Jim Ward at the Paul Gleason Theater

Jim Ward

I was fortunate enough to see At The Drive-In before their untimely demise. It was a chaotic and visceral performance that made a larger impact later in my memory when the band broke up soon after. Jim Ward soldiered on to form Sparta who immediately won me over when I saw them open for Weezer at Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre in Irvine in 2002. This admiration was permanently solidified when Sparta covered Jawbreaker's "Kiss The Bottle".

Nico Stai




Nico Stai opened with their introspective indie folk tinged rock. Nico Stai (Guitars/Vocals) had has vintage Gibson guitar howling as he plucked away during "Like Alcohol". Jeff Evans (Guitars) was armed with a Fender Telecaster Deluxe as deftly added clouds to the gray skies of Nico Stai's songs. "The Song of Shine and Shame" was one of their many standout songs that made me want to catch a full set from them. It is no surprise that they will be playing Indie 103.1's Monday Night Check One..Two at the Viper Room on March 31st.




Jim Ward appeared on stage with a lonesome Gibson Acoustic guitar as he started to strum "Without A Sound". I was already blown away because I figured he would only play selections of his new acoustic based album "Quiet". Jim has a very powerful voice live but I think his guitar playing and song writing skills have been criminally overlooked. "Taking Back Control" sounded even more powerful as an acoustic number. Jim also managed to include the chord fragments of "Breaking The Broken" to make the song sound very full.




At the end of his mini Sparta set, Matt Schmitz from Sleepercar joined Jim on acoustic guitar as they tackled "Take It Back". Sleepercar is another project that Jim is involved in. Sleepercar plays like a Texas infused version of Wilco and are worth checking out. Jim also took time out to reassure the crowd that Sparta was still alive and well and that they would continue on but he needed another outlet for his other musical endeavors. I applaud Jim for branching out. He mentioned that he got the idea for his acoustic based project seven years ago while messing around with an Old 97's riff.

"Take It Back" was the first foray into Jim's solo album "Quiet". Jim and Matt harmonized well on vocals and guitars as they worked their way through the jangly number. "Easier Said" was an emotionally heavier song that played like a Texas hymn. "On My Way Back Home Again" had Chris Weinrich come out to play pedal steel to augment the country vibe of the songs. Chris had a Boss Digital Delay and small Boss Looping pedal to add some space effect sounds to characteristic pedal steel. It was amazing to Chris play the pedal steel up close as he conducted an informal clinic. The vibe in the room was very relaxed as the pedal steel guitar was gently crying during "Mystery Talks". The instrumentation was taken to new levels when Chris later came center stage for a ukulele solo during "Coastlines" that couldn't help but put a smile on everybody's face. I don't know who was smiling wider, the crowd or the performers.


Jim Ward setlist for the Paul Gleason Theatre Late show (1/25/08)
"Without A Sound"
"Taking Back Control"
"Breaking The Broken"
"Take It Back"
"Easier Said"
"On My Way Back Home Again"
"Mystery Talks"
"Wed Nites"
"Stumble"
"Heavy Weights"
"Fences"
"Broken Promise"
"Coastlines"

Sparta, The Movies, The Press Fire at the Echo

The Press Fire

The Movies


Sparta




Early shows are good ideas in my opinion, especially when I can be home at 11:00. The Echo listed a show time of 6:00pm for the nice line up of Sparta, The Movies, and The Press Fire. The Press Fire were up first and had a slew of band members on stage. Mi Jin Gregory(Keyboards) was rocking the Roland Juno-D adding textures to their indie punk songs. I likened them to The Sounds because of their incorporation of keyboards, punk like guitars, and rapid fire vocals courtesy of Nicole Hajjar. The cowbell even made an appearance during their set. Their album New Dress, New Rules was produced by Tony Hajjar(Sparta) and can be found on itunes. The Movies were up next and were quite the spectacle. Silversun Pickups are big fans of this band and even covered "Creation Lake" on their Pikul album. Brian Cleary(Keyboards) was sprinkling keyboard lines via a nice Kurzweil PC 88. I haven't seen a Kurzweil on stage since the days of Fear Factory. They reminded me of the Talking Heads with some Kraftwerk like electronic bleeps and bips percolating thru the songs. Timothy James(Vocals) was pacing around on the short stage while managing to mix in some onstage jumps. Timothy was also trying to entice the monitors to feedback by waving his microphone in front of them.The Movies lyrically are hillarious. Check out such gems as "If I Had the Cash", "Ed", "Timothy James" and "Nam". One sample of their lyrics taken from "Nam" was "When we were in Vietnam, we partied in Saigon". The Movies will be playing the Viper Room on 2/26. Sparta hit the stage to a rapturous applause and the opening chords of "Untreatable Disease" rang out. Just like Stellastarr*, Sparta has had some record label problems before finally partnering with Hollywood records for their latest release "Threes". Besides the fact that "Threes" is their third full length release, I imagine that it is a reference that bad things happen in "Threes" in terms of the departure of Paul Hinojos and Jim Ward(Vocals/Guitars) mentioning at prior concerts how he wanted to dissolve Sparta completely at one point. Sparta always puts on a superb performance and tonight was no exception. Unfortunately they didn't play some of my favorite songs "Rx Coup", "Vacant Skies" but masterfully played "Air", "Taking Back Control", and "While Oceana Sleeps". "Guns of Memorial Park" was remarkable due to the hyperkinetic drumming of Tony Hajjar. His drumming is highly regarded and it was easy to see why. Jim Ward played almost every make of guitar as he switched between a Fender Telecaster, Gibson Hollowbody, Rickenbacker, and an Ibanez Jet King. Both Jim Ward and Colin Keeley(Guitars) were stomping on their Line 6 Delay modulation pedals all night to help augment their sound. Sparta is now going out on tour with mewithoutyou and Aloha so catch them while you can.

The Hold Steady/Sparta at 4th & B in San Diego

After recovering from the Rapture set, I managed to gather enough energy to drive down to San Diego for the 94.9 FM anniversary bash featuring Sparta, The Hold Steady, and Ok Go. I was excited to see The Hold Steady again who had destroyed the Detroit Bar back in October. I had never been to 4th & B so I was hoping it would be as awesome as the Belly Up. Things were looking grim when I had to pay $15 for parking. I thought to myself that I was back in L.A. again. The doors opened at 9:00 and The Hold Steady came on first. They proceeded to play another stellar set with the highlights being "Chips Ahoy", and "Killer Parties". They still look like they are having more fun being on stage then the audience and that energy translates to a very good show. By the end of the set, the chants for Sparta had died down and the chants changed to "Encore!". I had secured a great rail spot and was taking some good pics of the Hold Steady and then I got confronted by the man. No more pics per club policy. BOOO!!!! on 4th & B. Well I got to concentrate on Sparta's set which was very heavy on the new songs but still very convincing. Sparta highlights include "Air" and "Taking Back Control". I figured I will get some good pictures at the Avalon show. I did not stay for OK Go because I needed to save my energy for the Hold Steady acoustic set and the Deftones on Sunday.