Lessons In Listening - Part 2

2 min read ⭑

Welcome to Part 2 of Lessons in Listening, a blog series where I pursue my admittedly niche interest of conducting case studies on artists’ diverse listening habits and general cultural consumption. I find this process valuable in better understanding just how vast musicians’ creative immersion must be in order to produce works of aesthetic excellence. This week, I’m looking at American post-hardcore trailblazers At the Drive-In, specifically their live shows from late 2000 to early 2001.

During this period, their live performances acquired an almost cinematic quality. Rather than adopting the oft-seen approach of playing a collection of disconnected songs, interspersed with occasional audience patter, the band instead performed a cohesive hour-long set, replete with monologues, film samples, electronic loops, and lyrical interpolation.

Lead singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala frequently employed the tool of interpolation, citing lyrics from such disparate sources as David Bowie’s ‘Space Odyssey’ (9:10 here), The Fall’s ‘Totally Wired’ (39:37 here), Gang of Four’s ‘Damaged Goods’ (23:15 here), and The Smiths’ ‘That Joke Isn’t Funny Anymore’ (59:50 here), all of which contributes to an interesting musical juxtaposition. There was also a strong focus on Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, where the group would both directly quote the film (35:59 here) and sample the film’s dialogue (10:04 here), looping the response from Dr. Frank Poole when questioned about the experience of hibernation: ‘Well, it's exactly like being asleep. You have absolutely no sense of time. The only difference is that you don't dream’. (Perhaps this is one of the reasons the band earned the title of ‘the Stanley Kubrick of punk rock’ from some fans).

While I very much subscribe to the philosophy of wearing your artistic influences on your sleeve, At the Drive-In went one further and essentially tattooed their creative heroes to their collective face, to use a slightly more vivid metaphor. What’s more, all of this interpolation occurred within an interconnected 60-minute set, producing a captivating live experience that doubles as a lens into the band’s extensive cultural diet.