Interviews: Atreyu

What's that, you want more Angie interviews? Don't we all. Here's one she just did with Alex, Travis, and Chris of Atreyu. Click READ MORE to hear about their wacky Canadian adventures, pooping, and lord only knows what else.

ANGIE: So is this your first time gracing Canada?
ALEX: This is our second glorious time in Canada.
A: Oh can you say your names and your place in the band so I can make out your voices…
TRAVIS: My name is Travis and I play guitar.
A: My name is Alex and I play the organ.
A: So how’s your Canadian experience been so far?
A: Um, well… First we went to the wrong border cause we wanted to come in legally this time for some reason and yeah we went to the wrong border, so then we had to go but while we were at that first border we got our whole van searched and all our personal bags torn apart and then we went to the right border and sat there for an hour and a half while they decided if they were going to let us into the country or not for no real good reason. So we got in and found out we had to go to some weird customs office to get our merch in or something and then we made it to the show in Toronto. It was a rad show, it was fun times, then our tour manager Anthony of One Day Savior Records goes out to the van and realizes that he’s sitting on a rock. A rock has been thrown through our side passenger window and my backpack and some other personal things were missing, my make-up was stolen, which is kind of a bummer and we all kind of flipped out, then Darkest Hour realised their van had been broken into too and ALL of their money had been stolen and there was a lot of money and it was not very cool.
(Chris walks in….)
CHRIS: Oh a van party!
A: That’s Chris and he plays bass…
C: woohoo what’s up interviewer!
A: Interviewer!!! What’s that all aboot!
C: Sorry I barged into your party EH!
A: So anyways back to the Atreyu pity party tour of Canada…
C: Get off the pity party and get on the bus!!!
A: Wow how many drink tickets has Chris used!
C: Two…
A: So anyway were driving on our way here, now our window is fixed and then our trailor tire, we’re just going to call it the "rook" , the rook broke our trailor somehow, shredded the tire and we drove for like a mile or two like that and destroyed the wheel. So then we sat on the side of the road for an hour and a half waiting for the Canada Triple Eh! Eh! Eh! to come help us out and then me and Ryan decided to walk through this high grass and weeds to go to a gas station not taking into account my fear of snakes and I had to run….
C: I had to run through that grass too cause I had to take a shit so bad…
A: Dude you know me and snakes! And I saw this big black piece of rubber and I freaked out but eventually we made it, we’re here but yeah the show was awesome and tonight should be fun if kids stay for us… And Brandon slept in my spot, either than that everythings fine…
A: Would you ever tour Canada in the winter?
A: Fuck no! I don’t like snow, we’re from California!! Travis how do you feel about the snow?
T: I don’t like it so much…
C: I like to go snowboarding, I don’t like to go snow driving or snow touring…
A: Do you find people are always trying to label your music?
C: Oh were already on a label…
A: Um I think people are always trying to label stuff so I guess we get labelled sometimes…
A: Every interview I read done with you guys they were always trying to get you guys to pin-point it, everytime…
A: Yeah, I don’t know…
T: It’s a lot of rockn’roll music…
A: Rockn’roll metal
C: It’s rocking metallic-hardcore or hardcore-metallic rock!
T: I don’t know what are we classified as?
A: You can look us up under the dance, electonica section at your local Towers Records store…
C: Oh glam-core!!
A: What was it like your first time in the studio?
T: We didn’t know what we were doing…
C: (whispers) we still don’t know what we’re doing…
T: We still don’t know what we’re doing…
C: I had pit sweat down to here and down to my waist I was sweating a lot in the studio just trying to find a way to concentrate…
T: And on top of that some of the songs weren’t completely finished.
(Chris farts more times than we all need, we lose concentration and back to…)
T: Um so yeah we were a bit rushed, looking back there’s somethings we’d change on the record…
A: About 85% of it (laughing)
A: So do you think the next record would be more amazing since you’ll know the ropes of being in the studio?
C: Of course, duh it is Atreyu
A: I wouldn’t say the word amazing as much as…(laughing)
C: I don’t know if I would say amazing as much as ah inspiring and godlike
T: I would say glorious
C: Utterly majestic!
A: Um hopefully it won’t be too bad (laughing) yeah that’s our quote hopefully it won’t be too bad.
A: So you guys have a video out for "Lipgloss and Black" (I accidently said Blue)
A: Yeah it’s actually not out yet, it’s in the process of being edited…
A: I heard you were accepting three hundred walk-in’s on the set?
A: No more like three million!
T: More like three…
A: Or like three but we’re really not at liberty to talk about that due to legal reasons.
C: Yeah this is top secret, under government orders…
A: There’s just some contracts and stuff involved and were not at liberty to discuss it as of yet but it was a fun day, some drinks were drank some jams were played.
