] Sex with a Movie Star (Good Witch Gone Bad)
[U] Glorious

Sources:

Source	Quality	Complete	Runtime	Lowest Gen	Tracks Featured	Notes
SBD #1a	10.0	No	0:37:50	Official CD (Slow Motion Daydream JAP)	• Science Fiction • How To Win Friends And Influence People • Blackjack • New Blue Champion • Chrysanthemum • TV Show • Volvo Driving Soccer Mom • Sunshine (That Acid Summer) • A Beautiful Life • Your New Disease • Happy
SBD #1b	10.0	No	0:11:03	Official CD (10 Years Gone: The Best Of Everclear)	• Sex With A Movie Star (Good Witch Gone Bad) • Your New Disease • Volvo Driving Soccer Mom	‘Your New Disease’ retitled as ‘The New Disease’
SBD #1c	6.0	No	0:03:41	REEL(M)->80KBS MP3	• Glorious	Posted on ‘Recordoftheday.com’ in 2004 to promote Everclear

Notes: The band went into the studio to begin work on their sixth full-length album, after the disappointing sales of the latest album, which barely sold 100,000 copies. Art had a solo tour and had been playing and working on ‘Volvo Driving Soccer Mom’ for a few months.

Art entered the studio in late January 2002 to begin working on songs for the new album. According to Art, the studio schedule for the album will be 5 weeks in the studio, 6 weeks off, 6 weeks in the studio. (43) In actuality, the session lasted a few months longer.

The band went into this session trying for a different sound than the ‘Songs From An American Movie’ albums.

"We focused on this and wanted to make, what we considered to be a classic Everclear record. It's got heavy stuff, it's got more atmospheric, softer stuff, some more poppy type stuff, but overall it's a rock and roll record. We set basic guidelines, of where we want to come and what we all agree on, where we want to come from, where we want to go, and I write the songs, and these guys make them sound good." (48)
"I think it's the best record we've made," he says flatly. "I think it's better than Sparkle & Fade. A lot of old school Everclear fans are gnashing their teeth and spinning around swinging knives in the air and shouting things because I say that, but I don't really care. The whole band, we think this is the best thing we've ever done." (19)

‘Slow Motion Daydream’ was the least biographical of all the Everclear albums to date. The album was written with different characters, not going back on personal experiences and feelings as the other albums had before.

"Slow Motion Daydream epitomizes where we are at in America. I think this a current record. I don't think it's going to date itself. I hope it would, in the sense that things are going to get so much better, we're going to look back at this time and just go "ha ha ha, remember, when?" I don't think that's going to happen, but you got to hope." (48)

"There's definitely a lot of my attitude and my persona in my characters, but I'm writing characters. There's really no autobiographical songs on this record. The closest would be 'Beautiful Life.’” (17)
“There were more character forms, and first and third person points of views. A lot of the writers that I have ever liked including poets, fiction and songwriters have always connected to me by their use of first person narrative. The differences between the older records and this record is that those were very much an epitome of their time, meaning that they came from the Clinton years and things were good on the outside so I had to be more introspective. Now in the new era, I am more socially conscious and much more aware of what’s going on outside of me and I think my characters are too.” (10)

Chrysanthemum is a song dedicated to 2 young girls from Portland, OR who were abducted and raped in 2002.  "That song was me putting myself in the shoes of the parents of someone who was in any kind of disaster. I used the word Chrysanthemum because my daughter came home from school when she was in kindergarten and had two front teeth missing and she could spell chrysanthemum. I can't even spell it. But when I hear that word, I think of her." (50)

“I just loved the topic [Volvo Driving Soccer Mom], the idea of poking fun at their image. It was actually a song I had written an all-girl band I was to produce called Lowball, who have now disbanded. So I thought I still want to do this song, but write it from a girl’s perspective with me singing it. It’s a song about definition, and buying into other people’s perspectives. Currently there is a strong desire in our culture to conform and I think it comes and goes, so I felt the song poked fun at that.” (10) “It's about defining yourself and other people defining you. You can define yourself in any way, shape or form. That's the American dream to me. You can be a slut, male or female, and still be a good dad and still grow up to be anything you want.” (18)

