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Interview with
PORTER McKNIGHT
from
ATREYU

(February 12, 2024)

Interview with Shaquira Hobbs and Dave Bruce

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Dave – It’s Shaquira and Dave from Amnplify and we’re talking to Porter McKnight from Atreyu. So, let’s get going. Porter, how’d the band come together? 
They formed in 1998 or ‘99. It’s always like a fluctuating thing. I think it’s ‘99. There were a couple of them who went to high school together in Southern California. I am from Southern Alabama in the States, and I moved to the West Coast to go to University, to go to College, and I played in a few bands around that area, and I eventually met Atreyu and in early 2004 I joined. I’ve only been in the band for 20 years (lol). 

Dave – How would you describe your sound?
We always shy away from all the various and assorted genres and subgenres over the years. And we just call ourselves a hard rock band, like a heavy rock band. It’s just we’re way too versatile to be nailed to be just like metalcore or hardcore or whatever, you know. 

Dave – Has it changed much over the time? 
I would suppose a little bit of technology just because it’s different and easier to record and different things, but mainly because of just who we are as creative human beings. I mean we all come from different backgrounds. We all love similar types of music, but very different types of music. And we’re not the type of band that’s going to write the same record twice or even the same song twice.
There are bands that do that, like Australia’s ACDC and it’s fucking great. But we like to try different flavors, we like to try different things and experiment. We’ve grown and tried on new things with each album we’ve ever done, and I don’t think we’re ever going to stop.

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Dave – When did you start to really say “I think we made it”? 
I think we’re still waiting for that feeling. I mean, we do well for ourselves, you know, we’re lucky enough to be able to travel around the world, but it can always be bigger, right? When we’re in arenas in Australia, then I’ll be like, now it’s good. Let’s do it.

Dave – The Beautiful Dark Of Life came out in December. Describe its origin and evolution.
You know, it’s an important album for us. I think most artists will say this, but it’s without a shadow of a doubt, my favorite thing we’ve ever done. It’s kind of a story of – you got to enjoy the contrast in this existence. You must. 
There must be bad days so you can appreciate the good. And it’s all about this life is the lens you view it from and how you choose to view it. Two people could have the exact same experiences to them, and one person could focus on the shit that’s happened to them and one person would be like, yeah, that sucked, but it made me realize this and I grew from it. So, there’s songs about our journey as creative human beings and navigating the pathways of life. And it was separated into three different EPs. Thematically, each EP has their own feelings. The first EP is called ‘The Hope of a Spark’. It talks about the creative journey as an artist, like you’re looking for that spark, you’re looking for that inspiration, you’re looking for that next thing to help you write, to create, to be who you are. And especially with everything that’s happened with our band and with some member change, we were like, do we, have it? Are we still good? You know, can we do this? I think all of us separately were curious and wondering and worried partially sometimes, you know? And then we started writing and we do have it. It was there even more so and more than it’s ever been. So that first EP is the Hope of a Spark and across the album, The Beautiful Dark of Life, there are songs about that. Am I good enough? Can we do this, et cetera, et cetera. The second one is ‘The Moment You Find Your Flame’ and that’s when you’re like, oh fuck, I found it. Like, okay, this feels good, let’s move forward. And the third one is ‘A Torch In The Dark’. So you’ve got it, you’re a beacon, you figured your shit out. And so, yeah, it’s just kind of about that journey of growing as a human and growing as a creative and growing as a band. This is truly like, it’s the best. I’m the proudest of this album that I’ve ever made of anything musically in my entire career of being a musician, which is more than half my life. 

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Dave – What are the signature tracks, and which are your favourites to play live? 
Playing live, I think Drowning has a special place in my heart. That one is the first one released of this album. And It just annihilates anytime we play it. From the moment we’ve played it first, we played it first in…on tour with Bullet For My Valentine early last year. And it was just, every show has been crushing. We started playing a song called (i) this last fall and it just absolutely annihilates. So those two, I think, were my favorites. Also, Come Down. Come Down is one of my favorite songs we’ve ever written. 

Shaquira – So, what do you think makes the band stand out?
Good question. I think. First and foremost, we’re a bunch of fucking characters when you see us play live. We are not like a lot of bands where they’ll be just the singer that you’re focusing on or the bass player just kind of stands in the back. A lot of bands will have shtick these days where everyone is just kind of like, has a mask and everyone looks the same except for the front man. We are five front men more or less. Each of us is entertaining. Each of us go above and beyond to connect with the audience. We laugh a lot; we have a good time. We don’t play the same, or don’t say the same bullshit in between songs to every song for every show. Like we truly interact with the crowd. That’s one of the best parts about this band if you ask my opinion on it. I really enjoy playing live. And musically as I said earlier, we’ve gone down so many different musical pathways and still will continue in the future, you know it’s Atreyu. Like you can still tell it’s us. 

