The Ataris / Kris Roe

[TomiT14]

One of my favorite artists. Great punk rock songs with catchy melodies. Their last album Welcome The Night in 2007 differed radically from their previous material, being very dark and maybe a bit emo-ish. Not sure how the overall reception was like, but I didn't like that record at all, and even the songwriter Kris Roe realized later that the record was not what The Ataris stood for. But all their previous albums and what have been heard from their next album, The Graveyard Of The Atlantic out in 2012, are all about the good old punk rock with a smile-on-your-face attitude.

The Ataris is basically the frontman Kristopher Roe, who chooses his band for each record/touring era. The Ataris has released 5 studio albums, all written by Roe, who is the only member present in all of the albums.
Aside from the songs, the thing I love in Ataris/Roe is the attitude. Roe is his own manager, all the promotion and tour bookings are made by himself. He's said that the upcoming acoustic tour is the first one he's hired a crew with him. No tour buses, just him and his band with a rented van.

Aside from touring with the band, Roe does a lot of acoustic tours, playing the Ataris songs in smaller places, only him and his acoustic guitar. One interesting thing in his playing is that he uses a regular right-handed guitar, but plays it upside down left-handed. Although he is right-handed, he never understood why everyone else used their stronger hand to just hit the strings, while using the weaker (left) hand to hold down the chords. So he basically had to find out to play the chords on his own from scratch.

My favorite album is their 2003 release So Long Astoria, which includes their most famous song The Boys Of Summer, but unfortunately that's the only song not written by Kris Roe. My favorite song is the first single off their upcoming album Graveyard Of The Atlantic, which equals to Sum 41's SBM when comparing the writing/recording process. As in, the album was originally to come out in 2009. Also, Kris Roe released an acoustic album just last week (listening to it right now actually), available at Bandcamp as a pay-what-you-want method, no minimum price. Go grab it!

There always has to be a Sum 41 reference. Kris Roe is featured in the music video of I Believe I Can Fly by a cover band Me First And Gimme Gimmes (at 1:37) along with our very own Deryck Whibley. And for you blink-lovers, Kris has written a song with Mark Hoppus called My Special Girl featuring Hoppus on backing vocals.


So, what do you think of him/his band? My favorites:

[Raku]

I love how interactive he is with his fans, he's awesome =D

Also I am the same way as Kris when it comes to guitars (even though I haven't really picked a real one up yet =P)

[Stef]

my favortie ataris album is end is forever.. sooo goood!

[Vash15]

So did anyone see Kris' freakout from last night?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bjk1Iqp9Ij4[/youtube]

Starts at 4:40, people are really ragging on him for this.

[Ardi41]

So did anyone see Kris' freakout from last night?

Starts at 4:40, people are really ragging on him for this.

what a douchebag ... seriously this guy is a fucking idiot ...

[TomiT14]

what a douchebag ... seriously this guy is a fucking idiot ...

Well, you can't seriously say this with only seeing that one clip.
I mean, how's Billie Joe a genius, but Kris is a fucking idiot?

There seems to be some issues within the band. They seem to have closed their FB account, and the rest of the tour has been changed to be Kris' solo tour.

And as you should know after reading the first post, Kris Roe IS The Ataris. He has brought the other members in, so he has the right to disagree with them. But yeah, should've had handled it way better. I wouldn't be surprised if there was an announcement soon that he has fired the drummer/band.

But seriously, a douchebag and a fucking idiot? I've messaged him a lot, and he seems very cool and down to earth. Also in videos and interviews. This is not his style, so I'm sure there's something behind this, so he just lost it.

[Ardi41]

what a douchebag ... seriously this guy is a fucking idiot ...

There seems to be some issues within the band. They seem to have closed their FB account, and the rest of the tour has been changed to be Kris' solo tour.

And as you should know after reading the first post, Kris Roe IS The Ataris. He has brought the other members in, so he has the right to disagree with them. But yeah, should've had handled it way better. I wouldn't be surprised if there was an announcement soon that he has fired the drummer/band.

