Interview with Atreyu

Interview with Dan Jacobs (guitar) from Atreyu – London Astoria October - 15/10/08 - interviewer Samantha Etchells & Claire Adams

Punk76: Your new album, “ Lead, Sails Paper Anchor” is really diverse, what encouraged you to make each song so different?
Dan: Um, partcially for the fans and partcially for people that listen to music in general. I think people knowdays have a shorter attention spand, and I think having a record that every song sounds the same, unless your ACDC, is kind of hard to pull off and keep everyones attention. So we figured for ourselves and for the fans, to make a record that to an extent almost sounds like a different band for every song.

Punk76: Alot of the album was written whilst you were on the road, were alot of the lyrics written about on the road experiences, and of so, any events in particular you can think of?
Dan: I think alot of it was just baout the wear and tear of being on the road. Before this record, we had been touring for about 5 years. I don;t know, there are definately certain things your get used to, and certain things you don’t get used to. One song in particular “Dooms Day” was written about the death of Alex’s grandfather, and dealing with the fact that he was away from home and didn’t get to say goodbye to him. Situations like that is when touring can get rough.

Punk76: One of my favourite songs is “Blow” which is very 80’s metal, which i personally love, was that the genre you were influenced by when writting this song?
Dan: Yeah definately, I am definately an 80’s metal dude, bands like Scorpion, Ratt and Van Halen to name just few are bands that I love. Acutally, the guitar player from Warrent Joey Allen is my neighbour!

Punk76: Really? How funny, I liked Warrent!
Dan: Haha, yeah, I admit I did too!

Punk76: So Taste of Chaos you are also touring with fellow Orange County boys Avenge Sevenfold, are you guys mates or is their any competition their?
Dan: No way, we have known those guys for years now. And we’ve played tiny little shows together and watched eachother grow up.

Punk76: So do you have any dirt for us then?
Dan: Hmm... dirt on them ahy...

Punk76: I’ll be asking the same question to them about you guys, so don’t hold back!
Dan: Well, they are pretty interesting guys, I mean they are definately all individuals and certainly characters! I guess nothing crazy, or no stories I would want to disclose in an interview anyway!

Punk76: So this isn’t your first time in the UK, do you have any expections of your UK fans now?
Dan: No not really, everyone is generally the same at all of our shows not matter where in the world. I mean, everyone pretty much dressers the same and knows the same things about the band. Its always the same atmosphere once you get up there.

Punk76: You were saying you had rather a bizarre experience last time you played at the London Astoria?
Dan: Yeah, last time we were at this venue, we were loading out our gear, and cause its such a busy part of london and there is so much traffic of people, you don’t even know whats going on. So people began to just walk up and grab our stuff out of the truck. Until we realised that they didn’t actually work there, and we literally had to chase them up the street, and punch some guy to get our stuff back. It wasn’t good!

Punk76: Really? Thats crazy!
Dan: Yeah its a big deal. We even had another time at this venue, when the same thing happened. This guy claimed to be working for a rental company, and started loading all of our gear into this van. Until we realised half way through that he was no-one and about to drive off, we had to force him to open it up and give us all our equipment back.

Punk76: Wow, so found memories of London then?
Dan: Haha, yeah. We have been really lucky to get all of our stuff back every time!

Punk76: So I’m gathering that the Astoria isn’t your favourite venue to play in the UK then?
Dan: haha, well.. its definately not the best place for parking! I don’t really have a particular favourite place to play here. Every city has its own vibe. To be honest, I am a beach and palm trees guy, and you don’t see that here, so its always nice to get back to California you know?

Punk76: Yeah, I can imagine. So where did the name Atreyu originate from?
Dan: Originally, it was a character from a french book called “The Never Ending Story” which then became a cult film in the late 80’s. In the film the character Atreyu is protecting the land Fantasia from the nothing. Fantasia is the place where everybody’s hopes and dreams are, which the world needs. Atreyu was the only one who could stop the nothing, which is why he is like the saviour of the world. So yeah.. thats where we got the name from!

Punk76: Cool.. So in your career so far, what has been your defining moment as a band or for yourself personally?
Dan: I’ve got three defining moments personally, the first being when we played Ozzfest last year. I had the honour of being one of very little people who got to see Judiest Priest play their entire set on their soundcheck. There was literally like only 20 people around, it was amazing. Another was when we played Warped Tour, we shared our stage with Billy Idol and got to know him quiet well and he was quiet a character. And I guess the last thing would be playing a few years back for the first time to a stadium full of people. Nothing bets that.

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