C: A lot of drinks were drank
A: Yeah
A: And your website is back up revamped and looking pretty…
A: Yeah some asshole didn’t pay our bill, oh is it different now?
A: Yeah it’s up
A: Oh I haven’t even seen it we’re tour a lot, were not big fans of the enternet, is that what they call it?
A: I heard that you don’t like your harmony voice that much that’s why Brandon helps out too?
A: Ohhh bummer, Brandon’s gonna be bummed that he’s just helping out. Actually on our first demo I sang ,well I did all the singing and it was unique…
A: And it was unique! (laughing)
C: It got me pumped up!
A: I didn’t know how to sing, I didn’t know what I was doing it just kind of came out then all of a sudden Brandon realized he could sing and it just kind of made sense, well he can sing and I’m unique so we’ll just have him sing but on the new stuff I’m trying to find my voice a little bit, you know trying to rock out a little more but we’ll see if I can actually do it, Yeah so on the new stuff I’m going to try and sing if you can call it that, more of a yelling anyways…
A: I heard you guys went to the same High School as most of the boys in Death By Stereo and you saw them play their first show there?
A: Yeah we did… Yeah we played their first show…?
C: Umm, that was with Retribution dude? No…
A: No Ateryu then?
C: Atreyu wasn’t together yet.
A: I don’t know but yeah we saw it
C: They played in our school…
A: Are most of the bands in Orange County really close knit?
C: Can be…
A: It just depends, a lot of the bands are interlinked but not so much cause we are members of this band…
C: There’s a lot of different circles but I think all of the circles get along. How’s that one, was that good?
A: Has anyone in your families ever played music?
A: My family has absolutely no musical background?
C: My dad was in a band in High School, yeah in Scotland oh he was actually more the manager (cracks into a crazy laugh) isn’t that funny!
T: I’m the only one with a musical background and that’s not saying much
A: My grandma paints.
C: My mom makes music, with her voice kind of like Alex when she’s screaming, it’s breaks up it sounds kind of cool.
A: Next question
A: Who was the first person you called after yourselves when Victory announced they were signing you?
A: My mom
A: Your mom, was she happy…
A: Um now she takes it more seriously but my parents have always been very supportive but it’s taken them awhile to kind of realise but now she’s really too supportive, I attribute most of our soundscans to my mom… um where am I…
C: I think I called my dad
A: Travis probably told the bartender
T: You’re probably right…
A: Argh I just got signed you son of a bitch!
A: What’s one thing you worry about now being in a band that before you thought being in a band you’d never have to worry about?
C: Loosing my hair
T: Our drummer is already on his way…
C: (laughing) Yeah Brandon loses um, yeah I don’t know… What was the question again.
A: They could probably answer this because I can’t cause I like to worry about forty to fifty things needlessly but simultaneously.
T: He just worries about everything
A: I worry about everything
C: I worry about!
A: Where’s your next drink coming from?
C: Where my next drink is coming from! Oh but finding the next place to take a shit!
A: Oh god I know…
C: Oh she knows!
A: That’s the unspoken thing no one warns you before you go on tour but once your out there you just can’t shit on the road.
A: Shadows Fall say it best on the DVD version of their new album I think, they say something like when you’re on tour you don’t get girls, you don’t get money you just gotta worry about where you’re going to poo!
C: Yep, where are we going to poo, are you going to have a place to live when you get home.
T: Showers
C: Showers, oh! Taking a shower is essential but not always possible…
A: I’m not worried about brushing
C: He’s not worried about brushing his teeth at all…
A: Nope, it’s just all another day at the office
C: We got to worry about speeding tickets…
A: So what’s the longest you got lost trying to find a venue?
A: There was that time that Ryan drove like…
C: Two hundred and sixty miles the wrong way!
A: Yeah… Damn those Freeways can be tricky with their East and West signs, I think that was it.
C: We did get lost one time, very lost I can’t remember where it was…
A: Wilkes barre, it’s just anytime we go to Pennsylvania we get lost, it’s a bummer. The shows are rad but trying to find the places is not rad…
C: Yeah and you can’t find porn anywhere
A: So that’s it guys anything you’d like to end on?
A: Dude we’re on a roll man keep asking, what do you got? You got questions for other bands that we can answer?
A: Well I’m working on a Junction 18 interview
A: Let’s answer Junction 18’s questions…
C: So you guys like Ska up here? Canadia loves the Ska, last time we came here the Skatalites were playing in this club two days later, I was very upset. Yeah I’m a big fucking, yeah fuck me cause I like Ska
A: He’s very sensitive, he’s very sensitive about his Ska.
A: Thanks guys…