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Shaquira – And could you share insights into the creative process behind your recent music? 
It varies. We’re a band where everyone writes, and everyone brings something to the table. Some people will bring like a whole complete song, like our guitarist, Travis, will record the music for an entire song. He’d be like, this is my idea. There’s no vocals or lyrics or melody. It’s just music or vocal melody, I should say. There are tons of melodies. Dan, for instance, will have like a whole song prepped out with some choruses and lyrics and ideas. I usually bring in themes and lyrics and melodies. I leave the song, like the riff writing to the guitarists. Brandon will come in sometimes with simply, like the time is now, for instance, that song on two albums back on In Our Wake. He came into the studio so fired up and excited. He’s like, give me 30 minutes. I’ve just got to get this out. And he just came in and roughed out the verse and intro verse chorus of that song. We’re like, yeah, that’s great. Let’s keep going. And sometimes you come in with a riff, a lyric. And so essentially our day in the studio starts like, we all come in with these various and assorted ideas and we like to present it in a way and it’s a very comfortable space, like no one feels weird about presenting. And after we hear everything be like, they’re all good. Dan, let’s choose, let’s do yours today. And so, we go, and we record the basics of that song. So, we’ll just get drums, rough guitars, lay down quick vocal ideas and then move on.
And sometimes we’ll get two songs in a day in a studio like that. And then when we’re exhausted from the creative writing process, then if we still have time in the studio, we’ll go back and record things properly and all that. 

Shaquira – A lot of bands only seem to have one person that gets involved in the creative process. No, we aren’t like that. Every single person in this band should be in the room.
You hear a lot of stories, like we’ve worked with songwriters and different producers over our years and a lot of them will come in the room and have a look when they see all of us in there, they’re like, oh God, like this is going to be tough. Everyone’s going to have a fucking ego and some bullshit opinion. But we’re not like that. We listen to each other, we learn, we grow, and each person has an important part of the process, even if it’s like eh, maybe play that part one-half step down, but it changes the whole song, you know, and they needed to be there to give that opinion. 

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Shaquira – So soon you’re going to be in Australia. How do you prepare for such a long tour? 
It’s not a long tour. It’s like what? Five or six shows? 

Shaquira – Travel wise and whatnot. 
Yeah, it’s for me specifically. I live in Germany. So, I just arrived yesterday here in California at my sister’s house. I’m in my brother-in-law’s music studio right now, hence the background, because it’s a mess. And so, I flew here a few days early to sort of acclimate to slightly warmer weather, even though you just saw me put a hoodie on, because it’s quite cold in California right now for some reason. So, I came here a few days earlier just to acclimate and get a little bit closer and I got to pick up my bases and such. And then Dan and I are flying on Saturday over to Sydney to have a day together and hang out and explore the city.
Then the next day I get tattooed for two days. I’m going to finish this arm, which I started in March 2020 when we were last in Australia. The world got weird right after that. That was an interesting time. So I’m going to go early and finish my tattoo in Sydney. 

Shaquira – Do you go to the famous Bondi parlour? 
No it’s a guy named Sam Clark. He’s from Noosa north of Brisbane.
He and his wife and their two kids, they’re all lovely and they travel a lot. They traveled a lot pre-pandemic, but especially during the pandemic, they used their RV and just traveled. And so, he tattoos all over the island. And I think they’ve been in Sydney for a bit now. So, they’re like a camping park type thing, and that’s where I’m going to go meet them. But they have like normal hotel-type places there too. So, I’m excited.

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Shaquira – So, will any new songs be included in the upcoming tour? 
Yeah, it’ll be the greatest hits. We’re going to have stuff from every album. It’s tough. The more music you put out, the tougher it gets, because there’s this fine balance of people wanting to hear certain songs when they come to see you live. And over the years, we’ve adjusted and changed the set list to be like, let’s try this song that we as a band love. And then we play it live and it’s just fucking crickets. So, you just must figure out what songs work live, you know? But yeah, it’s going to be everything. 

Shaquira – And you have Melbourne based Bad Love joining as a support for the tour. What drew the band to collaborate? 
That was a suggestion from promoters, I believe. But we listened to everything and we’re like, yeah, that’s cool. Let’s do it. 

Shaquira – And in terms of fan interactions, are there any special moments that are planned for the tour? 
I mean, we’re doing VIP, so those are always those are always a fun little one on one and getting to meet people. I usually try and do my best to interact with people as much as I possibly can before and after the show. I usually go out after the show and say hello and thank you and give some appreciation for people giving a shit about our band. 

