The Ataris - So Long, Astoria

It took me awhile to appreciate the Ataris.  All these years later, I can admit it was a bit of jealousy.  Kris and I were never friends, but I used to see him all the time at shows in Indianapolis, mostly at the Emerson Theater, and also at A-1 Records in Anderson.  We chatted every now and again, but for obvious reasons, I remember him, but I’m sure he doesn’t remember me.  I think the kicker for me was standing next to him, by the stage, after seeing Stavesacre, Puller and MxPx at the Emerson.  Tom from MxPx came over and Kris pulled a CD out of his hoodie and introduced himself as he handed it to Tom and explained his first record had just been released by Kung Fu Records.  The next thing I knew, I saw an ad in MRR showing The Ataris opening for MxPx on tour. 

The rest, as they say, is history.

I always remember Kris being soft-spoken and kind and I’ve heard nothing since to contradict that.  In hindsight, I can admit that he was smarter than me.  I thought he was foolish for recording in his basement with a drum machine and playing shows as a two-piece at times.  I thought, you write songs, you rehearse, you play shows, you tour, you do a record.  Kris was wise enough to take his limitations (no drummer) and working around it.  His songs are probably better for having started multi-track recording by himself rather than getting in a room and just trying to get tight. 

The sound of The Ataris, and So Long, Astoria in particular, is the sound of pop punk our generation.  Our all the guys our age who “made it”, I think The Ataris and New Found Glory are at the top of the list.  I guess technically Blink-182 and Green Day are just a few years older than us, but Dookie hit when I was fourteen and Dude Ranch when I was seventeen.  I think Kris’ songs are more direct than New Found Glory’s and the mid-tempo sweet spot he has can pull you right back into the emotions you had on teenage summer nights.  Because we grew up so close together, at the same time, the experiences of humid Indiana summer nights, sitting on the trunk of your car somewhere remote, Tom Petty on the stereo, telling your friend, or a girl, all the things you dream of doing one day when you grow up and can get out of your small town are something you can romanticize with rose colored glasses from where you are now, light years away now in middle age.

How’s that for a run-on sentence?

While I could have chosen a couple different records to focus on, I think So Long, Astoria has to be the one because one, it had their biggest hit in “The Boys of Summer” and two, my favorite songs are on it.  In “The Saddest Song” Kris lays his heart bare.  Much like Everclear’s “Father of Mine”, he directly addresses both his absent father as well as his own struggle to be a father given what he does for a living (I don’t know the details, nor do I know if Kris ever was able to reconcile with his daughter, but I pray that he has).  There is total honesty here and it had to be incredibly difficult to perform live.

“In This Diary” is one that will get stuck in your head and there will be nothing you can do about it.  Memories of summers past (in his case, about an early Warped Tour – check out his interview on the song on Chris Demakes a Podcast) and all the fun you had with your friends when you were young, before responsibility called and you chose to settle down and live a different life.  You don’t want to go back, but you definitely appreciate the freedom and frivolousness of your youth before things got serious.

“The Boys of Summer” is one of the few covers I enjoy almost as much as the original.  And that’s saying something because I love Mike Campbell and Don Henley (maybe not Don Henley, the person, but definitely Don Henley the artist).  They stayed true to the song, while giving it the pop punk treatment and changing only, “Black Flag sticker on a Cadillac” to make it fit our subculture.  It was really popular in the 90’s and early 00’s for pop punk bands to cover 80’s pop songs (remember Pop Goes Punk Volume 37?) but few did is as well as this.

I love this album dearly.  And I have nothing but love for Kris and he’s earned every bit of what he’s gotten.  In fact, I think he deserves to have been more successful.  Hoosier boy made good.  He makes us all proud.

JC