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Atreyu’s roots stretch back to 1997 when Varkatzas and Jacobs met in PE class in junior high school and started talking about music. It wasn’t long before they were jamming (with Varkatzas on bass and vocals). They tried out various drummers before Varkatzas friend Ryan Saller suggested they play with his younger brother Brandon. Though they were initially reluctant because of the age difference, they gave it a shot and found their chemistry together was strong so they formed the hardcore band Retribution. Two years later Varkatzas opted to just sing and the band hired another bassist. They would go through a couple more before Marc McKnight joined in 2004.
After years of gigging, Atreyu released their debut EP, Fractures in the Façade of Your Porcelain Beauty in 2001—the same year they added second guitarist Travis Miguel. When Victory Records heard the record, they immediately signed Atreyu. The band’s first full-length, Suicide Notes and Butterfly Kisses, which featured three songs from the EP and seven new tunes, came out in 2002 and attracted legions to the band’s mix of crushing noise and soaring melody. Atreyu fine-tuned their sound for 2004’s adrenalized The Curse, which included more references to Scandinavian melodic death metal and more effective vocal exchanges between Varkatzas and Saller, and sold nearly 400,000 copies. Then came 2006’s A Death-Grip on Yesterday, on which the band ramped up the melodies, varied their arrangements and tightened their attack. The disc reached No. 9 on the Billboard album chart and was praised by Revolver, who, in a cover story described the disc as showcasing “lots of thrash riffs, hardcore rhythms and lacerating howls, but featuring even more sinewy guitar melodies and ’80s metal solos.” The album fulfilled Atreyu’s contract with Victory. Soon after, the band signed with Hollywood and celebrated by headlining the second stage of Ozzfest.
But that was the past, and while the band has enjoyed the success it has worked so hard to achieve, it’s the future that Atreyu are the most excited about. Those who have grown used to the unexpected from Atreyu will be blown away by the musical growth, determination and depth of the band’s Hollywood Records debut Lead Sails Paper Anchor.
Embracing new styles of singing and playing, a previously unexplored level of melodicism and a genre-shattering range of instrumentation—including Turkish saz, trumpets, strings, piano, opera vocals and pedal steel guitar—Atreyu have created an exultant disc that expands the parameters of heavy music and unabashedly exposes the band members’ love of ’80s metal, thrash, industrial, hardcore, alternative and even alt-country.
“This really feels like a new beginning for us,” “Saller says. “We’re actually at a label that believes in our band and trusts our instincts. So we didn’t hold back anything this time. We wanted to give it everything we had. This is 100 percent Atreyu and that’s what we’ll always be.”
BIG Dan Jacobs and Travis Miguel use Dean Markley's
Blue Steel Electric MEDs on their guitars.
Travis had this to say about Dean Markley's strings:
“I‘ve been using Dean Markley strings for a number of years now. With tone for days and clarity that cuts through like a knife, there‘s no reason you shouldn‘t be playing Dean Markley strings.”
And Dan added:
“I‘ve been playing them for years both live and in the studio and they never let me down. They sound alot brighter and have more clarity then most strings. Of course they sound at their best when you‘re turned up to 11!!”
Be sure to visit the Atreyu website at:
www.AtreyuRock.com.
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