The Ataris

The Ataris is the very example of success story. One evening in 1996, Kris Roe (chant/guitar) will see a Vandal concert, one of his favourite bands in Anderson, Indiana. He gave a K7 demo to the band and a few months later, Joe Escalante, bassist of the mythical Vandals reminds him of it by asking him if! wants to release a record on his label (Kung Fu Records). This one accepts and moves to California. There he meets Derrick Plourde (former drummer of Lagwagon , Buck Wild , Sweet Action ...) and Jason. Under this line up, they record
Anywhere But Here (produced by Vandal guitarist Warren Fitzgerald), a rather classic punk rock album that pays tribute to Descendants or Vandals. After the mini tours with MXPX, Lagwagon, Vandals, No Use For A Name ... But shortly after, as the band is about to split, Kris decides to continue on his own and reform the troupe with these musicians: Marco Pena (guitar/chorus), Mike Davenport (bass/chorus) and Chris Knapp (battery). With the change of line up comes a change of style since the Ataris now play genuine punk/emo with very catchy melodies that begin to turn their heads... Fat Mike (NOFX ), whose favorite band happens to be The Ataris at that time releases their Mini CD Looking Forward to Failure on his label Fat Wreck Chords. Bill Stevenson and Stephen Egerton of the All / Descendants are responsible for the prod. This time and the most attentive will recognize the voice of Mark Hoppus (Blink 182 ) on some choirs. Just before the album was recorded, Marco left the band and Pat, a friend of Kris, replaced him. In April 1999, Blue Skies, Broken Hearts...Next 12 Exits continues on the musical momentum of the MCD and sees Marco returning to the band. This album produced by Joey Cape (singer of Lagwagon) is a huge success and everything goes on very quickly: a split cd with the Israelis of Useless ID and then the master End Is Forever in 2000 which places them definitely as one of the pillars of punk/emo along with New Found Glory and Saves The Day. In 2001, two major events took place in the life of the band, the first being that they definitively separated from Marco, who was replaced by John Collura (ex Beefcake) in guitar. The second is that Ataris signs with Major Columbia. The departure of their house Kung Fu who had released all their records so far except the MCD is worth reproaching them and they are accused of selling, especially because of the turn pop punk that their galette So Long, Astoria (2003) takes... Later in the year, an EP titled All You Can Ever Learn Is What You Already Know barely sees the light of day since very little distribution. It includes acoustic versions and 1 or 2 unpublished versions. The first live CD of the combo released in October: Live At The Metro, and it was also at the end of the year that Columbia released the band's first DVD: Live at Capitol Milling.