Atreyu

Though their latest album is called 'Lead Sails, Paper Anchor', Atreyu are travelling pretty well at the moment, that album debuting in the Billboard Top 10 when it came out late last year. "We're on the 'Taste Of Chaos' tour right now," bass player Marc McKnight lets me know as we begin our conversation, and it's certainly been an interesting experience for him, because though the band has played on the tour before, there have been a few new experiences this time around.

"We played Biloxi, Mississippi and we've never played Biloxi. I was born and raised in Alabama, so my whole family was out there - mum, dad, aunts and uncles - who had never even suggested anything to me about wanting to come to a show, but the were like 'we really want to come see you'. So they were there, my sister had flown in from California... this is a huge show," McKnight sets the scene. "So I'm onstage, we're playing Right Side Of The Bed and I have this little thing where I throw the guitar in my right hand and then I throw it back to my left. And when I threw it to my right hand, I guess the strap slipped out, so I throw it back to my left hand and it just flies." There's a brief pause at the other end of the line as McKnight chuckles and recollects himself before continuing. "...It flies off the stage and nearly takes out two kids, so I'm standing there onstage with no instrument to hide behind and I just look and [my family] are like 'huh?' I don't know what to do but I just put both thumbs up and smile and jump offstage... you do things like that and you just have a laugh about it."

Fortunately for Atreyu's newest member, his family saw the incident in a similar light - "they loved it, they thought it was hilarious." Part of the line-up for five years now, McKnight is certainly comfortable with his role in the band, which has experienced an exponential increase in success since he joined, though he laughs at the idea that the credit for this success should be his. "It definitely wasn't like that. I think we've progressed with every album we've done - if you listen to [2001 LP] 'Fractures In The FaŤade Of Your Porcelain Beauty', and the difference between that and [first album 'Suicide Notes And Butterfly Kisses'], there is a difference, and they stepped it up. But that was still their first effort, and the difference between 'Suicide Notes' and 'The Curse'... it's so different," McKnight explains, using the third person when describing the band's earlier efforts.

"I think what they tried to do - and now I can say we try to do - every album, we just try to one up ourselves, try to do something better. You know, Alex [Varkatzas, singer] tries to sing more, Dan [Jacobs, lead guitar] shreds more, Travis [Miguel, rhythm guitar] shreds even more than he ever has, you know, I try to bring in my bass parts... I think we just want to put ourselves into new positions and, like, do the best we possibly can."

'Lead Sails, Paper Anchors' certainly pushes beyond what the band have previously tried, introducing new elements like a horn section on Falling Down and pedal steel on Lead Sails (And A Paper Anchor), which has been described as "a country ballad," though this doesn't point at a new direction for Atreyu's music. "I wouldn't say we're trying to push ourselves in any direction. Every album - I've been a part of two writing them - we're not going out to write a single, or a song with a lot of breakdowns, we're just trying to write what comes out, and I think we did a great job as far as that went, I think we really stepped it up on this album, we did everything we wanted to do, you know... I don't think it's anything radically different - you can only write the same chda-ch-ch breakdowns for so long"

Alexis Buxton-Collins

Atreyu play at the Thebarton Theatere with Avenged Sevenfold and Bullet For My Valentine on Thurs 8 May.