Another School of Rock: Art Alexakis and Jonny Dubowsky on College

Van Wilder 2: The Rise of Taj is the kind of love-it-or-hate-it college movie that will split the population of Boston moviegoers. A large chunk of them - the college students who flow in and out of the universities - will love the beer-soaked parties. The others - namely residents who dread the arrival of said rowdy students - will quake at the prospect of yet another movie that applauds collegiate partying.

However, two musicians who appear on the Van Wilder 2: The Rise of Taj soundtrack, which comes out today, were in Boston at Northeastern yesterday to defend the college crowd. Art Alexakis of Everclear and Jonny Dubowsky of Jonny Lives! are giving performances in colleges across America. Last night, they stopped by Northeastern University, along with actor Kal Penn, who stars as Taj. Instead of talking about rock, Alexakis and Dubowsky were more interested in talking about one of the lesser-publicized aspects of college - studying.

Alexakis and Dubowsky have had distinctly different college experiences. Dubowsky isn't too far from his "troublemaking" days at New York University, while Alexakis is going back to school to earn his bachelor's and master's degrees in psychology. He jokes that, in comparison to Dubowsky and the other Van Wilder 2 bands, he is the "elder statesman" and "Obi-Wan Kenobe" of the group, but higher education is even fresher on his mind.

You might think that rebellious rock 'n' roll and straitlaced higher education don't mix. But Dubowsky produced a 350-page thesis on philosophy and literature at New York University and clearly relishes that experience. He praises his professors: "The cool thing [about professors in New York City] is that your teachers are doing what they're teaching."

Dubowsky compares his professors' work to what Alexakis is doing right now - setting an example by getting his degree. Alexakis wants his daughter to finish college, and he says, "If I'm preaching to her to go to college, then I'd better do it myself." For these guys, college is just as much about doing as teaching and talking.

Or boozing, for that matter. It's good to let loose on campus, but "Celebration is what [college] is really about, not mindlessly drinking for drinking's sake." Alexakis adds that people's perception of college life - and Bostonians certainly have a love/hate relationship with college life - doesn't always match the truth. He wants to make this point while on tour: "I don't believe that the suits, the guys who make the marketing decisions, know how to market to college people. They underestimate their intelligence."

With talk like that, you might think Van Wilder 2: The Rise of Taj will be nothing more than footage of study halls, but both Jonny Lives! and Everclear have party-ready cuts on the soundtrack, and they'll be back in town with their full bands early next year. The Van Wilder 2 soundtrack is out today, Jonny Lives! has a record available on Urge.com, and Everclear's Welcome to the Drama Club is out now.

Screengrab from the funny video for Jonny Lives!' "Get Steady," which appears on the Van Wilder 2 soundtrack, taken from Grouper. (Somebody really doesn't like Tony Blair.) Screengrab from the video for Everclear's "Hater" taken from YouTube.