Atreyu Will Play Their Aerosmith Cover Live

Atreyu's 'Congregation of the Damned' road show will kick off Oct. 20, and the band has some fun in store for fans. They are releasing the 'Covers of the Damned' tour EP, which features collaborative covers by the bands on the trek and members of Atreyu, which could lead to some interesting onstage hijinks!

The road to the EP was certainly a challenging one to hoe. "To get the dudes in Atreyu to do something when we are scattered and when we are off and to agree on a time and what songs to record? That's hard," vocalist Alex Varkatzas told Noisecreep. "To get five bands to come to a consensus? It's harder."

Varkatzas continued, "I'm not going to lie and say it was our idea. It was our manager's idea. He had a crazy thought and dreamed it up. We hadn't heard of this being done often. And growing up and going to shows, I never saw it, so we thought it'd be cool. It was something totally different to record classic songs, so it was cool to see it come to fruition."

Atreyu's cover of Aerosmith's 'Livin' on the Edge' was drummer Brandon Saller's idea. Atreyu had also previously covered Bon Jovi and Faith No More. They decided on this particular track because of its easy recognition factor. "I remember being in junior high and watching that video on MTV," Varkatzas said. "People my age recognize it."

While it might seem odd for a metalcore band to tackle Aerosmith, Varkatzas faced the song head on the same way he does his fitness regimen. A self-professed "jack of all trades, master of none" of mixed martial arts disciplines who has dabbled in Thai boxing, has a blue belt in Brazilian jujitsu and who is now on a regular boxing kick, Varkatzas applies his what he learned from his bodily challenges to his career ones.

"I started working out seriously a few years ago and got certified in Cross Fit, which is a gnarly workout program," he recalled. "It made me realize that if you set your mind to most things, you can achieve it. It might not be quick and it may take a lot longer, but you get where you get if you apply yourself. For the Aerosmith song, while it's not our style, we applied ourselves and it turned out OK. If it didn't, we'd never let you guys hear about it!"

As for covering a contemporary band like Volbeat? Varkatzas said, "I never want to cover a contemporary band, but we talked about it and I got the rest of my dudes into them, and we thought it would be fun and different to try."

While Varkatzas doesn't appear on every 'Covers of the Damned' song, he did suggest that Endless Hallway offer their take on a Dead Kennedys track. He also said that he guarantees that Atreyu will play 'Livin' on the Edge' on their upcoming tour, unless "something happens and we can't!"