The Ataris, Further Seems Forever, Antifreeze

April 14th, 2003 at The House of Blues Anaheim.

I was looking forward to seeing The Ataris for the first time since the release of their new album “So Long Astoria”as I anxiously arrived at the House of Blues about an hour early. When I got there the line was already winding around and I could sense the anticipation of the fans. A crowd of pop punk fans ranging from college aged kids to fourteen year old girls who brought their dad to the show basked in the sun on this Sunday afternoon for the first of two shows that The Ataris were scheduled to play. The stage for the early show was shared with Further Seems Forever and Antifreeze.

As Antifreeze took the stage, with a “So Long Astoria” poster in the background I couldn’t help but compare their image to that of the nights headliners. With their debut album Four Letter Word produced by Kris Roe and released on Kung Fu Records I envisioned an Ataris copycat. Opening with a incredibly energetic track, vocalist/bassist Tim Crowley peeked through his long bleach blond hair as the band began their extremely energetic set. Switching off lead vocals between Crowley and guitarist John Hieptas kept the crowd interested during the set. Although the crowd became restless during the third song “Broken Weekend,” their next song “If you had a Boyfriend” off their record Four Letter Word grasped the crowds attention. Following up with “The Eyes” and “On and on,” in which Crowley requested “we need everyone to jump up and down!” the crowd was off their feet in no time. Mosh pits formed rapidly and every kid out there was jumping in the air to the music. By the last song “Ordinary” the entire crowd was getting into the show. Overall, Antifreeze, which consists of Tim Crowley on bass guitar and vocals, John Hieptas on guitar and vocals, Mason Zuegler on guitar and Trevor Mathias on drums, surpassed my expectations of an Ataris #2 and proved that they have their own style and sound. I would definitely look for Antifreeze at another pop punk show in the future.

Much to my surprise in the down time between sets the anticipation for Further Seems Forever wasn’t as glowing as I would have thought. The kids standing next to me asked, “Who’s Further Seems Forever?” Although I didn’t think that FSF fit into the line up of the night, it was my second time seeing them and I was looking forward to experiencing their set at this small venue. Further Seems Forever then took the stage. They began with “Start a fire” off their newest release How to Start a Fire. Vocalist Jason Gleason moaned into the microphone as the crowd swayed to the song. Despite the fact that only about one third of the crowd showed any previous interest in FSF, the crowd appreciated a different type of performers at this exceedingly pop punk show. They followed with “Against my better judgment” and a few more songs that revved up the crowd. Gleason then brought the show down to the crowd for the first time that night, in which the crowd showed their appreciation with every fist in the air. Bassist Chad Neptune dedicated the next song, “Leaving,” to the forces overseas and dictated that we should all “support our troops”. This calmed the crowd even through the emotion filled screams from front man Gleason. During the next song “The moon is down,” crowd surfers popped up all over the pit as the band played one of their older songs. Gleason came out in the crowd once again and let the fans finish the song. The band including Gleason on vocals, Josh Colbert and Derick Cordaba on guitar, Neptune on bass and Steven Kleisath on drums finished the set with “The sound”. I don’t really think that FSF fit into the pop punk line up of the night, but they played up to their standard of a good emo-core show and pumped up the crowd for the nights main attraction.

At this show it was obvious whom everyone was there to see. The crowd started moving before the curtain even opened. From hearing drunken cries of “Ataris Rock!” and the fourteen year old girls sitting next to me chanting “Ataris, Ataris, Ataris,” I think the crowd was ready for the band to start playing. As the band took the stage every hand welcomed them in the air. Guitarist and front man Kris Roe rigged in his short sleeve black button up shirt with flashy red tie greeted the extraordinarily excited crowd. As they began with “IOU one galaxy” from the 2001 release End is Forever a sudden crowd of kids appeared out of no where and rushed the stage, packing the floor to capacity. With the next two hits “I won’t spend another night alone” and “Take offs and landings” the crowd sang along to every lyric, as circle pits began to break out and kids surfed across the never ending floor. The energy continued through the song “11596” and “Unopened Letter to the world” as Kris Roe declared “I know everyone in Anaheim can sing louder than anyone.” Tonight this statement was true, as they could have knocked down the microphone stand and still heard every word of every song through the fans in the audience. The next two favorites “Your Boyfriend Sucks” and the first single off of the new album “In this diary” thrilled the more than a hundred kids that showed up to see the show that night. The next song, a cover of Jawbreaker’s “Boxcar,” pumped up the crowd when I thought they couldn’t possibly get more excited. As Roe professed that it’s “more punk rock to be yourself” than to try to fit in to any model of what punk is, the crowd went crazy. The band played three more songs:“The Last song I’ll ever write about a girl,”“Summer wind was always our song” and “Song 13” after which they left the stage, but almost immediately Roe returned alone to serenade the audience with “My Reply.” Lighters began to flicker on, filling the air for this emotional song. The band including Roe, John Collura on guitar, Chris Knapp on drums and Mike Davenport on bass guitar finished with two of their biggest hits. The band rocked out to the teen angst thriller “Teenage Riot” as confetti shot out into the crowd. They closed the night with “San Dimas High School Football Rules” in which they chose a girl out of the crowd to play guitar for the song. Being the last song of the night the crowd showed it as they went nuts, everyone jumped in the air, kids ran on stage and dove off into the endless pit, even dad was bouncing along to the music. Lets just say that the Ataris rocked out! Ending the night with the entire venue saying “Happy birthday Johnny you lucky bastard” to Collura who in turn gave an endearing kiss on the cheek to his band-mate Roe. All in all the Ataris were amazing. Before I came to this show I feared a time had come when all the best pop punk bands had reached a status where you couldn’t see them at a small venue, however the Ataris proved me wrong.

-Review by Katie Plourd