Van Atta High was a four member rock band from New Jersey, formed in 2006, and disbanded on May 14, 2010.

History

Van Atta High was a band born in the heart of the New Jersey music scene. Founding member Steve Kellner formed the band with a few friends in June 2006. At this time, the band put together their first EP entitled We Are The Captivated. These members were Steve Kellner (Vocals), Socrates Moutsakis (Guitar) and Santino Loconte (Drums). Current members Stephen Jasko (guitar) and Clark Starace (bass) were later recruited to the group. Armed with this first EP and their charming stage presence, Van Atta High quickly became a crowd favorite among the local New Jersey band circuit. Some of their most well-known songs include "Call Me Jersey," "Birthday Girl," and their pop rock cover to the Starland Vocal Band

Starland Vocal Band

Starland Vocal Band were an American pop band, known primarily for "Afternoon Delight", one of the biggest-selling singles in 1976.-Career:The group began as 'Fat City', a husband/wife duo of Bill Danoff and Taffy Nivert. The band was also composed of Jon Carroll and Margot Chapman...

 70's hit "Afternoon Delight" (contracted with S1 Songs, a music publishing company).

With the addition of Jasko and Starace, the band released Run Like Hell EP in fall 2007. After establishing a core fan-base in New Jersey and releasing Run Like Hell, the band managed to land spots in Taste of Chaos

Taste of Chaos

Taste of Chaos is a hardcore tour that was started in the winter of 2005 by Kevin Lyman, the creator of the successful Warped Tour along with friend and business partner, John Reese. The Taste Of Chaos tour caters for fans of the post-hardcore, screamo, and metal genres, while offering the same...

 2007, Vans Warped Tour 2007/2008 and The Bamboozle

The Bamboozle

The Bamboozle is an annual rain-or-shine, three-day music festival held in New Jersey. Every year, new bands compete for spots during the two days. The event evolved out of the Skate and Surf Festival.- The Characters:...

 2008/2009. These shows further escalated the band's exposure, generating local and national press coverage including being named Alternative Press Magazine's "Unsigned Band of the Month" in August 2008. Some venues they have played include the Starland Ballroom

Starland Ballroom

The Starland Ballroom is a concert venue located in Sayreville, New Jersey, USA. Opening night was December 7, 2003 and featured a performance by former Van Halen lead singer David Lee Roth...

 (Sayreville, NJ), the School of Rock (South Hackensack, NJ), Webster Hall

Webster Hall

Webster Hall is a nightclub located at 125 East 11th Street, between Third and Fourth Avenues, near Astor Place, in Manhattan, New York City. Built in 1886, its current incarnation was opened by the Ballinger Brothers in 1992...

 (NYC), the Landmark Theater (Long Island), the Knitting Factory

Knitting Factory

The Knitting Factory is a music venue and concert house with locations in Brooklyn, Boise, Reno, and Spokane. The club originally specialized in jazz and experimental music and has expanded to showcasing all genres of music, performing arts and comedy....

 (NYC) and Crocodile Rock Cafe (Allentown, PA). Van Atta High has shared the stage with The Used

The Used

The Used is an American rock band from Orem, Utah. The band was founded in 2001 and signed to Reprise Records the same year. They rose to fame in June 2002 after releasing their self-titled debut album. They followed up with their second album, In Love and Death, in September 2004 and their third...

, Senses Fail

Senses Fail

Senses Fail is an American post-hardcore band from Ridgewood, New Jersey. Formed in 2002, the line up initially consisted of vocalist Buddy Nielsen, drummer Dan Trapp, guitarists Dave Miller and Garrett Zablocki and being completed by bassist Mike Glita. The band quickly issued their debut EP, From...

, 30 Seconds to Mars

30 Seconds to Mars

30 Seconds to Mars is an American rock band from Los Angeles, formed in 1998. Since 2007, the band has consisted of actor Jared Leto , Shannon Leto and Tomo Miličević...

, Just Surrender

Just Surrender

Just Surrender was a rock band from Dover Plains, New York, formerly known as A Second Chance. Just Surrender was formed by three high school friends Jason Maffucci, Andrew Meunier, and Steve Miller. Vocalist/guitarist Dan Simons, formerly of "The Record Collection," joined the original three...

, Billy Talent

Billy Talent

Billy Talent is a Canadian post-hardcore band from Streetsville, Ontario. They formed in 1993 with Ben Kowalewicz as the lead vocalist, Ian D'Sa on lead guitar, bassist Jon Gallant and drummer Aaron Solowoniuk ....

, Pierce the Veil

Pierce the Veil

Pierce the Veil is an American post-hardcore band from San Diego, California. Formed in 2006, the group was founded by brothers Vic and Mike Fuentes after the disbandment of the group Early Times which was formed out of the San Diego punk rock scene...

, Every Avenue

Every Avenue

-History:Every Avenue formed in Marysville, Michigan in 2003. Early on, they changed lead singers, and the former lead singer James Beesley later became the group's tour manager, and is currently working with former drummer Mike Govaere. They self-released two EPs in 2004 and 2006 before signing to...

, Jet Lag Gemini

Jet Lag Gemini

Jet Lag Gemini is a rock band from the United States. Formed in 2004, they released their debut EP, Business, in the summer of 2006. Their first full-length album, "Fire the Cannons" was released on January 22, 2008...

 and Emarosa

Emarosa

Emarosa is an American rock band from Lexington, Kentucky. Formed in 2006, they released one EP in 2007 titled This Is Your Way Out, and shortly after, the group underwent significant lineup and sound changes, dropping their heavy metal influence and leaning toward a soul inspiration...

, to name just a few.

Glenn Petnel (Drums) and Justin Maikisch (Guitar) joined the band in fall of 2008, replacing Moutsakis and Loconte. However, Maikisch left the band during summer 2009.

Van Atta High inked a licensing agreement for one EP with indie label Thriving/Tragic Hero Records

Tragic Hero Records

Tragic Hero Records is a record label founded in Raleigh, North Carolina in March 2005 to represent the growing hardcore punk and harder wave of music in North Carolina. The label was founded by Tommy Lacombe, David Varnedoe and Jason Ganthner. Alesana was the first band the label signed...

 (prior home to Sky Eats Airplane

Sky Eats Airplane

Sky Eats Airplane was an American electronic post-hardcore band, formed in Fort Worth, Texas, in 2005. The band was signed to indie label Equal Vision Records and most recently released their self-titled full-length album through the label in July 2008....

and Emarosa). On March 10, 2009 Van Atta High released their first nationally distributed record entitled Doin' Somethin' Right (EP).

Van Atta High released a new album in January 2010. called Love Blitz:United.

The End of VAH

On May 13th, 2010 the band released a blog post on their MySpace informing their fans the band would break up and also mentioned their last show at School of Rock in South Hackensack, NJ.

Past members

Steve Kellner: vocals

Stephen Jasko: guitar

Clark Starace: bass guitar

Glenn Petnel: drums

Former members

Socrates Moutsakis: guitar (2006–2008)

Santino Loconte: drums (2006–2008)

Justin Maikisch: guitar (2008–2009)

Jarret Gallipoli: bass (2006–2007)

Discography

We Are the Captivated EP (2006, Self-released)

Run Like Hell EP (2007, Self-released)

Doin' Somethin' Right EP (2009, Thriving/Tragic Hero Records)

Love Blitz:United EP (2010, Self-released)

Videography

"Call Me Jersey" (2008)

"Afternoon Delight" (2009)

"Birthday Girl" (2009)

"Little Fingers" (2010)

External links

• VAH's Myspace

VAH's Purevolume

S1 Songs