Interview with The Ataris
The Ataris are a punk rock band from Anderson, Indiana. The short version of how they met is “Kris and his buddy Jasin wrote a bunch of songs and Kung Fu Records decided to put out their cd. They moved out to California and put a band together, [the band went through many changes, line up wise and with regards to their record labels] then Kris had heard my [Chris Swinney ‘s] other band…” they joined forces to produce the new line up with newcomers Chris Swinney on guitar ,Bryan Nelson on bass and Jake Dwiggins on drums.
Their sound is now “very melodic, [with] raw, catchy, [and] upbeat, sing along rock songs”
The band name, the Ataris “was just a name, Kris kind of wishes he would have picked a different one now. I think it was because he played a lot of video games when he was young…”
The band’s sound has sound has matured over the years and “I feel that the band has consistently put out quality records. There is a common sound or theme with everything, but every record gets a little more in depth. This new album is a back to basics kind of thing. We are getting back to what made The Ataris special in the first place. We were inspired by the bands and record we used to listen to.”
On what they would like achieve in the music industry Chris says “I would just like to earn a decent living…I love music, and playing music for a job is great. Of course, we would absolutely love to take over the world…but we are doing fine right now. There is quite a buzz going for the new record.”
“The energy. There is nothing in the world like playing and seeing the crowd go off. Whether they are singing or dancing around…head banging, whatever. It is just such a rush. For me, the crowd makes the show..”He “really enjoy Warped Tour…because there are so many cool bands all touring together. I know we are very excited to tour with Thrice and Alexisonfire. Should be a great summer.”
One of the craziest/funniest things that has happened at a show happened “this past November, we played a college show in New York City. When we pulled up to the school we saw a flyer that said “The Ataris and Day 26 LIVE!” Day 26 is the R&B singing group that P Diddy put together on that reality show called, “Making The Band”. We asked the promoter if the flyer was correct, and he assured us that it was. So we played the set…everyone was cool and liked us…we hung out with Diddy and Day 26…and everything was great. It was just the weirdest combo ever.”
Recording the new album “was a lot of really hard work. The demo process took forever…getting all the songs together and sounding the way we wanted. It went smoothly, but doing a record is always stressful.”
Chris says “We are currently planning a World Tour that pretty much starts with South Africa, and we cannot wait! It is a place that none of us have ever been to before. We are really excited about the wildlife (mostly the penguins)“
The side projects that the band are working on are The Widow JenkinsThe Gallows Recording Studio. We produce bands all the time when we are home.” consisting of “Bryan, Jake, I. Kris is getting ready to publish a book of his photography later this year, it is going to be awesome. Also, Bryan and I own and operate
As mentioned above The Ataris are coming down here as a start to their world tour, and it’s going to be amazing!
Enjoy the video for “Unopened Letter to the World (acoustic)” below
xx
yours in musical madness
