Music review: Growing up with The Ataris

In the first weeks of January, I found myself watching The Goonies, a 1987 Steven Spielberg classic coming-of-age story set in Astoria, Oregon, all over again. There is a scene where Mouth (Corey Feldman) is told that you can’t take coins from a wishing well because those are somebody else’s dreams. His wish didn’t come true, he said, and he’s decided to reclaim the coin. This hadn’t always been my favorite scene, but things changed after I listened to one Ataris song that alluded to it, repeating the lines: “This is my wish / I’m taking it back. I’m taking ‘em all back.” 

 

It was not hard to find a song that fit my mood last Saturday afternoon in Eastwood City. Pre-event, after finishing the movie, I walked around the venue and played the first few tracks of “So Long, Astoria,” the band’s fourth record, on my iPod. “On this coldest of January nights,” sings frontman Kris Roe in “Takeoffs and Landings.” Apt, I thought—the weather’s been very breezy lately, and The Ataris are in my neighborhood.  

I discovered The Ataris in high school, from a mix CD given by a friend. After hearing “Giving Up on Love,” (I particularly enjoyed the Billy Idol reference), I immediately looked for a copy of “End is Forever.” It was a love affair since then.

 

For our high school graduation the following year, my friends and I wished for a surprise Ataris performance. We said that if we concentrated hard enough, Roe would materialize onstage with his guitar, playing “In This Diary,” and destroying the gym with giant amplifiers and making the entire school burst at the seams. All we got that day, however, were bad make-up, gawky chirping choir tunes, and long speeches. 

 

We got what we wanted eight years late. There are no coins to be reclaimed from a wishing well.

 

Choruses and sing-alongs

 

What was supposed to be a one-night concert was split into two shows instead, one in Eastwood City, and another at McKinley Hill, thanks to the efforts of Ovation Productions and Megaworld. I went to the first one with high school buddies. All of us felt rather strange upon seeing Roe casually set up on stage—there’s the guy we dreamed would make an appearance in our high school graduation, said one friend.

 

The band has had many line-up changes over the years, with Roe being the constant member. With guitarist Thomas Holst, bassist Brian Nelson, and drummer Eric Perkins, he kicked off the year with a tour of Asia, playing shows in China, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. 

 

After a remarkable warm-up by local band The Lowtechs, The Ataris wasted no time and started playing. They knew what the audience wanted to hear—starting off with songs from their album “So Long Astoria”: “In This Diary,” “Unopened Letter to the World,” and “The Hero Dies in This One.” Songs from “Blue Skies, Broken Hearts...Next 12 Exits” were also on the set list, including the searing “Broken Promise Ring” and “1*15*96.” 

 

I swear I felt a decade younger again after I heard the intro to “Your Boyfriend Sucks” (requested by a fan, explained Roe), a song which used lines from that classic scene at the “The Bronx Tale,” where Chazz Palminteri explains how and when to dump someone (If she doesn’t open the door for you, dump her!). If I knew that Roe accepted requests, I would’ve tried my luck on pleading for “If You Really Wanna Hear About It”—one of my all-time favorite Ataris songs, obviously alluding to that Salinger book that I (and possibly every anxious teenager) obsessed over during those strange years.   

The covers were also brilliant—they performed their hit cover of Don Henley’s “Boys of Summer,” as well as The Replacements’ “Can’t Hardly Wait.” After all these years, the man can still tear it up—Roe’s voice is one of those things that could be smooth and rough, reassuring and raging at the same time, never losing those raw punk rock screams in between lines. 

 

It’s been 15 years since their first LP “Anywhere But Here” was released, and despite the many lineup and label changes, the band has never stopped making music. This restless pursuit of the kind of music that communicates is what is making the fans stick around, perhaps also the reason why hundreds showed up at the venues last Saturday. It’s also been a long time since I shared a space with a crowd dominated by tattooed twenty and thirtysomethings, people I didn’t know existed when I was discovering punk; people who I could have been best friends with in high school had I been allowed to go to rock shows.

 

No mosh or circle pits were formed at the Eastwood show (though I was more than ready to get shoved by well-meaning strangers), but it was obvious that the crowd absolutely adored the band. When Roe asked us to sing along, we did. When asked to make noise, we obliged. Most knew the words to the songs, and people sang along, especially to the closing “San Dimas High School Football Rules.” My friends and I—the same people who I daydreamed with during graduation day—left the venue blissed out and extremely fulfilled.

 

One reason why The Ataris albums were never removed from any of my music players is their music helps me remember. I’m pretty sure I’m not alone on this one. Whether Roe talks about giving up on love, singing about treating a girl like a queen, telling a story about a summer in 1979, making Descendents and Henry Rollins references, or quoting lines from movies, it’s always heartfelt, and opens a journal overflowing with memories, both good and terrible. —KG, GMA News