Jimmy Eat World is an American rock band formed in Mesa, Arizona, in 1993. The band is composed of vocalist and lead guitarist Jim Adkins, rhythm guitarist and vocalist Tom Linton, bassist Rick Burch, and drummer Zach Lind. They have released ten studio albums, all but the first featuring the current line-up.
The four-piece's commercial breakthrough came with the release of several singles from their album Bleed American (2001), four of which charted within the top 20 positions of the Alternative Songs chart, with "The Middle" reaching No. 1. Their follow-up album, Futures (2004), featured their No. 1 song "Pain".
The RIAA certified Bleed American platinum and Futures gold which sold over 1.5 million between them. The band's sixth LP, Chase This Light (2007), became their highest-charting album and peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard 200. The band released their tenth album, Surviving, in October 2019.
History
1993–1994: Formation, Jimmy Eat World, and name Jimmy Eat World formed in 1993 in Mesa, Arizona. Front man Jim Adkins and drummer Zach Lind, who had been friends since preschool, joined guitarist Tom Linton and bassist Mitchel Porter to try their hand at music. They originally formed with a punk rock sound and first released a demo tape in 1993, followed by a debut EP titled One, Two, Three, Four in 1994. Their debut self-titled album (1994) was released with Linton singing most of the lead vocals on the album. Within the span of a couple of years, the band recorded and released three singles and a full-length album on local label Wooden Blue Records.
During their formative period the band claimed as influences such pop-punk bands as Mr. T Experience, Radon, and Horace Pinker.Book Your Own Fuckin' Life #3: Do-It-Yourself Resource Guide. San Francisco, CA: Maximum Rocknroll, 1994; pg. 3.
The band's name came from a crayon drawing made after an incident between Linton's younger brothers, Jim and Ed Linton, who fought frequently. Jim usually won, but Ed sought revenge by drawing a picture of Jim shoving the Earth into his mouth; Ed captioned the picture "Jimmy eat world". Linton: "Actually, it's a picture that my little brother drew ... probably five years ago. My brother Jim beat up my younger brother Ed, and Jim ran into his room and locked his door, and Ed drew this picture that said "Jimmy Eat World", and it was a picture of him eating the world."
1995–1997: Static Prevails
Eventually, spurred by bands such as Sunny Day Real Estate, the band began to experiment with slower tempos and more varied song structures. As they began writing songs and touring in the indie scene, the band encountered like-minded bands, such as Christie Front Drive, Sense Field, and Seven Storey Mountain, that were working on similar sounds.
With several records released and consistent touring, the band attracted the attention of Capitol Records. They signed to Capitol in mid-1995. Just prior to signing with the label, bass player Mitchel Porter was replaced by Linton's friend Rick Burch.
After a brief scouting for producers, the band joined up with Drive Like Jehu drummer Mark Trombino and Wes Kidd from Triple Fast Action to record its major-label debut Static Prevails that featured their first singles "Call It in the Air" and "Rockstar". In the ensuing years, the band's agreement with Capitol permitted the release of singles on independent labels, including split 7-inch singles with Christie Front Drive (Wooden Blue Records, 1995), Jejune (Big Wheel Recreation, 1997), Blueprint (Abridged Records, 1996), Sense Field, and Mineral.
1998–1999: Clarity
Following the release of Static Prevails, Jimmy Eat World were dissatisfied with their business relationship with Capitol and wanted to leave the label. However, Capitol still wanted the band to record another album. From late-1998 to early-1999, the band recorded their third studio album Clarity at two studios: Sound City Studios (Van Nuys, California) and Clear Lake Audio (North Hollywood, California). The tracks were mixed at One on One Studios (Los Angeles) and Music Grinder Studios, and were mastered at Bernie Grundman Mastering (Hollywood). Both the band and Trombino produced the album, with the latter also responsible for the album's mixing duties. Clarity marks the start of Adkins' primary role as lead vocalist with Linton's focus on guitar work. Clarity was also released on vinyl through the now-defunct American independent record label Big Wheel Recreation.
The third album contained the single "Lucky Denver Mint" and a radio remix of the song was featured in the film Never Been Kissed. The album's closing song "Goodbye Sky Harbor" is based on the John Irving novel A Prayer for Owen Meany. Overlooked upon its release, Clarity has since amassed cult status and critical acclaim.
2000–2003: Bleed American
The band decided to record its next album without the help of a label, supporting itself with touring and by compiling its previously released singles into Singles, which was released on indie label Big Wheel Recreation. The band also took on day jobs, saving as much as they could to spend on the sessions.Mehr, Bob. "In between tightly budgeted tours, Linton worked construction, while Adkins sold art supplies, Burch shipped auto parts and Lind shuttled customers at a car dealership." They worked for a third time with Trombino, who agreed to defer payment until after the album's release in order to keep costs down. Some of the drum tracks were recorded at Cherokee, and then the band moved to Doug Messenger's Hard Drive Analog and Digital studios in North Hollywood, where five weeks of tracking completed the recording phase. Trombino then mixed the record at Extasy in Hollywood. Adkins saw the band's goal for the album as "writing and playing the most precise, simple pop rock possible".
