Driven Far Off

Can you please introduce yourself and your role in Atreyu?

My name’s Travis Miguel and I play guitar

You have a new record coming out Congregation Of The Damned coming out on October 27th. Overall, how do you feel about this album? How is it different from your older material?

We’re really excited for C.O.D. to finally be released.  We worked extremely hard on it.  As far as differences from our older material, oddly enough C.O.D. has a lot of our older sound in it.

Is there any particular significance behind the album title?

What are some of the different things listeners can expect to hear from Congregation Of The Damned?  The album title loosely refers to the state the world is in.  World leaders, politicians, celebrities, the human race in general.  Things could be going a lot better.  Listeners can expect old, new, and everything in between.

Besides the new record, what else has Atreyu been up to since we last heard Lead Sails Paper Anchor in 2007?

We toured for over a year and a half on Lead Sails Paper Anchor.  After the cycle was done, we went straight into our practice space and started writing for Congregation of the Damned.  We played a few one-off shows here and there, but most of the time was spent working on the album.

You guys signed over to Hollywood Records in 2007 from Victory Records. How has that transition been for the band? Any particular reason for the switch?

We ran our course with Victory.  We fulfilled our contract and it was time to make the next logical step.  We’re the only aggressive band on Hollywood so we don’t have to compete with anyone for attention and they’ve given the band the right push.

Atreyu just started a tour with Escape The Fate and Hollywood Undead. How is that tour going so far? Do you have any touring plans for 2010?

The tour with Hollywood Undead has been great thus far.  We share some of the same fans and at the same time, there are a lot of Hollywood Undead fans who may not have heard of Atreyu and vice versa.  Hollywood Undead are good drinkin’ buddies too.

How did you get started playing music? What are some of your musical influences?

I basically picked up a guitar around 12 or 13 and didn’t stop playing.  As far as musical influences I love everything from Mogwai, Slayer, Sepultura, the Smiths, Outkast, Def Leppard, Alkaline Trio, Deftones, Hatebreed, Elvis Costello, The Police…..i could go on forever.

Since the your first record release of Suicide Notes and Butterfly Kisses in 2002, how do you think Atreyu has grown as a band in general-relationships, music, etc?

We’re definitely not the same 5 guys that we were in 2002.  We’re more grown up in general.  4 of us have mortgages and 2 of us are married.  Don’t get me wrong, we act like a bunch of prepubescent teens from time to time, but just in a more “grown up” way.

What are some of the goals you have for Atreyu in the future?

We never really expected to get as far as we have so far, so everything positive thing that has happened to us has been a blessing.  We’re just gonna keep on keepin’ on and hope for the best.

Any additional comments?

Thanks for listenin’.  Check out Congregation of the Damned and come on out to the shows…good times will be had.