Atreyu vocalist Alex Varkatzas: "We invented metalcore"
Did veteran Orange County metalheads Atreyu invent metalcore? That “may sound cocky” but lead vocalist Alex Varkatzas claims they did. “There wasn’t any else like that when we were doing it,” he tells Rock Sound in a new interview.
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“You know, I don’t know where we fit in any scene, and I don’t think that any scene knows where we fit,” he says of the band’s place in the music industry immediately following last week’s release of Atreyu’s seventh studio album, In Our Wake.
“This is going to sound a little cocky but I’m a singer in a band,” he says. “I don’t think we fit into any genre. I think we are hard to pin down. When we first started it was a little easier. We were a metallic hardcore band with singing parts.”
“People get confused and say, ‘you’re a metalcore band.’ But we invented metalcore.”
Varkatzas continues, “People get confused and say, ‘you’re a metalcore band.’ But we invented metalcore. That may sound cocky but I don’t care. We pre-date Poison The Well and Killswitch Engage and all those bands.”
And while adding that he’s been performing in a band since he was “literally 12 years old,” the longtime Atreyu singer notes that the group’s listeners are the ones who ultimately decide his outfit’s fate in the grand metalcore canon.
“This is the place to be you,” he adds. “This is our driving force and heartbeat. This is the place we go to express ourselves. I think our fan base and the people who like our band are like that too. They like music and we play music.”
“So throughout that I still don’t know where we fit, and I think our fans know that.”
Do you feel like Atreyu invented metalcore? What do you think of the band’s new album, In Our Wake? See all of Atreyu’s upcoming tour dates, down below, and sound off the in comments section with your own thoughts.
Dates:
11/09 – Phoenix, AZ @ The Van Buren *
11/10 – Albuquerque, NM @ El Rey Theater *
11/12 – San Antonio, TX @ Aztec Theater *
11/13 – Houston, TX @ House of Blues *
11/14 – Baton Rouge, LA @ House of Blues *
11/16 – Ft. Lauderdale, FL @ Revolution Live *
11/17 – Tampa, FL @ The Ritz Ybor *
11/19 – Atlanta, GA @ Buckhead Theatre *
11/20 – Greensboro, NC @ Cone Denim Ent. Center *
11/21 – Baltimore, MD @ Baltimore Soundstage *
11/23 – Harrisburg, PA @ Capitol Room @HMAC *
11/24 – Sayreville, NJ @ Starland Ballroom *
11/25 – Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club *
11/27 – New York, NY @ Gramercy Theatre *
11/28 – Rochester, NY @ Anthology *
11/30 – Detroit, MI @ Majestic Theater *
12/01 – Ft. Wayne, IN @ Piere’s Ent. Center *
12/02 – Chicago, IL @ House of Blues *
12/04 – Denver, CO @ The Summit Music Hall *
12/05 – Salt Lake City, UT @ The Depot *
12/06 – Boise, ID @ Knitting Factory *
12/07 – Seattle, WA @ El Corazon *
12/08 – Portland, OR @ Hawthorne Theater *
12/10 – Sacramento, CA @ Ace of Spades *
12/11 – San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore *
12/12 – San Diego, CA @ House of Blues *
12/13 – Anaheim, CA @ House of Blues *
* with Memphis May Fire, Ice Nine Kills, Sleep Signals
