In So Cal in the late 90’s/early 2000’s a dark wave of music was rising up and helping lead the way was Atreyu, one of the better of the hardcore pack. Here it is a decade and a half later and Atreyu are still leading the charge with an amazing new album in the form Long Live and a mammoth presence on stage that should lead almost any band that came in their wake to shrivel in envy.
An interview with Dan Jacobs of Atreyu
By Jeffrey Easton
Metal Exiles: To Turn back a few to 2013/14, you guys regroup after being away for a while. What was the initial motivation to do it again?
Dan Jacobs: We were wanting to do it again. We initially stopped because we were getting burnt out and not feeling it anymore. We just wanted to take a break, recharge and shake it off to get excited again. Everybody got back on the same page, felt excited again and wanted to do it.
Metal Exiles: You guys have done a few tours and played Aftershock since you have gotten back together. Does it feel like a new beginning, like it was the old days when you were young and excited?
Dan: In a way, it does feel like round two for us. This is the longest hiatus we have taken so it is different this time around but we are ready for it. We are really appreciating it more this time.
Metal Exiles: How are you appreciating it this time?
Dan: Its like when you are a kid and you are getting chocolate. You just throwing it in your mouth and eating it. Now you are smelling it and taking it in, taking more time with it and that’s what we are doing. We aren’t going to rush anything now, just take it slower.
Metal Exiles: When you guys were doing Congregation; did it feel like the end to you? I know you guys said you were getting burnt out so was that feeling there?
Dan: I felt at the time that we were running out of gas but not really that it was the end. We weren’t even in the mood to refill the tank at the time but after a break the tank filled itself back up with everything we were doing and all of our experiences.
Metal Exiles: The new album is Long Live and we will start with the artwork. Are the empty coffins representing you guys rising up?
Dan: In a way it is that or even signifying that we never did die because the coffins are all empty. We could have been gone forever but the coffins are empty now.
Metal Exiles: The writing on the album is amazing and you guys always did have that melodic pinch to your sound but extremely heavy but with this album you guys are even more melodic. Was this planned or what you are feeling while writing?
Dan: It is a little bit of both. When we write stuff we have a system that works for us. We did not want to go to melodic on this album especially with Alex’s vox, we actually wanted to go heavier. When we worked with John Feldman during Lead Sails he taught us a lot of amazing techniques with songwriting and just building melodies in songs. We apply a lot of that to what we do now so it has the vibe vocally and some of the riffs of our older stuff but the productions is newer and grand sounding.
Metal Exiles: A lot of bands are going with a lot of electronics and a lot of keyboards now, really going out of their way to make it grandiose but you guys, even though the production is crisper and more out there, you guys really kept it to the brass tacks. Was there a temptation to add a lot more stuff or keep it pure Atreyu?
Dan: I feel that if you add to much stuff it becomes mushy and you can’t really showcase what the band is about, there is no real impact with each instrument. The same goes with song writing, if you write something way to complicated then its harder for the listener to digest.
Metal Exiles: As a great guitar player, what was your approach to writing for Long Live?
Dan: We knew we wanted it to be heavy and we wanted each song to be unique but also wanted some continuity to the album. For us, we like to have each song to take you on a journey but the whole album to be an experience. As far as solos, we wanted to finish the song itself and then write the solo to complement the vocal parts and chorus parts and not be some random turkey in a blender shredfest.
Metal Exiles: Where was the subject matter coming from? Something like Brass Balls, which to me sounds like it has a musical bed based out of the 80s.
Dan: It does have an 80s vibe to it and lyrically it just comes from the fact we are in our thirties and we have a different perspective. It’s our thirty-year-old selves talking to our teenage selves, just saying what the fuck are you doing, you do not know shit. You think you have brass balls, you are invinceable but in reality you are just a dumb kid.
Metal Exiles: Moments Before Dawn is slower but so heavy and almost the opposite of Brass Balls.
Dan: Moments Before Dawn was inspired by a music box our bass player’s sister had for her daughter and it had this beautiful but yet creepy sounding melody. He recorded it and played it for us because he felt we had to hear it. We wanted to use it but we discovered it was someone else’s song so alas we couldn’t. So I went into the studio and wrote something similar on a keyboard so we based the song around that.
Metal Exiles: It was something different but did you ever feel hesitant because you are Atreyu?
Dan: At this point we have tried every crazy thing you can do so we would have to go pretty extreme to do something that surprise anybody.
Metal Exiles: The title track Long Live, was that your anthem for coming back?
Dan: In a way because that was the first song we wrote when we came back. When we sat down that was the first riff we came up with.
