It seems as though the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival has become the great reviver in rock music. Since its humble beginnings in 1999 the festival has hosted, or played a significant part in, the reunion of many highly influential acts such as Iggy & The Stooges, The Pixies, Rage Against The Machine, The Verve, Pavement and Faith No More. Many of these acts were thought to be dead for good by fans around the world with reunion rumours being limited to barbeque “Wouldn’t it be great if…” conversations. However, Coachella seems to keep pulling off the impossible and this year it appears as though hardcore is the theme with the return of Swedish band Refused (whose The Shape of Punk To Come has to be one of the greatest albums of all time) and one of my personal favourites, and a band that many see as one of the most important of the last 15 years, At The Drive-In.
When I heard the news that the El Paso quintet was coming back, I nearly fell over. Of all the possible reunions of great bands, this was on my “never in a million years” list. The bad blood from their 2001 break-up and the busy schedules they have with their current projects seemed far too much to overcome. But now the impossible has happened and the mighty At The Drive-In have returned, I’m going to take this opportunity to explore what made this band great. Over the coming weeks I will be publishing a series of retrospective reviews, looking back at the band’s recorded history and what each release means to the history of the band and what it might mean now. This will begin on Friday with a look at their 1994 debut release, Hell Paso and then on each Friday following, a release will be explored until we reach their final work, the highly influential Relationship Of Command. But before we do that, I want to take this time to explore the questions that At The Drive-In’s reunion has raised. While their return may be one of the most anticipated music events in 2012, there are many things that fans want to know. What will happen to the new The Mars Volta album and the recently announced Sparta reunion and new album? Is this a one off? Will there be new At The Drive-In music? Why now?
First, let us begin with Omar Rodriguez-Lopez and Cedric Bixler-Zavala’s project, The Mars Volta. Back in August they toured Australia with a set that consisted almost entirely of new songs. The only old, recognisable tracks they played were the final three; Son Et Lumiere/Inertiatic ESP, The Widow and Goliath. The band had described these shows as inviting the audience to a private rehearsal of the new album. As I’ve stated before, these new tracks featured a leaner, more direct sound without the long, jam passages that they had been known for. It was a sound that could only be described as being closer to their At The Drive-In days while still being, very much, The Mars Volta tunes. As per usual with The Mars Volta’s work, this new set of songs had already been recorded and was awaiting a release. The release date kept being pushed back and pushed back and is now slated for March 27 with the title, Noctourniquet. With this new album on the way and The Mars Volta about to go headlong into the promotion of it, questions have arisen regarding the longevity of an At The Drive-In reunion, especially when compounded with the recent announcement that Sparta have ended their hiatus.
Around the same time as The Mars Volta’s Australian tour, Sparta (featuring At The Drive-In members Jim Ward and Tony Hajar) announced that they were ending their three year hiatus and were about to begin playing a run of shows as well as writing and recording an album of new material. Like The Mars Volta, with Sparta back in the studio and about to begin the process of touring and promotion, the At The Drive-In reunion seems to be something that could only ever be a one off performance with serious doubts concerning any new At The Drive-In music any time in the next year or so, if at all.
There is one small theory that appears to be buzzing around the internet though, and it’s that the new The Mars Volta and the new Sparta albums are actually one and the same and is, in fact, a new At The Drive-In album. As unlikely as this sounds (considering The Mars Volta played an entire album’s worth of material back in August that, while leaner and more direct, was still too Mars Volta-esque to be At The Drive-In material) there is plenty of talk about it, both positive and negative. The positive is that any new At The Drive-In music is a good thing and the sooner it comes out, the better. The negatives come mostly from The Mars Volta fans who believe Rodriguez-Lopez and Bixler-Zavala have come too far with their experimental progressive rock sound to go back to their post-hardcore/punk days. The pull in different creative directions that broke the band in the first place would only be amplified by the eleven year gap, and the different creative paths of the band members, since their last show together.
Which brings us to the question everyone’s thinking but dares not ask; are they just doing it for the money? In my opinion, who cares if they are? This is a band that never received the financial rewards they deserved for singlehandedly making punk music relevant again after skate-punk got old and pop-punk became embarrassing. So why not reunite exclusively for a festival, win over some new fans, remind old fans of how good they were/are, gain some publicity and go back to their different bands and use that publicity to promote the new The Mars Volta and Sparta albums, all while cashing a comfortable pay cheque along the way? That doesn’t sound like selling out to me. That sounds like good business thinking.
However, all of this talk and all of these questions seem to be distracting from what is the more pressing issue here, that one of the greatest bands of the late 1990s and early 2000s is back. I feel as though I’ve made it clear that I don’t care how long At The Drive-In stick around for this time. The important thing is that their highly volatile live show will be on display again. Those in attendance at Coachella won’t forget what they see and other bands that consider themselves highly energetic performers will be forced to rethink that assessment. At The Drive-In were never about anything more than unrestrained passion, they didn’t care about anything else other than their music and pushing the boundaries of their capabilities which is more than you can say for the majority of modern performers. And it is this reason that I am glad that At The Drive-In have returned; to teach lessons that some need to learn, and to remind the world of the great band that they were.
So don’t forget to check back on Friday and every Friday following as we journey through At The Drive-In’s recorded history and remind ourselves of what, exactly, the world will be in for on April 15 and 22 and why the hype surrounding their return is justified. As for the other reuniting band at Coachella, Sweden’s Refused, stay tuned for a retrospective review of their seminal The Shape Of Punk To Come sometime before the festival. I feel as though I am doing them a disservice by only looking at one of their albums, but I am new to their music so any look back on their career would just be amateurish in my hands, so I will leave that to someone who is more qualified. As always, thank you for reading and I hope you check back on Friday.
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