At the Drive-In

Although it is certainly well-worn territory, I feel that it is necessary to discuss the life and death of At the Drive-In, whose breakup was arguably the most unexpected and controversial of the past decade. Despite having spent 8 years tirelessly touring and recording, they enjoyed less than 6 months of mainstream success. The band was founded by guitarist Jim Ward and singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala in 1993. Between 1993 and 1997, they gained and lost many members, and released their first LP, Acrobatic Tenement, and 2 EP's: Hell Paso and Alfaro Vive, Carajo! They built up a modest following based on these recordings, but their music did not make it very far outside of Texas. It was not until 1998 that they solidified their final lineup, with guitarist Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, bassist Paul Hinojos and drummer Tony Hajjar. Incidentally, this was also the year that they released their masterpiece, In/Casino/Out.

ATDI had always been known for the intensity of their live performances, which is something that they had trouble capturing on their albums. To remedy this, they recorded In/Casino/Out as a live studio album. The result is a positively exhilarating record, recalling the early days of post-hardcore, i.e. Rites of Spring, Embrace. The guitars alternatingly shred and squeal over a frantic, unpredictable rhythm section. All the while, Bixler haphazardly soars in and out of tune, maniacally spouting his cryptic lyrics: "Is this just another life preserver or a bivouac tenure?/ The tropic of cancer answered 'Drink the quicksand'." The album failed to make any mainstream headway for the band, but it led to a deal with Grand Royal Records, the Beastie Boys' label.

After releasing the Vaya EP and a series of splits with Sunshine, Burning Airlines and the Murder City Devils, ATDI went into the studio with Ross Robinson (Glassjaw, Deftones), to record Relationship of Command. This album was significantly more polished, and much heavier than any of their previous work. The lead single, "One Armed Scissor," received a huge amount of radio play. MTV even began heralding them as their new "buzz band." However, after only several months of popularity, the band decided to break up while in the middle of touring, leaving many disappointed fans (including myself) to collect refunds at their local venues. The band cited numerous reasons for the split, including their rigorous tour schedule, artistic differences, and Bixler and Rodriguez-Lopez's drug habits. Bixler later took full responsbility for the breakup, saying that he felt as though the ATDI was holding him back.

These days, Bixler and Rodriguez-Lopez are putting their drug-addled minds to good use, channeling Pink Floyd and Santana with their new prog-rock group, the Mars Volta. They are the only two permanent members of the band, but they often collaborate with various accomplished musicians, including Flea and John Frusciante of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. After ATDI's breakup, Hinojos, Hajjar, and Ward formed Sparta, a more straightforward post-hardcore band. They have released three albums that have all achieved moderate success. Ward has also developed a solo project called Sleepercar. Hinojos has recently left Sparta and joined the Mars Volta. The death of At the Drive-In is one of the rare cases where one great band splits off into two great bands.

Check out the video for "One Armed Scissor" from Relationship of Command here:

Death from Above 1979

Maintaining a band is very much like maintaining a relationship - especially when there are only two people involved. From the outset, Death from Above 1979 seemed too good to be true, and as it turns out, they were. DFA1979 consisted of Jesse F. Keeler on bass/synths and Sebastian Grainger on vocals/drums. In the sea of two-member rock outfits that were popping up in the early 2000's, they stood out in many ways. Even though they had no guitars, they were able to shred harder than any band on the indie rock scene. Keeler's chunky basslines somehow managed to channel Kyuss and Daft Punk at the same time, while Grainger wailed and moaned, frantically pounding the drums simultaneously. They were perfect complements to each other. Unfortunately, they were only in synch with each other for one EP and a single full-length.

Keeler and Grainger released their first EP, Heads Up, in 2002, and were eventually signed to Vice Records. At this point, they were still known as Death From Above, until LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy took legal action against them. His label, DFA Records, claimed that they had license to the name. The band's response was to add the minimum amount of characters legally required of them, so they landed on 1979. However, this did not sit well with DFA1979, as you could see on their website at the time, which literally declared a jihad on Murphy, saying, "If I had the resources, I would fly a plane into his skull," among many other things.

With their new moniker, DFA1979 released what would be their only proper LP, You're a Woman, I'm a Machine. The album starts with a screeching synth line, and once the drums and bass come in, it never stops. Grainger's alternatingly sweet and sexual lyrics stand in stark contrast to the sheer brutality of their instrumentals. In "Romantic Rights," he talks about wanting to settle down and start a family, while in "Pull Out"....well, you can figure that one out for yourself. This album, along with their infamy as a two-man wrecking crew onstage, launched them into the hype machine full force. It seemed that every hipster you ran into was talking about them. After their tour ended, they released a remix album, Romance Bloody Romance, featuring remixes by a wide range of artists, including Justice and Queens of the Stone Age singer, Josh Homme.

