Jimmy Eat World – Interview [2004]

The road to success is not an easy one-but some handle its hurdles better than others. In 2001 Jimmy Eat World was a widely adored but criminally underappreciated band capable of drawing capacity crowds all over the world, but unable to find a record deal to their liking. Having just been unceremoniously spit out of the major label machinery, the band opted to record a new album entirely on its own dime and let labels come a-calling-or not-after the fact. The gambit more than paid off, with the resultant Bleed American (later re-titled Jimmy Eat World), yielding the hits “The Middle” and “Sweetness,” an ultimately selling over 1.3 million copies in the U.S. By the time two full years of touring had wound down, they’d made triumphant breakthroughs everywhere from Saturday Night Live to a sold out Brixton Academy, been nominated for an MTV Video Music Award, seen their name on Blender and Alternative Press’ Best Albums of 2001, SPIN and USA Today’s Best Singles of 2002, and been awarded an Album of the Week by People and a spot on Rolling Stone’s annual Hot List.

Not bad for a little band from Mesa, Arizona. But then came the problem once all your rock dreams come true, what do you do for an encore? Find out when we talk to guitarist/vocalist Tom Linton.

Is the songwriting exciting at this point or does it get tedious?

It’s fun. It’s great to see where they go from recording them in our little studio space and watching them build up into the final edit. It’s exciting.

The record is the sort of album you can listen to now and a year from now. It doesn’t wear you out.

That’s a good thing. (Laughs)

Is there a goal for the albums or do you go with whatever comes out sounding the best?

This time around we had twenty five songs and we figured out what songs would make the best record.

There is a great continuity to the record—and for me that is great. You didn’t try to get too eclectic—no rap or anything ridiculous. It seems that you guys are in a zone.

That’s cool. We like to have songs that fit within a record. The rap song that I had didn’t make the cut. (We both laugh)

With Jimmy Eat World there seems that now there are expectations of good songs. Is that a good thing or a burden?

I think it’s a good thing. Every record we try different things but we aren’t going to try and make a ska record. We do what we do and hope that people like it.

Was there pressure?

Every record we want to be better then the previous record. So there was pressure.

Then there was change from the label.

Yeah, and then there was that.

I talked to another group that said they didn’t have a label for a while when Dreamworks folded into Universal.

There were two weeks where we weren’t sure what would happen. We didn’t know if we were going to Interscope or were going to get dropped. We kept writing songs and lucky enough that Interscope picked us up.

Is it a pain in the ass dealing with the business side… because being on stage would seem to be the epitome of being in a band, but there still is that dreadful business side.

With Capitol, when we were signed with them, we did two records we were happy when they let us go. All that stuff we had gone through—we really learned a lot.

Are you excited about hitting the road?

We were in Europe and did some shows in California and it was good to get back out there.

I really liked “23” and “Night Drive”—I especially liked that my favorite songs were the last songs. Usually you get four songs into an album and after that everything else stinks but this stays good until the end.

“Night Drive” and “23” are my favorite songs too—but you know they are the kind of songs you’ll never hear on the radio. But there is something different and great about them.

What’s it like when fans come up and tell you that a song has affected their lives.

I had someone tell me that they had an accident listening to the song. But we’ve had people tell us that some songs have changed their lives. It’s amazing.

I’ll hear a song and I pretty much remember moments in my life.

Yeah like your junior high dance. (We both laugh)

(For about ten minutes we get lost in conversation about ourselves that wasn’t really relevant to the interview—but interesting to us nonetheless. Sorry it wasn’t included but it would just bore readers. We pick it back up here.)

When you are recording do you have to shut it off—listening to other groups?

I always keep listening to music. Jim said that he doesn’t listen to things before he goes into the studio, but I don’t think I could go without it.

Do you ever listen to something and you think ‘damn, this is so good.”

It’s not competitive and I will take… steal. (We both laugh) If I hear someone experimenting and I might utilize those ideas.

I remember Noel Gallagher from Oasis saying he was the best shoplifter in the world.

Every band borrows from other bands they just don’t like to admit it.

When you hit the road is there anything you have to have or you’ll go crazy?

I make sure I bring all my video games. (We both laugh)

What system?

Xbox.

Any games in particular?

Zach and I have Madden battles.

I could get lost playing games like that.

But I like the Sega NFL 2K5 because I know the controls really well.

That’s how I am with Madden.

(We start talking about the Buffalo Bills, my team, and the Arizona Cardinals, Tom’s team. Then the conversation turns to bands that started in Buffalo, Mesa, and Kansas City.)

It must have been exciting to get signed from such a small music scene.

Playing those shows were honestly more fun than playing giant stadiums.

Did you even have the goal of ‘let’s get signed?’

It just happened. We were just playing in Zach’s garage having fun. We didn’t send our record out to labels. They just heard about us through 7” that we put out. Capitol records came to one of our shows and signed us.

A lot of bands don’t think that is possible—to get signed that way.

I know. So many bands think they have to move to L.A. to get signed. It’s not true.

See—you can get signed without looking for it to happen.

We’re proof of that!

+ Charlie Craine