Sparta

Following the dissolution of At the Drive-In in March 2001, Jim Ward launched Sparta alongside former bandmates Paul Hinojos and Tony Hajjar. Several months afterward, El Paso native Matt Miller joined on bass. The quartet secured a Dreamworks agreement within a year and delivered the Austere EP in March 2002. Five months later they released their debut full-length Wiretap Scars. Two years after that, the more expansive Porcelain appeared, incorporating a full string section, and North American touring continued through 2005. That May the group announced Paul Hinojos’s exit, and by year’s end Keeley Davis had joined on guitar. Early 2006 brought a Hollywood contract and the release of the dark, intricate Threes. Ward also collaborated that year with El Paso poet Bobby Byrd on How Will We Know When We’re Dead.

From 2008 Sparta entered a three-year break that Jim Ward later described as a “nap,” during which he concentrated on his alt-country project Sleepercar. The lineup of Ward, Keeley Davis, Matt Miller, and Tony Hajjar reconvened in 2011 for a brief tour and issued the free download “Chemical Feel.” Work on a fourth album began but paused when At the Drive-In regrouped for a 2012 tour. Another hiatus followed in 2013. Although At the Drive-In toured again in 2016, Ward was replaced by Davis in that lineup. When Sparta resumed in 2017, Davis and Hajjar were absent; Gabriel Gonzalez and Cully Symington stepped in. Over the ensuing years the band issued tracks such as “Graveyard Luck” and “Cat Scream” while preparing new material. In early 2020 they signed with Dine Alone and delivered Trust the River that April. Their fifth album, simply titled Sparta, emerged in 2022. For the sessions only Jim Ward and Matt Miller served as official members; guests included Michael James Adams, Kenny Hopper, Tucker Rule, Geoff Rickly, Angelica Garcia, and Kayleigh Goldsworthy.