Sparta Celebrate 20th Anniversary Of Seminal & Legendary Debut Album ‘Wiretap Scars’

SPARTA formed from the ashes of seminal rockers AT THE DRIVE-IN who disbanded in 2001. Released in 2002 to huge praise from postpunk and hardcore audiences, their debut album Wiretap Scars filled the gap left by their former group and won over the harshest critics. The album features the single Cut Your Ribbon and epic live favourites Air and Collapse.

The album served as a reminder of how important Jim Ward’s backing vocals were to the sound of At the Drive-In. Previously known as a side man, SPARTA gave him the kudos to bring his voice and ideas to the fore – creating incredible records like Wiretap Scars. Jim Ward talks to Hi Fi Way about the celebration of Wiretap Scars.

It must be a huge honour to be celebrating twenty years of “Wiretap Scars”, and that it has stood the test of time?
Oh, beyond an honour. I’m so grateful. One of the things that I’m grateful for is I survived that time period, I’m grateful that that record has gone on to have a life of its own and been a part of people’s lives. That’s the only reason we’re doing this is because people came to us and said, this record’s so important, could we celebrate? I said, yeah, if you want to! It’s about them. You know what I mean? It’s not about me. I’m beyond grateful and humbled.

When you reflect on that album, what are the positive things that you take away from that time or are there other moments that stand out from that particular time for you?
I mean, if you think about it, who gets to do this twice? You know what I mean? Who gets to be in a band like At The Drive In and then when that stops, start a new band, have a new position in the band, get to sort of learn on the job, get supported by fans, get to relive that life or to continue living that life I guess. It’s pretty rare and I’m grateful for that. That’s such a huge positive for me is that I just get to continue doing this and write songs. None of the other shit’s ever been very important to me. I don’t care about being famous or rich or anything, but I do care about having the platform to write music, make music and share music. That’s what’s important to me. The fact that I get to do it, that’s all the positives I need.

How important was it for you to actually take that hiatus away from At The Drive In for a brief period of time?
I just burned out honestly. Like at the end of Threes, I was just done. It’s like one of those things, like all the classic cliche stories, like I owned a house I never was at, I missed my family. I was missing all these huge things in life and all of that is okay to give up that because you love what you do, but there’s a point where I just didn’t love it like I used to and I needed to step away before I hated it, and that’s what I did. I think for me, honestly, when shit gets unfun, I just step away. It’s one thing that people bring up a lot is that I sort of come and go and I don’t have like a long career. It’s been up and down and weird and, um, but for me it’s all about sort of, sorry, I’m turning off. For me it’s about survival and for me to survive, I have to be able to like stop and do other things and get inspired. I don’t want to write songs about being on tour. That’s boring. I need to live life. Right?

Absolutely. Do you find particularly now with the place in life that you’re at, that you actually enjoy the touring side and all that comes with it a lot more than what you used to?
I think it’s just different ways of enjoying it. I mean, when I was young, it was fun. It was a party, it was like this roving party all over the world, and I got to see stuff that I never thought I’d see, and I got to meet people I never thought I’d get to meet. Now I get to do it when I want. I get to do it as a bonus to life. I do it part-time and for me that’s like the best time.

Do you think some bands get too caught up in nostalgia? I know it is a thing to the classic albums start to end, do you kind of get nostalgic at all or is it very much keep moving forward?
I think the only way that I can approach this thing doing Wiretap is to call it a celebration and enjoy that time period from now. I’ve never wanted to recreate it. I don’t want to live that life again. I don’t want to be that person again, but I love those songs and I love the fans. So, I think it’s just about finding the space to celebrate it, but I’m not really one to look back, so I kind of have to approach it from now. I went to rehearsals and learned how to play these songs as a three piece and that’s fun for me. It’s different. It’s still celebrating, but for me it’s still moving forward. That has to always be a part of it, it’s one of those things, like I always said when they pitched this, I said, look, I don’t ever want to dye my hair, you know what I mean? Like, I’ve earned all this grey hair, I’ve earned this life. I don’t want to go back and be somebody I’m not.

Does any of your new material get featured on this tour?
Yeah, so we play Wiretaps, start to finish without really saying a word. It’s basically like the whole show’s like seventy five minutes, so it’s fifty minutes of Wiretap start to finish. I don’t really say much. Then we have a normal little bit after that where it’s like let’s play some new stuff. If people want to hear it, some days it’s longer than other days, but it just depends on the mood and if everybody’s having fun, we’ll keep going kind of thing.

How do you find the whole process of playing Wiretaps Scar start to end? I know you’ve sort of said it is a celebration, but is it a hard album to play? Does it bring up a lot of good and bad memories?
Yeah, it does bring up good and bad. That wasn’t an easy part of my life and that’s always been my hesitation is to go back and relive some of that stuff that was pretty brutal. It’s an emotional record for me because I was dealing with a lot of things and growing. That’s like a pretty tough age. Twenty-seven is a classic age in band years. It’s kind of like the most trying time for some reason, but I lived through it, this is like a celebration of living through all that and the cool thing is that I’m twenty years better at playing these songs than I was twenty years ago. So, part of it is that I love just owning this like I never owned it before.

Have you missed touring Australia?
I can’t wait. It’s a very similar country, people and attitude as West Texas. I’ve always had a real kinship to the place and it’s somewhere I feel really comfortable. Somewhere I enjoy continuing to learn about and continuing to explore and I’ve had great times there. I’ve done like some extensive solo touring and there I was literally riding trains to tiny towns and playing shows to fifty people. That’s somewhere that you can go and sort of get lost and find new things. I love it. I love it so much. It’s been way too long then. I haven’t been there in eleven years.

Are there plans for more music for Sparta in 2024?
Yeah, absolutely. Hitting the studio the next couple of months and working on a new record. Australia’s the end of the Wiretap tour, so when we put that to bed in Perth, then we’ll be ready for the next chapter and looking forward to bringing it all home and in Australia. Will be killer.

Interview By Rob Lyon

Catch Sparta on the following dates, tickets from Metropolis Touring…