Jimmy Eat World gaben im Rahmen des 2 days a week-Festivals in Wiesen zum Ausklang des Sommers ihr Livedebüt in Österreich, der perfekte Anlass für ein Interview. So traf ich einige Stunden vor ihrem Auftritt Drummer Zach Lind und Bassist Rick Burch zum entspannten Talk im Tourbus.

 

 

FM5: You´ve never played in Austria before. I was taking a look at the tourplan on your homepage and I´ve seen that you come over to Europe for only two concerts, one in Austria (which we are very proud of) and one in Switzerland. Why did you decide to make just 2 European gigs and why Austria and Switzerland?

 

Zach: I think what happened is, we got initially offered to play a few festivals in Germany. And then we got offered to play these shows in Austria and Switzerland and the German shows got cancelled. So originally we got to do four shows and then two of these got cancelled, so it´s now two shows. But it´s cool to be here for the first time.

 

Wir finden´s auch cool, dass die Band für nur zwei Konzerte diesen langen Weg auf sich genommen hat. Jimmy Eat World (kurz JEW) stammen aus Arizona, und das liegt bekanntlich nicht gerade um´s Eck.

Gegründet wurde JEW 1993 und seit 1994 bestehen sie in unveränderter Besetzung: Jim Adkins (Gesang, Gitarre), Tom Linton (Gitarre, Gesang), Zach Lind (Drums), Rick Burch (Bass). Von lediglich 2000 verkauften Exemplaren ihres 1994 veröffentlichten Debütalbums hat es die Band bis zu ihrem bis dato 5. Album „Futures“ zu mittlerweile millionenfachen Albumverkäufen gebracht. Die Punk- und Hardcorewurzeln ihrer Anfänge wichen bald einem melodischerem Sound. Mit dem 99er Album „Clarity“, dem bisher sicherlich spannendsten und verspieltesten in ihrer Karriere, gelang der Band ein Emo/Indierock-Meisterwerk, und die daraus stammende Single „Lucky Denver Mint“ machte JEW auch in Österreich bekannt. Ihren ganz großen Durchbruch hatte die Band schließlich mit dem Nachfolger „Bleed American“, wo sie wieder in eine härtere Gangart zurückschalteten, allerdings ohne die Mitsingtauglichkeit zu senken. Im Gegenteil, mit Songs wie „The Middle“ oder „A Praise Chorus“ perfektionierte das Quartett die Verschmelzung von harten Rockriffs und zündenden Melodien – gerne auch als „Emo-Rock“ bezeichet. Womit wir beim bisher letzten JEW-Streich „Futures“ angelangt wären, das den Weg des Vorgängers konsequent fortsetzt.

  

FM5: Your latest album is called „Futures“, and in the song of the same title there´s the opening line „I always believed in Futures…”, are you in general more optimistic or pessimistic persons?

 

Rick: I think in general we´re more optimistic people. You know we like to think that things are improving and getting better.

Zach: I think in a certain sense it´s kind of both, you´re sort of pessimistic at the same time you´re optimistic. I mean I think it´s individual. We would love to believe that things will be getting better and we hope that that´s the case but at the same time there´s always sort of evidence of the contrary wherever you go around the globe. So it´s kind of both in a way.

 

FM5: Speaking of Futures, what are the future plans of JEW, when will there be a new album, will it go in the same musical direction as “Futures”?

  

Rick: Hopefully it will be finished recording in the next few months and have it ready to be released next year if everything goes well, fingers crossed.

Zach: I think it´s going to be a little bit different. I think that “Futures” was more a darker kind of record for us. And I think it´s going to be a little more upbeat in a certain sense. It´s going to be maybe a little more fun. So I think it´s kind of a bounce back. “Futures” was kind of like a little bit heavy and dark, so this next one will be a little more “light hard” and fun in a sense.

  

FM5: When you listen to JEW-albums you can always find different styles of songs, from heavy rocking songs to catchy pop songs to beautiful heartwrenching songs. How does it come to this great combination, does it depend on who is writing the song or do all of you like different kinds of music?

  

Zach: Ever since we started we always had all different kinds of songs on a record and it´s sort of a good way to keep it interesting and more challenging in a way. I´m not sure if that is something that we talk about eventually, like “we need to have all these different kinds of songs”. I think in the past we never really tried to make a record like all the songs kind of sound similar. We haven´t been afraid of having a mix of all the different kinds of songs on a record.

