ATREYU's BRANDON SALLER Explains Decision To Re-Record 'The Curse': 'There Were Motivating Factors In Doing That'

In a new interview with Rock 100.5 The KATT FM's Cameron Buchholtz, ATREYU frontman Brandon Saller spoke about the band's decision to release a new version of ATREYU's 2004 gold-certified sophomore album "The Curse" last year. The LP was entirely re-recorded with MEMPHIS MAY FIRE's Kellen McGregor at the production helm and it does not feature former ATREYU singer Alex Varkatzas, who exited the group in September 2020.

Saller stated about the 2025 version of "The Curse": "There was motivating factors in doing that. One was, we were gonna go tour this album [celebrating its 21st anniversary] with this lineup. We want to be a transparent band and say, 'When you come to these shows, this is what it's gonna sound.' We find that to be incredibly honest, more so than probably most bands. Secondly, this is the first album in our career that we've ever owned. We've made it on our own. We released it on our own. We did the vinyl on our own. We own it 100%. So, we're, like, 'If you enjoy the new version of 'The Curse', know that when you listen to it, 100% of the money comes back to the band that you love,' rather than going to some record label that bought out our old record label. You know what I mean? So it's one of those things where, I think when people really understand why we did it, they're, like, 'Oh, okay. That's cool. That makes sense.'"

Asked if it was "a big process" to get ownership of "The Cursed" back to ATREYU, Brandon said: "We are very lucky where we have zero re-record clauses in any of our contracts, so we could re-record every one of our albums if we wanted to, which that might happen someday, because of the sheer ownership. But it's one of those things where if you re-record the masters, then you own them."

Addressing the fact that ATREYU released "Suicide Notes And Butterfly Kisses" (2002),"The Curse" and "A Death Grip On Yesterday" (2006) with Victory Records, Brandon said: "I would love the rights to [those original albums] back, but Victory doesn't even own them. Concord [who acquired Victory in 2019] owns 'em now."

ATREYU's new studio album, "The End Is Not The End", came out on April 24 via Spinefarm.

Produced by Matt Pauling, ATREYU's tenth LP is vibrant, inventive and beautifully aggressive. "It's the heaviest and most metal record we've made," Saller previously pointed out. "But it's also the biggest musical journey we've taken in years."

It was ATREYU's unquenchable appetite for creative achievement and pursuit of shared catharsis on stage that drove them to form the band as teenagers around the turn of the millennium. This ambition has propelled them from their humble DIY beginnings to massive festival stages (including two appearances at Ozzfest),sold-out headline tours, film and video game soundtracks, and performances alongside renowned artists such as LINKIN PARK, AVENGED SEVENFOLD, DEFTONES, SLIPKNOT and BRING ME THE HORIZON.

"We just refuse to become boring," Saller declared. "We're not chasing what’s cool. We're not chasing anything. We're trying to do what isn't being done, and play exactly what we want to hear. And somehow, 25-odd years later, it's still growing. We still have much more to accomplish."

ATREYU recently embarked on a spring tour supporting SEVENDUST, kicking off April 20 in Indianapolis, Indiana before concluding in Knoxville, Tennessee on May 20.

Since forming around the turn of the millennium, ATREYU has pushed well beyond its DIY roots — earning multiple RIAA gold records, Top 20 Billboard 200 debuts, and spots on major film and video-game soundtracks. Their previous album, "The Beautiful Dark Of Life" (2023, Spinefarm),debuted in the Top 10 on Billboard's Top Hard Rock Albums and has already racked up over 75 million streams, with singles like "Gone" and "Watch Me Burn" lighting up rock radio and flagship playlists like Spotify's "Volume" and Apple Music's "The Riff".

Photo credit: Sean Stiegeimeier