Song:The Boys Of Summer
Album:Now That's What I Call Music! 14
This 2003 cover of Don Henley's The Boys Of Summer was the only chart single for The Ataris. The album So Long, Astoria was their major label debut. Things did not go well and they are still around as an indie band. The leader of The Ataris is singer songwriter Kris Roe. He's from Anderson, IN. Roe started out recording in his bedroom in 1996. One of his demos found its way to The Vandals bassist Joe Escalante and his label Kung Fu Records. They released The Ataris debut album Anywhere But Here in 1997. Roe moved to Santa Barbara, CA to put a touring band together. After two more albums on Kung Fu made The Ataris indie darlings, They signed with Columbia Records for the 2003 album So Long, Astoria. The album was produced by veteran recording engineer Lou Giordano. Roe admitted signing with a major label was for security. They would still make money even of the album didn't sell. The album was more commercial than previous albums so the album exposed them to a wider audience. Roe wrote all the songs except The Boys Of Summer. So he wasn't happy when Los Angeles radio station KROQ started playing The Boys Of Summer and it reached #20 on the Billboard Hot 100. It turned out to be their only chart single and you can get it on this various artists CD. The Ataris recorded their second Columbia album Welcome The Night with producer Nick Launay. But corporate chaos at Columbia forced Roe to ask to be released. He says that everyone at Columbia that liked the band had already left. The album was released on Sanctuary Records. Since then The Ataris have released a couple of EPs on Kung Fu. Roe still leads a touring version of the band. I guess that officially makes The Ataris a one hit wonder. Here's the video for The Boys Of Summer by The Ataris.
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