12/02/2025

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Atreyu Bio

Atreyu Bio

Who are they?
Arteyu is a metalcore band from Orange County, California that was formed in 1998. The band consists of five guys, Alex Varkatzas, Dan Jacobs, Travis Miguel, Marc McKnight, and Brandon Saller. Alex is lead vocal and lyricist, Dan and Travis play guitar, Marc is the bassist and Brandon plays the drums along with doing some vocals. The band was not originally named Atreyu, they were called Retribution until they found out about another band from Hemet, California had the name. The band got the name from the book/movie The Never-Ending Story.

Since the band’s beginning in 1998 they have had four studio albums released, Suicide Notes and Butterfly Kisses in 2002, The Curse in 2004, A Death Grip on Yesterday in 2006 and Lead Sails Paper Anchor in 2007. Each of their four studio albums have sold about 200,000 copies each. They were on the Projekt Revolution tour with Linkin Park in 2008. They headlined along with Hawthorn Heights, 10 Years, and Armor For Sleep.

Flash Back 1998-2000
1998 – 2000 are known as Atreyu’s Independent Years. Back then, the band only consisted of four members: Alex, Dan, Brandon, and Kyle Stanley. This is around the time when the band changed its name, which was suggested by a friend named Scott Lloyd, also known as The Mess. In 1999, the band released their first album, an independent, seven track, EP album called Visions. The Album was only sold at their concerts. Their second album, a five track EP, under the underground label Tribunal Records.

Flash Back 2001- 2006
In 2001, the band finally signed with a big name record company called Victory Records, who seemed to favor young metalcore bands. In 2002, they released their first full-length studio album, Suicide Notes and Butterfly Kisses. Around this time, the band introduced the drummer, Brandon, as another singer for the band. When their music video for Lip Gloss and Black appeared on the Headbangers Ball and Uranium in 2003, the band got some much-needed attention. The band’s second studio album, The Curse, was released in 2004 and sold about 300,000 copies.

After their second album release, Atreyu was featured on the sound track for Mr. and Mrs. Smith doing a cover of “You Give Love a Bad Name,” originally performed by Bon Jovi. You can also find them on the sound track for Underworld: Evolution and the video game Burn Out 3. The year 2006 brought with it the release of their third album, A Death Grip on Yesterday, which hit number 9 on the Billboard 200 and had 69,000 sales.

Recent Years 2007 – Now
In the beginning of 2007, Atreyu signed with Hollywood Records for America along with making an international deal with Roadrunner Records. With the new label came the start of their fourth album, Lead Sails Paper Anchor. This album was met with mixed reviews because of the band’s new sound. Despite the bands new sound, it hit number 8 on the Billboard 200. Marc recently posted a blog stating that Atreyu would be recording their fifth album in the early spring of 2009.