The Ataris

(2003)

WussEmoRock

What? The Ataris Music Video Shoot for "In This Diary."
Where? Downtown Los Angeles (Warehouse)
When? Starts at 3:00 PM (yeah right Kris Roe)

12:30 PM: I left school with two buds while listening to the new Reggie CD. It says the shindig starts at 3:00, so that probably means that we need to get there a little early, eat some grub, and hit on all the fat emo chicks (I am only kidding-about the hitting on them, not the part about them being fat).

1:00 PM: We arrived, although we parked in the wrong area, and had to walk about 4 blocks to the best french dip sandwich place this side of the Atlantic Ocean.

1:30 PM: Damn, we went to the place where they were filming the video and everything was set up and ready to go…yet they wanted all of the "extras" (I told them I was a star though--didn't work out) to head on over to a parking lot and get in line. Here goes another 3 block walk. Fat chicks were following us (Don't worry, I am fat too though) Word.

1:45 PM: Check In: we are #'s 150, 151, and 152. The guy next to us came from Las Vegas, and some other dedicated Ataris Fan came from San Francisco (about a 7 hour trek). The waiting now begins…

We are still waiting in the sun, but drinking hot Purified Water, so no complaints haha…

3:45 PM:Time for the vans to start transporting people over to the video shoot. By this time there are around 350 people in the parking lot, and the surprising thing was every person was over the age of 16 at least. Where are those young little girls?

Nevermind, I see them coming.

4:30 PM: We are currently sitting in the room that is exactly the same size (and I think the same place Poison the Well shot their video for one of their crappy songs) as the room right next door, where the video is being shot. Chris, the drummer, is re-doing the end of the song, and keeps on doing this for probably about an hour longer. It gets real annoying hearing a song 50 times when it wasn't even that great to start off with. But the fun has only begun.

Background Check: This video has a lot of money put into it, and is actually very well organized. I am pleasantly surprised and very happy for the band for this great of a turnout and such a good working force-good job Columbia.

5:30 PM: Get this. These two guys with all this big equipment interview myself, my friend, and a Travis Barker Clone (or Tom Delonge, whichever you prefer) sitting right next to us. I'm serious, you all know what I am talking about…hat sort of to the side, famous stars and straps shirt and belt, dickies shorts, and converse shoes. You get the picture. Oh, and I don't know how many butt cracks of fat guys and girls we saw today, but it was more than I could count on one hand. Back to the story…

Interview Time (5:32): "So, why do you like the Ataris?" -ataris dude
"Um, I like their music, and have since anywhere but here."-Wuss
"Why do you like them?" -ataris dude
"I actually don't like the Ataris at all, I just came cause my friends did." -My friend. haha it was classic. the camera guy got real sad too.

6:00 PM:Alright, time to go inside of the room and get in the video. There is a really neat stage at the end of the corridor, with all of their equipment up on the stage (duh), and posters all over the stage of stuff they have put in their cd jackets (blue skys sign, hotel vacancy sign, etc.). The backdrop was green, cause well, it is professional and not one of the normal Ataris videos that my little cousin could make. They break out into the end of the song, the same part we heard over and over earlier, and do it about 7 times. Three of those times Kris Roe dives into the crowd, and it is actually a cool thing to watch because you can tell he is having a great time (yes he could be faking it, but he wasn't). By the way, Kris has lost a ton of weight, it's unbelievable. He is very skinny now, and every guy in the band has long hair. So after they played the end of the song over and over with a very high-tech camera floating around above our heads…they called a break (probably to edit)…and we all left and went back to the sandwich place to get more food. Then we left and went home, and went to a local show (it was sold out-wuss)…so we then proceeded to the movie theatre and saw "A Guy Thing." Hilarious movie, I definitely recommend it. Although, in the commercials doesn't it look like because of the two different commericals they have for the movie, that it is two different movies? One about him cheating on his fiance, and another about him liking this girl and her ex-boyfriend is flipping out. Yep, weird.

OK, so this was a first for the site, and you probably didn't learn much except for the fact that I bitch a lot, and there were no good looking girls anywhere in site and not enough water. Oh, and we sat around way too much. On the other hand, it was a really good experience and it was really cool seeing how everything is done. I'm glad I did it, but I wouldn't ever do it again (unless it was RBF or Thrice or someone like that).

There was a free show after the filming (but by the time we left, oh yeah here 6:45 PM, they said the concert wouldn't begin until 10ish. Yeah right, I am not staying that long. So I went home. This video will be cool too, and not just because I am in it. I will tell you all one thing though, this album will be much better than "End Is Forever," cause that CD was pure filler, and in pat41's case, definitely not killer.