Jimmy Eat World
Chasing a Dimming Light?
2007-10-08
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Jimmy Eat World have been around for over 15 years, recording, touring and becoming indie rock heavyweights along the way. They’ve proven themselves time and again with each album’s creativity and innovation. They have a lot riding on their shoulders with their sixth studio full-length, Chase This Light, if they want to blow their fans away like they did with Clarity. Jim Adkins took some time to answer a few questions for Synthesis.net about the new album, starting off in a relatively small town, and everything in between.
It’s close to 1:30 PM, about a half-hour after the scheduled time I was supposed to get a call from Adkins, frontman for the Mesa, AZ, quartet. It’s not enough that I feel unprepared, but now I’ve got to sit and wait for what is surely going to be a mostly improvised and highly awkward interview.
I was supposed to get a stream link to Chase This Light almost a week ago, but haven’t. Instead, the band’s publicist said he sent it to me the day of the interview but it never showed up. So, needless to say, things feel a little hectic. The publicist calls close to two o’clock and says he’s dialing Adkins.
Almost the first words out of Adkins’ mouth are, “Things are getting crazy.” I assume things are worse on his end than mine considering the release of their sixth full-length is in less than two weeks, and I’m sure he’s done a hundred interviews already. In fact, I'm almost positive. The slow responses he gives hint that he’s tired of answering questions. He speaks with caution the way someone burnt out from a hard day’s work would, reiterating responses for the most accurate of explanations. This makes an interview, especially one over the phone, difficult; you’re not sure if your interviewee is done answering or just pausing to think.
Jimmy Eat World started as a punk band in Mesa, and almost from conception has been on major labels like Capitol, DreamWorks and now Interscope.
“When we first started playing we were basically just recreating our music collection,” Adkins says.
When the band starting doing something more than just messing around in a garage, they started playing shows.
“We’d show up to a venue for a show we booked ourselves with four or five hardcore bands on the bill,” Adkins says. “We’d have our Capitol gear, but we were doing the same shit those kids were doing.” He jokingly adds, “It’s not a Kanye video. It’s very un-pampered [being on a major label].”
But being on a major label has afforded them the opportunity to work with musician/producer Butch Vig (Sonic Youth, Smashing Pumpkins, Nirvana). With his help, Jimmy Eat World have created their “vision,” as Adkins puts it.
“There are some producers who take a band’s album and turn it into their thing,” Adkins begins. “Butch wasn’t like that. Working with him was great. He was our Mr. Miyagi. He really wanted to help us make our album, not his.”
Recording for the album took under a year to finish, with the band sending bits and pieces of the album to Vig in Los Angeles over the Internet and a constant back and forth relationship of flying to and from LA and Arizona.
Chase This Light was recorded completely in the band’s home in Arizona at a tracking studio they bought just for this album.
“We wanted to take this opportunity to use our budget and buy equipment and instruments,” Adkins says. “We wanted to have a place that would serve as rehearsal studio as well as some place we could record in the future.” And it shows on the album. Chase This Light is crisp and clear with subtle nuances that carry throughout the album. The snapping of fingers and church choir-like chorus lines fill the background, turning many of the songs into a wall of sound, rounding out the edges. Although it’s good that they took the time to fill in what might have felt like empty space, the album suffers from over-production. The album wasn’t this author’s cup of tea, but Jimmy Eat World has always toed the line between commerciality and honest songwriting. You can find out for yourself October 16th when Chase This Light is released.
It’s close to 1:30 PM, about a half-hour after the scheduled time I was supposed to get a call from Adkins, frontman for the Mesa, AZ, quartet. It’s not enough that I feel unprepared, but now I’ve got to sit and wait for what is surely going to be a mostly improvised and highly awkward interview.
I was supposed to get a stream link to Chase This Light almost a week ago, but haven’t. Instead, the band’s publicist said he sent it to me the day of the interview but it never showed up. So, needless to say, things feel a little hectic. The publicist calls close to two o’clock and says he’s dialing Adkins.
Almost the first words out of Adkins’ mouth are, “Things are getting crazy.” I assume things are worse on his end than mine considering the release of their sixth full-length is in less than two weeks, and I’m sure he’s done a hundred interviews already. In fact, I'm almost positive. The slow responses he gives hint that he’s tired of answering questions. He speaks with caution the way someone burnt out from a hard day’s work would, reiterating responses for the most accurate of explanations. This makes an interview, especially one over the phone, difficult; you’re not sure if your interviewee is done answering or just pausing to think.
Jimmy Eat World started as a punk band in Mesa, and almost from conception has been on major labels like Capitol, DreamWorks and now Interscope.
“When we first started playing we were basically just recreating our music collection,” Adkins says.
When the band starting doing something more than just messing around in a garage, they started playing shows.
“We’d show up to a venue for a show we booked ourselves with four or five hardcore bands on the bill,” Adkins says. “We’d have our Capitol gear, but we were doing the same shit those kids were doing.” He jokingly adds, “It’s not a Kanye video. It’s very un-pampered [being on a major label].”
But being on a major label has afforded them the opportunity to work with musician/producer Butch Vig (Sonic Youth, Smashing Pumpkins, Nirvana). With his help, Jimmy Eat World have created their “vision,” as Adkins puts it.
“There are some producers who take a band’s album and turn it into their thing,” Adkins begins. “Butch wasn’t like that. Working with him was great. He was our Mr. Miyagi. He really wanted to help us make our album, not his.”
Recording for the album took under a year to finish, with the band sending bits and pieces of the album to Vig in Los Angeles over the Internet and a constant back and forth relationship of flying to and from LA and Arizona.
Chase This Light was recorded completely in the band’s home in Arizona at a tracking studio they bought just for this album.
“We wanted to take this opportunity to use our budget and buy equipment and instruments,” Adkins says. “We wanted to have a place that would serve as rehearsal studio as well as some place we could record in the future.” And it shows on the album. Chase This Light is crisp and clear with subtle nuances that carry throughout the album. The snapping of fingers and church choir-like chorus lines fill the background, turning many of the songs into a wall of sound, rounding out the edges. Although it’s good that they took the time to fill in what might have felt like empty space, the album suffers from over-production. The album wasn’t this author’s cup of tea, but Jimmy Eat World has always toed the line between commerciality and honest songwriting. You can find out for yourself October 16th when Chase This Light is released.
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