During the recording of the album, At the Drive-In was initially unable to find a label willing to release it. By that point in time,
Flipside, the label that issued
Acrobatic Tenement, had ceased operations, and Offtime Records, which had released the
El Gran Orgo EP the previous year, was not in the financial position to issue more releases. The group considered self-releasing the album until
Fearless Records offered their support. Recording for the album took place in early June 1998 at Messenger's Studio in
Hollywood. The entire recording was done live by the band, with little to no overdubs. Production duties were held by Alex Newport, with assistance from Doug Messenger at Harddrive Analog in
North Hollywood; Newport also mixed the album "half asleep" at Paramount in Hollywood.
In/Casino/Out was recorded in three days, with the band playing live in the studio and adding minimal vocal overdubs and guitar punch-ins afterwards. "Chanbara" was inspired by and deals with the
Shining Path guerilla and their struggle against the Peruvian government. Frontman
Cedric Bixler-Zavala recalled in 2015 that the band were "rushed" during the sessions and unable to
"execute maybe 30% of the ideas that were initially planned for the record because of a lack of time", though he also felt that the band benefited from the pressure.
In/Casino/Out marks founding member
Jim Ward's return to the band after not appearing on
El Gran Orgo; the
In/Casino/Out track "Hourglass" was the first At the Drive-In song for which he provided lead vocals. ==Track listing==