After honing their chops in other touring bands, the members of Atala came together in 2013 when frontman Kyle Stratton, who owns two tattoo shops in their hometown, met up with drummer Jeff Tedtaotao, the brother of one of his shop’s tattoo artists. After joining up with their first bassist, the band quickly linked up with producer Scott Reeder (Kyuss, The Obsessed), and released their self-titled first full-length in 2014. In 2016, the band followed up with the release of their well-received sophomore album, ‘Shaman’s Path of the Serpent’, this time with current producer Billy Anderson (Sleep, Melvins, Mastodon) at the helm. After the departure of their previous bassist, current bassist and fellow tattoo artist Dave Horn joined the ranks. Though the band hails from the barren desert of Twentynine Palms they aren’t anything like the standard desert rock bands you may be familiar with, Atala are breaking the mold and solidifying a new sound associated with the desert. Now signed to Salt of the Earth Records, Atala seeks to reach new heights and expand their horizons, and they did just that with the 2018 release of ‘Labyrinth of Ashmedai.’ Their most conceptualized offering yet. Atala have truly found their path, and their groove, with ‘Labyrinth of Ashmedai,’ and I believe they also reached a new pinnacle in songwriting. We conducted an interview with the band as well which you can read here. The Twentynine Palms doom crew is now back with another album that is bound to please our ears. Atala will release their new full-length ‘The Bearer Of Light’ via Salt Of The Earth Records on May 21st.
