Interview: Kristopher Roe of The Ataris

The Ataris

This past week I was able to schedule a Zoom call with Kristopher Roe of The Ataris to discuss the band’s great returning single, “Car Song.” The song is from the band’s forthcoming LP that is tentatively scheduled for a March 2026 release. In this interview, Kristopher shared key insights behind how the new album is shaping up, his life experiences that led to several of the key songs on the new record, as well as his planned release of a cover of “Summer of ’69”. The Ataris will be releasing several new singles and 7″ records leading up to the band’s new album.

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Review: The Ataris – “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.

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The Ataris Recording “Summer of 69” Cover

The Ataris

The Ataris are covering “Summer of 69” on their new album. Kris Roe writes:

”It’s funny how to this very day so many people still shout… Play “Summer of 69!” To which I always reply… “Uhh, that’s not the one we covered?!” Ha Well maybe aside from one drunken night at our late friend Rob’s bar in Talahasee, some person shouted for it and in a very “Replacements” fashion we drunkenly attempted it on the spot having never played a lick of that song before in our lives. Well as of today I can say that, that is no longer. This album has a ton of great new songs I wrote and one timeless rock and roll classic by the great Bryan Adams