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Shaquira – And lastly, from myself, the Australian Tour marks your return since early 2020. How do you feel about reconnecting with your Australian fans? 
I’m very excited to be back in Australia. I can truly say some of the best shows we’ve ever had in our entire career have been there, have been down under. I mean we played…was it Soundwave? At the festival in 2015 in Melbourne specifically. And I just remember we were in this kind of long hall room or a call, it wasn’t a ballroom, it was like a long hall and had entrances coming in the sides of it. And there were just people spewing out. Like there was not a single place where a face could be that there wasn’t a face. Like it was just a sea, and the show was fucking madness, like truly. And I know a lot of artists’ bullshit about this. Like Australia is the fucking best place to play. It is a vacation for us. Cause it’s just so beautiful down there. First and foremost, the shows are fantastic. You know, all the promoters treat you well. We’re not stuck in a bus traveling or stuck in a van traveling. We have hotel rooms every day. So, it just feels like a nice vacation. We all go out and eat every day and explore the city before we play. And it’s just a really, really nice time. I will go to your museums and enjoy. 

Shaquira – If you guys come through Newcastle; you must let me know. 
I don’t think we ever have, but I don’t mind. I wouldn’t mind. I wouldn’t mind doing something outside of the standard run. 

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Dave – I’m going to now ask a few questions that are a bit… What’s the craziest thing you have ever done?
I think the thing that popped into my headfirst when you asked it. In 2009 or 2010 we played with Iron Maiden for the first time in Mexico. We had two shows, we just did a few more in Canada earlier at the end of last year. It was fucking amazing.
So, these ones were the first ones in Mexico. First show was 35,000 people or something. And the second one was like 55,000 in a fucking racetrack. The football stadium was too small. So, they switched it to a racetrack, soccer stadium. So, this first one, we’re direct support to Iron Maiden and before us are Morbid Angel and Carcass. And then us and Iron Maiden. So, we are a sore thumb, right?
So, we go up and its night-time, it’s just a fucking sea of people that pretty much only want to see Iron Maiden. And we start playing and it gets violent. Like there’s 35,000 people, the 5,000 people on the front only want Iron Maiden. The rest of them were like circle pits and you could see people singing along in the distance. All our merchandise was sold out, so we knew people liked us.
But the first 5,000 just started throwing shit at us, throwing pesos, throwing like whatever. And at one point we were playing a song called Bleeding Mascara. And at the time I would like to get down and like head bang fast with the intro of the song. And during that time, a metal spike hit me right here. I have a dent in my skull right here from it. It hit me and I was bleeding everywhere.
And I just think about the fucking insanity of like, I’m head banging so fast, and a spike hit right here. Like I could have an eye patch right now. This could be a whole different story. You know, that’s crazy. But then, you know, the show was fucking insane. And like I said, it was fantastic, but I still have that spike somewhere. 

Dave – What’s one topic you can talk about for hours? 
I enjoy talking about mental health. I enjoy talking about spirituality. 

Dave – I’d love to have you for a decent chat about that on my Podcast. What’s the thing you like most about yourself? 
I think I am honestly a good and kind human being that wants to help and uplift anyone I meet, and I want them to leave the interaction with me being a better version of themselves.

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Dave – Finally, a few questions for quick answers. Favorite album? 
Either Nine Inch Nails ‘The Downward Spiral’ or Paul Simon’s Graceland. 

Favorite artist?
Daughter.

Favorite movie?
Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves.

Favorited place to visit?
Edinburgh, Scotland.

Favorite venue to play?
The Norval.

Favorite food?
Mexican food.

Favorited drink?
A specific type of German schnapps named Prince.

Favorited person in history? Me now, but I mean before we met.
Yeah, indubitably. Before you and me. Oh God, I have no idea how to answer that. Alan Watts seems intriguing. Yeah. Alan Watts. Who’s Alan Watts.

Favorite tattoo? 
Hopefully the new one will become my favorite tattoo because I got to finish this arm. But my whole left arm was done earlier this year by a German artist in Barcelona named Alex Sanchez. And it’s all essentially tarot based. And I fucking love it. I can’t really show you because it’s covered. Yeah. It’s a whole, my whole left arm is my favorite tattoo. 

Thanks, man. I really appreciate it. 
Pleasure to meet you all. We’ll speak soon. 

All the best.
All coming to the shows? 

Well, I’ll put my hand up. I’ll send you an email. I’ll put my hand up and we’ll have a schnapps, German schnapps.
Let’s do it.

All right. All the best.
Bye.

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AMNPLIFY – DB