At the Drive-In was an American post-hardcore band from El Paso, Texas, active from 1993 to 2001. They were known for their extremely energetic stage shows which hearkened back to the 1980s post-hardcore scene. They were also recognized for their blend of surrealistic lyrics, unorthodox guitar melodies and unpredictable shifts in tempo and rhythm.
History
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At the Drive-In was founded in 1993 by guitarist Jim Ward and vocalist Cedric Bixler-Zavala (then credited simply as Cedric Bixler). They got the name from Poison's hit song "Talk Dirty to Me". At the Drive-In's first studio recording was Hell Paso (Western Breed), an EP issued in 1994. They played their first live show on October 15, 1994 at the Loretto High School Fair in El Paso, Texas. The band's reputation for hard work, the release of their album Relationship of Command, and their minor hit radio single "One Armed Scissor" (which had a music video in circulation on MTV) gave the band positive attention in the rock press towards the end of their career. The band's first nationally televised performance was on Farmclub, a now defunct television show which aired late at night on the USA network. After that performance they also appeared on Later with Jools Holland, Late Night With Conan O'Brien and The Late Show With David Letterman, performing "One Armed Scissor" on national television.
According to some sources, At the Drive-In struggled to recreate their intense live experience in the studio.[citation needed] At one point they tried to circumvent this problem by recording their second album, In/Casino/Out (1998), as a live studio album. It was produced and recorded by Alex Newport, assisted by Doug Messenger, at harddrive analog and digital in North Hollywood. After five days of tracking, Newport went on to mix the record at Paramount Studios in Hollywood.
Breakup
In January 2001, At the Drive-In traveled to Australia for the Big Day Out. While performing in Sydney, they left partway through their set after telling the spectators in attendance to calm down and observe the safety rules against moshing. After the refusal of the crowd, frontman Cedric Bixler-Zavala told the crowd, “You're a robot, you're a sheep!” and bleated at them several times before the band left the stage around 15 minutes into their set. "I think it's a very, very sad day when the only way you can express yourself is through slam-dancing," he proclaimed. Later that day, teenager Jessica Michalik died of asphyxiation during a crowd surge in the now infamous Limp Bizkit Big Day Out set.
Later in 2001, at the peak of their popularity and following a world tour, At the Drive-In broke up, initially referring to the split as an "indefinite hiatus." The band played their last show at Groningen's Vera venue on February 21, 2001. A combination of excessive hype, relentless touring, artistic differences, and Rodriguez-Lopez and Bixler-Zavala's drug habits all contributed to the demise of the band.[1]
Cedric Bixler-Zavala took responsibility for the breakup of the band, saying repeatedly in interviews that he felt almost as if At the Drive-In was holding him back, and that he didn't want his music to be confined to 'punk' or 'hardcore' – that it should encompass many different genres and be even more progressive, alternative, and "against-the-grain." Bixler-Zavala and Rodriguez-Lopez had stated that they wanted their next album to sound like Pink Floyd's The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, while the other members of the band were intent on progressing in a more alternative rock direction.
Following the break-up of At the Drive-In, Bixler-Zavala and Rodriguez-Lopez started The Mars Volta. This project was a departure from their previous work, as it pursued the progressive rock sound that they had been interested in. Meanwhile, the other members of At the Drive-In – Jim Ward, Paul Hinojos, and Tony Hajjar – started the more traditional band Sparta. Hinojos has since left Sparta to join Bixler-Zavala and Rodriguez in The Mars Volta.
Possible reunion
During an interview with Drowned in Sound in June 2009[2], Bixler-Zavala stated that he has been in discussions with the band's former members and suggested that they could get back together after they sort their financial business out. He added, "I wouldn't mind it. It might happen, we just have to iron out a lot of personal things. A lot of it we've dealt with already and I've apologized for a lot of things I've said and the way it ended... we'll see what happens."
In an interview by skullcandyTV, Jim Ward was asked if he and Cedric were still really close he responded by saying "we went through the not talking thing...you know when your band part ways for a while but we are all still good friends..." [3]
Regarding the relationship between the band members, Omar Rodriguez-Lopez stated to The Skinny in July 2009 that:
the fact of the matter is that we’re in our thirties now and that breakup happened ten years ago. As a human being you just don’t want that kind of karma. We did a lot of shit talking, and they did a lot of shit talking, so I just called everybody up and invited them to my house and said ‘hey, listen, we’re in our thirties now, I’m sorry for whatever I said – Let’s be friends again.[4]
Musical style
Although heavily influenced by their native Texas hardcore and punk scene and post-hardcore in the vein of Fugazi, Drive Like Jehu, and Nation of Ulysses, there is a strong progressive rock influence as well.[citation needed] Additionally, ethnic musical styles such as Latin Salsa and Lebanese Chaabi occasionally feature into At The Drive-In's sound. Furthermore, on the Vaya EP and their album Relationship of Command, the band incorporated elements of electronica and dub into their sound. Like At the Drive-In, contemporaries such as Les Savy Fav and The Dismemberment Plan were also experimenting with those same sounds within the context of art punk around the same time. Singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala's lyrics are renown for their surreal, cryptic quality and usage of a wide vocabulary. Although At the Drive-In's lyrics have been interpreted as political, specifically leftist, in nature, Bixler-Zavala has been quoted as saying "We're not Communists, we're not pinko... we can't be, 'cause you pay to come and see us and we sell t-shirts at our gigs".
Members
Final lineup
Former
- Guitarists
- Jarrett Wrenn – guitar on Hell Paso (1994) and Alfaro Vive, Carajo! (1995) (Current Member of Crime In Choir)
- Adam Amparan – guitar on Acrobatic Tenement (1996)
- Ben Rodriguez – guitar on El Gran Orgo (1997)
- Drummers
- Bernie Rincon – drums on Hell Paso (1994)
- Davy Simmons – drums on Alfaro Vive, Carajo! (1995) (Current Member of Fires In Roam)
- Ryan Sawyer – drums on Acrobatic Tenement (1996) (Current Member of Eye Contact, Stars Like Fleas, Tall Firs, and Lone Wolf)
- Bassists
- Kenny Hopper – bass guitar on Hell Paso (1994) and Alfaro Vive, Carajo! (1995) (Current Member of Crime In Choir)
Discography
Studio albums
References
