At the Drive-In: El Gran Orgo

At the Drive-In: El Gran Orgo

1997

Off Time Records

Format I Own it On: Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. Give It a Name  2. Honest to a Fault  3. Winter Month Novelty  4. Intermission  5. Fahrenheit  6. Picket Fence Cartel  7. Speechless

I first came across this band on a punk compilation I got at some Warped Tour sometime during the 90's, in one of those free swag bags they give out there...you know the one's full of Sugar Ray fly swatters and the like...

Anyway, I'd usually skim those samplers when I got home. Usually there wasn't much on them but I remember at the end of one of these tapes there was this band called  At the Drive-In that just totally blew away all the other bands..  I believe my friend Joe might have originally bought this and gave it to me shortly thereafter...

It's basically your standard late 90's emo-punk, but there was just something about this that was just a little bit special... At the time I had no idea how incredibly awesome these guys would become... Fans of ATDI's 2000 breakthrough  "The Relationship of Command" and the later spin-off the Mars Volta might be somewhat surprised at the straightforwardness of this EP.  (Is ATDI the accepted abbreviation? It seems weird to put a 'T' in there and ADI seems to short for such an epic band...)

Like I said, at first glance it's your standard high-drama '97-type Emo/punk,  but the playing is a little trickier, the choruses stick a little more and the singer is a lot more interesting than what you normally get with these bands.

Cedric Bixler's lyrics  aren't quite as opaque as they would eventually become. You can actually clearly  grasp  that "Fahrenheit" is about child abuse and that "Give it a Name" is a relationship song,

And what do you serve guests for dinner when you're throwing your Friday Night Record Party?

Why, what else but a nice refreshing word salad?

This is a really enjoyable EP, as long as you don't go into it expecting "Relationship of Command," if you take it for what it is, you might like it...

Check out "Give it a Name" by At the Drive-In...