Ed Masley

The Republic | azcentral.com

Before he went into the process of making “Integrity Blues,” the long-awaited followup to “Damage,” Jim Adkins of Jimmy Eat World asked himself a simple yet important question. Why?

They’d made eight albums. Why make nine?

The local rockers, who launched their career with a self-titled album in 1994 and hit the mainstream with a breakthrough single called “The Middle” in 2001, took a year off from Jimmy Eat World after touring “Damage.” And Adkins spent the downtime making music on his own, both in the studio and on the road.

It was a “really rewarding experience,” he says, “And if anything, for me personally, that just solidified the idea of yeah, OK, for us to make a ninth album as Jimmy Eat World, we really need to have a reason. It can’t just be because this is always what we have done.”

He’s reflective that way, a quality that clearly comes through in the songs, including the ones on “Integrity Blues,” an intriguing addition to the catalog.

We caught up with Adkins to talk about the new album, the solo recordings and how it feels to headline 93.3 Alt Az’s Zombie Prom, at which he promises to “put on our most evil Jimmy Eat World.”

Question: I know it’s the name of a song on the album but what was the appeal of “Integrity Blues” as an album title?

Answer: The album has a lot of nuance to it. Even the most insane concept album has variations. But I feel like the song “Integrity Blues” probably carries the overall message of the album pretty well in that I think the best that any of us have at any given moment is that we’re all in a state of progress. And reckoning with that can feel like lonely work. But when you get to the other side, I think that’s where you find the sustainable fuel to exist.

Q: Is that something you’ve found yourself having to deal with in your own life?

A: Yeah. You know, when you’re a kid, you go through several stages of experimenting, testing the waters and parenting yourself. There’s, like, the young development, learning to walk. The “No, I do it. I do it” phase. And then there’s puberty, asserting your independence without really understanding why. And I think as adults we kind of forget that that continues. There’s an illusion that any of this is consistent, that any of this is secure.

To shut yourself off from that is refusing to grow. And I think as a band and me personally, we’ve arrived at a place where if you’re not willing to risk failure by challenging yourself, then what’s the point in any of it?

Q: Is that something that you find you’ve gotten better at accepting as you’ve grown?

A: Yeah. I’ve been shown time and time again that the darker the place you find yourself, it’s really just an opportunity for growth. I mean, you can look at things in a way that’s gonna cripple you or you can look at things in a way that shows the reality that it’s really just an opportunity.

Q: Do you find that addressing those issues in song has had an impact on the way you process those things in your own life? Does the writing help?

A: It’s kind of all the same thing, you know? How you approach general life issues and how you approach writing what you write about is all connected in a strange way. I can take that idea of being willing to accept that just because things don’t look like you expected them to, that doesn’t mean that they have to be bad into how we approach working as a team in the band.

We get into arguments all the time where we’re furiously arguing over our ideal outcome when it comes to writing but we realize we’re all on the same team, we’re all fighting for the same thing and you take that discussion and that feedback with respect and you end up in a place that’s beyond your expectations. It’s something that you never would have thought of on your own.

That’s one of the beautiful things about being in a group like ours.

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Q: So what were your goals going into this album?

A: In the past, we’ve worked on albums where every song, we’ve demoed it out, like, five or six times, at least, just trying to dot the I’s, cross the T’s, experiment with arrangements, experiment with different beats, just really getting deep into the production elements and nailing those down. And that’s all before we show anybody anything.

And while that is a strength of ours, we know what we’re going to get if we approach working on “Integrity Blues” that same way. So we wanted to leave things open for discovery as much as possible. We were willing to include the producer, Justin Meldal-Johnsen, a lot earlier in the process than what we normally do and not have it be so closed off when we go into record.

Like, the single “Sure and Certain,” that started with a riff that had been sitting around for a while without being developed into anything. And we just said there’s something about this idea that we feel has potential; let’s just do it. So what you hear on the record is us kind of building it as we were discovering what the song could be. There’s very little to the album that was a complete thought when we went in to record.