Metal Exiles: A Bitter Broken Memory again is something different from what you usually come up with.
Dan: We just wanted to start off with clean a clean guitar riff and come in with the whole band and punch you in the face. We liked the contrast of that idea.
Metal Exiles: When you guys were gone for so long and decided to come back, were you worried that the fans would have forgotten you? I mean in the music business it’s here today gone tomorrow. Was there any trepidation coming back?
Dan: There was a little bit but we knew from social media that some people wanted us back because we saw it but we always wondered how deep that sentiment went and how many were actually out there that wanted it. Until we got back and started playing shows we couldn’t really tell so that was nerve wracking but our first show back at the Chain Reaction we sold it out. It was our fastest sell out ever.
Metal Exiles: To go into the packaging of the album, when a band now releases an album they think iTunes but not you guys. You guys are doing vinyl, and exclusive color of vinyl with Hot topic. Extra CD tracks with Hot topic, extra tracks with Best Buy, you guys have gone all out.
Dan: We grew up ourselves on packaging and we were kids and you wanted something fresh and new you would ask the guy behind the counter what he recommended for new music. He would ask what ya like and point out some new albums based on what you told him and you roll the dice with a few of them. You put the disc on, check out the booklet and the art while its playing and you can really get into it, everything with it makes it a true experience. I feel that that is kind of getting lost now and a lot of people do not understand what kind of a great experience that is. All of that inspired us and we want to keep that going. The entire packaging was conceived and done by Porter McKnight, our bass player. He took the pics all over the world and put it together.
Metal Exiles: Considering you helped build the scene you are a part of, what are your thoughts on the scene now?
Dan: Well the scene has gotten kind of weird. To be brutally honest, I feel every band looks the same, dresses the same and sounds the same. You could put on ten different bands albums and I would have thought I was listening to the same band. Same album, same song, just a bunch of screaming, the high scream and low scream, the melodic singer who comes in and sounds like a little girl. They all dress the same, have the same stage moves, people have zero concept of originality they just want the same reaction that the last band got. When we started we got our sound because we liked so many styles of music and pulled from it and that was Atreyu.
Metal Exiles: So it’s all about the image and not about the music?
Dan: To an extent because you have two different musicians, song writers and performers but luckily Atreyu is both and that’s why we have had a lot of success.
Have you bought one of the records of the year, Long Live? If you haven’t you are seriously missing out on a strong statement in the world of heavy music.
Official Atreyu Site
BUY long Live
BUY Long Live On Vinyl
An interview with Dan Jacobs of Atreyu
By Jeffrey Easton
Metal Exiles: To Turn back a few to 2013/14, you guys regroup after being away for a while. What was the initial motivation to do it again?
Dan Jacobs: We were wanting to do it again. We initially stopped because we were getting burnt out and not feeling it anymore. We just wanted to take a break, recharge and shake it off to get excited again. Everybody got back on the same page, felt excited again and wanted to do it.
Metal Exiles: You guys have done a few tours and played Aftershock since you have gotten back together. Does it feel like a new beginning, like it was the old days when you were young and excited?
Dan: In a way, it does feel like round two for us. This is the longest hiatus we have taken so it is different this time around but we are ready for it. We are really appreciating it more this time.
Metal Exiles: How are you appreciating it this time?
Dan: Its like when you are a kid and you are getting chocolate. You just throwing it in your mouth and eating it. Now you are smelling it and taking it in, taking more time with it and that’s what we are doing. We aren’t going to rush anything now, just take it slower.
Metal Exiles: When you guys were doing Congregation; did it feel like the end to you? I know you guys said you were getting burnt out so was that feeling there?
Dan: I felt at the time that we were running out of gas but not really that it was the end. We weren’t even in the mood to refill the tank at the time but after a break the tank filled itself back up with everything we were doing and all of our experiences.
Metal Exiles: The new album is Long Live and we will start with the artwork. Are the empty coffins representing you guys rising up?
Dan: In a way it is that or even signifying that we never did die because the coffins are all empty. We could have been gone forever but the coffins are empty now.
Metal Exiles: The writing on the album is amazing and you guys always did have that melodic pinch to your sound but extremely heavy but with this album you guys are even more melodic. Was this planned or what you are feeling while writing?
Dan: It is a little bit of both. When we write stuff we have a system that works for us. We did not want to go to melodic on this album especially with Alex’s vox, we actually wanted to go heavier. When we worked with John Feldman during Lead Sails he taught us a lot of amazing techniques with songwriting and just building melodies in songs. We apply a lot of that to what we do now so it has the vibe vocally and some of the riffs of our older stuff but the productions is newer and grand sounding.
