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Column - Why At The Drive-In's Coachella Festival reunion is exactly what rock needs now
At The Drive-In Website Intro from MONDIAL on Vimeo.
At The Drive-In announced their reformation on Monday (9 January), ending their hiatus of 11 years. The band, who in their own words are "just five dumb kids pretending to be Fugazi", are returning to play California's Coachella festival alongside the likes of Pulp, Dr. Dre and Radiohead (the event happens twice this year, 13-15 April and again on 20-22 April), with more shows and possibly even new material rumoured to follow later this year.
Hailing from El Paso, Texas, the group formed in 1993 and soon became cult heroes among America's punk scene for their brash, abrasive sound. By their third album, Relationship Of Command in 2000, they had been signed to the Beastie Boys' Grand Royal label, recruiting Iggy Pop for a cameo on the album's Rolodex Propaganda, as their influence began to spread beyond the punk circuit.
With rumours of drug-fuelled excess and inter-group arguments, the band's chaotic existence quickly spilt over into their already incendiary live performances - singer Cedric Bixler Zavala at one infamous show angrily accused the audience of all being "fucking sheep" before leaving the stage after just three songs. However against a backdrop of the anodyne rock scene of the late '90s, this just made the Texans more compelling.
"Yes, this is a campaign, slithered entrails in the cargo bay" is hardly the most radio-friendly opening line for a lead single from an album, but At The Drive-In were not a band to conform and just as wider acclaim and larger audiences beckoned the band split up in March 2001 only six months after the release of Relationship Of Command - though in typically idiosyncratic fashion, the group split along haircut lines, with the big-haired Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez forming The Mars Volta, while the shorn Jim Ward, Paul Hinojos and Tony Hajjar started Sparta (although Hinojos later swapped allegiances).
Now it seems all follicle fallouts have been put aside, and At The Drive-In's reunion arguably couldn't be more timely. With electronic and dubstep acts dominating the alternative and slowly taking over the mainstream, "guitar bands" (for lack of a better term) have been seemingly been lacking real bite in recent years. Alongside fellow seminal hardcore punkers Refused, who also announced they are reforming to play Coachella too this week, a grizzly, sweaty, hardcore rock 'n' roll resurgance could at last be on the cards.
As with any band returning after several years, there are questions that need to be answered. Will they still have the spark that made fans crave their return in the first place? Will Rodriguez Lopez and Bixler cope with playing short 'n' sweet - ok, maybe not so sweet - hardcore songs again having spent the last decade making long-winded, seventeen minute prog jams in The Mars Volta?
One thing is for sure, though - Jools Holland is unlikely to ask them back on Later after that performance in 2000 (see below, the look on Robbie Williams' face at 4:08 is priceless.)
Chaos and destruction, individualism and passion, At The Drive-In are back. Great isn't it?
Al Horner @Al_Horner
Head to Atdimusic.com for more information.
11:40 AM | 11/01/2012
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It was the look of Robbie suddenly realising how irrelevant he actually was.
Posted by Humperdinck at 12:40 PM | 11/01/2012 | Report Abuse
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