When ATREYU vocalist Alex Varkatzas departed the band approximately six years ago, drummer Brandon Saller stepped up to claim the frontman role full-time — a transition that came with enormous weight.
"I wanted to have it so that people wouldn't have a fucking reason to talk shit," Saller told THE GARZA PODCAST, hosted by SUICIDE SILENCE guitarist Chris Garza. "I have to be fucking great — or else people are gonna talk shit."
Saller was no stranger to the spotlight — he had shared lead vocal duties with Varkatzas for nearly three decades, and during one of ATREYU's hiatus periods fronted his own project HELL OR HIGHWATER, which toured with STONE SOUR, THE DARKNESS, AVENGED SEVENFOLD, and SEVENDUST. But taking sole ownership of the microphone for ATREYU was a different challenge entirely.
The results speak for themselves. ATREYU are currently on tour supporting IRON MAIDEN, and the band's most recent single reached number one on the most-added radio chart. When critics suggested the band was finished without Varkatzas, Saller had a simple response: "The fucking band died with Alex. Well, we're on tour with Iron Maiden. So it obviously did not."
He also confirmed that he no longer maintains contact with Varkatzas, adding: "I think that both parties are much more happy in the current situation than we were before."
ATREYU's new album "The End Is Not The End" arrives April 24, 2026 via Spinefarm Records.