But seriously, a douchebag and a fucking idiot? I've messaged him a lot, and he seems very cool and down to earth. Also in videos and interviews. This is not his style, so I'm sure there's something behind this, so he just lost it.

no matter what happend , you can not behave this way ! The fact that it is his band and he brought these guys in , doesn't give him the right to treat them like shit and embarass them in front of thousands of people.

Well, you can't seriously say this with only seeing that one clip.
I mean, how's Billie Joe a genius, but Kris is a fucking idiot?

I never said that ! on the contrary, what Billie Joe did was in no way an act of a genius. It was stupid as hell ... the only difference is you can still kind of understand and admit he had a point doing what he did. (But it's not really a good comparison imo cause those are two completely different scenarios and reactions)

[TomiT14]

no matter what happend , you can not behave this way ! The fact that it is his band and he brought these guys in , doesn't give him the right to treat them like shit and embarass them in front of thousands of people.

I never said that ! on the contrary, what Billie Joe did was in no way an act of a genius. It was stupid as hell ... the only difference is you can still kind of understand and admit he had a point doing what he did. (But it's not really a good comparison imo cause those are two completely different scenarios and reactions)

First off, it was show of probably 100 people. Nowhere near thousands.
And secondly, I just said that too, it's no way acceptable to behave this way.

But this guy is a sweetheart. Would you say that Cone is a fucking idiot and a douchebag, if he did the same?
Kris is a very nice guy. This isn't anything like him.

[Ardi41]

no matter what happend , you can not behave this way ! The fact that it is his band and he brought these guys in , doesn't give him the right to treat them like shit and embarass them in front of thousands of people.

I never said that ! on the contrary, what Billie Joe did was in no way an act of a genius. It was stupid as hell ... the only difference is you can still kind of understand and admit he had a point doing what he did. (But it's not really a good comparison imo cause those are two completely different scenarios and reactions)

But this guy is a sweetheart. Would you say that Cone is a fucking idiot and a douchebag, if he did the same?
Kris is a very nice guy. This isn't anything like him.

I would , to be honest . I would even call my mother that if she was this rude ...

First off, it was show of probably 100 people. Nowhere near thousands.

my point was , that he embarrased this dude in front of a live audience . It doesn't really matter if it was hundreds or thousands , does it ?

I don't really know this guy that much to judge him to be honest , but please tell me doing what he did is not idiotic or douchey ;) if you don't wanna be called an idiot or a douchebag do not act like one ...

[TomiT14]

please tell me doing what he did is not idiotic or douchey ;) if you don't wanna be called an idiot or a douchebag do not act like one ...

That's what I'm getting at. If you do one stupid thing, you're now labeled as a stupid person?
Of course his actions were stupid and horrible. But one act doesn't make him a bad person.
So, don't judge this guy only because of one video you saw.

Let me put it this way. Deryck writes one horrible song. He's now a horrible songwriter.

Get it? I'm not defending Kris' actions. I'm saying he's not a bad person, don't judge him for one mistake, since, like you said, you don't even know him.

[TomiT14]

Yeah, you were right. He's a total douche and a fucking idiot.

/sarcasm

[Vash15]

Apparently the dude had been flubbing previous shows too, and Kris had just reached his boiling point. Kris should've stuck with an open letter or something, since there's no way to defend that behavior while still sounding genuine.

[Tyler.]

He seemed like a massive douche in the response video as well.

[Ardi41]

it's just the way he appeals to me ... he may or may not be a douche . I was just pointing out that he was being one (violent people are always douchebags ... for me atleast) ... i didn't mean to offend anyone . no big deal really ^^

[Resident Skumfuk]

Holy shit! The Ataris is from Anderson Indiana, which is like 15 minutes from my university, I'm over there quite a bit. Weird!

[TomiT14]

I'm disappointed about what he said about the new album. Its original release was supposed to be in Summer 2009, yet they are delaying it again till next year.

Sigh.

[withchappedlips]

The Ataris is kind of one of those bands that you listened to when you were 12 because they had a cover song that was pretty popular, and since then you see them pop up here and there and you say "aw yeah, that one album was pretty good! I should spin that sometime".... but then you never really spin it.

I am part of the group that purchased that '07 album, and absolutely hated it. I bought it, LOVED that first track. I'M NOT CAAAPABLE OF LOVE THAT KIND OF LOVE THAT I FELT WHEN I WAS 21!!! T-T-T-TAKE IT BACK!

