So Long, Astoria is the fourth studio album and the major-label debut studio album by American rock band The Ataris, released on March 4, 2003, through Columbia Records. The album's title song alludes to the 1985 film The Goonies, which is set in Astoria, Oregon.
Background
In February 2001, The Ataris released their third album End Is Forever through independent label Kung Fu Records. In May, vocalist/guitarist Kris Roe revealed that the group would start writing for their next album later in the year. In June, guitarist Marco Peña left the group due to creative and personal differences. He was replaced by their guitar tech John Collura, formerly of the band Beefcake. Roe said Collura "definitely brought us back to [being the] best of friends", as well making them "realize that this band has got a lot of life in it".
Later in July, Roe revealed that the group would be releasing their next album in mid-2002 and that it would be in the musical style of their second album Blue Skies, Broken Hearts...Next 12 Exits (1999). In October, Roe said the album was tentatively titled Don't Ever Compromise What You Believe. In December, the group said they had 13 songs that they were working on, and were planning to record in March 2002. In January 2002, the group contributed a new song to the Orange County soundtrack. In April, Roe said the group were expected to begin recording in May. Davenport pushed for Giordano, "and the minute [Roe and Giordano] spoke, it worked."
Recording
Demos were initially tracked at drummer Chris Knapp's house in Hollywood, California. Roe said they "never got anything done" and subsequently went to Orange Whip Recording in Santa Barbara, California to record more demos. He added that the demos "capture[d] a certain honesty" and toyed with releasing the demos in lieu of recording a proper album. drawing comparison to Blink-182, Green Day, "In This Diary", alongside "Summer '79" talk about nights out in town and pulling pranks. Roe wrote "My Reply" about a fan who was in a hospital and close to death.
"Summer '79" sees Roe reminiscing on days when spent as a teenager sneaking into drive-in theatres and listening to Queen.
Release
In October 2002, it was announced that So Long, Astoria would be released in March 2003. "In This Diary" was released to radio on February 11. So Long, Astoria was released on March 4 through Columbia Records. The Japanese version included the bonus tracks "A Beautiful Mistake" and "I Won't Spend Another Night Alone", an acoustic version of "The Saddest Song", and a cover of the Ramones song "Rock 'N' Roll High School". A music video for "In This Diary" was posted online on March 3, directed by Steven Murashige. Roe said the video was mainly crowd-focused as the group wanted to channel their stage performance and energy. On May 19, "In This Diary" was released as a CD single. It featured "A Beautiful Mistake", a demo of "Eight of Nine", a live version of "In This Diary", and "Rock 'N' Roll High School" as B-sides.
"My Reply" was set to be the group's next single, but "The Boys of Summer" was released to radio on June 3 instead. In August, Davenport revealed a music video had been filmed for "My Reply", but was "so far from coming out". "The Saddest Song" was released to radio on September 9.
Touring
In November and December 2002, the group went on a US tour with Sugarcult, Autopilot Off and Rufio. During the tour, the group premiered material from So Long, Astoria. In late December and January 2003, the group embarked on the Australian leg of the Kung Fu Records Tour with the Vandals. The day following the album's release, an in-store performance was held at a record store in Tempe, Arizona. However, due to 1,000 people showing up, the performance was moved to the Arizona State University campus. In mid-March, the band appeared on Total Request Live and Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Following this, they toured with the Juliana Theory and Further Seems Forever on a two-month tour of the US. On May 8, the band appeared on The Late Late Show. In mid-June, the group performed at KROQ's Weenie Roast festival.
From June to August, the Ataris toured as part of the 2003 Warped Tour. On July 11, the group appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. The group performed at the 2003 MLB All-Star Game in late July. In October and November 2003, the band embarked on the VW Music Ed Tour with Vendetta Red. In November, the group went on a US tour with Planes Mistaken for Stars, Vendetta Red, Hopesfall, The Go Reflex and Squirtgun. The group appeared on The Late Late Show and The Jay Leno Show on December 1 and December 29, respectively. In February and March 2004, the group went on a UK tour with Planes Mistaken for Stars and Cursive. In April, the group went on a tour of Canada. In May, the group co-headlined the RiverFusion festival with Something Corporate. They then played a few shows with the National Trust, which consisted of Roe and Matt Hart of Squirtgun, and appeared at Hellfest.
Reception
Critical response
Initial critical response to So Long, Astoria was very average. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an average score of 57, based on seven reviews. It charted at number 38 in Australia "In This Diary" charted at number 11 on the Alternative Songs chart. number 10 on the Mainstream Top 40 chart, number 18 on the Adult Top 40 chart, number 20 on the Hot 100 chart, number 22 on the Radio Songs chart, number 36 on the Mainstream Rock chart, in the US. It also charted at number 17 in New Zealand, number 24 in Australia, number 49 in the UK, In August, So Long, Astoria was certified gold in the US. By November, the album had sold 516,000 copies. In March 2006, "The Boys of Summer" was certified gold in the US.
The album was included at number 25 on Rock Sounds "The 51 Most Essential Pop Punk Albums of All Time" list. They later ranked it at number 97 on the list of best albums in their lifetime. In December 2013, the band released demos that had been recorded for the album. In February and March 2014, the group performed the album in its entirety in the US. To promote the tour, a short documentary was made in the style of VH1's music documentary series Classic Albums. In June 2016, the group performed in Australia, playing songs solely from Blue Skies, Broken Hearts...Next 12 Exits and So Long, Astoria. In February 2018, the group went on a celebratory 15th anniversary tour for the album in the UK.
Track listing
All songs written by Kris Roe, except where noted.
The Ataris
- Kris Roe – lead vocals, rhythm guitar, moog synthesizer, mellotron
- Mike Davenport – bass guitar
- John Collura – lead guitar, backing vocals
- Chris Knapp – drums
Additional musicians
- James Muhawi – piano <small>(track 6)</small>
- Angus Cooke – cello
- Johnathan Cox – programming
- Glen Phillips – backing vocals
- Mike Herrera – backing vocals
- Tim Pagnotta – backing vocals
Production
- Lou Giordano – producer, mixing
- Thom Flowers – producer <small>(track 12)</small>, engineer
- Elissa Meihsner – producer <small>(track 12)</small>, additional tracking
- Eric Palmquist – producer <small>(track 12)</small>
- Bradley Cooke – engineer
- Andrew Alekel – engineer
- Jason Nelson – assistant engineer
- Dean Cupp – assistant engineer
- Dave Ashton – assistant engineer, additional tracking
- Jack Joseph Puig – mixing <small>(tracks 4 and 6)</small>
- Angus Cooke – additional tracking
Artwork
- Danny Clinch – band photos
- Chuck Meyer – water tower photos
- Kris Roe – other art photos
- Sergie Loobkoff – art direction, design
Charts
Weekly charts
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+
! scope="col"| Chart (2003)
! scope="col"| Peak<br />position
|-
|-
! scope="row"| Canadian Albums (Nielsen SoundScan)
| 36
|-
! scope="row"| Dutch Alternative Albums (Alternative Top 30)
| 11
|-
! scope="row"| Japanese Albums (Oricon)
| 45
|-
|-
! scope="row"| US Billboard 200
| 24
|}
Year-end charts
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+
! scope="col"| Chart (2003)
! scope="col"| Position
|-
! scope="row"| US Billboard 200
| 138
|}
Certifications
References
Citations
Sources
External links
<!-- This is a licensed stream for the album, which is allowed under Wikipedia polices -->
- So Long, Astoria at YouTube (streamed copy where licensed)