The first full-length album the pop-punk group has released in nearly two years, So Long, Astoria, the Ataris’ long-awaited major-label debut, is the obvious by-product of maturation in the band’s songwriting and production.
The Ataris’ previous releases once featured minimal creativity in the formulaic pop-punk structures, but this album finally demands more from the continually evolving band in its conceptual and musical development.
This growth is apparent from the very first track. Their single “In This Diary” has received significant radio airplay, accompanied by a video filmed by a notable director, signs that “the buzz” is in full swing. Sources say that this album will propel the band toward an entirely new level of notoriety.
The Ataris are Kris Roe (lead vocals/guitar), Johnny Collura (guitar/vocals), Mike Davenport (bass/vocals) and Chris Knapp (drums). Since the band’s inception in 1997, it has toured incessantly, opening for such acts as Jimmy Eat World, Social Distortion, Blink-182, The Hives, 311 and the Warped Tour.
Discovered by The Vandals’ founder and Kung-Fu Records C.E.O. Joe Escalante, the band had the opportunity to record Anywhere But Here. Soon after, it signed with Fat Wreck Chords and issued the EP Look Forward to Failure, which was produced by members of the Descendants.
In early 1999, the band released the full-length Blue Skies, Broken Hearts … Next 12 Exits, followed by Let It Burn in 2000. Now having recorded So Long, Astoria as a part of the Columbia label, this album may make or break the band’s chances at distinction and commercial success.
Frontman Kris Roe describes the songwriting on So Long, Astoria in an interview located on the band’s self-maintained website: “We took a back-to-basics straight-forward rock approach. There’s no novelty, no silly aspects to this record at all. It’s a serious storytelling record. Everything is really personal, every song is about something different, each song is like a page in the scrapbook of memories, but it’s not a dark record at all.”
Apparently, So Long, Astoria was inspired by the concept “that memory can transcend the experience that generated the memory,” an idea contained in punk pioneer Richard Hell’s novel/spoken-word album Go Now.
The result of this conceptual framework is lyrical content depth. Roe writes lyrics that examine memory as a theoretical concept, but also a means of recovering emotions of an adolescent past while learning how to integrate them into a more adult present.
Producer Lou Giordano (Goo Goo Dolls, Sunny Day Real Estate, Husker Du) helped make these tunes accessible, using clean vocal tracks over a variety of guitar distortions. Since So Long, Astoria sounds tremendously different from Blue Skies …, older fans have griped about this album sounding “too emo.”
Sometimes bands just have to grow up, though the band gracefully acknowledges this struggle: “Being grown up isn’t half as fun as growing up … Eventually you’ll finally get it right.”
So Long, Astoria takes slick rock songs and infuses them with serious emotional content. Most of the tracks have a bright, positive feel, especially the rocking cover of Don Henley’s “The Boys of Summer.” In terms of melodic sensibility and general intensity, one might sum up this album’s sound as a conglomeration of Jimmy Eat World, The Get Up Kids and the Replacements — a surefire way to appease the masses.
If The Ataris continue on the path they have begun with this album, the band’s work will undoubtedly give some credibility back to power-pop. The succinct songs are all straightforward and commanding — an excellent quality, but long-time fans must be willing to accept that they sound almost “too perfect.” The rhythm guitar parts utilize powerful chord changes and the lead riffs supply overlays made of terrifically jangly melodic lines.
The Ataris have always been seriously devoted to the fans. Roe points out, “We have a kid from the audience get on stage and play guitar on a song with us every night. We opened up a record store in Santa Barbara, where we live, so that when we’re off tour, people can come visit us. We even rehearse there so when kids come, we’ll let them jam with us.”
The Ataris will surely maintain their grassroots following and subsequently capture the attention of mainstream rock fans. A band that is willing to take risks in the name of personal growth, while still demonstrating down-to-earth sincerity, is sure to be around for a while.
Grade: A/B
