At the Drive-In

Influenced primarily by the likes of Fugazi and Drive Like Jehu as well as their native Texas hardcore scene, At The Drive-in crafted epic, musically complex songs, each one laced with cryptic and strongly metaphorical lyrics. Founded in 1993 by guitarist Jim Ward and vocalist Cedric Bixler Zavala, who were at the time members of a punk band called the El Paso Pussycats where Jim sang and Cedric played drums but left to pursue music more seriously with some friends. ATD -I’s first studio recording was Hell Paso (Western Breed), an EP issued in 1994. They would play their first show on October 15, 1994 at The Loretto Fair with Catch Okra, an El Paso music group, in El Paso, Texas. Much touring would quickly develop a following as intense in loyalty as the band was on stage. The band was also very determined to get shows in their early days, even going to the point where they would pretend to be a polka chapel band to be put on a local television show called “Let’s Get Real” in El Paso. At the Drive-In’s reputation for energetic live performances outlasted their career, a faint hint captured on various live video recordings. It was this reputation, the release of perhaps their best-known album (Relationship of Command) and their small hit radio single “One Armed Scissor” (which had a music video in circulation on MTV ) that contributed largely to the very positive attention they received in the rock press towards the end of their career. Spin Magazine named Relationship of Command one of their top 10 albums of that year. The bands 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 their single “One Armed Scissor” on national television. According to some sources, At the Drive-In struggled to recreate their intense live experience in the studio. At one point they tried to circumvent this problem by recording their second CD, In/Casino/Out (1998), as a live studio album; this was in contrast to the band’s first album Acrobatic Tenement, which, although undoubtedly a hardcore punk album, lacked the energy seen in later works.