At the Drive-In was an American post-hardcore band from El Paso, Texas, for… Read Full Bio ↴At the Drive-In was an American post-hardcore band from El Paso, Texas, formed in 1994. The band most recently consisted of Cedric Bixler-Zavala (vocals), Omar Rodríguez-López (guitar, vocals), Paul Hinojos (bass), Tony Hajjar (drums) and Keeley Davis (guitar, vocals). After several early line-up changes, the band solidified into a five-piece, consisting of Bixler-Zavala, Rodríguez-López, Jim Ward, Hinojos and Hajjar. At the Drive-In released three studio albums and five EPs before breaking up in 2001. Their third and final album before their split, 2000's Relationship of Command, received a number of accolades and is cited as a landmark recording. Following the breakup, Bixler-Zavala and Rodríguez-López formed the Mars Volta while Ward, Hinojos, and Hajjar formed Sparta. At the Drive-In reunited in January 2012 and played the 2012 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, as well as the 2012 Lollapalooza Festival. In 2016, the band reunited for a second time, with guitarist and occasional lead vocalist Jim Ward no longer participating. He was replaced by Sparta's Keeley Davis. The band released their fourth studio album, in•ter a•li•a, in 2017. At the Drive In headlined the Neon Desert Music Festival in 2018 in El Paso, Texas. The band announced an indefinite hiatus in November 2018.

Proximus Centauri
At the Drive-In Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

-minus 10 seconds and counting
10 seconds to counting
T-minus 10 seconds and counting
10 seconds to go
T-minus 10 seconds to counting

Metronome charisma
Keeping time

In sling shot tempo

Utopia the landfill crawls
Omens that back the truth
Erase the veins of this dateline
As it tells the story
Of this roman fracture
Space time clich?/font>

I can't believe
The feeble recipe
Civilization tastes so good
Nero has conquered the stars
No one ever saw the spacesuit togas
A wreath around the head
Like saturn's rings

Stole your recipe
The ghostship cemetary
We won't lie

T-minus 10 seconds and counting
10 seconds to go
T-minus

Utopia the landfill crawls
Omens that back the truth
Erase the veins of this dateline
As it tells the story
Of this roman fracture
Space time clich?/font>

I can't believe
E TU BRUTE unfolding
Under the breath
Under the fall Caligula time warp
Decadence in fleets come rain storming
Under threats of gluttony and lies

Stole your recipe

The ghostship cemetery
We won't lie

Overall Meaning

The song "Proximus Centauri" by At the Drive-In is a complex and thought-provoking piece that touches on themes of time, space, and human nature. The lyrics begin with the countdown to a rocket launch, and the time-keeping metronome that keeps everything in rhythm. The idea of a "sling shot tempo" suggests the quick acceleration of the rocket into space, as the lyrics then descend into a bleak and dystopian picture of a landfill crawling with omens that back the truth.

The lyrics then become even more metaphorical and fragmented, with references to Roman history and mythology ("Nero has conquered the stars"), as well as a sense of disbelief at the state of modern civilization ("I can't believe the feeble recipe civilization tastes so good"). There is a sense of theft and deception present in the lyrics, with the repetition of "stole your recipe" and the mention of a ghostship cemetery, alluding to the idea that something precious has been taken or lost.

Overall, the song's lyrics are open to interpretation but they seem to paint a picture of a world on the brink of disaster, where the past is still present and the future is uncertain. The frenetic energy of the music matches the anxious and desperate tone of the lyrics, creating a powerful emotional impact.

Line by Line Meaning

minus 10 seconds and counting
Starting a countdown of 10 seconds

T-minus 10 seconds and counting
Starting a countdown of 10 seconds

Metronome charisma
The rhythm is being modulated to perfection

Keeping time
Staying in sync with the metronome

In sling shot tempo
Moving forward powerfully and rapidly

Utopia the landfill crawls
The ideal society struggles forward amidst garbage and waste

Omens that back the truth
Signs that confirm the reality of a situation

Erase the veins of this dateline
Wipe out the timeline of events

As it tells the story
As history is recounted

Of this roman fracture
Of the breakdown of a once-great civilization

Space time clich?
A common but profound theme of time and space