Mean Street Magazine 10.04

Jimmy Eat World
By Waleed Rashidi

"I think we expected to be able to get our records in more stores and [get] exposure to people so that they might want to go get them," says Jimmy Eat World vocalist Jim Adkins of his band?s signing to DreamWorks and the subsequent release of his previous full-length, 2001's Jimmy Eat World. "But none of us could?ve ever predicted or expected what happened after that."

he ?what happened? Adkins is referring to is the incredible transformation of Jimmy Eat World, a band that was once sliced from the ranks of Capitol Records? rock division. This was the same band whose popularity initially swelled in the emerging underground indie rock circuit. And it?s still the same group whose image was about as anonymous and inoffensive as a clean-cut university undergrad. All the aforementioned morphed into the musical powerhouse that, just a year after its DreamWorks debut hit store shelves, was awarded a Platinum record, ventured on a tireless string of tours, and dominated the nation?s mainstream modern rock airwaves and music video networks through a series of hit singles.

Not to play the game of ?we told you so,? but it?s hard to look back and ignore the immense crescendo of momentum that lead to the band?s eventual eruption in popularity. Perennial faves in the media, the Tempe, Ariz.-based foursome certainly had a few cards stacked in their favor before the self-titled album?s launch (originally titled Bleed American). Mean Street ran the August 2001 cover story that hit the streets around the time that effort hit store shelves, and the Eat Worlds even landed a cover inset photo (December 1998) before the release of 1999?s Clarity.

This month, Jimmy Eat World is poised to show another solid hand of cards with the release of Futures, the band?s first full-length since their breakthrough. Much has changed in the rock music scene since the explosion of emo, indie, screamo, melodic hardcore and the like, plus changes in the industry at large. In fact, the very label Jimmy Eat World was signed to ? DreamWorks ? dissolved into Interscope, after some corporate re-shuffling.

Regardless of such changes, the foursome (vocalist/guitarist Adkins, guitarist/vocalist Tom Linton, bassist Rick Burch and drummer Zach Lind) have been right there to roll with the punches ? even charting a new direction with a new producer, after an initial attempt to put Futures, their fourth major-label effort, into gear with longtime producer Mark Trombino stalled. Adkins still speaks highly of Trombino: ?I really think he?s one of the best people out there making records,? the frontman says. The act simply wanted a fresh perspective this time around.

?We just got to the point where we were out of ideas, and we felt like rather than continue on into an unknown territory, we decided to get out of the studio, take a break, play some shows, kind of re-group [and] get to be a band again. And after we had done that, we just decided that it may be better to go to back to the studio with a new person."

That new person selected for the task was veteran producer Gil Norton, whose diverse resume sports albums by The Pixies, Dashboard Confessional and The Distillers, something Adkins says he found attractive.

?We liked the idea that he?s worked on so many different kinds of records,? he says. ?There?s quite a wide spectrum of music he?s worked on. He came out to Arizona, hung out with us for a couple days and we got into it with some of the demos that we?d been working on. [We] really liked his approach and he kind of sold us that we would both agree on what we quantify as good in working out songs.?

With Norton on deck, the foursome re-launched their album?s recording sessions in February, working steadily for three months and noticing the changes occurring amongst themselves, thanks in part to Norton?s direction.

?I think, like especially with Clarity and Bleed American, I sort of fell into this pattern of just like doing the least amount of flashy, excitable drum things, and really kept it very simple,? Lind recalls. ?In a way, I didn?t want to get in the way of the songs. And we started working with Gil Norton, and he was really pushing me. We were doing pre-production for the album and he was like, ?Yeah, you know, it feels kinda boring.? He was kinda challenging me, saying it?s just kinda boring, like there?s really nothing going on over there, like ?What do you got for me?? He really sort of brought out of me a sense of playing that I don?t think I had been doing in a while.?

Futures also provided a change of scenery, for it was actually the first time Adkins and company had an opportunity to work on one of their albums within their home state at a friend?s house.

?We just tracked the majority of it at [a] house in the mountains of Tucson,? Adkins recalls. ?Tucson isn?t exactly our neighborhood, but it?s just nice getting out of L.A. We?ve only recorded in California and it was nice to really do something different. It was cool, it was good.?

Futures? end result is a wide-reaching assortment of time-honored Jimmy Eat World textures and colors, encompassing all of the act?s previous efforts. The album?s first single, ?Pain,? sports progressions and choruses that offer a cousin-like kinship with ?Bleed American.? Darker, muscular Static Prevails-era moments unravel on songs like ?Nothingwrong.? And there?s plenty of Clarity-esque balladry (?Drugs Or Me?) and subtle dynamics (?Kill?) to keep longtime fans appeased.

?It think it?s really moody and we got really deep in creating the atmospheric layers that are behind all the hooks and stuff for every song,? Adkins says of Futures? sonic vibe.

Curiously enough, a decision was made ? after promotional copies were mailed out to the press ? to excise one of the session?s finest cuts, a two-and-a-half minute, three-chord pop gem titled ?Jen,? a track somewhat similar to the act?s mega hit, ?The Middle.?

?It was just the oddball song,? Adkins says. ?I think it?s the kind of tune that will stand up stronger if it?s by itself somewhere else. It just makes the record an album, I think, by not having it in there, even though it definitely is a side of what we do.?

One thing Adkins says Jimmy Eat World doesn?t do is make music for any particular group of people.

?I?ve never been into the elitist side of what some people would call punk,? he notes, ?the elitist, kind of indie vibe that you get at a lot of places in some ways. You know, in a lot of ways, your typical kid that only gets music through the radio is a lot more open-minded than some of the people that claim to be a hardcore, independent music person. It?s strange like that.?

?We?ve never censored ourselves when we?re writing,? Adkins adds. ?It?s never about making a certain kind of record. Anything that we think is cool can be a Jimmy Eat World song, which is nice and we?ve always felt it was important to just choose the songs that we make our records from on the basis of just being good songs ... It leaves doors open in the future, I mean, we can do whatever we want. I think if people have followed us along up until now, I don?t think anything we?d do would really throw people and be something they wouldn?t like. If they already like the band, then I think that what we do is pretty much what we do. And I think it?s all over the place sometimes, but it?s what keeps us interested.?

Link To: http://www.meanstreet.com/article.php?article_id=288&issue_id=57