This was the last that anyone would hear from DFA1979. By 2006, it had been over a year since the remix album dropped, and they were still nowhere to be found. On August 4th, 2006, Keeler announced on their website that the band had been broken up since the end of their last tour. He said that they parted ways because of creative differences. While it is unfortunate that they had such limited productivity with DFA1979, their current projects reveal the fact that they were headed in two entirely different directions. Today, Keeler is one-half of MSTRKFT, the Canadian hipster answer to Daft Punk. Grainger is playing decidedly softer indie rock with his backup band, the Mountains, who recently signed with Saddle Creek Records.

Though we may never hear from Death from Above 1979 again, you can still catch little slivers of their music around if you listen hard enough. You can hear the opening riff to "Romantic Rights" in the credits for MTV2's sketch comedy show, Human Giant. The MSTRKRFT remix of "Sexy Results" was briefly in a commercial for the Motorola Q. Even atari-clash upstarts Crystal Castles lifted the opening synth line from "Dead Womb" as the verse to their track, "Untrust Us."

Check out the video for "Black History Month" here:

The Dismemberment Plan

One could make the argument that the late 90's/early 00's was the worst period in rock and roll history. Radio was divided between boy/girl pop and butt rock, pop-punk was just breaking through to the mainstream, and originality was at an all time low. It is easy to see how a groundbreaking band like the Dismemberment Plan fell through the cracks in such an environment. Forming in 1993 while still in high school, the D-Plan initially took their cues from local D.C. heroes, Fugazi and Jawbox. Their first two albums, 1995's ! & 1997's Is Terrified, exhibited their oddball take on post-hardcore, but it was not until the turn of the millenium that they reached the height of their genius.

From the outset, the Dismemberment Plan were tied to DeSoto Records, which was and still is owned by members of Jawbox. In 1998, they were briefly picked up by Interscope Records. During this time, they recorded what would be their masterpiece, Emergency & I. However, their only album that Interscope released officially was The Ice of Boston EP. The label postponed the release of the full-length indefinitely, and in 1999, they dropped the D-Plan with Emergency & I still not seeing the light of day. They went back to DeSoto, and released the album, which won over even the toughest critics. Pitchfork even placed it as their #16 album of the 90's just weeks after it came out.


It is obvious that the band poured every drop of their enthusiasm into Emergency & I, and on top of that, the album conveys a great sense of humor, something that indie rock was missing for the most part. The album opens with "A Life of Possibilities," which instantly launches into an unfathomable rhythm with Travis Morrison soaring in and out of his freestyle falsetto. There are keyboards present, but not your typical Cure-aping soaring synth lines. Here, the Rolands and Korgs bellow and pulse in truly bizarre fashion, yet somehow help to keep the song cohesive. From here, the band goes all over the place. "What Do You Want Me To Say?" bounces between scrambled verses and supertight choruses. "You Are Invited" is mostly just a programmed drum beat that occasionally teases with chiming guitars, until the entire band explodes onto the track without warning.

The underground success of Emergency & I afforded the band much better touring opportunities, as they were invited to open for Pearl Jam's 2000 European tour. However, they still were not able to cross over into the mainstream. In 2001, they recorded their final proper LP, Change, which was by far the band's most straightforward and approachable work. In 2002, they put all of the tracks from Emergency & I and Change on their website, and encouraged their fans to rearrange and submit them (which may have been the birth of the indie remix). They picked their favorites, and released them as A People's History of the Dismemberment Plan. Despite this novel idea and their new polished sound, the band broke up in January of 2003. They played one reunion show in 2007, at a benefit for Callum Robbins, the son of Jawbox/Burning Airlines singer J. Robbins, who suffers from spinal muscular atrophy.

Since the Dismemberment Plan's demise, Travis Morrison has released two solo LPs under his own name, working closely with Chris Walla and Jason McGerr from Death Cab for Cutie. Bassist Eric Axelson joined ex-members of the Promise Ring in Maritime from 2004 to 2006, and now plays with D-Plan drummer Joe Easley in a band called Statehood. None of these bands, however, have met either the commercial or critical success of the Dismemberment Plan.

Check out this fan-made video for "You Are Invited" from Emergency & I here: