Jimmy Eat World: New Game, New Sounds, New Addiction
By Louis Bedigian

"They gave each of us a free PSP that to this day I use on the road all the time."

 
On the way to the Sony party on the second night of my first E3, I wondered who would be performing on stage. I had just one wish, but I wasn't going to say it. "It'll never happen," I told myself. "This band will never be there."

Though I wasn't willing to say it, another partygoer was. "I hope it's Jimmy Eat World," she said. I concurred and kept my fingers crossed. Literally seconds after arriving, the first song began. "No way," I said under my breath as I ran to the stage. I wasn't just in Los Angeles attending the world's largest (at the time) game convention. I wasn't just getting my first glimpse of Wii and PS3, which wouldn't be playable for another year. I was also about to see one of my favorite bands perform live.

It's days like these that inspired the "icing on cake" analogy.

Having headlined Burnout 3 with a debut track (among other games), Jimmy Eat World was no stranger to video games. Even before that, I associated their music with games. While playing through Final Fantasy X, I grew tired of the repetitive battle music. Don't get me wrong – FFX has a 9.9-grade score that’s worthy of the $50 import price. But after a few hundred battles, I needed to hear something else. That something was the album formerly known as Bleed American (it's now self-titled). I can't play the game anymore without thinking of that music, especially "Hear You Me," whose music and words fit beautifully with the Final Fantasy series.

Before I knew it, every new RPG I played had a Jimmy Eat World record attached to it. I can't get on a plane without making sure my iPod is loaded with every one of their songs. And when one of their CDs gets lost in my car, you can see me flailing about like a character inflicted with a Rage or Fury spell.

When the opportunity finally came for me to interview Jimmy Eat World's Zach Lind (drummer), I had amassed a large a collection of CDs, EPs, downloads, and fond memories from one of the world's most inspired artists. Read on for our chat about the new record, their addition to Burnout Paradise, and how video games have reduced the stress of touring.

Burnout Paradise

Jimmy Eat World has a history of being in games. Burnout 3 had a debut from the album Futures, and now you've got a song from Chase This Light in Burnout Paradise. Tell us about what it was like getting into games and how it has benefited the band.

Zach Lind: I think with the Burnout Paradise song ["Electable (Give It Up)"], I think it's a cool way to get our music out there. Lots of people play video games. The kinds of fans we have, they're sort of in that age range of people who play video games. It's kind of like radio in a sense.

We're all about 30 years old, so when we started playing video games we started playing on the Atari, some of the more old-school systems. And to this day we still play video games and have a lot of fun. For us it kind of breaks up the monotony of being on the road and we can, you know, play some multiplayer games and some shoot-'em-up games and it creates a little bit more of a fun atmosphere on our bus or wherever we are.

How do you look at music going into games? Is it more supplemental to your other forms of advertising (radio, TV, etc.)?  With the introduction of the Internet, and radio and TV, which aren't what they used to be, it's all kind of dispersed. Is that one of the reasons you're happy to be in games?

ZL: Yeah, of course. Some of the other forms of getting music out there have diminished over the years. But video games are something that really make sense to be a part of, especially if it's a good game. We want to try to put our music into games that people enjoy and that are exciting.

One of the interesting things that no one talks about – it wasn't on your Web site, JimmyEatWorld.com, or anywhere else – is your performance at the Sony PlayStation party at E3 2005.

ZL: It was a cool experience. There were a lot of cool bands involved with the concert. Sony treated us really well. It was a cool outdoor show over there by Dodger Stadium. It was a fun experience, something that we are really glad we did. They gave each of us a free PSP that to this day I use on the road all the time.

What games are you into?

ZL: For my console games I typically play Xbox 360, and I'm really into Guitar Hero and Rock Band and Madden. Any kind of the EA Sports games I'm into. Call of Duty 4, Rainbow Six Las Vegas and stuff like that. On my PSP I pretty much stick to Madden and soccer and virtual tennis and stuff like that.

Call of Duty 4: making everyday monotony less monotonous.

The new record, Chase This Light, is kind of a big change from your previous work. When you go back, the change from Bleed American to Futures, and Futures to this album, or going back further, Static Prevails to Clarity, it has been a pretty big change each time. But what made you go in the direction that you took with Chase This Light? 'Cause it's not just different for Jimmy Eat World, it's a very different kind of album anywhere.

ZL: We wanted to make a record that was upbeat, optimistic and fun. That was kind of our mood at the moment. It was the first album we recorded at home from beginning to end. We recorded it in our own studio. We have a rehearsal stage... It's a cool hangout place. We were able to go home every night and sleep in our own beds and spend time with our families and then come in and record.

The whole process of doing that was incredibly fun. It made the experience of making music that much more relaxed. I think it kind of shows through in the music. We don't sit around too much and try to make a certain kind of record, we just kind of let the record make itself in a way. We don't necessarily dictate what's coming out of us. But I think the relaxed, optimistic, fun vibe of the studio really influenced the music.

It seems to me you switched producers this time?

ZL: We produced the record ourselves this time. We had an executive producer, Butch Vig, who helped us from afar. He was involved but he wasn't there day-to-day in the studio. It was our first attempt at producing our own record. So I guess that was something else that was a little bit different for the process.

Two of the really big songs from the record are “Dizzy” and “Here It Goes.” Tell us about writing those.

