At The Drive-In at Brixton Academy

At The Drive-In
Death From Above
Le Butcherettes
Brixton Academy, 9 March 2018

The last time I saw At The Drive-In it was six years ago on their reunion tour back in 2012. I can't believe it was that long ago, in fact when this show, once again at Brixton Academy, was announced I initially decided not to go because it felt like it hadn't been that long since I saw them. But fate intervened when two for one tickets popped up close to the date and it felt like I was meant to give the boys another visit.

Things are different this time though as guitarist Jim Ward is no longer in the band, for reasons unknown (although it sounds like he wasn't getting on with the other guys), and the remaining members (which now includes former Sparta member Keeley Davis) have been back in the studio. Last year they released their first new album since 2000's Relationship Of Command, the intriguingly named In•ter a•li•a plus an EP, Diamanté. I didn't know it at the time but the band attempted to record an album with Ward but he decided he wasn't into it and those tracks became Antemasque, who I saw back in 2014 (I had no clue, I thought it was just a make-up project for Cedric Bixler -Zavala and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, who briefly fell out too).

The other change for this show is that it is a full bill this time (back in 2012 they had no support), with Le Butcherettes and Death From Above making this a pretty exciting night for any rock fan. 

I have seen the awesome Le Butcherettes one time previously, supporting Antemasque and these days the band, for the most part, is pretty much a given on any bill with Omar's various projects because front woman, Teresa Suárez aka Teri Gender Bender is his long-time girlfriend (she's also been in two bands with him, Bosnian Rainbows and Crystal Fairy). Of course the band are a completely deserving addition to the bill and there's no doubt that Suárez is an incredible performer in her own right.

She comes dancing on stage wearing a green boiler suit and red kitten heels (with red make-up that looks like a bandit's mask) and throughout the whole performance she manages to twist and jump around and dance and pull weird faces. There are other members of the band, a drummer and bassist, but to be honest, it's hard to pay attention to anyone else, she's such a magnetic force. Her vocals are like Siouxsie Sioux meets Kat Bjelland and it's fascinating to watch her alternate between guitar and keyboards, all the while looking like she has just escaped a straitjacket.

Teri of Le Butcherettes

During the song Dress Off ("you take my dress off, yeah you take my pretty dress off!") she does actually do a little striptease, removing her boiler suit to reveal underneath, yes!, a pretty red chiffon dress that matches her shoes! Needless to say, she is entertaining throughout and the band sounds great. At the end she even comes down and climbs over the barrier next to me in order to chat with some fans, and, rather nicely, stays there for a good while talking to people and taking photos with them, right behind me. I decided not to bother her myself, but I thought it was a nice touch at the end of a great performance.

Next up were Death From Above, previously Death From Above 1979, but now back to the digit-free version of their name. There were A LOT of people here just to see the Canadian hard rock duo (evidenced by their desertion from the front once their set ended) but I must admit, although familiar with the name, I didn't have much clue about the band other than the fact they disbanded after one album and reunited in recent years. 

A huge backdrop featuring their cartoon faces complete with elephant trunks (a motif that appears on all their albums) hung behind them and I can't deny my initial thought when they first emerged was how bassist Jesse F. Keeler still looked exactly the same as the picture (minus the trunk of course) - bearded with shoulder-length black hair (and black outfit) - and drummer/singer Sebastian Grainger, although still attractive, looked so much more middle-aged, with short silver-gray hair and mustache (and contrasting white outfit). I kept trying to imagine him with the pouty lips and emo-hair of their cartoon logo but couldn't (I had to look up photos of the band once I got home and saw he has in fact had a number of looks over the years).

Despite this I was immediately impressed that Grainger was handling the lead vocals while drumming quite aggressively and all the guitar sounds came from Keeler on just his bass. They had such a huge, heavy sound, it was hard to believe all this cool noise came from just two dudes on stage. As I have never listened to them before, I have no clue what the songs were but there were definite stoner rock dirge-like riffs and noisy punk vibes and it was hugely enjoyable. At a few points, Grainger spoke to the crowd but I still have no idea what he said. The only time I recognised anything was at the very end of their set when they played a grungy version of The Beatles' Come Together, which sounded very cool indeed.

