AZCentral.com 10.17.04

'Futures' is now for Jimmy Eat World fans

The Arizona Republic
Oct. 17, 2004 12:00 AM

Singer-guitarist Jim Adkins has a simple answer when asked why Jimmy Eat World chose the hard-driving Pain as the debut single from Futures, the long-awaited follow-up to the album that broke the Arizona-based group nationally.

"It's always good to come out with something rockin'," Adkins says in his low-key tone. "And I think that's definitely one of the more rockin' songs on the record."

Clocking in at a crisp three minutes, Pain finds Adkins urgently singing, "I don't feel the way I ever felt...these are hurried times," atop slicing guitar and crashing cymbals.

It rocks.

Three years in the making, Futures will reassure anyone who was starting to wonder whether Jimmy Eat World still had the desire to rock on record.

The group has toured quite a bit in the interim, but Adkins and his three bandmates quietly bided their time on the new CD.

They weren't about to rush things, given the fact that Futures is the first Jimmy Eat World disc recorded with millions of fans waiting.

"We've been a band for 10 years and this is our fourth real record," says Adkins, 28. "But I think that we've kept in mind that more people were waiting for this one."

One listen to the album, in stores Tuesday, confirms that the extra time (and money) spent in studios in Tucson and Los Angeles was a wise investment.

Masterfully produced by studio heavyweight Gil Norton, the album finds Jimmy Eat World sanding off most of its punk edges in favor of sweet pop vocals and retro guitar.

Adkins' evolution as songwriter and singer continues in a promising direction, while guitarist Tom Linton sets out to explore a new universe of sounds.

The Mesa-spawned band, which gained fame with the uplifting, MTV-friendly tune The Middle, always has known how to write a hummable hook, but this album is overflowing with them.

Adkins doesn't dispute the notion that such aggressive tracks as A Praise Chorus (from 2001's self-titled CD) or Blister (from 1999's Clarity CD) are giving way to more polished songs like Work, a compact pop creation that may be the new album's second single. (Liz Phair, another rocker flirting more with pop these days, handles guest harmonies on the song.)

After years of operating on a tight budget and learning as it recorded, the band, which performs Saturday in Tempe, now has the wherewithal to take a perfectionist approach.

"We've really gotten deep into recording our own stuff, demoing it and redoing it," Adkins says.

"I was trying to do new stuff, too. I think it should sound a little different."

That search for sonic growth spurred the band to part ways with longtime producer Mark Trombino. He was replaced by Norton, who has worked with the Pixies, Foo Fighters, Counting Crows and Dashboard Confessional.

That move paid off: Jimmy Eat World's music has never sounded so focused.

Such rockers as the CD's title track and Just Tonight wrap Adkins' pristine vocals in layers of guitar that hark back to the sounds of early U2 or the Cars.

Linton counts as a stroke of luck a decision by the band - which also includes bassist Rick Burch and drummer Zach Lind - to record many of its guitar parts at a Tucson studio connected with a shop called Rainbow Guitars.

"They had so many guitars just laying around, and old amps. I was given a lot of stuff to try," Linton, 29, recalls.

Like Adkins, Linton continues to hone his talents. Many of the new songs, including Pain and Just Tonight, employ "less is more" guitar work.

The CD's most haunting track is the ethereal Drugs or Me. It opens with subtle feedback and piano, before Adkins' sugary vocals float in.

"Keep my heart somewhere where the drugs don't go," he sings to "the stranger next to me."

Adkins, who lives in Tempe with his wife and young son, says the song was addressed to someone who was "losing themselves in being selfish."

"I think everyone is forced to do that sometimes, (consider) whether or not to cut off the emotional ties with someone...because they're not willing to let themselves get better."

Adkins and Linton say that when they write, they try to put musical trends or formulas out of their minds.

Adkins adds, "You do much better work when you're working for yourself, and we just never put much stock into the greater image picture.You can drive yourself crazy worrying about the wrong stuff."

Judging from the latest album they've crafted for their expectant fans, the members of Jimmy Eat World have little to worry about when this CD hits the streets.

by: Larry Rodgers, The Arizona Republic