Everything just kind of showed itself to us as we were working.

Q: Are there songs you can’t imagine turning out the way they did if you had done it the way you normally record?

A: I feel that way about all of it to a degree. I mean, a song like “Pass the Baby” is something that I don’t think would exist unless we went into the process with this mindset. That’s an idea that’s been kind of sitting around for a while but just having the will to see it through and help it to be realized seemed like it would take a lot of work (laughs).

You know, you’re sitting down and reviewing your pile of ideas and some things kind of jump out at you and you’re excited about them. Other things, you think have potential but for whatever reason you choose to direct your attention toward the easier path. And a song like “Pass the Baby” always got skipped over because it was a more difficult path. And us deciding to make the record the way we did, it wouldn’t exist otherwise.

Q: You released some solo stuff between “Damage” and this album. Do you feel like working on that solo stuff had any impact on the writing of this record?

A: A little bit, yeah. Like, we use brass as a backing element on a couple songs on “Integrity Blues” and that’s something I messed around with a little bit on my solo thing. If anything, that time helped reinforce the idea that when you open yourself up to something different, it’s an exciting place to work. I didn’t know what was going to happen when I started out with the guitar.

I didn’t know whether anyone at all would care or whether people would like it. Would fans turn out? I had no idea what would happen, but it was a really rewarding experience.

Q: Have you always felt like you needed a reason to continue making albums? When did you start thinking, "OK, this is album No. X. Why does it need to exist?”

A: I think once the touring time for “Damage” was winding down and we were debating what our next move would be. That’s one of the things that led to us deciding we would take a year off from the group, the thought that yeah, we could go into the studio and bang something out but then the beginning and end of that story is “new Jimmy Eat World album,” which is fine.

But is that really the best that we can do? Is that really the most exciting way to operate for us? I mean, we’ve never shied away from making an effort to get our best work, but I think we reached a point where in order to continue to do that, we need to do something different.

Q: So do you feel like you’ve answered that question now? Or do you feel like you have to ask it again going into the 10th album?

A: I don’t know, man. I think every day you’re not asking yourself that, you’re denying yourself the opportunity to grow. Why do any of this right now? If you’ve got an answer for that, then nothing can touch you. If you don’t have an answer, then you’ve got your marching orders for the day (laughs). Either way you win.

Q: You guys are playing Zombie Prom at Fear Farm, which seems kind of odd to think of you at Fear Farm. What are your thoughts going into that show?

A: You know, we’re gonna try to bring the fear as best we can. We’re gonna definitely put on our most evil Jimmy Eat World (laughs). We’ve done Halloween-type gigs before. They’re always a lot of fun. We’re definitely gonna get into it on some level that I think will surprise people. It’s not lost on me that that’s kind of ironic. Us and Satan don’t really kind of go in the same sentence for a lot of people. Or us and evil.

Doing a split 7-inch with Marilyn Manson would really shock most of our fans, I think. So, maybe that’s what we should do. When you’re working and you feel like what you’re working on is challenging the perception you have of yourself, I think you’re on the right track. So Zombie Prom, it might seem odd to certain people but it makes perfect sense to us.

Reach the reporter at ed.masley@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-4495. Twitter.com/EdMasley.

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Zia Records acoustic performance, signing

Pre-order or buy "Integrity Blues" at any Zia location to receive wristband for the Jimmy Eat World acoustic performance and signing at the Zia Mesa Megastore at 4:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 21. Wristbands are limited, while supplies last. Find more information on Zia's Facebook.

Jimmy Eat World at 93.3 Alt AZ Zombie Prom

With: Good Charlotte, the Struts, Lewis Del Mar, Barns Courtney, K. Flay and the Hunna.

When: 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 22.

Where: Fear Farm, 2209 N. 99th Ave., Phoenix.

Admission: $35-$125.

Details: altaz933.com.