{"id":492204,"date":"2026-06-14T10:54:07","date_gmt":"2026-06-14T10:54:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/492204\/"},"modified":"2026-06-14T10:54:07","modified_gmt":"2026-06-14T10:54:07","slug":"jim-ward-on-the-end-of-spartas-second-act-his-connection-to-turnstile-and-bond-to-at-the-drive-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/492204\/","title":{"rendered":"Jim Ward on \u201cthe end of Sparta\u2019s second act\u201d, his connection to Turnstile and bond to At The Drive-In"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sparta<\/a>\u2019s Jim Ward has spoken to NME about the band\u2019s emotionally-charged, loved-up sixth album \u2018Cut A Silhouette\u2019, making peace with his past in At The Drive-In<\/a>, as well as his respect for Kneecap<\/a> and Turnstile<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At The Drive-In first broke up in 2001<\/a>, shortly after releasing seminal punk album \u2018Relationship Of Command<\/a>\u2019. The band\u2019s Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez went on to form prog rock group The Mars Volta<\/a>, while Paul Hinojos, Tony Hajjar and Jim Ward formed Sparta.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe came in with a giant chip on our shoulder,\u201d Ward told NME about arriving with the searing \u2018Wiretap Scars\u2019 in 2002. \u201cWe definitely had something to prove. It\u2019s hard to be somewhere and not feel like you belong there.\u201d Two more furious Sparta albums followed before the band went on hiatus and At The Drive-In reunited in 2012<\/a> tour that included a headline set at Coachella and a performance at Reading & Leeds. However weeks before their later 2016 tour, it was announced that Ward would not be a part of the group going forward<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t in a healthy place. I just wanted to play loud rock music, sweat, scream and be in my community\u201d he told NME from the back of a tour bus. So he revived Sparta without Hinojos and Hajjar. Last month, the band (Ward, long-time bassist Matt Miller and drummer Neil Hennessy) released their sixth album \u2018Cut A Silhouette\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve always been the underdog and I\u2019m constantly told that we\u2019re underrated. You can meet that with anger and by trying to prove something, or you can say, \u2018Yeah, we are still here and we are a good band\u2019,\u201d explained Ward.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not trying to be on Top Of The Pops.\u00a0I\u2019ve done that and it was fun but it\u2019s not my path. Instead, this album is a reintroduction to something that you love.\u201d<\/p>\n

Check out the rest of our interview below, where Ward told us about<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

NME:\u00a0Hello Jim. How different is \u2018Cut A Silhouette\u2019 to other Sparta albums?<\/p>\n

Jim Ward: \u201cIt feels wise to me. Before making it, we had just done a couple of celebration tours [playing Sparta\u2019s first two albums \u2018Wiretap Scars\u2019 and \u2018Porcelain\u2019] and I reconnected with Tony [Hajjar, drums] and Paul [Hinojos, bass]. Between those heavy, emotional conversations and actually playing the shows, it cleared a lot of space for me to make a record that felt really representative of my life. I feel like I know I am. The imposter syndrome is at an all time low.\u201d<\/p>\n

You said you went back and listened to the records you grew up loving. Which ones inspired \u2018Cut A Silhouette\u2019?<\/p>\n

\u201cFugazi<\/a> is very much in my DNA, and so are Jawbox. I used to get a lot of shit for talking about Billy Joel<\/a> in interviews, but I went back and listened to the records that made me love music before I found my tribe: Denny Goodman, Jefferson Starship. I also realised the stuff that really inspired me was never the hits. My favourite Beatles<\/a> song is \u2018Day In The Life\u2019, my favourite Billy Joel track is \u2018Scenes From An Italian Restaurant\u2019. That\u2019s the freedom of being in this band. We [could reference all those songs] and never thought, \u2018Does this fit?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Cut A Silhouette\u2019 is a love album. Why does that feel like an important energy to be putting out into the world right now?<\/p>\n

\u201cI think you know. We\u2019ve always been a political band and I could talk ad nauseam about how fucked up the world is because of one man. The level of suffering in this world is unacceptable. There has to be a smarter way of communicating that than just \u2018fuck Trump\u2019 though. So what I say every day on stage is that this is a hard time period, and it hurts but I believe that if we extend love and empathy at every opportunity, then we\u2019re going to be better for it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI kind of just leave it at that now because you\u2019re not going to convince someone to change their political stance by yelling [at them]. I have a ton of respect for Kneecap. They, more than any other band, are putting their money where their mouth is. If you\u2019re going to say something, put your bank account and livelihood on the line.\u201d<\/p>\n

