The Ataris Update On Everything

[Frank Giaramita]

The Ataris (www.theataris.com) have a gigantic enormous humongous update in the replies. Normally I'd summarize it right here, but it's just too much. Check it out.

[Frank Giaramita]

Just wanted to let everyone know that recording has been going extremely well. we have been rehearsing and making final arrangement changes to the songs before we start actually tracking on Monday, We will be tracking all of the basic tracks live together as a seven piece band in one room, then we will make a few minor overdubs on top of that, but for the most part what you hear is what it will sound like live. We are doing all recording on two inch analog tape. Overall we are extremely pleased at how all of the songs have taken shape since the demos we tracked in New York last fall, The songs now finally all seem like they have all of the atmospheric elements and ear candy they need. We also wrote one new song together as a band, John and I have been collecting so many crazy effects pedals, amps and guitars in this last couple years so I figured I would give you a list of a few of our favorite toys that we have been using recently.. Guitars: Fender 52' Telecaster re-issue. as well as my Fender Jaguar, Pedals: I have too many to mention, after I saw Do Make Say Think play I pretty much realized you can never have to many pedals, I mean seriously their guitarists had so many incredible effects, probably forty or more each, alot of which seemed to be hand made or modifed, I am not that crafty but I have accquired a good handful of around thirty or more effects that I have been varying with from song to song, This combined with the cello parts and synth parts really adds the extra atmospheric and somewhat orchestral elements that these songs require. I prefer alot of the old Electro-Harmonix pedals, also Moog makes some awesome pedals with some crazy sounds, John has been using an old Vox AC-30 amplifier that he puchased recently, we also have a ton of old vintage Fender amps and I recently purchased a Matchless Cheiftan... You should check out guitargeek.com, you can seriously type any name of almost any artist you can think of and it will show you fairly acurate diagrams of all the gear that they use, pretty great. I want to mention that working with Nick has been nothing more than a pleasure, as well as everyone else here at the house. It is great to be surrounded such great people we consider our friends and equals, It is such a peaceful enviroment to create in, I wish that you all could experience it first hand. It feels so truly amazing to wake up in the morning in such a dark, beautiful, vibey old house, There is a great courtyard in the back with several very large old trees, There are skylights in the studio and the weather has been fairly mild and rainy every day setting the perfect mood, I cannot express how much this beats the hectic and stressful experience of working in a typical studio. Our friend Kevin Scanlon came by and documented a day of our life and rehearsals here, I plan to post those photos hopefully by next week. overall I am just very excited for the first time in a long time, I really cannot express how it feels to you all to be able to actually for once be in a situation where there is such a chemistry between several people creating music, I have never felt like we have created something so from the heart and something that sits right alongside the art and music I respect and admire. I wish you all the best and I will talk to you again soon as the days go on.. Next time I plan to talk about a few of the song titles as well as some of the theme and lyrical content behind the story of the record, we may eventually post some samples of a couple of the demos as well. keep checking back, This site will hopefully be redesigned soon. Cheers. see you soon.

THE REST OF THIS POST IS FROM FEBRUARY 22ND. Hello all, it's been a while so let me bring you up to speed. First off, we officially begin recording our forthcoming record "Welcome The Night" starting next week. Producing the record will be a fine lad from the U.K. named Nick Launay, he produced the latest Nick Cave record as well as records by (P.I.L., Midnight Oil, The Posies, Gang Of Four... Etc) we will be living and recording for two months at an old haunted looking house north of Los Angeles that used to belong to the deceased drummer of Toto. We plan to record approximately around fifteen songs. We are now officially a seven piece band adding Bob Hoag of the Tempe, AZ band The Go Reflex on Fender Rhodes/Mellotron/Piano...etc. Angus Cooke of Bad Astronaut and owner of Orange Whip studios in Santa Barbara, CA on Cello and a third guitarist as well. The new album is a concept album based in three acts, centering around a re-occuring dream I have had since I was a small child, as well as man's obsession with loss, hope and redemption. As I have previously stated the music is somewhat similar to Kent, Slowdive, Swervedriver, Doves, My Bloody Valentine... etc., Atmospheric, kinda moody rainy day music if you will, "Welcome the night" will likely be released in late summer with a world tour surrounding the release. We are very excited to be creating music again and even more importantly to feel that we are creating a record that we feel sits alongside the music and art that truly inspires us. On a side note I just finished a phone interview with a extremely nice indivdual named Chris Capulet at a cool little indie-rock radio station in Ithaca, New York called WICB, We talked a bit about the upcoming record as well as detailed explanations behind the meanings of alot of our previous material, You can listen to it online at www.wicb.org February 22nd from 10pm-12am eastern time. If someone would like to archive it and post it on the board for those who don't get a chance to listen to it, that would be very kind of you. P.S. Lucero is on tour right now, go see them. Let me see... anything else??? oh yeah, my friend Jason brought up a good point yesterday... How the hell did Stevie Wonder get named to be a witness in the Michael Jackson trial?!? Hello??? anyways, that's probably all for now, the conversation has obviously disapated. Talk to you all again soon. sincerely your friend, Kris Roe

[SwedishHeat]

How the hell did Stevie Wonder get named to be a witness in the Michael Jackson trial?!? Hello???

