Gathering songs from limited-release EPs as well as brand new compositions, the album Quiet In The Valley, On The Shores The End Begins marks the first full-length release under the Jim Ward moniker. Jim looks back on the lead-up to the album’s release, and looks forward to once again touring Australia as a solo artist. “Well first up it’s just going to be me – me and a guitar, which I did about a year and a half ago as well,” Jim reveals. “Actually, I came over for Soundwave too, so this will be my third time. Mostly I play songs from this record and the Sleepercar record ( West Texas), and I guess I have some Sparta songs I usually do, too.”
Though it will be just Jim onstage when he visits Melbourne this week, his full-length extends beyond the solo-acoustic setup. “There’s definitely extra stuff for sure. It starts with me and acoustic and then I sort of just build layer upon layer. I have some guests come and play some stuff. Also the record comes with a disc which has six electric versions of the songs. It’s mostly me and a guitar and, you know, there’s some ukulele on one song and there’s some percussion. Then at the very end of the record there’s a full band for the last 30 seconds, which is regular bass and drums. Tegan, from Tegan And Sarah, sings on a song. Then it’s a case of whatever’s sitting around the studio, really. I don’t make a clear distinction with acoustic versus electric, it’s about the overall vibe,” he ponders. “We’re touring in the States right now with a full band, and will hopefully bring the full band to Australia in your summertime.”
With Sleepercar seemingly functioning as a solo outlet, it’s curious to find Jim establishing another project eponymously. But the separation from the Sleepercar project has a perfunctory motivation behind it. “Essentially I’m making the distinction at this point so I can release all the EPs I’ve been working on for so many years, and then I’ll go back to play in Sleepercar or whatever. I can tour by myself, but Sleepercar could never tour without the band. So I’ll come to Australia by myself and sort of set up a plan for coming back with the band. You know what I mean? I’m sort of like the scout, the surveyor,” he laughs.
Juggling so many acts concurrently surely must raise some conflict when it comes to performing and recording. But as Jim explains, that’s not really the case with his projects. “I don’t really think about it too much, it’s usually whatever phase I’m in – I’ll work on that project. Say when I was doing Sleepercar and Sparta at the same time – you start working and you know you’re making a Sparta record, so if anything kind of comes out of that writing session that doesn’t fit with that record then you just put it on the shelf,” he explains. “You can bring it back and forth. I have songs that I’ve been working in for six or seven years at this point that aren’t on anything, so sometimes they just sit in the shelf forever.”
Purveying a myriad of strains of guitar-based music for a number of years, ranging from the harsh post-hardcore thrashings of At The Drive-In to his stripped back solo work, Jim has exurted a fair amount of effort in acquiring an extensive collection of instruments. “I did have a good guitar selection. I sold some stuff of a few years ago when I decided that the guitars needed to be played. I had a closet full of guitars and I got rid of a bunch of stuff. Last year in San Antario our trailer got stolen and I lost all those guitars, which was awful. So now I’m pretty much back to the guitar that I wrote the first At The Drive-In record with. Which is kind of cool – I’ve just gone back to playing that guitar. My collection has been slimmed down a whole lot.”
That sense of heartbreak still rings true today, though he remains wistful. “I’m still devastated; I lost the guitar I played throughout the Drive-In and Sparta. Plus this is the second time I’ve been robbed. But this time, it was everything. It was bad. But you know, at the end of the day it’s a guitar – it’s not a person, not a friend, it’s a guitar. I have all the memories.”
