21st Annual Almost Acoustic Christmas Artist Spotlight: Jimmy Eat World

When guitarist Jim Adkins, guitarist and backing vocalist Tom Linton, bassist Rick Burch and drummer Zach Lind formed Jimmy Eat World in 1993, they had no idea they would influence the modern rock scene of the new millennium. 

The band formed in Mesa, Arizona and after releasing a few EPs and singles with Wooden Blue Records out of Tempe, AZ, they signed with Capitol Records and released their debut studio album Static Prevails on July 23, 1996.  Shortly before signing with Capitol Records though, the original bassist, Mitch Porter, left the band and was replaced with Linton’s good friend Rick Burch, forming the current lineup.

Their next album was Clarity, which was released on February 23, 1999.  This album is special because it marks the first album with Adkins at lead vocals, as opposed to Linton who was the front man originally.

The band hit main-stream popularity with their self-produced album Bleed American.  The band paid to record the album themselves by touring and working regular day jobs.  After completing the album the band signed on with DreamWorks and released the album in July 2001.  However, after the September 11th attacks the albums name was officially changed to the self titled Jimmy Eat World.  The single “The Middle” was the band’s most successful single in their  history, reaching #5 on the Billboard Hot 100.

After a couple years touring in support of Jimmy Eat World the band’s label closed its doors and was acquired by Interscope Records.  The band went back to work in the studio and produced Futures in October 2004.  They also released Stay On My Side Tonight, an EP which featured reworked samples of old studio demos not released on Futures.

After another hefty tour the band returned to Arizona to work on a sixth album, which they again self-produced.  Chase This Light was released on October 16th, 2007, with “Big Casino” as the featured single.

The band’s latest album, Invented, was a couple years in the making and was released September 28, 2010 on Interscope.  The album featured for the first time since Clarity a song sung by Tom Linton.  The album received good reviews and debuted at number 5 on the Billboard Rock Albums chart, and features their hit new single “My Best Theory.”

The band recently stopped by the KROQ studios to perform a few songs for us, which you can check out below:

“Sweetness”

“My Best Theory”

“Coffee And Cigarettes”

“Evidence”

You can see Jimmy Eat World on Night 1 of the 21st Annual Almost Acoustic Christmas. Get all the details here.