"How To Win Friends and Influence People is a book title by Dale Carnegie. He was the original of the self help guys who were like "I'm okay, and you're okay." That whole type of belief in the late 50s, early 60s, it was used as a sales tool for salesmen and marketing people. I use in a very sarcastic tongue in cheek way, it's a very dark song about a person who's been so bombarded figuratively and literally that he can't even trust a blue sky. He's in a point in a life when he doesn't believe in anything. At the end of the record, the character in the New York Times, is still very skeptical and cynical but sees the light at the end of the tunnel." (48)

Two songs that were not originally included on the final ‘Slow Motion Daydream’ are the most biographical songs of the session, ‘Your New Disease’, and ‘Sex With A Movie Star (Good Witch Gone Bad)’ which happen to be about Art’s third wife, Stephanie.

"We wrote and recorded both of these songs for Slow Motion Daydream when I was still married, but it was kind of amazing how right on both of these songs were to my situation after the fact...funny how life sneaks it in on you sometimes." (33)

‘Glorious’ was originally mentioned during April of 2002, during one of Art’s solo shows in New York City. He hummed the chorus and mentioned that his wife Stephanie might sing on it. Everclear recorded the song during this session but was unsatisfied with the result and did not include it on ‘Slow Motion Daydream’ since it did not fit the record.  Lars Fox explains, “It was tracked for SMD, but Art didn't think it fit the album. Also he didn't have the lyrics done. I think that version is the original band, plus Rami, who I mailed it to.” (61)

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Recording: 10/XX/02
(Kung Fu Bakery - Portland, OR)
Recorded by: Geoff Walcha and Lars Fox
Band Members: Arthur Alexakis (guitar, vocals), Craig Montoya (bass), Greg Eklund (drums), Rami Jaffee (keyboards), Lars Fox (backing vocals)

Recorded:
[O] I Want To Die A Beautiful Death
[O] The New York Times
[O] White Noise
[?] Others

Sources:

Source	Quality	Complete	Runtime	Lowest Gen	Tracks Featured	Notes
SBD #1	10.0	Yes	0:10:47	Official CD (Slow Motion Daydream)	• I Want To Die A Beautiful Death • The New York Times • White Noise

Notes: The band submitted the original album for a late 2002 release. The original album was rejected by Capitol records and request that Art go back and write more songs.

When Art came back, they were very excited about one of the new songs he had written, ‘The New York Times.’  When Capitol heard the song, they wanted the song to be the lead single for the album, however Art opted that they choose ‘Volvo Driving Soccer Mom’ instead.  This may have lead to a lack of support to promote the record by the label. 

"We had already turned in Slow Motion Daydream when I started writing this song [The New York Times] about 9/11 and the kidnapping, rape, and murder of 2 young girls outside of Portland...I wanted to put into words my feelings of how fear and hate had turned this country in on itself, but at the same time, I wanted to talk about compassion and involvement...which when I wrote this song, I didn't hear a lot of people talking about." (33)

“Every person goes through a period like that [I Want To Die A Beautiful Death] - where you're nihilistic, and you say "Fuck it all, I want to get laid, I want to get high. I can't change the way the system is." I don't live like that, but I can tap into it because that is a part of me. As I get older, those different kids I've been in my life, at six, fifteen, twenty-five, are still inside of me. They're just filtered through what I know to be real now.” (18) ‘I Want To Die A Beautiful Death’ is total nihilist behavior. I remember when I was then, when I'd look at the world picture of the late 70's, and the way the economy was horrible. I didn't want to know about it. I didn't feel empowered enough that I could make a change so I just wanted to get lost inside whatever it was, drugs, relationship, my girlfriend, rock and roll, which was the usual choice. That's just this character in this song, does not want to talk about John Ashcroft or being a Volvo Driving Soccer Mom. This character wants to get lost in excess. I think most people have felt that way at times." (48)