At the Drive-In: Relationship of Command

At the Drive-In: Relationship of Command

2000

Grand Royal/Fearless Records

Format I Own it On: Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. Arcarsenal  2. Pattern Against User  3. One Armed Scissor  4. Sleepwalk Capsules  5. Invalid Litter Dept.  6. Mannequin Republic  7. Enfilade  8. Rolodex Propaganda  9. Quarantined  10.Cosmonaut  11. Non-Zero Possibility 

It's hard for me to believe this record is 13 years old...Where does the time go?

Oh, yea...beer...

That's where it all went...Oh well... I can clearly remember hearing this back when it was a new release...I already liked At the Drive-In cos I had the "El Gran Orgo" EP and listened to it quite a bit...I remember going to the Drug Store/Record Shop ( I believe I've discussed this already...) and seeing this copy of ATDI's  "Relationship of Command." This record had an incredible amount of hype at the time, so I was dying to hear it. See, I used to deliver pizzas for a living back in 2000, so mostly I just drove around listening to music. I put this on while I was doing deliveries and was absolutely dumbstruck at the level of improvement this was over their previous material. "Arcarsenal" was just so explosive I couldn't believe it. "BEWAAAARE!!!" indeed!

The guitar players sounded like they was decoding strange alien signals with their instruments, while Cedric Bixler jabbered and screamed in some heretofore unknown tongue. Who can forget hearing "One Armed Scissor" for the first time?  With its endlessly bizarre lyrics and apocalyptic urgency, it was scary and exhilarating all at once.  Even Iggy Pop was there, giving his most out-of-his-mind performance yet! His manic stuttering is what makes "Rolodex Propaganda" so great. He sounds totally out of control. His chillingly abstract ransom threat on "Enfilade" is equally awesome.

I'm still convinced "Invalid Litter Dept." would have been my favorite song on here if they would have only written a second verse for it...The repeating-the-first-verse thing doesn't work so well when you're doing the spoken word bit, but I'm willing to overlook it for that awesome chorus.

It really seemed like these guys (along with the Refused) were going to be the future of punk at the time. But unfortunately it never quite happened. This was ATDI's final record; the band splintered off into two different bands ( the prog/punk/metal bizarros the Mars Volta, and the more straight-forward radio-ready rock of Sparta).  They also seemed to not have actually influenced anyone. I think their sound was a little too singular and complex to duplicate.

Oh well...It was one of those things that was good while it lasted and I still have fond memories of driving around that Michigan autumn of 2000...blaring "Pattern Against User" with the windows rolled-down on my  Dodge Neon, delivering pizzas, reeking of garlic...

I mean...I still reek of garlic but it's for completely different reasons...Anyway, let's check out "Rolodex Propaganda" by At the Drive-In...

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...