Sparta’s Jim Ward On New Album ‘Cut A Silhouette’
El Paso, TX-based alt-rock band Sparta have released their new album Cut A Silhouette through Equal Vision and Civilians. Produced, engineered and recorded in seven days at Magpie Cage Recording Studio by the iconic J. Robbins, Cut A Silhouette is a collision of past and present. It builds off Sparta’s legacy but equally continues the evolution of a band that has never rested on its laurels. Written in hotel rooms, practice spaces, studios and soundchecks over the course of a year, Cut A Silhouette reveals frontman Jim Ward’s rediscovery of his love for music. It all started with John Candy. Some thity one years after the comedian’s death, Jim Ward was watching a documentary about him, and in it Macaulay Culkin, who had starred in a number of films with the late actor, said something that really stuck with the musician. So much so, in fact, that, after months of pondering and overthinking what Sparta’s sixth full-length album would be named, Ward decided that those very words,“cut a silhouette,” should be the title. Jim Ward talks to Rob Lyon about making this album.
Congratulations on the new album, you’ve got to be really stoked with the final result of this one?
I’m pretty stoked, yeah, yeah, it feels good, for sure.
Did it feel more than just a labour of love this time around?
You know, it’s not something that you can plan because if you could, we would do this every time. But when all the sort of stars align, and if you do this long enough, you see it coming. You see, like, the little bits and pieces that line up, and you know when you walk in the studio with a good one, and then when you can translate that through the studio into an actual stereo track album, then you feel good about it, and you find the right cover art, then you find the right name, and then all of it… all those little pieces, you know when you’re having a moment.? It’s been a minute, it’s nice to have a win.
Was it always the intention to do another album at some point?
So, yes, I write a lot, and I love making records. I love writing songs, and I love making records. That’s my two favourite parts about being a musician. So, in one way or another, there’s going to be music, even if it’s putting it out myself, or just streaming things, or whatever the case is, whatever life shows me. I’m okay with it, but when you get this opportunity, and you get to work with somebody like Equal Vision, and Jay Robbins, and the band is so good right now, and we’re in such a good place, emotionally, mentally, physically, spiritually, and we just feel great. Making a good record feels great, and then having a good response is… you know, it’s just like the icing on the cake.
When you say everything in your world is feeling good and everyone’s in a good place, does that just come with age and experience, and getting a better balance of life and everything else you’ve got to juggle?
Yeah, absolutely! It takes work. Like, it’s not handed to you on a platter, for sure. I mean, there’s a lot of this life can be tough, as you know, as everybody knows who does this, or is associated with it, whether you’re press, or whether you’re a promoter, or a booking agent, or whatever, like, it can take a real strain on you. There’s a lot of days that feel like you don’t want to do it anymore. If people play golf, they say one great golf shot can sort of rejuvenate a whole shitty day. I think it’s the same with music, if you’re beat down and you’re feeling bummed out. One good riff, you know? One little glimmer of joy coming out of your guitar, all of a sudden is, like, everything is wiped clear, and you just want to go, go, go. So, I think this has been, a tough couple of years for sure. Some learning moments, and like you’re saying, with age, you get the opportunity to see things with a different set of lenses. That’s important, because what maybe used to seem like a disaster now seems like an opportunity. It’s just how you look at it.
What was it about that John Candy documentary that got some of those initial ideas going for yourself?
