The Ataris cancel Australian tour

After missing two dates of their Australian tour due to frontman Kris Roe's extreme fear of flying, The Ataris have cancelled their remaining tour dates.

The pop-punk veterans were supposed to be touring the country with the Hits & Pits festival, but on Sunday night Roe's flight out of LAX had engine failure and had to return to LAX. All passengers were safe, however this triggered Roe's fear of flying and he did not board another plane to Australia.

The band's booking agent Tom Chichilla has posted a message through the band's Facebook page explaining the situation and confirming that the remainder of the band's tour dates will not be going ahead.

"I don’t particularly feel comfortable speaking for the band right now, but someones gotta say something. Point blank. The Ataris will not be performing on any dates of the Hits & Pits Festival 2.0 in Australia."

In the apologetic message, Chichilla addresses "Here’s the thing, and I wanted to be 100% clear, this has nothing to do with The Hits & Pits Festival… or their staff. In fact, I’m shocked at how calm [promoter] Ben Neilson has been in trying to help us resolve this situation and also in regards to keeping the other three guys comfortable out there."

The remainder of Hits & Pits dates will be going ahead as planned in Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth with Black Flag, Boysetsfire, No Fun At All and more.

HITS AND PITS 2.0
Friday, November 22 – Palace Theatre, Melbourne (18 )
Saturday, November 23 – The Governor Hindmarsh, Adelaide (18 )
Sunday, November 24 – Capitol & Amplifier, Perth (18 )