At The Drive-In in Retrospect: Hell Paso (1994)

All great bands have to start somewhere and it was this 1994 release that began it all for At The Drive-In.  Paid for by guitarist, Jim Ward’s college savings, it shows the band still in its formative stages.  Only two members of what is now considered to be the definitive At The Drive-In line-up featured on this EP, those people being guitarist and backing vocalist, Jim Ward, and lead vocalist, Cedric Bixler-Zavala.  With a title that reflected their feelings about their home town of El Paso, Texas, Hell Paso was released not long after their first ever show with the music bearing little resemblance to what would come in the later part of the decade.  It is, honestly, an average listen notable only for what the band would become.

While the music doesn’t match up to the experimental, boundary pushing that made them popular, it did give the first indication of what would become one of At The Drive-In’s staples; odd song titles. They are titles that give very little indication to the nature of the songs.  In a way, At The Drive-In is forcing you to abandon your expectations by giving you very few clues regarding what you might hear.  So it might have been a bit of a disappointing listen back in 1994, as it is now, to hear such straightforward music from the three tracks presented here.

The opening track, Grand Mox Turkin, the track with the strangest title, is probably the most “normal” song here.  It is two minutes and forty-three seconds of straight up, early 1990s punk.  In fact, at times, this track has certain hints of Green Day in it, particularly with the vocal melodies in the chorus.  Only at the 1:30 mark does the track provide something unexpected with a chugging, almost trash metal-like riff, but even this is relatively hidden.  At The Drive-In hadn’t learned how to explore their diverse influences yet and as such, tend to stick to formulas that they know how to work.

Second track, Red Planet, continues in much the same vein with its predictable pop-punk power chords.  Of the three tracks on this EP, this is probably the least interesting.  What it does show though, is that even in their early stages, At The Drive-In were capable of recognising and developing a catchy melody when required, something that they almost avoided in later years.

It’s only on the final track, Emptiness Is A Mule, that the listener is given some kind of indication that At The Drive-In has the potential to be something special.  The multi-tracked vocals that open the song create an almost swirling effect, disorientating the listener before jumping back into “safer” territory with a standard punk riff.  While this introduction is only brief, it does show that there is something different about this band and if they are able to develop it, they just might turn out to be something worthwhile.

Overall, At The Drive-In’s first release, Hell Paso, is fairly amateurish.  And so it should be.  No band is brilliant from the get go.  It takes a lot of time developing a sound and going through different band members before everything clicks and things start happening.  So it was for At The Drive-In.  Hell Paso, does have fairly poor sound quality, song writing that is not quite developed, and a tendency to try and fit in with what was popular in the punk world at the time.  But it does also show the faintest glimmer of potential and just a touch of what was to come.

Next Friday we look at how At The Drive-In developed their sound on their second EP, 1995’s ¡Alfaro Vive, Carajo!.  Also, come back tomorrow to get a review of Lamb of God’s new album, Resolution.

Other articles in this series:

The Return of At The Drive-In