 

 FM5: How is the songwriting process in the band. Are the songs written together or is always one person responsible for a song?

  

Zach: Usually Jim (Adkins, Anm.) comes up with the meat of the song, the basic idea and direction of the song. And then as the band records the song and we start kind of forming it, you know the other three guys are contributing elements that sometimes totally reshape the song and sometimes it´s pretty similar to what Jim was steering at. So it kind of depends.

 

FM5: What about “Goodbye Sky Harbour” for example, a song I like very much, was it planned to be such a long piece of music (about 16 minutes long)?

  

Rick: That just happened in the studio. We were recording that group of songs and then we came to that song and it was the last song that we recorded. And we said “Hey why not just go and see where this one goes when we keep going!” And so we just kept adding and going and going and going and going and going… (lacht) That was a lot of fun though. I remember Zach was playing and we started slowing down the tape when we recorded one part of his drums. So, slowing the tape down he was playing for how long…?

Zach: Half hour. Rick: 30 minutes straight, non-stop. And then he finished like drenched. (lacht)

 

FM5: How is your band structure like? In many bands there´s often one person who is responsible for important decisions. Is it like that in JEW or is JEW more a democratic band?

 

Zach: Yes, I think so. We don´t really allow one person in the band to make big decisions. Before we decide everyone is able to decline or except. But I think a lot of times we see, each of us sees a lot of the opportunities we face in the same way. For the most part I think there´s a lot of consent or disagreement. You know, here´s an opportunity, do we do it or not do it? I think it´s always good as a band to make sure everyone is satisfied with what´s going on.

 

FM5: On your homepage, on the message board someone posted “We need Tom” meaning that Tom Linton was also singing lead vocals on some songs on earlier albums. Why doesn´t he do that anymore? Are there plans that he´ll sing lead vocals again on a JEW song or is it because Jim´s voice has become the trademark of the band?

 

Rick: I don´t know. I would like to hear some more Tom songs too but he´s saving them up for something I don´t know. (lacht) He hasn´t come forward with many lately.

FM5: That means he only sings his own songs?

Rick: Yes, all the songs Tom writes Tom sings and all the songs Jim writes Jim sings.

 

FM5: As far as I know you recorded “Bleed American” on your own without being signed to record label. How did you manage that, without getting financial support from a label for recording, etc.?

 

Zach: It was largely just we were able to manage that through going on the road and making money on the road and saving it and just kind of pinching our pennies. And we did a few licensing deals, one with a label in Japan called Toys Factory that we licensed some records to. So we were able to do some things that allowed us to save up some money. And another really important thing was that our producer Mark Trombino basically worked for free. And so we were able to pay for him later on. Without Mark we wouldn´t have been able to make the record.

 

FM5: When did you first realise that you have good musical skills and decide that you want to make music for a living?

 

Rick: Well, we never thought that we were able to do that for a living. We all just played because just to play music. It was always just a for fun thing and then suddenly it turned to “wow, we´re actually making money”. You know you always have that childhood dream but it always seems so unattainable that you don´t really focus on that alone. But you always think, “wow it would be really cool if that happened”. And then it ended up happening, so it´s really cool. (lacht)

 

FM5: Do you have a favourite JEW-album or song?

 

Zach: It changes for me. I don´t really have like a favourite, it depends on whatever I feel like listening to. But hopefully the next album will be something that we see as just as good as the other ones.

Rick: For me I like to play “Futures” live, that´s just a lot of fun, the “jogging”. (lacht)

 

FM5: Do you have a personal musical hero, a band that you really adore?

 

Zach: I´ve always been a big fan of U2. As I grew up I listened to them a lot, I listened to R.E.M. a lot. There´s sort of like growing up and learning music. And also learning a bit about drums, there were two bands I listened to probably the most. Rick, do you have any…

Rick: Yes, I listened to Green Day a lot when I was younger and it was really cool that we went on tour with them and be able to hang out with them. And actually sharing a stage with them was a really cool thing and I had a lot of fun.

 

FM5: And did you ever think of doing a collaboration with someone?

 

Zach: Maybe with Shakira. That would be fun. (lacht) But now I´m looking forward for tonight´s show, it will be fun.