Jimmy Eat World
JEW talk to Rocklouder all about their current LP 'Chase This Light' and their plans for the 10th anniversary of 'Clarity'!
We dispatched our man Dylan Dean armed with his pen and notepad, for a wee chat with the mighty Jimmy Eat World...
Hey guys. So first up, tell us how has your recent tour been going?
Zach: For us it’s been the most enjoyable tour so far. All the crowds have been great. It’s one of the longest we’ve ever played, with the most European gigs to date. It’s also been one of the most fun.
Rick: We’ve been to new places. We got to spend some time in Sweden and Norway. We’d been there briefly in 1999 when we were driving ourselves in the van but we haven’t been back since then so we had no idea if anyone knew of us!
Zack: We’ve played some festivals that we’d never done which has been really cool.
Is there anything you miss from those ‘early days’ of touring, when it was more DIY?
R: Well we still get to see places and the countryside! We still have an awareness of where we are. When we were in the van, sometimes we’d drive overnight and we’d wake up in a place we wouldn’t even know. Sometimes we just weren’t in contact with where we were.
Do you see more of places now? Do you get to enjoy your time in new cities?
Z: To be honest, I think we took in more atmosphere from a city when we were touring in a van. And also we didn’t have to do any press so we’d have more days off and it was like ‘whatever, lets go drink’! There’s definitely good and bad points with touring now. It’s like, you’re in your little bubble, isolated from the world. But when you’re in the van you’re staring out the window, you’re stopping for gas, dealing with local people, checking out new food at grocery stores, stuff like that.
Where did the title ‘Chase This Light’ come from?
Z: It came from the song title. It being a more upbeat record, it fit. When we were putting together the songs, it was pretty clear that the overall feeling of the record was gonna be lighter and more optimistic - so that title just kinda worked. It seemed like a good, open ended way of summing up what the album is in a way. Not that all the songs are about one thing, it’s just that that song title was like an umbrella for the rest of the record.
Listening to your albums, it seems apparent that you strive for change, be it lyrically or musically with each new recording. Is that something you’re aware of when entering the studio?
R: We always strive to try something new and expand on what we’ve learned. We always want to challenge ourselves and grow in different ways.
Is the whole band involved in the writing process?
Z: I think it depends on the song. Jim really is the genesis for a lot of the ideas. He’ll come in with a structure, a chord progression, a verse or a chorus then we’ll all come in for the arrangement, where we may alter or change parts so that it morphs into what we want. Then there’s some songs, like ‘Always Be’, where we started with a drum beat, then Rick laid down the bass line, then Tom and Jim put on guitars and finally Jim put on vocals. It was like a conveyer belt!
There are some stand out moments on ‘Chase This Light’ that are unlike anything you’ve done before, for example ‘Gotta Be Somebody’s Blues’. Similar to ‘Disintegration’ from your previous E.P. ‘Stay On My Side Tonight’ on which you got to work with renowned drummer Tony Hajar (previously of At The Drive-in and now in post hardcore outfit Sparta) - how did that come around?
Z: We were friends with the At The Drive-In guys from a tour we did together back in ’98 or ’99 and we’ve been friends ever since. With the drum beat for ‘Disintegration’ there were four drummers. There was me, Tony, Jim and Mark Trombino (long time JEW collaborator/producer). We called Tony, he lives in LA which was where we were recording, and we said ‘Hey, wanna come down and help us out?!’ and that was it! And now we play that song live and I have to figure out how to do it all!
Do you rehearse all your songs before a tour? Are there any songs that are difficult to recreate live?
Z: Thats whats been so much fun over the last few years is getting to challenge ourselves (both in the studio & live). Because typically, we would make a record and we wouldn’t really think ‘ok, how’re we gonna do this live’. We’d do whatever we needed to do to make the song better. Like if there was a song that was fucked up and weird we’d just be like ‘Well, I guess we’re never gonna play that live!’. ‘Disintegration’ was definitely one of those songs. And I think there’s just certain times, when you’re in a band, when you stop and say ‘How’re we gonna do it?’. It took a few days of rehearsing to work out how to mimic four guys playing drums, and there all playing the same pattern simultaneously, so I had to figure out how to break it down into multiple hits. I had to add an extra drum to my drum set! There’s also stuff on this record that really challenged us, be in the bass, guitar, whatever. But it’s made us a better band. We did a tour of the USA last summer and we didn’t play any rock songs, it was just all dark, slower songs that we never really got to play live before. We learned ‘Disintegration’ for that, we played ‘Your House’, ‘Cautioners’ and a whole bunch of other stuff. It really challenged us. With ‘Your House’ instead of trying to play the album version, we approached it from a different direction. It’s still the same song, just an alternate version.
What’s the story behind the artwork for ‘Chase This Light’? The peacock feather and lit match seem an odd pair both as photographs and as one symbol!
R: We got involved with multiple art directors and different things we’re suggested for the cover. Then we had this guy who sent us a bunch of ideas and one of them was a peacock feather in extreme close up. It struck a chord immediately. I don’t know why but we all gravitated towards it. Maybe because of the bright colours and it’s really vibrant. So we decided on that being the album cover. Then Jim had an idea that the outline of the feather was a lot like a burning match, so we put them together and it worked. It ties in with the title of the album too.
Z: We were slightly worried as it’s reminiscent of an XTC cover but we thought ‘we’ll go ahead and do it anyway!’
What plans do you have after you’ve finished touring ‘Chase This Light’?
Z: Well, one of the things we’ve been talking about recently, and we’re not sure if we’re gonna be able to do it but... next year is gonna be the tenth anniversary of ‘Clarity’. We’ve been toying around the idea of doing a show where we’ll play the album front to back in it’s entirety. For a lot of our fans it’s the record that they hold up in the highest regard and have the most connection with. There are some songs on that album that we’ve never even played live before! So we’ll have to learn them! It’ll be a challenge.Dylan Dean
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