Formation

Picture Atlantic was formed in early 2006 in Santa Clara, CA. The band was founded by John Tran and Ryan Blair, ex-members of San Jose

San Jose, California

San Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...

 Metalcore

Metalcore

Metalcore is a subgenre of heavy metal combining various elements of extreme metal and hardcore punk. The name is a portmanteau of the names of the two genres. The term took on its current meaning in the mid-1990s, describing bands such as Earth Crisis, Deadguy and Integrity...

 band Dance Floor Murder, as well as Patrick Chu of San Jose pop punk

Pop punk

Pop punk is a fusion music genre that combines elements of punk rock with pop music, to varying degrees. Allmusic describes the genre as a strand of alternative rock, which typically merges pop melodies with speedy punk tempos, chord changes and loud guitars...

 band October Sky

October Sky

October Sky is a 1999 American biographical film directed by Joe Johnston, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Chris Cooper and Laura Dern. It is based on the true story of Homer Hickam, a coal miner's son who was inspired by the launch of Sputnik 1 to take up rocketry against his father's wishes, and who...

. Unhappy with their musical situations in both bands, the three friends began to write music in Ryan Blair's Santa Clara

Santa Clara, California

Santa Clara , founded in 1777 and incorporated in 1852, is a city in Santa Clara County, in the U.S. state of California. The city is the site of the eighth of 21 California missions, Mission Santa Clara de Asís, and was named after the mission. The Mission and Mission Gardens are located on the...

 garage. Seeking the vocal talents of a singer, they recruited longtime friend and musician Nikolaus Bartunek, who was at that time playing solo folk

Folk music

Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

 and acoustic music in Bay Area coffee shops.

There is much speculation as to how Picture Atlantic settled upon their name. In interviews the band has explained that the origin of the band's name was from their love of beach trips made in the summer, and a similar love for the song "Atlantic" by the post-hardcore band Thrice

Thrice

Thrice is an American rock band from Irvine, California, formed in 1998. The group was founded by guitarist/vocalist Dustin Kensrue and guitarist Teppei Teranishi while they were in high school....

.

Change is Welcome (2006)

By late June 2006, the band had written enough material to warrant the recording of their first EP, Change is Welcome. The EP was recorded over the course of a single weekend at Castle Ultimate studios in Oakland, CA. During this period, the band went through numerous guitar players including past October Sky member Andy Tran, Christopher Sturm, Kevin Davis, and Nick Dunn. The band also began enlisting the help of live keyboardist Brian Graves.

Kleos (2008)

After having spent time on the road playing shows, the band developed enough material to record a full-length album. They headed back to Castle Ultimate to record Kleos

Kleos

This article is about the Greek term. For the rock album see Kleos .Kleos is the Greek word often translated to "renown", or "glory". It is related to the word "to hear" and carries the implied meaning of "what others hear about you"...

. Shortly before starting the first session, Tran left the band to continue school. Without a drummer, the band continued production until Bartunek's friend, Rico Rodriguez, offered his services for the recording in mid-2008. The album was released on June 20, 2008. Hellam joined the band fulltime as second guitarist, as well as Graves joining fulltime on keyboard.

The album holds elements and themes having to do with Greek mythology, and takes the name Kleos

Kleos

This article is about the Greek term. For the rock album see Kleos .Kleos is the Greek word often translated to "renown", or "glory". It is related to the word "to hear" and carries the implied meaning of "what others hear about you"...

 directly from the Iliad

Iliad

The Iliad is an epic poem in dactylic hexameters, traditionally attributed to Homer. Set during the Trojan War, the ten-year siege of the city of Troy by a coalition of Greek states, it tells of the battles and events during the weeks of a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles...

. Bartunek has stated in interviews that "...the reason I chose kleos is, I think every musician, nowadays especially, wants to be remembered, and everybody is trying so hard to stamp their face on the music industry and not be forgotten."

During the initial release of Kleos, Picture Atlantic topped in Absolutepunk.net

AbsolutePunk.net

AbsolutePunk is a website, online community, and alternative music news source founded by Jason Tate . The website mainly focuses on artists who are relatively unknown to mainstream audiences, but it has been known to feature artists who have eventually achieved crossover success, including Fall...

's Top 100 Bands of 2008.

In July 2008, one month after the release of their album, Picture Atlantic won the chance through the Bay Area radio station Live 105.3
to open for alternative rock

Alternative rock

Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...

 act Coldplay

Coldplay

Coldplay are a British alternative rock band formed in 1996 by lead vocalist Chris Martin and lead guitarist Jonny Buckland at University College London. After they formed Pectoralz, Guy Berryman joined the group as a bassist and they changed their name to Starfish. Will Champion joined as a...

 at the San Jose HP Pavilion.

Shortly after, former producer and now guitarist Aaron Hellam parted ways with the band. Hellam remains the bands primary producer.

Dulce Et Decorum Est (2010)

On April 21, 2010, the band released a new EP, Dulce Et Decorum Est. This EP was recorded solely by the band at Red Rock Studios in Mountain View, California. Headed by Bartunek and Graves, all engineering was handled by Graves, who had previously been an engineer for seven years at the same studio, and production was head mostly by Bartunek with input by Graves. This EP was originally intended to be a quick easy project, but became a much more expanded and arranged, and stripped down album . Taking it's name from the poem Dulce et Decorum est

Dulce et Decorum Est

Dulce et Decorum est is a poem written by poet Wilfred Owen in 1917, during World War I, and published posthumously in 1920. Owen's poem is known for its horrific imagery and condemnation of war. It was drafted at Craiglockhart in the first half of October 1917 and later revised, probably at...

 by war poet Wilfred Owen

Wilfred Owen

Wilfred Edward Salter Owen MC was an English poet and soldier, one of the leading poets of the First World War...

, the album had a heavy influence and some lyrical references to World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 . Although a break away from their more arranged electric sound, the album still received favorable reviews.

"When Everything is Numbers" (2010)

At the end of 2010, Picture Atlantic released another follow up EP entitled "When Everything is Numbers", which was recorded by their friend and past band member Aaron Hellam. This album featured more electric arrangements, and also brought the band into some new musical territory.

Voted Best Local Band in the Silicon Valley (2011)

On March 11, 2011, Picture Atlantic was announced as the winner for Best Local Band as voted by MetroActive Magazine.
Readers.

Discography

• Change is Welcome (EP) (2006)
• So Long to Sorrow (single) (2007)
• Kleos (2008)
• Dulce Et Decorum Est (EP) (2010)
• When Everything Is Numbers (EP) (2010)