The Loop : Sparta - Wiretap Scars

Sparta - Wiretap Scars (2002)

Those of you who know me know my die-hard allegiance to Arizona, despite being displaced on the East coast. I had my best years there and I doubt would have been the same person or be writing to you from Brooklyn without the community that fostered me there.

However, what a few don't know is that I actually spent the first 11 years of my life in El Paso, TX. My entire family is from there, my parents went to school there, met each other there and got married there. While I literally grew up there, it's safe to say that Arizona raised me. El Paso has it's charm, but I thank my parents every day for their decision for something better in Arizona (no offense, EP)

I spent so much of my time invested into Arizona local music that I sometimes forget that "local music" exists in El Paso. Since I was only 11 at the time, it's beyond me how local bands exists there. I'm totally unaware of the venues and any sort of music infrustructure despite it's proximity to Austin, etc.

But you know what I did know? At the Drive In.

My brother was just old enough when we moved (14) to have been aware of ATDI but still at the point where he was shuffling through Nirvana albums instead. Eventually ATDI became bigger than El Paso, and eventually became bigger than themselves, imploding faster than they were together and segmenting into The Mars Volta and Sparta. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate The Mars Volta in all their experimental glory, but if I want to see someone bang on a vaccum cleaner for 3 hours, I'll take a walk down Bushwick. Sparta had the melodic sensibilities that to this day I find more appealing than whatever "genius" experiemental music comes out of the woodwork.

Wiretap Scars featured the song Cut Your Ribbon, that brought the band more commercial success than The Mars Volta, but isolated the ATDI fans. The tone was still rather dark and Ward broke out into screaming fits, but the guitar arrangements were nothing short of beautiful on this record.

Unfortunately for Sparta, they never broke that glass ceiling that ATDI fans had created for them. Mars Volta continues to bang on vaccum cleaners while Jim plays solo shows under his own name. While Sparta has more or less dissolved, I just wanted to take the opportunity to declare that this record is way better than anything Mars Volta ever did. There, I said it.

Please note : Jimmy Eat World shout out! It all comes full circle, friends