Scott Dudelson/Getty ImagesOf all the places you might expect Everclear’s Art Alexakis to pop up, the music video of a rising female country singer probably isn’t the first that’d come to mind.
Alexakis cameos in the new video for “Just Friends,” by Caylee Hammack. The singer’s a massive Everclear fan, and tells Billboard that the band’s 1997 album, So Much for the Afterglow, “really shaped me” — especially the song “I Will Buy You a New Life,” which heavily inspired “Just Friends.”
“Considering ‘Just Friends’ partly came from a Everclear binge during a breakup, I dream[ed] that Art Alexakis could star as a…mystery character in the music video,” Caylee says in a statement.
She adds, “‘I Will Buy You a New Life’ was one of the first songs and music videos that stuck in my head as a kid. I knew I had to reference that in someway. Then the idea popped in my head to just ask [for] [Art’s] number [from] of a mutual friend and call him. I’m glad I did. He is a wonderful creator and even better human.”
As for Alexakis, he’d never heard of Caylee but since the mutual friend vouched for her, he was down to be in the video.
“I don’t think it’s very country,” he tells Billboard of “Just Friends.” But he loves the song, and adds, “I think a lot of Everclear fans grew up to become country music fans because of the similarities in my music and country in terms of the storytelling and being melodic.”
In the video, Caylee auditions for Alexakis; at the end, the tables turn and she’s the one judging him. Caylee and her band also appear in black suits and ties, a nod to the original video for “I Will Buy You a New Life.”
(Video contains uncensored profanity.)
By Andrea Dresdale
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