Jimmy Eat World

Other Things Jimmy Ate Before World:

1. Lead
2. Dirt
3. Crow
4. Cake
5. Smores
6. Paste
7. Chicken Caesar Salad
8. His Own Hat
9. His Words
10. Foot

1. Lead

Jimmy Eat World is the stunning rock band obliterating the masses. Blazing a trail, it's high noon on the spinning disk housing your mp3's. Jimmy and the Eat World Gang, plan to be the last ones standing, blasting happy beats through your subwoofer. Your neighbors will be so pleased. They're the band that could change your outlook forever. The band that could save the world is about to do just that with their latest Self-Titled hit album (otherwise known as Bleed American).

2. Dirt

Okay so how in the world did they come up with the name Jimmy Eat World? Straight from Zach's mouth to Jimmy's stomach here is the tale of mysterious name: "This is the story. Tom has many brother and sisters and sometimes they get in scuffles. So, one day two of Tom's younger brothers were feuding. They were Ed and Jimmy, Ed being the younger of the two. So like always, the older brother is getting the better of the younger one and the insults started flying. Well, Jimmy finally just locked his little brother out of the room that they shared and Ed was getting really flustered. So Ed did what any 8 year old would do, he broke out the crayons and drew a picture of his chubby, older brother Jimmy shoving what appeared to be the earth into his gaping mouth. The caption at the bottom read "Jimmy Eat World". Ed placed the masterpiece on the fridge in the kitchen for all to see. We thought that was really funny and decided to name the band after the caption."

3. Crow

They hail from the sunshine state of Arizona, but who are these guys? Jim Adkins plays guitar and provides lead vocals. Tom Linton is on guitar and back up vocals. (Tom sometimes sings lead, read the His Own Hat section for more dirt.) Rick Burch on bass. Zach Lind bangs the drums. A fellow by the name of Mitch Porter played bass before Rick, but left the band in 1994 for personal reasons. The band formed in the twilight hours of 1993. But the band before the music goes back much further. Zach and Jim have known each other since pre-school. Rick and Tom have known each other since 7th grade. In high school, Zach met Tom, and after Mitch left the band, Rick was in and the rest is history.

Rachel Haden, who is not actually in the band, appears on their newest Self Titled record on songs such as Hear You Me (originally a Go Big Casino song, read His Own Hat for the skinny) and has played almost all of their shows in 2001 through early 2002 on keyboard duties and backing vocals. Rachel used to be in a band called That Dog.

4. Cake

What is this I hear about Salt, Sweat, Sugar and Bleed American? Well you see, it's a great big world that Jimmy has to eat and the title song Bleed American just doesn't play the same all over the globe as it does here in the States, so the Salt, Sweat, Sugar is the export title of the Bleed American song. Jimmy now has two menus to choose from when he eats world.

5. Smores

Where do they get that wonderful sound? Well, some of their own influences range from: The Velvet Underground, Wedding Present, Def Leppard (the early years), Fugazi, Rocket From the Crypt, Quiet Riot, Violent Femmes, Dead Milkmen and Jesus and Mary Chain. Whoa, that's one great big cornucopia smoothie of rock n' roll. No wonder the band is so hard to pin down to just one flavor. Jimmy eats them all.

6. Paste

In kindergarten there was always that kid who would eat paste during art time. The Elmer's Glue kind of paste, the one in the plastic jar with the lid that had the spreading stick built in. Perfect for licking apparently. Charlie was the kid I knew who ate paste. Charlie even ate my paste. Charlie wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer. Luckily for Jimmy, he never ate paste. Speaking of blunt and sticky things, if you're really into the band you might want to find all about this thing called EMO over at www.fourfa.com - Jimmy finds it tasty and knows you will too.

7. Chicken Caesar Salad

These guys attract the fans; females in particular, begging the question are they available for private performances? Well, as it seems, Zach is married and has a beautiful baby girl named Ava, so he's double booked. Jim is engaged; future performances have been sold out. Rick and Tom are either dating or single, depending on what day it is and whom you ask, small venues and stadium tours need to inquire further.

8. His Own Hat

Two for the price of one? How can this be? What kind of deal is this? It gets a little foggy from here, but you might be wondering which songs Tom sings and why does Jim sing more than Tom now, when Tom used to be the one doing the shouting? Well, it seems that Jim mainly sings on the songs he writes himself, and Tom sings on the songs he writes himself. So that means, Jim is writing more songs than Tom. It's that simple. You didn't even need algebra to solve that word problem. Jim is just a songwriting machine. In fact, he is probably writing a song at this very moment. Let me check...yep, he is, and you'll soon get to hear him belting it out. He writes so much that he has a side project called Go Big Casino, an on-again-off-again outlet for the overflow of Jim's manufactory of verbosity.

9. His Words

What do these odd song titles mean? Who knows for sure? The band says little about it, other than they cull from a variation of sources and influences resulting in a tad more than the typical 39 flavors. When confronted for answers, they simply reply that whatever personal meaning you find in the songs is what it means to you - that is all that matters. One little insight has been gained however, on the title song Bleed American, the word speyside refers to a type of alcohol in Europe. Yeesh, now we know.

10. Foot

A foot in the mouth is worth two in the a**. A veteran parking lot attendant in Vegas told me that once. Still pondering the implications. But listening to the song, In The Middle might do more for you.

Jimmy Eat World's latest album is like a swift kick in the pants to the doom and gloom of moody rock standards. Sunshine lights the way Jimmy walks on. A once through with their hit single, In The Middle, will set you on the path to that happy ambition (check out fourfa.com for more on that). Self worth never tasted so good.