At the Drive-In Pulls Into Grand Royal

By
Gary Graff
January 6, 2006, 2:26 AM ET
2 min read

September 12, 2000 -- Buzz bands come and go quickly, so you have to pay attention whenever the noise starts to escalate around one particular camp. Right now, the volume is cranked for El Paso, Texas, quintet At the Drive-In, which just released its national debut, Relationship of Command, on the Beastie Boys' Grand Royal label.

"It's pretty loud; it gets kind of hard to ignore right now," says guitarist Jim Ward of the ballyhoo, adding that the group — which peddles passionate punk sure to sit well with emo-core fans — is trying to do that regardless. "If you worry about s--t like that, it's not gonna do you any good. That's where bands start losing their heads, if they start believing the hype. If you watch Behind the Music, that's when the band starts going downhill.

"None of us started this band to be rock stars or be famous or get rich; we made the move to a bigger label because we wanted people to have access to our records."

ATDI took a circuitous route to Grand Royal, too. After recording for the Southern California indie label Fearless, the group signed with G.A.S. Entertainment, the label founded by record company executive Gary Gersh and artist manager John Silva, who were turned on to ATDI by members of Sonic Youth. But while Relationship of Command was being recorded with producer Ross Robinson (Korn, Limp Bizkit), G.A.S.'s parent company, Digital Entertainment Network, dissolved, leading Gersh and Silva to merge with Grand Royal.

Ward says that as far as ATDI is concerned, that was a happy — and even ironic — turn of events. "At one point, we thought we'd like to send [the album] to Grand Royal but said 'F--k it. We don't think they'll like it,' " recalls Ward, the only member of ATDI who still lives in El Paso. "So this is cool for us.

"It's been good hanging out with [Beastie Boy] Mike D, who's had a lot of success and is still a really good human being. That's important for us to see, because all the stuff that comes along with rock and roll, you can really lose your head. We couldn't be happier."