ZL: "Here It Goes" was a tough song. It was really different from what we had done before. We were trying to figure out how to do it and how to put it together in a way that made sense. It took us a bit to sort through the song and make it the way it [is] in the record. We're not used to doing songs like that. At some point you kind of have to force a song to be something it's not or just go with it, and make the song as good as it can be on its own terms. That's kind of what we did with that song.

"Dizzy" is a song that we had put on the shelf for a while. We had determined it'd be something we'd work on for another record. We actually starting working with a guy named John Fields on another song we did, and he gave us a different kind of perspective [on "Dizzy"]. It came out totally different and ended up being one of the stronger tracks on the album.

Aside from the in-game music, “Hear You Me” is all I hear when I think of Final Fantasy X and X-2.

You talked about "Here It Goes" being a different song for Jimmy Eat World, which it is, but what inspired it? Was it derived from Jim's side project, Go Big Casino?

ZL: No. Here It Goes was kind of this song that...had elements of songs we had done in the past, but also had these other elements, it kind of had this groove to it that we couldn't really figure out. We ended up working on it and working on it until we felt like we found the right groove for it.

Rhythmically, we ended up doing things that we didn't normally do to fit the song. We're really glad it happened. Sometimes you have to step out of your comfort zone to realize something that's a little bit new and off and different. As far as the overall inspiration for the song, I think it was for a song that's kind of upbeat... It's a total dance song. We've never really had songs like that. We were trying to fight it – thinking, how can we make this not a dance song? In the end what made the song the way it is, is that we gave into it. It is a dance song, so let's make it the best dance song we can make.

One of the things I love about Jimmy Eat World is that you release a lot of content. You've had different EPs in the past, different bonus songs. With Chase This Light, I got a bonus track off iTunes and another from Best Buy. Will there be more? Is a new EP coming?

ZL: We're releasing a new single, and I think there will be some b-sides on that single.

Will that be released Stateside? Some of your other singles are import-only.

ZL: It might be an import, but I'm not entirely sure about that.

Do you have any idea what those b-sides might be?

ZL: We have a few live tracks that we recorded last year. We're doing a remix of "Always Be." Styrofoam, he's a DJ [who we like a lot], he's doing that for us. That should be cool.

Let's talk about Go Big Casino. There's a song on Chase This Light, “Carry You,” that originated from Jim Adkins' solo efforts. What made you want to merge an experimental track with the new record, and is that the direction you'll be taking in the future? This record seemed to be more influenced by Go Big Casino than any of your previous releases.

ZL: Jim gets asked to do solo shows and stuff like that, and different benefit shows, and he decided to give that [solo work] a name. He comes up with a lot of cool stuff, but it's ultimately up to him -- if it's something he wants to bring to work with us in the band, then he does that. From that point on we treat it as a Jimmy Eat World song. I'm not really sure how the future will be influenced by that. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Do you think you'll work with Liz Phair again?

ZL: Will we? I don't know. I wouldn't say that we wouldn't work with her again. It depends on if things are right – if there's a specific thing she'd be good on, then yeah. But I don't think we'd do it just for the sake of working with her. I think we'll keep it to where it makes sense and pick a particular voice of someone who we think might work. That's usually how we decide those things.

Burnout Paradise could set a new standard in high-speed racing.

You have tour dates starting with the Foo Fighters.

ZL: We just started in Miami [1-16-08] and today we're in Orlando. Foo Fighters has been one of the band's we've looked up to. It's really fun to play in this atmosphere and the fans are really pumped up. It's great for us. We get to expose our music to new people.

Have you thought about going in that direction – doing something that's inspired by all the bands that inspire you?

ZL: We typically don't think about it in quite that way. When we go into make a record we just work on new songs and try not to think about what the end product will be. Certain songs come up and certain songs show themselves. We don't necessarily sit down and say, "We're gonna make a record that'll be like this or sound like this." We try not to over-think it too much.

Will Chase This Light set the precedent for where you'll go next?

ZL: I think if anything, when you look at the kind of records we've made, you can expect the exact opposite the next time around. We tend to swing back and forth between doing stuff that's dark and doing stuff that's poppy and fun.

On that note, one thing I saw on Jim's blog (via JimmyEatWorld.com) was that he didn't want to have another big gap in between record releases. What are some of the things that you've learned while working on Chase This Light that could help speed up the process? Or is it really just a matter of the song's not done, we can't yet finish it?

ZL: There's a lot of reasons why it takes as long as it takes for us. I think to some degree it's the natural pace we like to work at. I think to fight it too much might be a mistake. But I think the one thing that will help us move forward is we have our studio set up to record all the time now. Because we went through Chase This Light, recording it in our studio, it's set up where we can just walk in and track. I think [that will] gravitate us toward writing new material.

I also think we want to take a couple breaks on this tour and really work on music during those breaks and plan it out. Whereas before we said we're gonna tour, and when we're done we'll worry about a new record. This time we really want to work on new songs while touring.

Going back to the topic of games, do you have any lined up after Burnout Paradise?

ZL: I don't think we do. I guess we'll have to wait and see what kind of offers we get.

Have you thought about going a little further than that? Some of your stuff, like "Hear You Me," has such a deep, incredible sound. You could build a story around it.

ZL: We haven't really thought about doing something like that. Maybe that's something we could do in the future. As of right now we've never really thought of writing music for a video game or something like that. If people approached us and asked us to do that, we could work it out.

Great. That's all the questions I have, thank you for your time.

ZL: Cool man, take care.

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