Courtesy photo

Atreyu's members are becoming rather accustomed to the festival circuit. Having already played major tours such as Ozzfest and Family Values, Atreyu is one of the co-headliners for the Rockstar Taste of Chaos Tour, which hits Freeman Coliseum on Saturday, April 5. The band had previously played an opening slot on Taste of Chaos but shot to headliner status this year on the strength of its latest album, Lead Sails Paper Anchor, which debuted at No. 8 on the Billboard Top 200 chart upon its release last August.

How does Taste of Chaos compare to Ozzfest and Family Values Tour?

Every tour has its own characteristics. Family Values and Ozzfest are kind of similar in that each has multiple stages and runs outdoors during the summer, all that stuff. But Taste of Chaos plays at indoor venues, big halls and stuff like that. It's a whole other vibe playing indoors in a really big arena, with that club energy, but at the same time having the excitement of a huge crowd.

Which do you prefer, indoor or outdoor venues?

Definitely indoor over outdoor. Playing outdoors, I'm not a big fan of it. Sometimes it can be OK, but I'm not a big fan of amphitheaters because of all the seats. We need all the crowd standing up.

How does it feel having a lot of your notoriety come from covering Bon Jovi?

It was something we always wanted to do, and we agreed and all thought we could pull it off. To this day, we still play it live. Everyone loves Bon Jovi, and everyone loves that song. We'll milk that live, so people get into it. No matter who we play it to, if someone doesn't know who we are, they will know that song. It's a catalyst thing.

Did you actually see “Mr. and Mrs. Smith?”

Um, no comment.

Why is Atreyu really starting to get radio play now?

A lot of it has to do with (lead singer Alex Varkatzas') vocals. They've always been very gritty, so radio just did not have anything to do with us. A lot of the time, our old label would do radio edits of songs to make them work, and we were like, “This is crap. We don't want radio edits. We want the song on the radio just the way we wrote it.”

Are there any musicians you listen to who might surprise some people?

I really like a lot of mellow stuff, like Elvis Costello or The Outfield or The Cars. I even like John Mayer. When I first heard him, I was not that into his stuff. But he had a couple of singles on the new CD that hit radio and the more I listened to them, they had so much feel. He's a bluesy guitar player. ..... He's got soul, man.

And he was cool enough to be on “Chappelle's Show.”

Yeah, he did “Chappelle's Show,” and that gives him all the credibility in the world.
 
CLINT HALE | 210SA