Courtesy Jesse Deflorio
Audio By Carbonatix
Jim Ward has been Sparta‘s frontman for twenty years at this point, which is somewhat of a miracle, given the chaotic genesis of the band. But despite lineup changes and extended breaks, the indie group from El Paso continues to be a productive, creative outlet for the former At the Drive-In vocalist and guitarist. And in that time, Ward’s been able to truly accept that Sparta is, without a doubt, his band now.
“It took quite a while for me to claim Sparta. I make this joke with my friends that I still think I’m just a guitar player in a band. I don’t realize that I’m the frontman and the leader and all that. It’s just that the way I see myself has evolved,” he explains. “At some point right before the pandemic, I embraced what Sparta is and took it by the horns. Like, ‘This is, whether I like it or not, my band. And this is me.'”
Sparta released a new self-titled album in 2022, but its current tour is in celebration of the twentieth anniversary of its debut, Wiretap Scars. The band plays Denver’s Bluebird Theater on Thursday, May 18, with Geoff Rickly of post-hardcore band Thursday and ‘68.
Ward admits he didn’t always plan to revisit what many consider a seminal early-2000s rock album. Such a “victory lap,” as he sees it, only came to fruition after Ward and Sparta (whose live lineup currently consists of full-time bassist Matt Miller and drummer Neil Hennessy) were on the road last year supporting The Get Up Kids and their 25th-anniversary tour for Four Minute Mile.
“Initially, I’ve said no to this concept a couple of times when different anniversaries came up,” Ward says, adding that he didn’t wish “to go back mentally and emotionally” to those Wiretap Scars days, which was “a pretty difficult time personally.”
But during the tour with the Get Up Kids, he says, “I spent a lot of time at the merch booth talking to fans. People started telling me their relationship to that record and the fact that it’s been part of their life for twenty years, falling in love and having kids and all the ups and downs in their lives. It changed my perspective to see it from other people’s point of view.”
Ward gave the anniversary run the green light specifically because of those fan interactions, and he’s glad he did. “It’s been awesome to do and revisit and see how much progress I’ve made in life,” he says. “I keep saying this is like a victory lap for me because, one, I survived that time period in my life, and, two, we’re all still here and having fun and enjoying what music does.”
Similar to how he views Sparta, going out and playing songs like “Cut Your Ribbon” and “Air” has also changed in the past two decades for the 46-year-old Ward. Again, it’s all about perspective.
“I made sure we talked about this, that this is us at this age. I’m not trying to re-create anything. I keep saying, ‘There’s no hair dye on this tour.’ I’m not trying to be 26 years old,” he explains. “I want to be 46, because the life that I led in those twenty years has given me a different perspective, and I want to celebrate all of this stuff, but I don’t want to pretend I’m somebody who I’m not. I’m a different person than I was twenty years ago, but it’s still been really rewarding.”
He adds that Sparta’s debut, which the band wrote “really, really quickly” back then, was a way for him “to deal with where my life had gone,” even if it now seems like a “pretty natural arch,” career-wise.
“You feel like your whole family fell apart. The day that At the Drive-In stopped [in 2001], all of a sudden, my community changed drastically. We were young and fucked up and trying to figure out how to find happiness or whatever. It was hard,” Ward recalls. “I think [Wiretap Scars] was a lot of me dealing with that lyrically. There are some dark parts on this record, but there’s also a lot of hope. … But at the time, you don’t think, ‘Oh, this is just me dealing with what I’m going through,’ because you’re just in the middle of it and you don’t have that perspective. Now, with twenty years of perspective, it’s just a different energy.”
But one thing that hasn’t changed since spawning Sparta is the band’s overall ethos, which Ward credits to his city and fifth-generation El Pasoan heritage.
“We’re from El Paso; we’re a tough city and a humble and hardworking city. All of that is in my DNA,” he says “That’s the one thing about our band: We are a very honest, heart-on-the-sleeve, blue-collar working band. There’s no pretension in this band or acting like we’re cooler than you or smarter than you or better than you. … I think it reflects not just in the music, but more importantly in our attitude and how we treat people. It’s important that we continue that.
“I’ve never been famous or big enough that it’s changed my lifestyle or who I am. I’m still just a blue-collar working musician,” he concludes. “I sort of never got past that, and I don’t think I ever really wanted to.”
Sparta, 6 p.m. Thursday, May 18, Bluebird Theater, 3317 East Colfax Avenue. Tickets are $29.50.
