Car Song The new single by The Ataris, called “Car Song”, is a touching tribute to Kristopher Roe’s late father (William Roe), who passed away in 2014 due to complications from alcoholism. “My dad was always the biggest supporter of The Ataris. He was a regular on our original website’s message board, sending out VHS bootlegs of live sets he would film and interacting with everyone—everyone knew him. He truly lived and breathed our music,” Roe shared. The song has a feeling of a band being re-energized and re-focused on unlocking the magic that the band captured on their earlier material. “Car Song” opens with the vivid lyrical imagery of “Now you rest amongst the rust of these roadside monuments / In all their former glories / The drive-in nights that came and went / You fought on hard through rain beaten nights / Past the shadows of state lines / Now this victory dance, it belongs to you and I,” as Roe’s vocals remain warm and passionate.
The steady-driving beat of the song builds up to the chorus of, “I was born in the blizzard of 1977 / A southpaw heart with eyes that burned California / Lay me down under the night / Under a veil of the pale starlight / These Midwest girls got nothing on California,” that recounts the style of The Gaslight Anthem paired with that classic The Ataris sound. The single was pressed on a new 7″ vinyl with a portion of the proceeds benefiting a nonprofit group, Shatterproof, that helps individuals and families with substance use disorders. “Car Song” is the first single from The Ataris’ forthcoming new album that will be their first since 2007, and signals a new and exciting era of the band.
The single that was released today also includes a re-recorded version of The Ataris’ So Long, Astoria classic “In This Diary” that adds in a longer intro to the song, and captures the live feeling of the track. One can only hope this re-recording is a sign that The Ataris have re-recorded the rest of the material on So Long, Astoria so that fans can get a hold of a vinyl pressing of the classic 2003 record. The three-song set also includes an acoustic version of “In This Diary” that echoes off of the speakers with some backing strings in the song to accentuate the right feeling behind each meaningful lyric. The Ataris are back, and it’s a beautiful thing.