They haven’t had a hit in more than a decade, but Art Alexakis and Everclear still want to rock your world. The band is currently headlining the third incarnation of the ‘90s revival Summerland Tour, named for an album track on the band’s 1995 breakthrough album Sparkle and Fade, and has a new album in the can.

“We’ve never stopped touring and putting out records,” Alexakis says, explaining the impetus for launching and continuing Summerland. “And there just seems to be so many great bands out there that not only had big hits back in the day, but are still making records, and that’s important to me — that it’s working bands that are still out there doing what they do. Although times have changed, they’re not getting played on the radio like they used to, they’re still out there making valid viable rock 'n’ roll.”

The other bands on the bill for this summer’s version of tour are Soul Asylum, Spacehog, and Eve 6. While Alexakis jokes that he doesn’t do background checks and blood or urine tests, there is a certain criteria he’s looking for in his touring partners. “One, I gotta like them. I gotta like the band, I gotta like the music,” he says. “I don’t feel like my tastes are that far out there, so if I like them and they have big hits, a lot of people like them.

"The second criteria is that gotta be a real band, out there playing, not what I call mothball bands — bands that just do one-offs and corporate gigs and wait for their royalty checks to come and then when it comes summertime, just play the hits. That’s cool, but that’s not my thing and that’s not what we want on the tour — and when I say we, I’m talking about all the other bands on the tour.

"The third one is, they gotta play the hits,” Alexakis continues. “There’s a couple of bands out there that don’t want to play their hits and that’s a problem when that’s what you’re know for. Or, they want to do like jam-band medleys of the hits. That’s not cool either. I think out of respect for your fans, you gotta play the hits pretty much like they sound. There can be some evolution, but it’s got to sound like the song.”

That last criterion is something close to Alexakis’ heart and for good reason. From 1995 through 2001, Everclear had an impressive run of modern rock hits that includes “Santa Monica (Watch the World Die),” “Everything to Everyone,” “I Will Buy You a New Life,” “Father of Mine,” “Wonderful,” and “When It All Goes Wrong Again.”

“I’m happy and glad to play my hit songs,” he says. “I know it’s very rare that you have a hit song, so if you have a hit song or songs, that’s something that a lot of people connected with. It’s exciting to play them every night and see people’s faces while they’re singing along.”

In the early incarnation of the tour, Sugar Ray’s Mark McGrath brought fans up on stage to sing with the band in a live karaoke segment, but Alexakis quickly put the kibosh on such stunts in order to keep its rock integrity intact. “This is a rock show,” he insists. The bands, however, do get together to play an all-star finale at the end of the night. “It’s usually 'Santa Monica,’ our last song of the night. Fans sing along and the lights go up. It’s fun, everyone seems to know that song. We’ve tried covers, but they didn’t seem to resonate. 'Santa Monica’ seems to resonate better. Of course, it’s my song, but it just seems to work more as an anthem for whatever reason. But it’s pretty dark for an anthem. 'Swim out past the breakers and watch the world die.’”

Although Everclear has gone through several lineup changes over the years, it’s probably most fondly remembered as the trio that featured bassist Craig Montoya and drummer Greg Eklund, which was marketed in Nirvana-like fashion in the height of the grunge era. Alexakis has no plans to reunite with Montoya or Ekland. “It’s my band. It’s always been my band from the beginning,” he says. “No one asks Trent Reznor those questions, which I find peculiar. The guys that have been in my band don’t write, they play, that’s it. They’re good players. The guys who were in the version that was on MTV were the third and fourth version of the band. They were at the right place at the right time.”

Alexakis adds that some of the current members of the band have been with him for more than a decade. And when the band was inducted into the Oregon Music Hall of Fame, Montoya and Ekland were honored along with the current members of the band. While Alexakis and Everclear continue to play this year’s tour, he’s already making plans for the 2015 edition.