At the Drive-In (ATDI) were an indie/hard rock/alternative rock band from El Paso, Texas from 1993 until 2001. The band is named after a lyric from the song "Talk Dirty To Me" by Poison.

Influenced primarily by the likes of Fugazi and Drive Like Jehu, ATDI crafted epic, post-hardcore and sometimes almost stadium rock-like songs with complex time signatures and cryptic lyrics. ATDI's first studio recording was Hell Paso (Western Breed), an EP issued in 1994. They quickly developed a (show more)

At the Drive-In (ATDI) were an indie/hard rock/alternative rock band from El Paso, Texas from 1993 until 2001. The band is named after a lyric from the song "Talk Dirty To Me" by Poison.

Influenced primarily by the likes of Fugazi and Drive Like Jehu, ATDI crafted epic, post-hardcore and sometimes almost stadium rock-like songs with complex time signatures and cryptic lyrics. ATDI's first studio recording was Hell Paso (Western Breed), an EP issued in 1994. They quickly developed a following as intense in loyalty as the band was on stage. At the Drive-In's reputation for impressive live performances outlived the band's career. It was this reputation and the release of perhaps their best-known album, Relationship of Command (2000), that contributed largely to the attention they received in the rock press towards the end of their career as ATDI. According to some sources, At the Drive-In struggled to recreate their intense live experience in the studio, at one point trying to circumvent this problem by recording their second full-length, In/Casino/Out (1998), as a live studio album.

At the Drive-In were also noted by the music press for the afros of Cedric Bixler Zavala and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez. The hairstyle became synonymous with the pair's image. In 2001, at the peak of their popularity and following a world tour, At the Drive-In split up, initially referring to the split as an "indefinite hiatus." Though the reasons for their breakup have not been made clear, Bixler and Rodriguez-Lopez have stated that they wanted their next album to sound like Pink Floyd's Piper at the Gates of Dawn, while the other members of the band were intent on progressing in a more typical rock direction.

Members of the band went on to form The Mars Volta and Sparta.