Haha, it's funny because it's true.

[hobotodd311]

this should be quite an interesting album.

[OveriseFan]

I can't wait for this, I love the Ataris.

[Robb]

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[WSUskee]

I have a feeling that I wont like the new album. I didnt really get into the Ataris until there last album and by the sounds of it this one will be way different.

[EvilButters]

I can't get over the fact that they'll be a seven piece when they tour. That's crazy. Damn awesome, but crazy. I am really looking forward to this album. So Long Astoria was the album that really had me giving The Ataris a chance. There are way too many good albums coming out this year...well potentially good albums anyway ;)

[Jesse2]

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haha i was thinking the same thing.

[tommyhaych]

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it really pisses me off when people don't format news posts correctly.. Its fucking impossible to read.

[swrilltearuaprt]

[url=www.theataris.com][b]Normally I'd summarize it right here, but it's just too much. Check it out.

aka "I haven't read it yet" :animateds

[irthesteve]

sounds like its gonna be a really good album... i think ataris could possibly pull it off, even thou i dont really like them that much

[Frank Giaramita]

aka "I haven't read it yet" :animateds

Hahaha, i actually did read it, but if I was too summarize it, it would still be like 500 words long, so I said fuck it.

[kissbangkill]

bob hoag man.... bob hoag.





HOMEBOY WAS IN POLLEN.

[mewithoutyou]

All I can say about this album is that it'll be better than Spitalfield's Stop Doing Bad Things by default.

R.I.P. Spitalfield

[contagiousxkiss]

its so long because kris doesn't know when to stop talking...not that its a bad thing :thumbsup:

[somethingyellow]

sounds promising

[atw]

bob hoag is the man

[irthesteve]

All I can say about this album is that it'll be better than Spitalfield's Stop Doing Bad Things by default.

R.I.P. Spitalfield
umm... go complain in another thread... or do you want to turn every one into a spitalfield fight?

[Member]

Well... I hope they get a hit off of this new album because it would pretty much suck for them to go down in history as a one hit wonder... off of a cover song.

[atw]

Well... I hope they get a hit off of this new album because it would pretty much suck for them to go down in history as a one hit wonder... off of a cover song.


who gives a damn what history thinks, their two albums before that were amazing.

[RumpleForeskin]

Their last two albums were a disappointment so let's hope this one is better.

[Frank Giaramita]

it really pisses me off when people don't format news posts correctly.. Its fucking impossible to read.

It really pisses me off when unappreciative fucks come onto the site and bitch. I don't get paid for this shit, I spend 2 hours a night posting stuff to help INFORM YOU and you have the nerve to complain because stuff isnt SPACED correctly? Tell it to the Ataris agent who sent it to me...and go somewhere else while youre at it.

[tommyhaych]

It really pisses me off when unappreciative fucks come onto the site and bitch. I don't get paid for this shit, I spend 2 hours a night posting stuff to help INFORM YOU and you have the nerve to complain because stuff isnt SPACED correctly? Tell it to the Ataris agent who sent it to me...and go somewhere else while youre at it.

OK, I overreacted and for that I apologize. Should be the ataris people i should be bitchin at, not AP peeps who pass the info on.

[MidniteVulture]

We'll see.

[worldstheory]

Normally I would be apprehensive about the thought of The Ataris getting experimental, but the way I see it, "classic" Ataris died when they released So Long, Astoria. Don't get me wrong. I like So Long, Astoria, but with that album they were a different band than they used to be. For this reason, I wish to encourage them to get as experimental as they'd like. Classic Ataris aren't coming back anyway. The new album will probably rock. It won't be classic Ataris of course, but it will rock anyway.

[djUbilla]

Kris Roe is a songwriter who knows how to convey emotion and have it come off as he wants it to. I have no doubt that this album will be incredible. So Long, Astoria had its heart in the right place for the most part, it just seemed rushed/poorly put together. I have full confidence that this album won't come out until its the exact way The Ataris want everybody to hear it.

And yeah, The Ataris as a 7-piece is just ridiculous. My goodness...if you had told me this would be the road they'd take 4 years ago...well maybe I'd believe you, but its still re-goshdarn-diculous.