Are there any other new bands that are inspiring you?<\/p>\n

\u201cTurnstile, because I feel like I was in their shoes at a certain moment in time [with At The Drive-In]. When we started getting big, we had people putting two-by-fours with nails under our bus tyres, because that\u2019s how our community reacted to it. A lot has changed in 25 years and they\u2019re from a different generation, but they\u2019re still a hardcore band. The stuff that [crossing over into the mainstream] does to you emotionally has not changed. The traumas are all real. I have so much respect and empathy for them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI spoke to Bono<\/a> when I was going through a rough time, and he took the time and energy to console a young, drunk and confused kid. It was life changing for me and I don\u2019t know If I can ever thank him, other than trying to pass that on. So when I saw Turnstile backstage at Furnace Fest 24, I told them how much I loved their band. That\u2019s my way of saying, \u2018I got you. If you ever need anything, I\u2019m here\u2019. And they\u2019re just such a great band.\u201d<\/p>\n

Is there any part of you watching what Turnstile are achieving and wondering what could have been?<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was younger and I\u2019d look at my friends who were financially secure for generations, absolutely. But every decision you ever make in your life leads you to this moment, and right now I\u2019m filled with joy, happiness and love. So I don\u2019t anymore.<\/p>\n

You didn\u2019t do the 2016 At The Drive-In tour. Does that feel like unfinished business?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t. Even if all five of us talked about it, I\u2019m not sure we\u2019d understand what happened. What I do know is that I wasn\u2019t in a good place mentally, but that doesn\u2019t mean I couldn\u2019t have done my job. But I think getting kicked out, as painful as it was, was probably a blessing in disguise. A lot of things have happened since that have been beneficial. It\u2019s why I don\u2019t hold any bad feelings. I still don\u2019t speak to Omar and Cedric but if either of them called me and said they needed a kidney, I\u2019d be on the first plane. I have a connection and a love for them that is beyond any drama.\u201d<\/p>\n

It feels like this era of Sparta, from working with Jawbox\u2019s J. Malvin to co-writing \u2018Crater\u2019 and \u2018Mouth Breather\u2019 with My Chemical Romance<\/a>\u2019s Frank Iero<\/a>, is about celebrating the punk community?<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was 15, I discovered [DIY punk label] Dishcord and that gave me the confidence and courage to go and make music. It\u2019s like I could finally breathe. But Sparta was born on a major label and I never felt 100 per cent comfortable in that world. I spent years trying to compensate for that. When Dan [Sandshaw, label manager of indie label Equal Vision] asked why I wanted to release this album with them, I said that it\u2019s because I wanted to come home to my community. My favourite shows are 250 cap rooms with sweaty, somewhat drunk people just having the time of their life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Is there anything you want to achieve with \u2018Cut A Silhouette\u2019?<\/p>\n

\u201cI never wanted to be famous, I just wanted to get the fuck out of El Paso. The craziest, most far out dream when you\u2019re a teenager living in Texas is to play a show in Japan. Thank goodness that the people I was playing with at the time were busy with college or their girlfriends, so couldn\u2019t tour because it meant I went out and found people who had nothing to lose. [At The Drive-In went out on a Japanese tour in 2000] and everything else has been icing on the cake. I\u2019ve been really fortunate to have a career that\u2019s shown me a lot. I can look back on that and appreciate that in its entirety. It just leaves you with a sense of gratitude.\u201d<\/p>\n

Why does it sound like this record might be the end?<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the final record in a chapter of a book that has been 25 years in the making. It\u2019s the end of Sparta\u2019s second act, but I just think that means there are a trio of records coming that will make up the new era. All the obstacles have been cleared and now we can move ahead with a full tank.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Cut A Silhouette\u2019 is out now. Sparta are touring North and South America throughout the summer into late September before UK and European headline dates in October. Visit here<\/a> for tickets and more information.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sparta\u2019s Jim Ward has spoken to NME about the band\u2019s emotionally-charged, loved-up sixth album \u2018Cut A Silhouette\u2019, making…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":492205,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[458,146,85,46,1548],"class_list":["post-492204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-rock"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=492204"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492204\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/492205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=492204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=492204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=492204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}