Phases and Stages

Sparta

The Fall on Deaf Ears

For an instant, At the Drive-In was the most exciting rock band on the planet. Yet the minute their potent buzz-bin cocktail sent them rocketing up the charts, the El Paso group imploded after five years of constant touring, splitting into two camps. The big-hair duo of frontman Cedric Bixler and guitarist Omar Rodriguez formed Mars Volta, while ATDI’s remaining members launched Sparta behind second foil Jim Ward. It takes exactly 10 seconds of Sparta’s debut Wiretap Scars to figure out which faction inherited the ATDI mantle. Ward cuts loose like a cannon on opener “Cut Your Ribbon” and demonstrates a vocal versatility Bixler never had. The dynamic atmospherics of ATDI’s swan song Relationship of Command are here, but the delicate moments are more focused, and the powder-keg bursts just as potent. “This time I’ll get it right,” promises Ward on “Mye.” He has. As Sparta fashions a bright future, Austin indie label maverick Ben Dickey of Post-Parlo Records has delved into ATDI’s past, digging up the Fall on Deaf Ears, an El Paso supergroup that included Bixler and current Rhythm of Black Lines member Clint Newsom, as well as Laura Beard and Sarah Reiser, who were killed in a car accident mere months after the group broke up. Already apparent is the controlled aggression and textural fury that became ATDI’s hallmark, but the riot-grrrl vocals of Beard and Reiser give the project its own personality. The warbles and wails make the album a difficult listen at times, but The Fall on Deaf Ears is nevertheless a precious document of a mid-Nineties El Paso scene that’s already proven to be an important one in Texas punk history. (Sparta opens for Jimmy Eat World at the Austin Music Hall, Thursday, Sept. 12.)

(Wiretap Scars)

(The Fall on Deaf Ears)

This article appears in September 6 • 2002.