By Thomas Higgins

Currently on a 10-year anniversary tour for the album So Long, Astoria, The Ataris stopped by the Brighton Music Hall on Saturday, March 29.  This is the first time in 10 years that this lineup has played together.  After the release of So Long, Astoria, the lineup of Kristopher Roe, John Collura, Mike Davenport, and Chris Knapp disbanded amid internal conflict.

Since then, Roe has continued on under the name The Ataris with a number of different supporting members.

So Long, Astoria is the band’s best selling release to this day.  It sold over 700,000 copies upon its release and has been certified gold since.  It was the band’s first and only major label release after signing with Columbia Records once its contract with the independent label Kung Fu Records was up.

Before the band’s sold out show, The  Journal sat down with guitarist John Collura to talk about the tour, future plans, and the legacy of The Ataris.

In order to re-learn and practice all of the songs off So Long, Astoria before the start of the tour, the members holed up and had three straight days of practice.

“It was intimidating at first,” said Collura. “But it wasn’t too hard.  It was mainly just figuring out the little things and deciding who would play each part.

For Collura, being a part of this tour is his way of trying to preserve the legacy of a band that has gone through many tumultuous patches throughout its existence.  There have been numerous lineup changes with the only constant member being lead singer and founding member Kristopher Roe.

When questioned about all of the lineup changes the band has gone through since its peak success after the release of So Long, Astoria, Collura said, “The Ataris is no longer a band, it is a brand. Doing this tour is me trying to protect this brand.”

By continuing to tour under the name, he believes that Roe is diminishing the name and brand of The Ataris and all of its past successes.

“Kris is a very talented singer and what he needs to do is go out on his own and do the solo stuff,” said Collura.

While he isn’t necessarily happy with what has happened to The Ataris name by Roe continuing to play and write under it, he does recognize that it is Roe’s band. Collura is still very supportive of Roe and believes he can be just as successful as a solo artist.

“A Kristopher Roe solo album is something that I want to hear,” said Collura,  “I think his voice is just as good as it was 10 years ago.”

We talked about the legacy of the album So Long, Astoria and how it sounds 10 years after its initial release.

“If it was released today, it would do just as well as it did back then,” said Collura. “I think the album has held up really well over the past 10 years.

The future of The Ataris is still up in the air at this point. Once the tour ends, the plan is to go back to the lineup that singer Kristopher Roe had been playing with prior to the anniversary tour.

“I’m not really looking to play in a band at this point.” said Collura when asked about his personal future.

However, he did mention that he would have no problem doing some off shows or the occasional festival dates with the So Long, Astoria era Ataris lineup.