The filth and the fury of Relationship of Command

They came and we listened; they left and we remembered; they exist now only in memories of melodies and hooks that we recall. In their absence we summon up the ferocity, the fire, the passion and the Gatling gun of sound that hit us like the force of the world’s finest military. From the first time we heard At the Drive-In’s major label debut, Relationship of Command, we knew we had just felt something we had never felt before.

Though I was not alive when punk brought forth its fury and fierceness, it was something I grew up loving and wishing I had witnessed. In my youth, Seattle grunge was king and it was born from the punk attitude; it was something I would love (and still do) but would always recognise as the evolution of what had come from a generation before. In 2000, as Rage Against the Machine gave their last official tour before breaking up soon after, they had an opening act that gained much attention: a band no one had heard before, and had heard nothing like since the days of MC5 or the small clubs that acts like Bad Brains and Black Flag had first played in.

The band, At the Drive-In, had a sound that was a hybrid of hardcore, early punk and garage. Their crazed lead singer, Cedric Bixler, bounced around on stage like a Mexican jumping bean and their guitarist, Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, samba danced while attacking his guitar as his afro bounced to the beat of the pounding rhythms. After years of self-releasing material, they signed to Beastie Boy’s now-defunct Grand Royal label in 2000, and followed a path of destruction. Their songs were played on rock radio, and they were on MTV and late night variety shows, but everyone who witnessed them realized they were the most un-commercial band to be signed and promoted on any major platform – and that was the beauty of them.

Relationship of Command, the cover of which boasts a Trojan horse (such an appropriate symbol), hits you right in the gut and presses harder and harder for its 43-minute-and-31- second duration. It arrived like a cracking whip, and critics and the general music public either loved or hated it. At its arrival, America was in for a whip-lashing of its own, after Al Gore ‘lost’ the now-historic 2000 presidential election to George W. Bush and was in for turbulent times. In many ways, it was as if this band from Texas had a crystal ball and would provide America with a soundtrack for the next eight years to come and also showed off that not everyone that hails from the Lone Star State is a villain.

With such an-eye opening release things looked very bright for the El Paso five-piece – but the band split up soon after Relationship of Command was released. They split into two bands and, through the years, it was almost as if these two bands were two gangs picking at and battling each other. Cedric and Omar started spacey and psychedelic / prog-rock band, The Mars Volta, while backing vocalist and rhythm guitarist Jim Ward, along with fellow Drive-In members, drummer Tony Hajjar and bassist Paul Hinojos, started the alternative rock band Sparta.

Sparta were unfairly criticized in the media for not being as original as they should, while The Mars Volta would be highly praised. But both bands are great and have an individual identity; comparing them is like comparing Paul McCartney’s Wings to John Lennon’s Plastic Ono Band or Big Audio Dynamite to Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros (though on a much smaller and more indie scale).

Through the years, there have been rumors that At the Drive-In will reunite; however, as soon as the rumors spark, a former member denounces the idea. Whatever happens, the initial wrath and sound of Relationship of Command will live on. A moment like that can never be repeated.

You can listen to Relationship of Command on Spotify HERE 

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