The Gods Of War With JIM WARD From SPARTA

Interview by Kris Peters
Rising from the ashes of the supposed next big thing, Sparta
attacked the music industry as a whole with a point to prove.
And prove it they did, releasing their debut album Wiretap Scars in
2002 and almost single-handedly redefining the term experimentation
in music as the world had previously known it.
When At The Drive-In split in 2001 the music world was left in
shock. Coming seemingly from nowhere with an effervescent approach
to music that combined genres unlike never before, At The Drive-In
were quickly lauded with the title of the next big thing, and who
was there to stop them?
It is highly even the band themselves knew exactly what they were
doing or what direction they were headed.
The band was riding the crest of a wave that would sweep them
however far they wished to go before the unthinkable happened and
ATDI were no more.
Spurred on by this, former backup vocalist Jim Ward and two other
ATDI members Tony Hajjar and Paul Hinojos quickly turned their
creativity to Sparta and before long the three musicians who had
been reduced to supporting cast members previously were now in
command of the ship.
Sparta has had a spluttering progression - due mainly to Ward
operating by his own rules and shunning industry expectations - but
they are still very much a band with a point to prove and an axe to
grind.
That axe comes out of the shed next May when Sparta heads to
Australia on the tail end of a massive tour that has seen them play
and celebrate 20 years since the release of Wiretap Scars.
HEAVY sat down with Ward to run through memory lane, starting with
how long it has been since Sparta last toured this country.
"It will be about 12 years by the time I get there," he almost
apologised. "Too long, for sure."
We ask him what has changed with the band in that time.
"Members," he laughed. "We play as a three-piece now. It's still
Matt Miller on bass, but we have sort of a rotating cast of
drummers depending on the tours. Really the only two band members
are Matt and I, so we make the records, we sort of have other
friends play drums on stuff, and then we tour with whoever. Other
than that, we have just aged gracefully (smiles) and are better
looking than ever."
In the full interview, Jim talks about the other shows on this tour
and how playing the album in full has been received, the
difficulties in reproducing a whole album live, the time in which
Sparta made the album and how their recent exit from ATDI
influenced the finished product, making the transition from back up
singer to lead vocalist, why he thinks Wiretap Scars has stood the
test of time, what to expect from the shows and more.