Wed, Nov 11

Rickshaw Stop + Popscene co-present

SPARTA

Public Opinion

7 pm doors

$20 advance / $25 at door / $85 VIP meet & greet

all ages

SPARTA - It all started with John Candy. Some 31 years after the comedian’s death, Jim Ward was watching a documentary about him, and in it Macaulay Culkin—who had starred in a number of films with the late actor—said something that really stuck with the musician. So much so, in fact, that, after months of pondering and overthinking what Sparta’s sixth full-length album would be named, Ward decided that those very words—“cut a silhouette”—should be the title. “He said that when he met John Candy, he just entered your brain and cut a silhouette,” says Ward. “Like, he just left an impression is the way I see it. And when I heard him say that, I was like ‘Oh! That’s what I want this record to be.’ I want it to leave an impression. At this point in my career, that's what I yearn for. I'm working so hard to make something meaningful to me, and I really want people to get a chance to feel it as well.”

Public Opinion 's new EP Perpetual Motion Machine is a promising start to their next chapter, drawing more melody out of the band’s primal punk while keeping the unhinged glint that makes their music so compelling. Public Opinion–Hart, drummer Austin Latare, guitarists Kevin Johnson and Brent Liseth, and bassist Sebastian Stanley–emerged from the Denver, Colorado, hardcore scene in 2020 and have evolved from spunky proto-punks into an anthemic rock & roll powerhouse. Perpetual Motion Machine follows the band’s debut album, Painted On Smile, which came out last year and drew praise from the likes of Stereogum, BrooklynVegan, Paste Magazine, and more. The new songs were recorded by Christian Gutierrez and mixed by Brett Romnes (Anxious, Oso Oso, I Am The Avalanche) and they pick up where Painted On Smile left off, dialing up the band’s catchy and confrontational blend.