The Ataris Band • Page 8

Love Anywhere But Here. Mid 90's pop punk, packed with songs, Marko on bass, a Jawbreaker cover, "Angry Nerd Rock." Just a classic skateboarding album.

 

I get that Kris wrote it when he was young but the best thing is a cover song and anything else with any merit he reworked. The album is one of a 1000 generic poppunk albums that say nothing. Hell, even when they re-released and polished it up the second best song was another cover song. Welcome the Night at least stretches his song writing a bit more.

 

That’s true. But it also sounds like he has rocks in his mouth on too many of the songs, and it lacks the fun energy I love most about the band. So a “generic” pop punk album gives me far more of what I want out of the band, even if it doesn’t reach the peaks of SLA.

 

I will agree that Welcome The Night is not a fun album. It's very melancholy, which I understand is not what people signed up for when they listen to the Ataris. I still love it though. I think it struck me in just the right way, that one day. The last song especially has stayed with me.

 

To me, The Ataris are a band that leans into the melancholy and nostalgia of life with their writing, especially on End is Forever, and SLA. Welcome the Night continues that thread, while it is completely bare on the first LP. It's like they are doing their best Lagwagon impression, and I'll always reach for Lagwagon, or the Vandals or any other socal skate band for that feel before I reach for Anywhere But Here.

 

Anywhere But Here is easily in my top 3... haha

 

Anywhere But Here is great. It’s perfectly done 90s pop punk. Welcome the Night aims higher but misses much harder

 

(insert Big Lebowski reference here)

 

I dunno of it’s my favorite per se, but Anywhere But Here is the one I listen to most

Did Marko play on that album? I have it in my head that Kris played all string instruments until So Long Astoria?

 

End Is Forever is the weakest album. Big highs but a lotta filler

 

I played a show with The Ataris and Asobi Seksu on the Welcome The Night tour, which was amazing, and The Ataris were good, but there was def a down mood in the air. It felt like the tide was against them in every way

 

Derrick Plourde (R.I.P.) of Lagwagon played drums, Kris played everything else.

 

I loved this band from like 99-2005. By the time Welcome the Night came out I was in college and probably didn't give it the time of day because I wasn't as into the pop punk bands I grew up on. Ironically, I probably would've liked the record at that time.

I don't even recall there being much promo for the release? Was that just a result of them being dropped from Columbia? Very strange after the success of So Long Astoria. Revisiting it now on the Bandcamp site.

 

Was listening to it on the ride home from work. Man, And We All Become Like Smoke, what a song.

Also, need to correct myself. It wasn't the title track I prefer as the first track, it's the track called The First Elegy. I keep forgetting there's like three songs in this album cycle that reference "welcome the night".

 

i remember downloading an unmastered advance copy of Welcome the Night and it had a different track order, and maybe even a different song or two. i don't quite remember. i probably still have it on my computer though.

 

I had that too. I think it leaked like a year before it actually officially came out, and the early version didn't have "Not Capable Of Love" and I think "Connections Are More Dangerous Than Lies" if I remember correctly.

I also remember not liking the advance version. Probably because it was unmastered and wasn't really finished.

 

Welcome The Night was released by Sanctuary not Columbia, but I think it was recorded before they left Columbia?

Could have been a factor, although I’m not sure how anybody coulda marketed that album from the Boys Of Summer band with any success

 

It was recorded before they left Columbia, yeah. “Whatever Lies Will Help You Rest” was released promotionally before they left Columbia, they then partnered with Sanctuary to found their own label called Isola Recordings.

 

Release “Welcome the Night” by The Ataris - MusicBrainz

This was the original tracklist.

So I guess "The First Elegy", "The Ghost Of Last December", and "Welcome The Night" got replaced with "Not Capable Of Love", "New Year's Day", and "Connections Are More Dangerous Than Lies".

 

Fantastic performance from this era.

 

I listen to a playlist of that track order more than the official release. The new songs they added don’t really fit on the album at all in my opinion.

 

They really, really should have kept this version/songs, IMO. The sequencing made way more sense and was much more cohesive.

 

Musicianship:
Welcome the Night > All other Ataris albums

Creativity:
Welcome the Night > All other Ataris albums

Lyrics:
Welcome the Night > All other Ataris albums

Art direction:
Welcome the Night > All other Ataris albums

Production:
So Long Astoria > Welcome the Night > All other Ataris albums

Pop Punkiness:
Welcome the Night < All other Ataris albums

Commercial success:
Welcome the Night < All other Ataris albums

Disclaimer- Welcome the Night is my favorite album of all time and I will always defend it.

 

The b-sides and demos from that era are interesting, I still think even all the Graveyard stuff so far released is superior, however. Like, he's still putting out REALLY good songs. The new version of Dropout is fantastic, All Souls Day rules.

 

Ya All Souls Day is one of his best songs yet