Atreyu

13 June 2008 | 12:35 pm | Staff Writer
Originally Appeared In

In one of the more candid interviews I've done in recent times, Atreyu bassist Marc McKnight spoke about shitty labels, dying genres, phantom song writers and... arseholes?

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In one of the more candid interviews I've done in recent times, Atreyu bassist Marc McKnight spoke about shitty labels, dying genres, phantom song writers and... arseholes?

Interview w/ Atreyu (USA)

By Cameron Chambers

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For the record, your name and

what you do in Atreyu.

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My name is Marc McKnight and I

play bass. I sing here and there too.

Given your obvious appreciation

of “The Never Ending Story”, what made you choose the name Atreyu

instead of Artax? Seriously, who wouldn’t want to be named after a

white horse?!

Well, we decided Artax sounded

WAY nerdier than Atreyu.

IGN (Imagine Games Network)

referred to your last record (A Death Grip On Yesterday) as a “brief

but potent hissy fit”. What the fuck does that actually mean? 


Well I suppose we’re a bunch

of whiny little teenagers who luckily wrote an album that was somewhat

decent? No idea. Ya think “potent” is a good thing?

Prior to its release you guys

stated that “A Death Grip On Yesterday” was a healthy balance of

all the Atreyu elements. Taking that into account, were you surprised

by the album’s sales?

Well aren’t you an asshole?

Thanks for that little shot there. I think we were on a label that knew

we weren’t coming back and they didn’t feel like putting any effort

into pushing us OR our record. Or ever paying for ANYTHING, or paying

us for that matter. You think they’d maybe even release the record

in places like, Japan, but no.

Your newest record “Lead

Sails Paper Anchor” has caused quite a stir amongst your long term

fans, were you at all concerned that the change in sound would alienate

some of your listeners? 


Well sir, we do this because we

love it. So in turn, we’re gonna write albums we love.  If you

want a band that will write the same record 20 times, we’re not it.

We wanna grow, we wanna be better musicians just like we want to be

better people.  


Is the current Atreyu sound

something you guys have been working towards for a while, or did the

over saturation of the scene you’re a part of force you guys to change

it up a bit?

We’ve never tried to a part

of any “scene,” let’s get that out of the way right now. Bands

like Poison the Well, Killswitch Engage and others were the first to

try new things. Now I’m not saying them and Atreyu were the first,

but we created the highways for many bands to drive down. Some have

grown larger than us, some have faded away, but I think you can agree

that with each record we try something different, something that doesn’t

sound like what’s happening at this moment.

With so many bands aping the

metalcore sound (in one way or another) do you think the large number

of imitators has negatively affected the older/longer serving bands?

It’s definitely made the “metalcore”

a laughable topic, but the press who kept trying to force bands to be

portrayed in a certain genre and lump everyone into categories is pretty

laughable too. No decent band goes around calling themselves a “metalcore”

band and if they do they’re probably ripping off some other bands

previous records.

Where do you see Atreyu in

relation to your quote/unquote peers? Do you still feel like you have

a place with the band’s you rose to prominence with, or do you think

you’ve grown into a more individual band?

I think we have definitely grown

into our own styles, but I still see us all as a happy family. I love

Norma Jean, As I Lay Dying and ETID. We’re supposed to play a show

with Killswitch and I couldn’t be more excited to see em. I’ve bought

every Poison the Well and Thrice record and I absolutely LOVE both their

new directions. We’ve done tons of tours, but I think the ones with

those bands will always be the best.

John Feldman (The Used, Story

Of The Year) was t the helm of your most recent release, what kind of

an influence did he have on the songs themselves?

I’m gonna just answer the question

I know you’re trying to ask, he DIDNT write out record. He worked

his ass off, gave great suggestions and got the best record out of us

possible. He’s easily the best producer we’ve ever worked with and

we couldn’t be happier with him.

Did the band approach Feldman

with a particular goal or vision, or was it a case

of trying something new and seeing where it took you? 


Well, since we knew we had an

incredible producer who likes to be very involved, we approached the

record in a different fashion. Before (ie. Deathgrip since it’s the

only record I was on before LSPA, but I know it’s how they did it

before me) we would write the, say, 10 songs for the record and that’d

be it. We’d sit holed up in our practice space for HOURS re-writing

and painfully going over each part and that’d be what was on the album.

With this record, we decided to just write the songs, record them on

garageband with one mic for the drums, layer the guitars and that was

it. We didn’t agonize over writing them. I think we came out with

24 songs for this record (including the 4 we wrote during the recording

process, 2 of those 4 being Honor and Blow.) We brought those terrible

recordings to John and he told us the parts he liked most and we sat

down in his living room with acoustics and re-structured the songs together.

Alex “freestyled” the lyrics while we played the parts over and

over. We all came up with the melodies together, and went down to record

them in Johns studio. Much, much different than before. Each of us were

much more involved and passionate about it.

How does your new material

translate live? Does your set still have a level of consistency given

the differences between your old and new songs?

I think our new stuff sounds great

live! I have more fun playing these songs than any others and they really

challenge me as a musician on most parts. We always try and have a good

balance between old and new. On the Australia tour we played about 9

songs, 5 new and 4 old. When we get a chance to headline again, I’m

sure we’ll play some more stuff off Suicide Notes, if you’re lucky.

With such a significant change

in sound over the last year couple of

years, what can we expect from your next release?

Honestly? I have no clue. None

of us do, we’ll just have to see what it sounds like when we head

back into the studio. I could maybe beatbox while Dan raps for the whole

record. Who knows (although it probably won’t be that.)

Atreyu are heading back to

Australia in May to open for Bullet For My Valentine and Avenged Sevenfold.

What can we expect from an Atreyu live show this time around?

Well, I didn’t get this till

WAYY after but I say we kicked some ass out there! I know we successfully

ran around like idiots on stage and made terrible jokes. The shows were

easily the best we’ve had in a long, long time. Actually, since the

new year all our shows have been better than ever, thanks LSPA!

As you’ll be playing a shorter

set will you be including material from your older releases or will

you focus on the “Lead Sails Paper Anchor”?

Like I said before, it was about

5 new 4 old contingent upon our allotted set time. 


Once the Australia tour wraps

up you’re back to the US to take part in the Projekt Revolution Tour.

Are you excited about playing with such a diverse group of bands (as

is traditionally the case on that tour)? 


It should definitely be an interesting

summer. We’ve never toured with these kind of bands but I’m sure

it’ll be an incredible tour. And yeah, have you read the lineup? It’s

ridiculously diverse.

What’s in store for Atreyu

for the rest of 2008?

Hopefully a big fall tour that’s

being booked now so I can’t talk about it, then a headlining tour

in the fall? Not sure yet.

Any final words?

Yeah sure, do you hate our band?

Cause some of your questions are pretty, well, negative and pessimistic.

Reminded me of some german “lost in translation” questions like

“So your new record is terrible and I hate it, how do you feel about

that?” Those are the best. Don’t take offense to that, it was a

good interview, just wondering!