I had a long list of titles, and nothing was really… because for me, a title is like when you get dressed and you go out, you need to feel confident and good because you’re doing something important to you, whether it’s a job interview, or a date, or whatever it is, to me, a record cover’s the same way, so the artwork and the name is really the first impression people are going to get. I know that the record’s so good, I want people to get into it. I want people to have a portal that they can see it, and then it feels like they want to listen to the record, because the record’s fucking good, and you want them to hear it, so it gets a little heavy, because you don’t want to fuck it up. You don’t want to put the wrong title on it, you don’t want to put the wrong artwork on it. I had this long list of titles, then I was watching that documentary, and Macaulay Culkin said when John Candy came in the room, he just cut a silhouette in my mind. I thought, that is exactly what I want this record to do. I just want it to cut a silhouette. I want it to be an impression on people, and I want it to be part of their life. When we finish a master, when we’re done, and we turn it over, then that’s it. I release it to the world. I will never change anything about it, I have no control over it anymore. So I want it to go into people’s lives, and I want them to own it. I want it to be a part of their life. But I wanted to leave an impression, and it just seemed like the minute I heard that phrase, it was like… that’s it. That’s it! It fits perfect with the art. Pat Wright made this collage for us that I think is beautiful, and sort of sums up a wild, beautiful, intense and challenging career, sort of on one cover, and it just all fit together.
Was it clear in your own mind where you wanted to take the album sonically?
It was, from pretty early on. We had just finished a couple of celebration tours, so we were fresh in the early DNA of our band. We had a new, fantastic drummer who has been with us four years, so he got to do both of those tours, and he got to play those songs every night. I mean, the Wiretap tour we did seventy‑plus shows, so he got to play the shit out of it. He understands what this band was and I think that was so important to go into making this record, because he wants to pay homage to Tony. He doesn’t want to change it. He doesn’t want it to be his version of Sparta. He wants to be respectful to Tony… and Tony’s such an integral part of this band, and he always will be. I don’t want to erase that. I don’t want to move on from that. I want to embrace it and I think… for a minute, I did want to move on, and I did want to change everything, and I didn’t want to be me at that moment.
I think going on those tours, talking to fans about those records, just sort of getting back into it, and falling in love with a bunch of the music that I loved when I was a kid, I went back and listened to a ton of stuff that I listened to as a teenager, and I was just trying to find that early pathway of joy, and I think that we found it. So pretty early on, I knew where it was headed, and then we spent a really long time writing this record, longer than I’ve ever spent before. I mean, a year solid year of writing before we ever went to the studio. For me, that’s a very long time and it was a lot of going back and changing, throwing stuff out, bringing stuff back in, getting some co‑writers, working with people that we’d never worked with before all to capture that moment of energy, and hen put it through the lens of experience. So I want to be able to say, like, this is where we’re going, but this is also where we’ve been. It’s hard to do, it’s easy to say, it’s hard to do, right? But I’ll tell you, I knew how exactly how much I wanted this record to be, that I didn’t take an eleventh song into the studio. I took ten songs, and we recorded ten songs, and there’s ten songs on the album. I knew exactly what we wanted to do. I didn’t put any safeties in. There’s no net, right? So it’s like, if these ten songs aren’t what I think they’re going to be, we’re going to be in trouble, and it’s going to get expensive. But I wasn’t, because we had already worked it out, and we put so much effort into it going in.
Have you ever been this tough on yourself working on music?
Probably not in this way, no. That again might just come from life experience. I think it’s that thought in my head, how many times do I get to do this? I’m forty nine. I mean, I don’t know how many times I get to make records at this level, I don’t know how many times I get to do press with somebody halfway around the world. I don’t know. So, I just think if I’m going to do it this time, then I’m going to make the absolute fucking most of it, because I’m grateful, and I’m humbled by the life that I’ve had. I’m not arrogant. I don’t expect any of this. I’m grateful for it.
Did that make the studio experience a lot easier, knowing that you’d already done all the hard yards leading up to it?
A: Yeah, I think it made it… it didn’t make it easier, it made it more enjoyable, because… all the superfluous stuff that was happening were, like, these beautiful surprises. Like, oh, I hit that wrong note, but shit, that sounds pretty good, let’s try something, let’s build off that. Once you’re so comfortable with the songs, it’s so much easier to… to let them evolve on their own. Because we all knew them, we knew what they were, we knew the roadmap, we’re not trying to figure out how to get from A to B, we already know, so now we’re just trying to figure out, like, what fun stuff is gonna happen along the way.
How was it working with Frank Iero?
