STR and Kris Roe of The Ataris live Feb 12th, 2001 in Mission, TX

The Ataris... I remember it as if it were yesterday. I walked outside the cafeteria one day during high school and sat down with a few friends. Someone was playing a guitar near us and it still continues playing in my head to this date, "Last night I had a dream that we went to Disneyland, went on all the rides, didn't have to wait in line." I thought to myself, "what a nice dream that must have been... just hanging out with the girl you love in an amusement park doing as you please with no one around to bother you." I was so young and innocent that the idea of "Disneyland" being used metaphorically as a reference to sex didn't even cross my mind. I shot up from my seat and went over to the person playing the guitar and asked who wrote that song. He answered, "are you serious, man? The Ataris!" Judging by his tone I figured this was a band I HAD to know and I began searching for them immediately.

What I found was a band that spoke to me in many different ways. One of the things I like most about The Ataris is the lyric writing. I related to a lot of the things he put into his songs... AND the way he says it too. Their music kicked me off into this hopeless romantic personality that persists to this day. At the same time, they also had kick ass songs like "Teenage Riot" that just made you want to break something. All in all... The Ataris had an awesome combination of sweet lyrics, crunchy guitars and very catchy, energetic beats.

Fast forward to today... living in The Rio Grande Valley, an area notorious for having a shady music scene, I lost almost all hope for the local music scene. I was highly disappointed in the scene for a long time... most bands sounded horrible, looked worse and their lyrics were mediocre. Luckily, I was fortunate enough to hear STR one day. The first time I heard STR was at Monster Car Wash. I had been invited to the show by Tazzy, their manager. When I showed up, they were in the middle of playing Umbrella by Rihanna. They were playing it over crunchy rock guitars and a killer percussion section. I was amazed... first off, Rihanna is not normally a top artist to cover around this scene. They continued playing and went into some of their originals. When I heard, "I got it" I realized why I liked this band so much... because they reminded me of The Ataris a bit.

It's not so much their sound, but their attitudes and personalities that I find a bit similar... I don't know what to call it, but what I like about both bands is that they're hopeless romantics with A LOT  of attitude and they can still swing a bat to your head if you get out of line.

Now I'm fortunate enough to be working with the people behind one show I am REALLY looking forward to...

STR and Kris Roe of The Ataris live Feb 12th, 2001 in Mission, TX

I get to see both bands perform together... Not only do I get to enjoy a GREAT show, but I'm getting paid to enjoy a GREAT show... I love my life! More on this later.