Jimmy Eat World have compared watching political news coverage from their native USA to “getting kicked in the nuts.” Watch our video interview with frontman Jim Adkins above.

Speaking to NME backstage before their set on the main stage at Leeds festival, Adkins explained that keeping up with events back home was trickier because of the time-difference, which he said merely delayed the pain. “Every day, there’s a new disgusting thing,” he added.

In November last year, the veteran Arizona band released ‘My Enemy’, from the 30 Days, 30 Songs playlist, where a new anti-Trump song was unvelived every day until the presidential election. In it, they called out Trump’s hate-fuelled rhetoric.


Gauging the temperature of the nation, Adkins told NME: “People are pissed off, for sure. Some people are stoked, some people are really mad. There’s my world and what I choose to interact with and the people I associate with and my information choices, and I have to kind of check that a little bit, because it is….I wouldn’t say reinforcing my world view, but there’s a reason why I gravitate towards the things I like.”

“I think the story is that everything is very tense and divided, but I think on a day to day level, things are more normal than they seem, than you would believe., I mean, it’s not great at all, but it’s still a relatively safe place.”

Asked if it was important for other artists to follow suit and similarly speak out in a tumultuous political climate, Adkins replied: “Definitely. I think it’s important. I mean, the arts has always been the first line of defence for protecting equality and protecting just common sense life things.”

Jimmy Eat World released their ninth studio album, Integrity Blues, in October last year.

Check back at NME for the latest news, interviews and more from Reading & Leeds 2017.