[Bury Your Head]

Kris Roe is a songwriter who knows how to convey emotion and have it come off as he wants it to. I have no doubt that this album will be incredible. So Long, Astoria had its heart in the right place for the most part, it just seemed rushed/poorly put together. I have full confidence that this album won't come out until its the exact way The Ataris want everybody to hear it.

And yeah, The Ataris as a 7-piece is just ridiculous. My goodness...if you had told me this would be the road they'd take 4 years ago...well maybe I'd believe you, but its still re-goshdarn-diculous.


wait wait wait what? i know i shouldve read but it was too long i skimmed thru but he said it will b a 7 piece band? doing what?!

[MidniteVulture]

And yeah, The Ataris as a 7-piece is just ridiculous. My goodness...if you had told me this would be the road they'd take 4 years ago...well maybe I'd believe you, but its still re-goshdarn-diculous.If you don't want to use the Lord's name in vain, then that's totally fine and respectable, but if you ever say "goshdam" again, I will cut you.

[ever so sweet20]

i cant wait for this album. seriously.

[hipp]

I might've missed something here, but does anyone know who the third guitarist is? I don't think Kris actually ever names him but they must already have one if they're recording live as a 7-piece. Unless the producer is handling third guitar for the moment?

[tommyhaych]

i think they named him on a post on punktastic..

hold on.

Nope, he's called 'third guitarist'

[RockVocalPower]

Horse is their third guitarist. He used to be their guitar tech.

[djUbilla]

If you don't want to use the Lord's name in vain, then that's totally fine and respectable, but if you ever say "goshdam" again, I will cut you.
Haha, its not like I don't do it in real life, it just seems even more wrong doing it on a message board... Beats me...

[jeffity]

This is what ol' Bob Hoag had to say:



I didn't know about the concept album thing.

I'm not really totally in the band, I'm just doing the recording and we'll see how that goes. At least, that was my understanding.

Yeah, it shouldn't even be called the Ataris. It doesn't sound anything like anything they've ever done. (I believe Kris was trying to just call it something else, and Columbia was not down.) There's not even a glimmer of pop-punk there. At least, not in anything I've ever heard or worked on with them.


I know Bob isn't producing this or anything, but if he's present and there's some analog work, I think there can be some magic.

[XPaRiSiNfLaMeSX]

I'm really interested on what their doing on this album. I'm not really an Atari fan, but what their doing has made really curious in their recent work, and I plan on buying this upcoming album.

[kissbangkill]

This is what ol' Bob Hoag had to say:





I know Bob isn't producing this or anything, but if he's present and there's some analog work, I think there can be some magic.

you win the award for being awesome. i wish more people knew about the genius that is bob hoag.

[FreddyKrueger]

This will either be really sweet or really bad

[jmarellano]

First off, that news is just posted on their site and message board, so there was no "agent" involved.

Second off, Horse the 3rd guitarist. Kris had made him the official 3rd guitarist, but from what I heard during the recording, they had someone else.

Third off, I'm one of several people who heard the ataris as a 7-piece band last year at the Huntridge show in Las Vegas. It sounded really good, especially for the slower, more mellow songs. It had a more full sound to it.

[contagiousxkiss]

First off, that news is just posted on their site and message board, so there was no "agent" involved.

Second off, Horse the 3rd guitarist. Kris had made him the official 3rd guitarist, but from what I heard during the recording, they had someone else.

Third off, I'm one of several people who heard the ataris as a 7-piece band last year at the Huntridge show in Las Vegas. It sounded really good, especially for the slower, more mellow songs. It had a more full sound to it.


I was at that show and it was amazing. I loved the 7-piece it was even more amazing and it made even the old songs more powerful. It kind of made the songs have more meaning, if that makes any sense.

[ToMyBetterAngel]

I have a feeling this is going to be good.

[jdmedina]

wow, a live recording, this is going to be awesome! :love:

[jeffity]

I know this thread is way down the line now, but Bob has more to say about this:

When I get back from Austin, I'll be heading back out to Los Angeles to continue my work with the Ataris...and I can promise you that this sounds NOTHING like anything that band has ever done. I cannot imagine that anyone who ever liked that band will even remotely like what this record will turn out like...and I can't imagine anyone who hates the band really giving it a chance, so I'm not really sure what we're doing. But I'm having fun. If anyone cares, I'll post some photos of the 20+ pedals we use on every bloody song ... as Kevin [Scanlon] was out there shooting some of our recording, and I had him take photos of a lot of the gear and the setups. I think they may post some on the Ataris site, but that thing takes so long to load, I don't know.

[jmarellano]

I was at that show and it was amazing. I loved the 7-piece it was even more amazing and it made even the old songs more powerful. It kind of made the songs have more meaning, if that makes any sense.
You may have seen me then. If i remember right i was in a red shirt constantly taking pictures from the front, from the stage, backstage, and was with the band most of the time after the show.