Haha. The rest of the album was kinda blah though. I definitely suggest that track to anyone, though.

They had that one song... Radio #2? Something like that? Idk, it was a solid track on one of those NHL games.

Also, that thing Kris did was fucking stupid. You address that after the show. You don't go off throwing shit at your drummer. If you have to, you pull the band aside between songs or something. I posted on here defending Billie Joe's actions, but then when I saw the full video of it (the full set) he just sounded fucked up and he just sounded like an asshole the entire time he was on stage... I think they both acted like assholes.

It's also kind of sad just how far the Ataris have fallen from where they were years ago. This is what happens when you play a dying genre and haven't released new material in 5 years.

[TomiT14]

Wow, couldn't agree more with Kyle!

His last album was so full of shit. So far from the other material he's released. He started writing the new record in 2008, which is going to be along the lines of his Blue Skies album from 1999. The new album was supposed to come out in 2009, then 2010, 2011, 2012..

Two singles from the new album were released in late 2010, but somehow they haven't been able to finish the whole thing yet. But at least they've been on the road. Could be worse.

And yeah, Radio #2 was the first song I heard from them. And yes, from NHL 2004.

[withchappedlips]

Wow, couldn't agree more with Kyle!

His last album was so full of shit. So far from the other material he's released. He started writing the new record in 2008, which is going to be along the lines of his Blue Skies album from 1999. The new album was supposed to come out in 2009, then 2010, 2011, 2012..

Two singles from the new album were released in late 2010, but somehow they haven't been able to finish the whole thing yet. But at least they've been on the road. Could be worse.

And yeah, Radio #2 was the first song I heard from them. And yes, from NHL 2004.

Re-reading my post from before, I was a bit harsh on them. I seriously almost bought that So Long, Astoria (I think that's the name) record on vinyl a few months ago, but I decided on buying a Thursday vinyl instead. That's kind of how it has been between me and the Ataris. They're a band that I know has talent, always has had talent, and can write a solid hook (or could, because that last album had nothing but bland, boring music on it)... they just are always a secondary choice for me.

The three years, 02-03-04 in NHL videogames are just awesome. SO many songs from those soundtracks are still in my playlists every once in a while, or still find their ways into my head.

02 you had a GOB song, a couple Sum 41 songs, and a couple Treble Charger songs. 03 you had Blindside, a couple of GOB songs, Jimmy Eat World, Papa Roach (this is the last time you'll ever hear me talk positively about this band probably), Queens Of The Stone Age, Trapt, Treble Charger again... and 04 was what introduced me to Brand New, my favorite band, The Ataris!!!!, Autopilot Off, and plenty of other songs that were fucking awesome! That game was my favorite soundtrack probably.

[TomiT14]

Re-reading my post from before, I was a bit harsh on them. I seriously almost bought that So Long, Astoria (I think that's the name) record on vinyl a few months ago, but I decided on buying a Thursday vinyl instead. That's kind of how it has been between me and the Ataris. They're a band that I know has talent, always has had talent, and can write a solid hook (or could, because that last album had nothing but bland, boring music on it)... they just are always a secondary choice for me.

The three years, 02-03-04 in NHL videogames are just awesome. SO many songs from those soundtracks are still in my playlists every once in a while, or still find their ways into my head.

02 you had a GOB song, a couple Sum 41 songs, and a couple Treble Charger songs. 03 you had Blindside, a couple of GOB songs, Jimmy Eat World, Papa Roach (this is the last time you'll ever hear me talk positively about this band probably), Queens Of The Stone Age, Trapt, Treble Charger again... and 04 was what introduced me to Brand New, my favorite band, The Ataris!!!!, Autopilot Off, and plenty of other songs that were fucking awesome! That game was my favorite soundtrack probably.

Haha, you're my soulmate!

Those exact NHL games are the reason I am where I am. I probably would've never discovered Sums, Gob, Treble Charger or The Ataris without them. Same goes to Billy Talent (NHL 06) and Quietdrive (07).

I owe a lot to EA Sports for their soundtracks.