Few musicians have earned the status that Jim Ward has. Explosive live performances (including the occasional throwing of furniture) helped launch post-hardcore band At the Drive-In into rock stardom, and their signature mix of punk and alternative rock with psychedelic effects established the group as one of the most influential bands ever. Ward then went on to front Sparta, trading the chaos for a more straightforward, yet still bangin’ brand of rock. He’s also an accomplished solo musician, and he’s embarking on a solo tour supporting folk artist William Elliott Whitmore. You can catch the pair at Mojave Gold at 6 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 24.
What was the first concert you attended?
I went to see Robert Plant when I was 12. We lived in Albuquerque for a couple of years, and my parents took me. I was so scared that somebody was going to make me do “the drugs.” That’s all I remember about it. I was terrified. I was crying on the way out the front door, because I knew somebody was going to make me do “the drugs.” What a killer show to go to.
What was the first album you owned?
The thing that I fell in love with first was big band, and I was really into Benny Goodman. My first beginning of collecting stuff, or having my own CD player in my room, was Benny Goodman’s Greatest Hits, which was a couple of years of obsessiveness, and then somebody gave me Subhumans’ From the Cradle to the Grave LP, and that changed my direction in life. When I was 9 or 10, I was just all about Benny Goodman and Harry Connick Jr. and big-band jazz and mostly instrumental stuff. I always joke that that’s the way to be the most uncool sixth-grader.
What bands are you listening to right now?
I’m sort of in this Fontaines D.C., Idles, Turnstile, Mannequin Pussy era. I’m just watching this generation, watching the bands that are breaking through, and I find it so fascinating. I’ve had such an interesting opportunity, not really to be famous, but to watch my friends get famous, and to be able to have the access to see these younger bands breaking through, and knowing what this life is so well. I saw Mannequin Pussy is doing the Foo Fighters stadium stuff next year, and it just makes me happy to see. I’m watching Mannequin Pussy in Austin, on sort of an off-day, play to a couple hundred people, and then seeing them do this.
What artist, genre or musical trend does everyone love, but you don’t get?
The evolution of emo, some of it gets a little confusing to me, and I think part of that is just because it’s a generational thing. … You feel shitty being the old guy at the show who’s just like, “I don’t fucking get it.” The evolution of makeup and hairstyles being as prevalent as the words you’re singing … I don’t like KISS. I’ve never attached myself to that band, because it always seemed like a joke to me, and I’ve had deep arguments with people about this. I’m not dismissing their musicianship or anything; I’m saying they chose to use a gimmick. It worked for them, and that’s fine, but it didn’t work on me.
What musical act, current or defunct, would you most like to see perform live?
The Clash. If I could take a trip through time and space, that would probably be the band that I’d want to see in a shitty, small club.
What’s your favorite musical guilty pleasure?
I have always been pretty good about not thinking of it as a guilty pleasure, and I understand the question, but when At the Drive-In was getting big, we were doing interviews where I was like, “Man, this Nelly Furtado record is awesome,” and people around me were like, “Shut up.” Going back to Benny Goodman being what I was talking about when I was 11, I don’t have a cool filter. It’s just not who I am, and I’m a pretty authentic person. If I think that the Nelly Furtado record is awesome, I’m going to say that in an interview, even if it makes my bandmates cringe. Right now, I’m thoroughly, thoroughly enjoying and impressed by Olivia Rodrigo and this generation of unabashed equality in music and pop music, and their ability to sort of weave in between subcultures, and their lyrics being honest and unashamed. I just think it’s so powerful. Knowing what I went through in this whole industry, and then to watch them go through it in such a cooler way and a more honest way, I’m so impressed by their strength—her in particular, and her commitment to music in general is really impressive.
What’s your favorite music venue?
The Troubadour and the Bowery Ballroom are my two favorite venues to play forever. We’ve had so many life-changing moments at the Troubadour. Everybody in At the Drive-In moved to L.A. except for me in ’99, so when I was in L.A., because I didn’t really know where to go, I would go to the Troubadour, and they would just let me in, no matter what the show was, so I could just sit at the bar and drink and hang out. Because I was the only one who didn’t live there, I had a bunch of free nights, and I would just go by myself and hang out, and I ended up having crazy experiences there. It’s just magic. I think it’s a magical place.
What’s the one song lyric you can’t get out of your head?
One of my favorite lyrics ever is, “I woke up this morning / With a piece of past caught in my throat / And then I choked.” It’s (“For Want Of” by) Rites of Spring, Guy (Picciotto)’s band before Fugazi.
What band or artist changed your life? How?
The hardest part of my life was navigating the success of the band that I was in, and trying to figure it out. There are so many bad people in this industry, and there are so many people who are so ready to take advantage of you, and I was lucky enough to be around Josh Homme at a time when he basically was like an older brother to me. I always refer to him as my rock sponsor. When I’m in a point of total devastation, or I just feel like everything is lost, I can send him a text, and he’ll just call me or send me a note, and it’s always good advice, and it’s never selfish. He’s been like a rock in this industry, and always genuine and honest. On days I needed to be picked up and just taken away from the studio, he was there. I have undying loyalty to that man.
You have one question to ask one musician. What’s the question, and who are you asking?
I would like to, if I was able to, sit down with John Lennon and ask him how he navigated being John Lennon, if that makes sense. He’s stuck in time; there’s no evolution of him. Paul McCartney has turned into rock ’n’ roll’s favorite dad or favorite uncle, but John Lennon is stuck. I wish I knew more about him, because it stopped. I don’t know how to explain what I’m trying to say, and I don’t know exactly what the question would be, but I think it would be John Lennon, if I could, and I just would like to sort of understand how he navigated it.
What song would you like played at your funeral?
I immediately go to “Fairytale of New York.” I don’t know why, but that’s the first song that popped in my head, with Shane McGowan singing while I’m lying there. I think it’s because of the line, “‘I could have been someone,’ well, so could anyone.” It’s one of my favorite lyrics. The fact that you wrote a song and then have a line that’s kicking your own ass in the song, bringing you down, I love that. I just kind of identify with that lyric so much.
Figurative gun to your head, what is your favorite album of all time?
In this case, I try to throw a tiny monkey wrench into it and say if I could selectively pick between Piano Man and The Stranger, then that would be my favorite album of all time. I think they’re both such amazing albums, and I love Billy Joel so much, but I kind of always think that if that was a double album, it would be my favorite album of all time.
What song should everyone listen to right now?
“I Never Came” by Queens of the Stone Age. When it came out, I sent Josh a note and said, “This is one of the most beautiful songs I’ve ever heard,” and I think he said, “This is one of those ones that just happened all at once.” There’s a song like that on our new record where I got up in the middle of the night and sat down and wrote 85% of it in three minutes. Those, for some reason, are just a little bit more special. It’s kind of been my go-to lately, just because I’ve been seeing the Alive in the Catacombs stuff on Instagram, and they’re doing a different version of it, but I’ll go back and listen to that record, and it’s such a perfect song.