The finished album was titled Bleed American. Joining with Gersh's new management company, GAS Entertainment, the band scouted for a new label. The band eventually signed with DreamWorks Records. The completed album was released in July 2001, which included a vinyl edition through the now-defunct Grand Royal label, founded by the Beastie Boys in 1993. The title track (named "Salt Sweat Sugar" in the UK) was the lead single. The album's second single, "The Middle", became the band's biggest single to date, reaching number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The video for the song received significant airplay on MTV, including on Total Request Live. The album was certified platinum by the RIAA. Following the September 11 attacks, the band decided to re-issue the album as Jimmy Eat World out of concern that the title Bleed American might be misinterpreted, possibly as a threatening "bleed, American".Hancock, Todd. "Jimmy Eat World's Jim and Tom vs Todd Hancock". CFOX. October 30, 2007. Adkins: "It was something that we decided around September 14 that we wanted to do. ... We wanted people to listen to the record with as unbiased a viewpoint as they can bring into it so they could make the songs what they will for themselves and we just felt like that maybe the album title would get in the way of that." That year the band performed at Edgefest II in Toronto, Canada.. Chart Attack, August 27, 2001. Review By Keith Carman
In 2008, the album was re-released as a deluxe edition and renamed to its original title, Bleed American. This edition contains a total of 32 tracks—the original 11 as well as 21 bonus tracks, which are live recordings, demos and B-sides.
2004–2006: Futures
After lengthy touring in support of Bleed American, the band regrouped to work on the follow-up in early 2004. Once again, the band joined up with Trombino, but the collaboration was short lived. As the sessions began, the band decided that they did not have enough material for a cohesive album. The band's desire to spend more time writing songs conflicted with Trombino's availability, who already had other projects on his schedule.
Instead, the band brought in producer Gil Norton, well known for his work with the Pixies and the Foo Fighters. Lind explained in 2007, "After we left the studio with Trombino, we came up with 'Polaris', 'Work', 'Pain', [and] '23' – the songs that really gave Futures its heartbeat." Futures was released in October 2004, with "Pain" serving as the lead single.
In November 2003, Universal Music Group agreed to purchase DreamWorks Records from DreamWorks Pictures for roughly $100 million. The label was eventually shut down in January 2005. During 2004, various DreamWorks artists were reassigned to different labels at Universal, including Interscope Records, which is where Jimmy Eat World were assigned to.
In the months following the release of Futures, "Work" and the title track were released as singles. Having already toured the US alone and with Taking Back Sunday, the band signed on to tour in 2005 with Green Day. In September 2005, the band released the Stay on My Side Tonight EP, which contained reworked versions of demos recorded with producer Mark Trombino that were not used for the album. The album was eventually awarded Gold status in the US by the RIAA.
2007–2008: Chase This Light
After its tour, Jimmy Eat World headed home to Tempe and started working on material for a sixth album. The band decided to self-produce the album, enlisting Chris Testa (Dixie Chicks) and John Fields (Switchfoot, Mandy Moore) as co-producers and Butch Vig (Nirvana, Garbage, The Smashing Pumpkins, Green Day) as executive producer. As Burch explained to the St. Petersburg Times, "[Vig's] role wasn't in the studio everyday. We would send Butch samples of what we were doing every couple of days." Chase This Light was released on October 16, 2007, with "Big Casino" as the lead single. "Always Be" was the last single off the album, released in December 2007.
2009–2012: Invented
On June 13, 2008, the band revealed that they would begin work on their seventh album later that year and would also consider, upon the expiration of their contract with Interscope, self-releasing the record. Jimmy Eat World performed a tour in early 2009 to commemorate the tenth anniversary of Clarity, completing 10 stops across the US, performing the entire record on each occasion.
On March 22, 2010, the band stated that they were in the process of mixing the next album. The band also revealed that, for the first time since Clarity, the album would contain a song with lead vocals provided by original vocalist Linton. On June 7, 2010, Jimmy Eat World stated on Twitter: "Our new album is officially done. Now we wait for a release date. We'll keep you posted." Invented, the follow-up album after Chase This Light, was released on September 28, 2010, on Interscope Records, a date that was previously announced on July 14, 2010, in a Jimmy Eat World Twitter update.
2013–2015: Damage
In October 2011, Adkins announced that the band would be writing and recording for their next album. Lind stated in a Twitter post that the band will begin recording its next album during the latter part of August 2012 and, on September 5, 2012, another Twitter post stated that recording had begun for the eighth studio album with engineer/producer Alain Johannes.
On October 5, 2012, Jimmy Eat World posted on Twitter that the band had completed recording its eighth album and that the recording was being mixed at that time; the mastering process then commenced after a November 30, 2012, Twitter update indicated that the mixing process had been completed. On January 29, 2013, Jimmy Eat World stated on both its Twitter and Facebook profiles that the eighth studio album was "officially mastered and sequenced". In a Twitter post on Lind's individual profile, the drummer revealed that, as of January 29, 2013, the band was still seeking out a record label for the release of the eighth album. Lind briefly responded to a fan's query with the following: "@CallumSty no announcement coming soon. still looking for a label."