Mcd.ie presents Sparta Temple Bar Music Centre 22nd May Doors : 8.30pm Adm : €14.50 SPARTA Tony Hajjar (drums) / Paul Hinojos (guitar) / Matt Miller (bass) / Jim Ward (vocals, guitar, keys) Austere, the four-song debut EP from Sparta was recorded in the band’s native El Paso, TX. Not a remarkable fact in and of itself, but worth mention in the case of this band: El Paso has the dubious distinction of shaping the sound and aesthetic not only of Sparta but of its members’ every previous artistic effort, their individual and collective worldviews and more. Growing up on the Texas/Mexico border, the members of Sparta, whose ethnic make-up ranges from Mexican to American to Lebanese--have witnessed the division of First and Third World living conditions by a chain link fence as a fact of daily reality. 3/4 of Sparta--Jim Ward, Paul Hinojos and Tony Hajjar were key members and songwriters of at the drive-in, a band Jim co-founded in 1994. When ATDI went on hiatus in March 2001, Sparta began practicing less than three months later that June. When it became clear some months later that ATDI would not be performing together in the foreseeable future, Sparta became Jim, Paul and Tony’s complete focus. The line-up was later rounded out by bass player Matt Miller, late of El Paso area outfit Belknap (Former ATDI bassist Paul has since moved onto guitar, while Jim took on lead vocals as well as guitar…). "Before we actually started Sparta, I was struggling," Jim Ward recalls. "Trying to find a happy, ideologically perfect place. But once Paul called and suggested pursuing what is now Sparta, there was no more questioning. It felt undoubtedly, wholeheartedly the right thing to do. And the writing process was totally and immediately carefree, loose, and happy. Knowing each other so well music-wise made for good chemistry, but the new energy has made for a really welcome chapter in all of our lives." Sparta wasted no time, playing 11 shows in the latter half of 2001, spanning from their native Texas to Reykjavik, Iceland. "Our first tour was awesome and humbling at the same time," says Paul Hinojos. "We basically had to start from scratch, cobbling together 11 shows in the western U.S., but the response was instant. We were blown away by not only the support we had from the kids--who came out in force--but also by the response we received from them. We can’t express enough gratitude for that." Sparta’s first official release is the four-song Austere, due out March 26 on Restart/Dreamworks (Restart is the El Paso-based indie label founded by Jim and Paul as an outlet for artists from their native environs; to date, the label has released records by Universal Recovered, Airplanes Are Better, as well as the forthcoming debut from Nakia, a re-release of ATDI’s Acrobatic Tenement and more…). An impressive debut by any standards, Austere sees Sparta moving beyond its members previous endeavors, not sacrificing primal rage so much as channeling it into increasingly mature and focused compositions. From the refrain of "this time I’ll get it right" of the opening "Mye" to the "I’m fading out" mantra of the closing "Echodyne Harmonic," Sparta charts territory both familiar and uncharted territory with renewed energy and angst. Vocal and instrumental melodies alternate between sublime and tortured over rock solid rhythms, punctuated intermittently by the odd electronic sidetrack. Sparta’s experimentation, however, never overwhelms its song craft; It’s clear this band is willing to grow and evolve at a measured pace… and to take its listeners along for a long and rewarding ride over years to come. Prior to recording Austere, the band had streamed early demo versions of three songs on its Spartamusic.com website, which do not appear on Austere, but are currently being re-recorded for the debut full-length album the band is currently recording for Dreamworks at Armory Studios in Vancouver, Canada, with Jerry Finn (Blink 182, Green Day, Sum 41) producing. "When we started writing together in June," says Tony Hajjar, "Our main focus was just to have a good time and to release the energy and music we had boiling up in us since March. Those early demos were recorded in the space of about a week. Austere was, of course, more focused because we started finding our place as a band. Working on the first full album has been even more so: two weeks of pre-production, Jerry Finn, and the choice to make the record in Vancouver, removed from everything we know in El Paso and Los Angeles… it’s a completely different kind of energy. Hajjar concludes, "The whole process has been rapid, but super positive and fun. We are so excited about the way the full length is going, about getting the EP out there, about doing an extensive tour… Overall, we’re just so ready to work." More info : buzz o neill buzz@mcd.ie MCD 7 Park Road Dun Laoghaire Co Dublin 353 1 2841747