SPOTLIGHT: At The Drive-In

During their short but influential career, At the Drive-In crafted musically complex songs laced with cryptic and strongly metaphoric lyrics. Influenced equally by music from the likes of Pink Floyd, Fugazi and The Smiths, the band was founded in 1993 by guitarist Jim Ward and vocalist Cedric Bixler-Zavala. ATDI's first studio recording was 'Hell Paso', an EP issued in 1994. Much touring would quickly develop a following as intense in loyalty as the band was on stage. This reputation for hard work, the release of perhaps their best-known album, 'Relationship of Command' and their minor hit radio single 'One Armed Scissor' received positive attention in the rock press towards the end of their career.

In January 2001, ATDI 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 (I was one of those moshing and it honestly felt like I was going to die). After the refusal of the crowd, frontman Cedric Bixler-Zavala told the crowd, “You're a robot, you're a sheep!” and proceeded to baaa at them several times before the band left the stage around 10 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's Big Day Out set.

Later in 2001, at the peak of their popularity and following a world tour, ATDI broke up, initially referring to the split as an "indefinite hiatus."

A combination of excessive hype, relentless touring, artistic differences, and Rodriguez-Lopez & Bixler-Zavala's drug habits all contributed to the demise of the band. Cedric Bixler-Zavala took responsibility for the breakup of the band, saying repeatedly in interviews that he felt almost as if ATDI were 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 typical rock direction.

Following the break-up of ATDI, Bixler-Zavala and Rodriguez-Lopez started The Mars Volta. This project was a departure from their previous work, as it pursued the prog-rock sound that they had been interested in. Meanwhile, the other members of ATDI—Jim Ward, Paul Hinojos and Tony Hajjar—started the band Sparta. Hinojos has since left Sparta to join Bixler-Zavala and Rodriguez in The Mars Volta. Both bands have been very successful in their own right; Sparta's music exchanged the rapturous post-hardcore sensibilities of ATDI for a more mellow yet anthemic sound, while The Mars Volta embarked on a more experimental route, transforming into a progressive hard/Latin rock group.

The music of ATDI is very complex and sometimes unwilling to find in a single genre. The amount of influence early emo and post hardcore had on their sound is undeniable, but it also includes a blend of almost classic and progressive rock sounds. 'Relationship of Command' has to be one of the most intensely insane albums of the last 10 years. It will no doubt be a timeless album for those who love to rock. The end of ATDI was and still is a very sad day in music history.