Brandon Saller Discusses Atreyu’s Two New EPs + What’s Next – ‘We Want to Be Proud of What We’re Doing’

On the heels of the release of The Moment You Find Your Flame—Atreyu's second EP released in 2023—singer Brandon Saller joined Loudwire Nights on Tuesday (Aug. 22) to discuss the themes behind the EPs and what's next for the band.

"Life constantly moves in cycles where you're maybe at the bottom and searching for something and then it maybe gets better and then everything's great and then it gets bad again," Saller told host Chuck Armstrong about the major theme of The Moment You Find Your Flame and its predecessor, The Hope of a Spark.

"Life runs in these cycles [and these EPs] allow us to kind of tell that story and evoke that feeling. I feel like each EP has that moment of absolute zero where you don't have an ounce of hope. You have no direction. You don't know what you're supposed to do."

But just as life runs in cycles, Saller and Atreyu don't leave their listeners drowning in that lack of hope. As Saller explained, he believes it's actually in that moment of despair that you're able to move forward.

"You kind of start to figure it out and then you have that moment of glory at the top."

Brandon Saller Previews Atreyu's Third EP

With two EPs released in the matter of a few months, Saller assured the Loudwire Nights audience that there is still plenty more new music on the horizon, including another EP to complete the trilogy.

"It's three pieces that lead into the big picture album," Saller said. "It will go through the same journey. The next EP is going to be called The Torch In the Dark; you'll notice that the titles [of the EPs] are the beginning, middle and end. The Hope of a Spark is the bottom. The Moment You Find Your Flame is the 'aha' moment and The Torch In the Dark is, 'I found the thing that's guiding me.' And those will lead into an album that's called The Beautiful Dark of Life."

As soon as he mentioned the title of the album, it was clear Saller had a big smile on his face as he followed up, "The title came from something so pure, if I can just tell a quick story."

Obviously, Chuck gave Saller the floor.

"Two years ago, kind of during COVID, we were walking out of a restaurant and I had my three-and-a-half-year-old on my shoulders and we walked under an overhang and she was like, 'Dad, what's that?' And she points to the shadow. And I said, 'Oh, that's a shadow.' And she kind of sighs and goes, 'Shadows are the beautiful dark of life.' I was like, 'What?!' I immediately wrote it down in my phone. I'm a songwriter and you just handed me gold, kid."

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As he looked back on that moment, Saller was quick to look ahead, too.

With two EPs out, a third on the way and an album on the horizon, he told Chuck that Atreyu are focused on the same thing they've always been focused on: Putting out the best music that they can.

"We want to be the best band that we can be. We want to be proud of what we're doing. I think that's the most important thing for us, we want to just always be proud of what we're doing."

What Else Did Atreyu's Brandon Saller Discuss on Loudwire Nights?

• Why he believes Atreyu have never had any overnight success, but rather, a slow ascendance over the last 25 years
• The artwork of The Hope of a Spark and The Moment You Find Your Flame, how they're connected and what he hopes listeners take from them
• What it was like playing the rotating second stage at Ozzfest 2004

Listen to the Full Interview in the Podcast Player Below

Brandon Saller joined Loudwire Nights on Tuesday, Aug. 22; the show replays online here, and you can tune in live every weeknight at 7PM ET or on the Loudwire app; you can also see if the show is available on your local radio station and listen to interviews on-demand. Stream The Moment You Find Your Flame at this location and then check out Atreyu's full tour schedule.