Metal Exiles: A lot of bands are going with a lot of electronics and a lot of keyboards now, really going out of their way to make it grandiose but you guys, even though the production is crisper and more out there, you guys really kept it to the brass tacks. Was there a temptation to add a lot more stuff or keep it pure Atreyu?
Dan: I feel that if you add to much stuff it becomes mushy and you can’t really showcase what the band is about, there is no real impact with each instrument. The same goes with song writing, if you write something way to complicated then its harder for the listener to digest.
Metal Exiles: As a great guitar player, what was your approach to writing for Long Live?
Dan: We knew we wanted it to be heavy and we wanted each song to be unique but also wanted some continuity to the album. For us, we like to have each song to take you on a journey but the whole album to be an experience. As far as solos, we wanted to finish the song itself and then write the solo to complement the vocal parts and chorus parts and not be some random turkey in a blender shredfest.
Metal Exiles: Where was the subject matter coming from? Something like Brass Balls, which to me sounds like it has a musical bed based out of the 80s.
Dan: It does have an 80s vibe to it and lyrically it just comes from the fact we are in our thirties and we have a different perspective. It’s our thirty-year-old selves talking to our teenage selves, just saying what the fuck are you doing, you do not know shit. You think you have brass balls, you are invinceable but in reality you are just a dumb kid.
Metal Exiles: Moments Before Dawn is slower but so heavy and almost the opposite of Brass Balls.
Dan: Moments Before Dawn was inspired by a music box our bass player’s sister had for her daughter and it had this beautiful but yet creepy sounding melody. He recorded it and played it for us because he felt we had to hear it. We wanted to use it but we discovered it was someone else’s song so alas we couldn’t. So I went into the studio and wrote something similar on a keyboard so we based the song around that.
Metal Exiles: It was something different but did you ever feel hesitant because you are Atreyu?
Dan: At this point we have tried every crazy thing you can do so we would have to go pretty extreme to do something that surprise anybody.
Metal Exiles: The title track Long Live, was that your anthem for coming back?
Dan: In a way because that was the first song we wrote when we came back. When we sat down that was the first riff we came up with.
Metal Exiles: A Bitter Broken Memory again is something different from what you usually come up with.
Dan: We just wanted to start off with clean a clean guitar riff and come in with the whole band and punch you in the face. We liked the contrast of that idea.
Metal Exiles: When you guys were gone for so long and decided to come back, were you worried that the fans would have forgotten you? I mean in the music business it’s here today gone tomorrow. Was there any trepidation coming back?
Dan: There was a little bit but we knew from social media that some people wanted us back because we saw it but we always wondered how deep that sentiment went and how many were actually out there that wanted it. Until we got back and started playing shows we couldn’t really tell so that was nerve wracking but our first show back at the Chain Reaction we sold it out. It was our fastest sell out ever.
Metal Exiles: To go into the packaging of the album, when a band now releases an album they think iTunes but not you guys. You guys are doing vinyl, and exclusive color of vinyl with Hot topic. Extra CD tracks with Hot topic, extra tracks with Best Buy, you guys have gone all out.
Dan: We grew up ourselves on packaging and we were kids and you wanted something fresh and new you would ask the guy behind the counter what he recommended for new music. He would ask what ya like and point out some new albums based on what you told him and you roll the dice with a few of them. You put the disc on, check out the booklet and the art while its playing and you can really get into it, everything with it makes it a true experience. I feel that that is kind of getting lost now and a lot of people do not understand what kind of a great experience that is. All of that inspired us and we want to keep that going. The entire packaging was conceived and done by Porter McKnight, our bass player. He took the pics all over the world and put it together.
Metal Exiles: Considering you helped build the scene you are a part of, what are your thoughts on the scene now?
Dan: Well the scene has gotten kind of weird. To be brutally honest, I feel every band looks the same, dresses the same and sounds the same. You could put on ten different bands albums and I would have thought I was listening to the same band. Same album, same song, just a bunch of screaming, the high scream and low scream, the melodic singer who comes in and sounds like a little girl. They all dress the same, have the same stage moves, people have zero concept of originality they just want the same reaction that the last band got. When we started we got our sound because we liked so many styles of music and pulled from it and that was Atreyu.
Metal Exiles: So it’s all about the image and not about the music?
Dan: To an extent because you have two different musicians, song writers and performers but luckily Atreyu is both and that’s why we have had a lot of success.
Have you bought one of the records of the year, Long Live? If you haven’t you are seriously missing out on a strong statement in the world of heavy music.
Official Atreyu Site
BUY long Live
BUY Long Live On Vinyl