Texas hardcore pioneers At The Drive In return to Australia in September off the back of their 2017 comeback album, ‘Interalia’.
The band’s fourth studio album brings At The Drive In back to sound of their seminal 2000 release ‘Relationship Of Command’ that defined the hardcore movement at the time.
On ‘Interalia’, vocalist Cedric Bixler says the band have found a balance between all their releases. “I think we took a little bit of the record we'll call ‘In/Casino/Out’ and then we definitely took nods from ‘Relationship Of Command’ and we tried to find a middle ground,” Cedric says.
“From the way I was approaching it, I did not want to go down the road of screaming, and where we last left off, especially where I left off screaming, I think a lot of people picked up that torch and are really great at being professional screamers but that's just not my thing anymore.
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“So I try to find a common place to Omar's [Rodriguez-Lopez, guitarist] direction and I found a place I’ve heard people describe as being more of a pulpit, megaphone style of delivery rather than screaming.”
While Cedric has developed his vocal ability beyond the signature screaming of prior At The Drive In material, he says the new album was made with deep respect to their previous releases and the fans who still love them.
“We definitely went back and studied our old stuff and understood that we had to make a record that was going to be respectful of what our fan-base was,” he says.
“That was really just like being a kid again and going back to the moments when there weren’t a lot of rules and you made it up as you went along, which is easy because it’s always in the back of the many personalities you have as a songwriter. We went primordial in order to go forward.”
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When At The Drive In come to Australia in September, they will play a handful of headline shows plus a set at Yours & Owls Festival in Wollongong, marking the band’s first-ever performance in the coastal town.
Cedric says he’s eagerly awaiting the Australian leg of the tour and that it will be a personal highlight for him to come back to a place that has been extremely supportive of At The Drive In. “I have the time of my life every time I go there and for me it's Groundhog Day, and Groundhog Day being the first time we got over there,” he says.
“That was a symbol of when we achieved one of our dreams. Our first time getting to Europe – that was one dream come true and we slogged it out in Europe for a long time; then when we got to Japan that's another dream come true.
“When we jumped from Japan to Australia – I think it must have been in 2000 – that was very bizarre and people always use this term but it was very surreal for us. It's Groundhog Day every time I come back to Australia because I should be so lucky and I’ve always been infatuated with it and always wanted to live there.
“I always have a great time there and the people have been so nice to us and so accepting of our music, and I can't even imagine why. But I go with it.”
‘Interalia’ is out now.
At The Drive In Shows
Thu 28 Sep - Festival Hall (Melbourne)Fri 29 Sep - Hordern Pavilion (Sydney)
Sat 30 Sep - Yours & Owls Festival (Wollongong)
Mon 2 Oct - Eatons Hill Hotel (Brisbane)
