BAND CHARTS OWN (EVER)CLEAR COURSE VIA 'SANTA MONICA'.

Byline: Fred Shuster Daily News Music Writer

Everclear drummer Greg Eklund instantly recalls the first time he heard the chords to "Santa Monica," the current radio hit that has propelled his band's year-old album onto the charts and raised the "new Nirvana" tag.

"I said, 'Wow, that's really cool,' " Eklund said. "When we recorded it, it sounded like a strong album track, but I don't think anyone had any idea the song would take off the way it has."

It's taken off, all right. "Santa Monica," recently added as a heavy rotation Buzz Bin clip on MTV, has been the No. 1 song for two weeks running on Billboard's rock radio airplay chart. At the same time, the band's major label debut, "Sparkle and Fade," was No. 28 and rising on the albums chart.

The Portland-based alternative power trio opened three nights of sold-out shows at the Roxy in West Hollywood on Wednesday.

"The songs are good, but the four years of steady touring - that's the fuel, the gasoline," Eklund said. "We're a rock 'n' roll band, a loud rock band with a songwriter. You've got great songwriters out there like John Hiatt, but he doesn't go on stage and smoke every night. There aren't many bands right now that have songs and also really rock on stage."

Everclear's live reputation indeed preceded its current success. The group has traveled the country in a van since 1991 in time-honored punk tradition, sleeping on floors and living for that hour of stage time each night. As a result, Everclear - Art Alexakis (guitar-vocals), Craig Montoya (bass) and Eklund - was a popular club draw long before "Santa Monica" caught on.

Lisa Worden, music director at Burbank's influential modern-rocker KROQ-FM (106.7), confirmed that the station began playing the band in May 1995, when the album's first single, "Heroin Girl," was placed in light rotation. She said the tuneful, guitar-driven "Santa Monica" is currently KROQ's most-played track.

"The album is brilliant, and maybe this was the right song to have their first hit with," Worden said. "It's a little more mass appeal (than 'Heroin Girl') and it has a great video to go along with it."

A free KROQ-sponsored Everclear show at Santa Monica beach in November drew more than 3,000 fans, she said.

"We're touring now more than we ever did," Eklund said a few days before the trio appeared on NBC's "Saturday Night Live" last weekend to perform "Santa Monica" and another song.

"Up until recently, we were in a van, sharing hotel beds or sleeping on floors," he said. "Now, we're still in a van and sharing hotel rooms, but at least we each get a bed."

Culver City native Alexakis, 34, formed Everclear five years ago after moving to Portland from San Francisco, where he ran the independent label Shindig and played in a country-punk band. Two years later, Everclear spent $400 to cut an album for the tiny Tim/Kerr label and began selling out clubs up and down the coast.

Capitol signed the trio in '94. The contract stated that Alexakis, the band's songwriter and singer, could produce the album that became "Sparkle and Fade." The disc, recorded at Nirvana producer Butch Vig's Smart Studios in Madison, Wis., and released last April, recently registered gold (500,000 copies sold).

"It looks like he'll produce the next one, too," Eklund, 25, said. "Right now, everyone's pretty happy with the way this one turned out. Who's going to know what we should sound like better than him? But two or three albums down the line, we may want to get an outside producer."

Eklund said the song "Santa Monica" refers to "a place from your past that reminds you of good feelings and good memories." In fact, the oceanside city is never mentioned in the song.

"For Art, the place that holds those memories is Santa Monica," Eklund said. "Ultimately, the song is in the songwriter's head. But whatever level you relate to a song on is fine."

Everclear, which had the leadoff track on a well-received Tom Petty tribute album a few years ago, will tour through the summer and cut a new album in the fall.

"We're just three goofballs on stage," Eklund said. "Sometimes, (bassist) Craig will start chasing me around and it becomes a lot of fun up there. The rest of the day can be pretty boring, so we make up for it on stage. It's hard to be away from friends and family, but when we're off the road for more than two weeks, we're calling each other and looking forward to getting back out there."

Because Everclear is a Pacific Northwest trio playing loud, guitar-driven rock with sometimes anguished lyrics, it is perhaps inevitable that the "new Nirvana" tag has cropped up in some reviews.

"The Nirvana tag is unfortunate," Eklund said. "Everybody wants to call us that, which is unfair to both bands. I loved Nirvana.

"I mean, one of the coolest things that happened to me this year was meeting (ex-Nirvana drummer) Dave Grohl."

THE FACTS

Who: Everclear, with Hagfish and Triple Fast Action.

Where: Roxy, 9009 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood.

When: 8 p.m. today and Friday.

Tickets: Sold out; try brokers.

Information: [phone].

CAPTION(S):

PHOTO

Photo Everclear's Art Alexakis, left, handles guitar and vocals, while Craig Montoya plays bass guitar. Alexakis formed Everclear five years ago after moving to Portland from San Francisco.