Sometimes musicians fall on hard times. It's a fact of life. Heck, VH1 fills roughly 91 percent of its programming schedule based on this very concept. It's not always fair, but that's how life works.

Kris Roe, who will be performing solo at SoZo, 256 E. Beaver Ave., on Saturday night, seems to have fallen on some hard times lately. The lead singer of Indiana pop punk pioneers the Ataris recently sold some of his personal possessions on eBay -- some equipment, handwritten lyrics to Ataris songs, a gold record -- and, to make matters worse, he included in the description that he was selling his stuff to help pay his rent.

But if there's someone who can get through hard times, it's Kris Roe. After all, his work with the Ataris helped get plenty of other people through some of life's rougher patches.

Mikayla Eyer (sophomore-film) got into the Ataris five or six years ago and, because her older brother was friends with them, she had the chance to meet some of the former members of the band. While going through rehab, she heard the song "My Reply," a song about a sick girl who writes to the band and related to it right away. Eyer said the Ataris' relatability was its appeal.

"They have some things I'd consider anthems for teenagers," she said. "It's classic pop punk, which I like."

Chas Myers (sophomore-actuarial science) said he found the Ataris when he was in the seventh grade. Searching Napster for Blink-182 songs, he mistakenly downloaded a mislabeled Ataris song ("1*15*96"). He spent a few months figuring out who actually made the song, and from there he was hooked, citing the timbre of Roe's voice and his "inspirational lyrics" as reasons.

"They address the stuff everybody goes through, but in an uplifting way," Myers said.

Brandon Peach (senior-English), who sings and plays bass for the Reagan Eighties, a local band, said the Ataris has been a huge influence for him musically. Peach also programs the synths and drum machines his band often uses, and said the Ataris was one of the bands that drove him toward the instruments.

"The sound is so round and organic and beautiful," Peach said.

The Ataris have helped Peach through some rough patches, too. Peach said that while playing in a pop punk band in high school, he really liked a girl who didn't seem to notice him. Because of how much of the band's catalogue deals with unrequited love, he said, the band helped him through it.

"Who doesn't relate to that?" he said.

Peach played the Ataris' "San Dimas High School Football Rules" for the girl at a show, changing the lyrics a bit to personalize it, and then she took notice.

In addition to using Ataris music to begin relationships, Peach said he uses it at the end of relationships, too.

"In times of a breakup, listen to the Ataris," he said. "I can't tell you how many people I've told that. It's always the remedy for a broken heart."

But Peach said he doesn't think bands like the Ataris could ever really exist again.

"The late 90s and early aughts were their heyday, and there's a pathos that existed then that doesn't exist now," he said. "The Ataris made a huge, huge impression on a generation of pre-emo kids, and they did it at a point in time that could only be done at that point in time."

There seems to be some degree of unanimity on this subject as well. Both Eyer and Myers said they thought the band's best work was in the past, and Garrett Bogden (junior-marketing) said he booked Roe based on his love of the Ataris' 2001 release.

"Blue Skies, Broken Hearts...Next 12 Exits was one of my favorite albums in high school," Bogden said.

Greg Gabbard, owner of City Lights Records, said the Ataris' newest album, 2007's Welcome the Night, hasn't been nearly as popular as past records.

"They had those great albums [So Long, Astoria and Blue Skies, Broken Hearts... Next 12 Exits] that everybody loved," Gabbard said. "And people still have those records. The only complaints I hear are about the last album."

Kris Roe might agree as well. Roe will be playing the Blue Skies, Broken Hearts... Next 12 Exits album at Friday night's show in full, as opposed to newer Ataris material or any solo stuff.

Peach said it was "downright poetic" what has happened to Roe, given the nature of his music and hoped to be able to talk to him at some point.

"I'd like to thank him," Peach said.