Kick Out the Jams: The Ataris at the Huntridge

The Ataris at the Huntridge, June 19

The Ataris pounded out its signature pop-punk Saturday night at the Huntridge. The band's debut major label album, So Long Astoria, has shot the band up the charts and into radios in adolescent bedrooms all over the country. The valley's teenyboppers flocked from the 'burbs to revel in the band's heavy beats, quick pop progressions, and frontman Kris Roe's punky bubblegum lyrics.

Kicking off the 11 song set with a heavy rendition of "1*15*96" off their 1999 release Blue Skies, Broken Hearts...Next 12 Exits, The Ataris didn't lighten up, two songs later cranking out the Las Vegas-inspired "Road Signs and Rock Songs" (End Is Forever, 2001). With drummer Chris "Kid" Knapp's raucous tempos, the band's cookie-cutter riffs and lyrics like, "Then you opened up your eyes, looked at me and kinda smiled/ I was scared, but still happy at the same time," and "Love is overrated/ it leaves you devastated," The Ataris belted candy-coated anthems for the rebellion against the teenage goody-goody image all night long.

Nobody ever accused The Ataris of not knowing its fan base. The pop-punkers sent the Huntridge reeling at the end of the set, breaking into a long, vibrant version of the crowd-pleaser "San Dimas High School Football Rules." And what became the climactic finale, "Eight of Nine" from So Long Astoria, rounded out the night.

While the encore marked the official beginning of the end, it was hardly an encore. The Ataris chose not to play Don Henley's "Boys of Summer," the remake that launched So Long Astoria to gold. Suddenly pigeonholed by the hit, the band has evidently boycotted it. While this is not a displeasing choice to some, the temperament of high schoolers is volatile. Instead, the band brought on guest punkers The National Trust. The floor began emptying before The Ataris could shoo their friends off stage. By the time the band introduced new songs from a forthcoming album, more than half the teens had filed out for a slurpy at 7-11 or to see what trouble awaits Saturday night downtown.--J.D. Mitchell