COURTESY OF COLUMBIA RECORDS
The popular SoCal band makes its Hawaii debut.
Follow your heart
to The Ataris
Do you like that The Ataris are now on MTV and have radio play?," Ryan asks on his fan Web site for the rock band he so loves. Out of a whopping 26 votes so far, "It's Alright, I Guess" leads with 38 percent, "Yes, It's Great" comes in second at 34 percent and "No, It Sucks" trails at 26 percent.
The Ataris
Where: Pipeline Cafe, 805 Pohukaina St.When: 7 p.m. tomorrow
Tickets: $17.50
Call: 589-1999
Such is the core audience base of the-band-we-relate-to-so-much! -- those true fans who have been with The Ataris since before they became Rich and Famous. And obviously buoyed by their newfound success, the band makes its Honolulu debut this weekend.
But just who are The Ataris? Maybe this brief profile will help ...
Their Home Base: Santa Barbara, Calif.
The Ataris play: Emorock (a much despised word to describe heart-on-sleeve songs, performed electric loud or acoustic soft, by and for the restless youth of today)
Formed: In 1995, after frontman Kris Roe presented Joe Escalante of punk rock heavyweights The Vandals his demo tape. Escalante, also head of the independent Kung Fu Records, offered to sign Roe to his label. Roe left Anderson, Indiana, for Southern California and assembled a four-piece ensemble.
Members: Roe (lead vocals / guitar), Mike Davenport (bass / vocals), John Collura (guitar / vocals), Chris Knapp (drums)
Often compared to: Jimmy Eat World, Dashboard Confessional, blink-182, New Found Glory -- all very successful.
Musical description: The Winnipeg Sun's Darryl Sterdan calls Roe "one of the most talented young punk songwriters you've never heard, delivering lyrics with impressive levels of depth, maturity and literacy" while Davis Cornelius of the All Music Guide refers to The Ataris' sound as "cookie-cutter pop punk." Take your pick.
Most incendiary quote: "I think the Grateful Dead were (expletive) horrible and most people, except for a bunch of snooty hippies, would agree with me that the Grateful Dead's music was just watered-down (expletive) country music." -- Kris Roe, interviewed by Tom Cashmere at undercover.com.au
Fun facts: The Ataris answer every fan letter personally. They often allow audience members to join them on stage to play guitar. They own a record shop in Santa Barbara, called Down On Haley. And you can go to kungfurecords.com to exclusively download the band covering the Ramones chestnut "Rock and Roll High School."
Discography: "So Long, Astoria" (Columbia Records, 2002, with the big hit "In This Diary" and a surprising cover of Don Henley's "The End of Summer"); "End Is Forever" (Kung Fu Records, 2001); "Blue Skies, Broken Hearts ... Next 12 Exits" (Kung Fu Records, 1999); "Anywhere But Here" (Kung Fu Records, 1997, re-released 2002); "Look Forward to Failure" (Fat Wreck Chords, 1998)
Key lyric imagery found "In This Diary": Staying up all night and listening to '80s songs, quoting lines from favorite movies, illegally using hotel swimming pools, hanging out at truck stops ("The black top's singing me to sleep"), lighting fireworks in parking lots and sipping "Cherry Cokes under this moonlight summer sky."
The Meaningful Chorus that will be sung loudly by the audience at tomorrow's concert: "Being grown up isn't half as fun as growing up / These are the best days of our lives / The only thing that matters / Is just following your heart"
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