Icarus and punk-pop bands have plenty in common-they both climb high for all to see, only to plummet hard when it seems they can’t get any hotter. Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance, Blink 182 … these once-ubiquitous bands are now fodder for the 99-cent mp3 bin.
So what can be said about Jimmy Eat World?
Perhaps the Arizona foursome — which has been kicking around the emo/punk-pop scene for nearly 17 years — skirts the heights of all genres, allowing it the freedom to move along undeterred. Or maybe the band’s years in the business have shown it how to avoid the quick burnout.
Whatever it is, it’s been working. Consisting of Jim Adkins (lead vocals, guitar), Rich Burch (bass), Zach Lind (drummer) and Tom Linton (guitar, vocals), Jimmy Eat World is primed for the release of its seventh studio album, Invented, and a worldwide tour starting this month in Atlanta. Linton took time out of his busy schedule to discuss the inspiration of photography books, singing on the new album, and how hot weather makes for better musicians.
What can you tell me about Invented?
The last record we did I think we got pretty crazy with production. We were happy with how it turned out, but with this record we tried a more stripped down version. We didn’t go as crazy. When Jim came down to writing lyrics, he took it in a different direction than he’s ever done before. One day we were at practice and he opened up this Cindy Sherman book, she’s a photographer, and he said, “Hey guys, you want to know how I came up with each song? I would flip the book to a different page and would write a song based on the expression she had on her face and her surroundings.” I thought that was kind of interesting. That is different. What wasn’t different was working with Mark Trombino again.
How did that go? I know it’s been several years since you last worked with him. Was it a get to know you again phase or did you jump right into it?
We jumped right into it. We did a Clarity 10-year anniversary tour and he ended up coming to a show and we talked with him for a little bit. It turned out he wasn’t busy when we were going to start our record. When we recorded Futures we started with Mark, but when we went into the studio we weren’t ready to record and I don’t think he was ready, we had some bad vibes leaving that.
But we made up and we’re happy with how this album turned out.
One of the interesting aspects of the album is you’re the lead singer on one of the songs. Has your approach to singing changed since you last sang lead for the band?
You know we never sat around and said “Alright, I’m gonna sing on this record.” Jim will write a song and the band will say, “Tom you sing vocals on this one” and sometimes I will and it doesn’t turn out. Then Jim will sing one and it doesn’t turn out and then I’ll sing the song. It all switches.
Is that how it worked on the song you sang on Invented?
Yeah. Jim had a melody idea and some lyrics but he was bogged down with so many other songs. So Zach said, “Tom why don’t you give it a shot and see if you can finish it.” I ended up putting lyrics to it and it made the cut.
I saw where the band had flirted with leaving the label and putting the album out yourselves. Why did you choose to stay with the label?
We’ve had a pretty good history with Interscope. We’ve become friends with a lot of the people — each city has a person who works the radio stations and we’ve become friends with all of them — and we decided it would be the best thing for us to stay on for this record. We’ll see how it goes — if we want to resign with them or even if they want to resign us (laughs).
What is your take on the music business today, it’s changed quite a bit since you guys started out.
We don’t let it get us down if we’re not selling records. We try to focus on writing the best songs we can and making sure for touring that we’re prepared and have all the best people we can get to do the sound. I think for a lot of bands their main concern is trying to get signed to a label, but these days you could put it out yourself and be successful doing that.
Your band is from Arizona and the band takes pride in that. What is it about where you come from that comes out in your music?
It’s so hot in the summer it’s almost unbearable to go outside. When I was younger starting to play music I would just lock myself in my room and play guitar all day because it was just so hot. When we first started we would practice long hours — we started out a Zach’s parents house practicing during the day and then go to Jim’s parents house. It was something to keep us busy during those hot days.
But they say it’s a dry heat.
Yeah, it’s still really hot.
Practice does make perfect.
It sure does.
What can you attribute to the band’s longevity, aside from staying out of the heat. It’s been almost 20 years now.
We get along — and that’s a big one. But we have fans that want to hear more music and they keep coming back to our shows. The fact that people are still interested in what we’ve been doing makes all the difference.