When At The Drive-In finally took to the stage, the atmosphere completely changed. It's funny, as good as the support bands were, it was clear that At The Drive-In were the headliners. Rodriguez-Lopez looked stylish wearing a trilby hat while bassist Paul Hinojos and drummer Tony Hajjar, looked comfortingly the same as ever. Cedric strutted on stage, shaking his maracas, his hair bigger than ever, but admittedly a little older (probably knowing this, he's swapped the skinny jeans for trousers and the ripped t-shirt for a zip-up jacket this time). He's not quite as reckless throwing himself around on stage anymore (he even complained about hurting his back on Twitter recently) so there weren't any crazy jumps off the drum kit like in the old days but he's still a cool dancer, prancing and jumping around the stage and throwing and catching his mike with plenty of energy and managing to sing perfectly throughout.

They begin with the opening track of Relationship Of Command, Arcarsenal  and the crowd goes crazy. Immediately I feel people bouncing around behind me. Some of it is by joyful fans but there's also a guy completely off his head purposely and violently throwing himself at others including a petite girl near me, who was nearly knocked over. Thankfully the security guards warned him and then managed to drag him out but it's ironic that in recent interviews the band talked about how they hated the bro-culture of the nu-metal scene that they were working alongside back in the day - something that even caused them to walk off stage at a festival in Australia - yet here we are 18 years later and, even at their shows, it's same old, same old. At the very least it was dealt with fairly quickly.

The rest of the show was, not surprisingly, heavy on Relationship Of Command material, and it still sounds incredible all these years on. Cedric's voice sounds better than ever and it's a joy to hear Omar (I have to revert to their first names, I love them so) playing those old guitar parts again. Interestingly enough there's not much interaction between the two though, which used to be one of my favourite things about the old Mars Volta shows. I wonder what their relationship is like now although there is supposed to be another Antemasque album out this year, so who knows. 

Omar, like last time, seems content to remain in the shadows. Last time it was clear he didn't want to be there, something I complained about in my blog post, but apparently he was having an awful time on that tour because his mother had just died so I do feel bad that I criticised him about it and maybe his thing these days is to let Cedric take the spotlight, which is fine. At the very end of the show I did spot him grinning as if he was enjoying himself, which made me feel happy, but as ever he was also the first to walk off stage.

Elsewhere, the songs from the new album held up well against the old, classic material, particularly the cooly-titled No Wolf Like The Present and Pendulum In A Peasant Dress and there was even one track from the Diamanté EP, Amid Ethics, which saw Cedric at his shouty best. It stopped the whole thing feeling too much like a nostalgia show but I can't deny the thrill of hearing classic songs like Pattern Against User and Invalid User Dept. 

Once again, my favourite moments came courtesy of two older, more emotional tracks, Napoleon Solo from In/Casino/Out and 198d from the Vaya EP. The sound is always a bit muddy at Brixton Academy, especially heavier songs, so it was nice on slower tracks like these, to actually be able to hear Cedric's beautiful vocals more clearly, as he has such a cool, unique, powerful voice especially when he sings rather than shouts.

Back in the old days the band were too cool to do encores but since they've reunited they seem to have changed their mind and do return to give us probably the most anticipated song of the night: One-Armed Scissor. The place goes crazy but thankfully people are a bit more respectful this time, so the feeling is good. It's a brilliant way to end the show.

Cedric with Omar lurking in the background

I'm not sure how I feel about Jim Ward not being there: his absence is most definitely noticed and it's sad after last time when he spoke about rifts being healed and how much he loved the guys in the band. I can imagine having Ward and Rodriguez-Lopez in the band there was a lot of butting heads and egos taking over that made it impossible for them to continue but at the very least, it is great to hear some of these songs live once again. 

At the end of the day it's always been the Cedric and Omar combo that has appealed to me the most and whatever they do, be it At-The Drive-In, Antemasque or The Mars Volta, I'm happy to follow them down that weird and wonderful rabbit hole.