Frank, first off, I always say this, but I’m a fan of his humanity. That’s the first and foremost thing, is he’s just a good person. I’ve been lucky enough to meet him and hang out with him a little bit over the years. But when I asked him if he wanted to write songs, then our initial session didn’t work out because of the LA fires, he said, well, I’ll email you some ideas, and I kind of thought, well, we probably missed that window because we all say that a lot. I’ll email you ideas, and it doesn’t happen, because we get busy, and I understand, and he’s a busy guy. He sent me three awesome, basically full songs via email that I got to pick and choose and tear apart, and then make my own, and then send back to him, he said all good, which I was thrilled with. He’s a fantastic writer, and it’s a credit to that band, that there’s two plus two equals five with their band. He’s part of something that’s great, and he makes it greater. But outside of that, he’s still an incredible writer, just a really good person and a decent human being, and somebody that you want to hang out and play music with. That’s what I got to do, even if it was long distance.
Is that something you’d like to do more of in the future, collaborating with others?
Yeah, I think this is. I think this is the new era of my career. I love having Sparta as my vehicle. I love the guys that I play with. It’s a great rhythm section, incredible writers, incredible people, great ears. Neil’s an engineer, so we have, like, a built‑in engineer. Matt is like a wild scientist, so we have all these different elements of the spectrum. But being able to use this vehicle to be the core of something awesome. So now I get to go write songs with people and bring them back, and we can put them in this vehicle again, and we can keep going and build it. I love being a trio, but I really love collaborating. So I think I’ve kind of ended up finding the best of both worlds for me right now.
Now, in terms of what you’ve created, and when you take a step back and reflect on it, how does it sit with you now?
I have never been more proud of a record in my life. I don’t think I’ve ever been this excited. Again, some of that just comes with age. Like, I know what it is. I didn’t just make something and hope it was good. I felt like it was good all the way along to the point where I started obsessing about fucking it up, which is very normal for my personality. I just feel like we’re ready to do the work. We booked more shows this year than we’ve ever booked in a year. I mean, not ever, but in twenty years, for sure. We don’t have an end goal. I don’t have really any other thing going on in my life. This is what I want to do. I want to be a musician and go on tour, and just experience everything as much as I can, because like I said, I don’t know how long I get to do this. I don’t know how long you get to scream. I don’t know how physically long I’ll be able to sing these songs this way, and I know there’s an afterlife, I know there’s a different version of all of this that comes next, but right now, I want to just really enjoy what this is, and I guarantee every show, we will go hard, you know. Every single show to me is the last show ever, I just want to play my ass off, have fun, and just get better, and communicate the stuff that we’ve made.
Are you looking to play the album in full because it’s that good, it really needs to be heard?
I think what we do, which is amazing to have a record that you can say this, is that we can drop songs from the album in the set every night, and we don’t have to play the three good ones, you know what I mean? There’s no filler on this record, so we’re able to take out Collapse one night and put in Glimmer, and it’s just as solid, it’s just as good. We can take out Cut Your Ribbon and put in Split Lip. It’s just as good. Like, it just feels like it can go into any set any night. I think for fans, it’s a little punishing to play a full record, a new record full, because it’s not built into their life yet. I really do think about it from the fan point of view, that I want people to come and get a taste of everything that they love about this band. I think that’s our job. I don’t think it’s about us, I think it’s about them and we’re really lucky to get to do this, so fuck yes, I’m going to do what they want me to do. Because that’s why I’m there.
Are there plans to head back to Australia?
Just looking for the right time. I mean, we’re solid until November right now, and yeah, that’ll be the next thing, is Australia, Asia and Canada, so just trying to figure out when those timelines work, but yeah. The second biggest show of the entire Wiretap tour was in Melbourne, so we know we have fans, we know that we love it there, and I think that we get a lot of love there, so yeah, we’ll be back for sure.
Interview By Rob Lyon
Cut A Silhouette is out now via Equal Vision/Civilians.
