“Waiting for you is like waiting for rain in this drought; useless and disappointing.”
A gut-wrenching line delivered by THE Hilary Duff to Chad Michael Murray in the iconic 00’s movie A Cinderella Story. Cut to the final play of the homecoming game, as Duff’s Sam is chased down by Murray’s Austin to share a kiss. A droplet falls on Sam’s cheek and the skies open up signalling the end of the drought. It is a pop culture moment that changed history itself, all underscored by the steady, emotionally-charged build of Jimmy Eat World’s ‘Hear You Me’.
This is just one moment of the 90s and early 2000s soundtracked and made superior by the presence of Jim Adkins, Zach Lind, Tom Linton and Rick Burch. They made an appearance on Murray-led drama One Tree Hill at the infamous TRIC, and wanna-be rockstars lived out their best Jimmy Eat World stage experience playing ‘The Middle’ on plastic-coloured buttons on Guitar Hero World Tour. It all came after the commercial success of Bleed American, but at this point, Jimmy was an adventurous and clever eight-year-old kid who had just entered his emo phase.
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Formed in 1993, the four-piece from Mesa, Arizona cut their teeth on the punk rock sounds of the southwest, releasing their debut EP One, Two, Three, Four the following year. It was their debut album Static Prevails and sophomore giant Clarity that built the Jimmy Eat World depth and diversified sound, drawing from the Sunny Day Real Estate framework. But the grunge waves of the 90s were bubbling at the shore of the new millennium as the indie rock resurgence and emo evolution appeared on the music horizon. Jimmy Eat World were in the swells, about to unknowingly hang ten on the shifting tides.
“At the time when we were making Clarity and Bleed American, we were a really young band and we didn’t really know how far we would go. We felt very fortunate that we were in a position to record professionally in a studio with quality gear and we wanted to honour that opportunity as best as possible with the music we continue to make,” explains bassist, Rich Burch.
“It’s interesting because from inside the band, we were making music that made us happy and that we were proud of and that we felt was real and honest. All of those things lead to emotions which connect us to the term that encapsulates our genre but I’d like to point out that all music is emotional.
“So when we first started the term emo that’s what we first felt that it’s unfair to other music; because it all enlists emotion, so we didn’t initially embrace it. Where we are now and looking back we see it as a term of identity for a specific type of attitude and music. We’re not put off by the term, we actually embrace it for what we and our colleagues made.”
Following the sweetness of Bleed American, their following body of work further cemented the band’s ongoing future in the emotive space. Futures produced sublime songs ‘23’, ‘Work’, and ‘Pain’, with the band sinking into the same blended genre family as Paramore, American Football, The Get Up Kids and My Chemical Romance.
Almost 15 years later, as emo kids of yesteryear white-knuckle with black eyeliner and tiger-striped hair youth, When We Were Young Festival in Vegas answered their call with a family reunion.
“It was a friends and family reunion and pure celebration. Seeing a lot of friends that we had toured with over the years – AFI, Paramore, the list goes on, but beyond the bands that we got to catch up with, being able to see the fans who were with us way back in the day when this all was beginning.
“And then beyond that, the unexpected part was being able to talk to young fans who are just now getting into our music and live gigs and it’s kind of full circle with old friends and new friends celebrating music. It couldn’t have been more fun,” Burch recalls.
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Whilst Australia is far removed from the bright lights of the Vegas desert, Live Nation answered our ‘rawrs’ doubling the dose of goodness with Jimmy Eat World joining My Chemical Romance for their rescheduled tour.
“We’re very excited to be performing in Australia again. It was devastating when the world shut down. We were about to depart and do a tour in Australia when it all happened so we’re excited to be heading that way again to play some gigs with My Chem. Back with old friends, it couldn’t be better and we couldn’t be happier,” Burch says.
But old friends don’t discount the new. Jimmy Eat World existed long before the emo era and have continued long after its curtain call, now 10 albums to their name and three decades of songs and shows under their belt. At the 30-year mark, there is no sign of slowing.
“This is what we do, and one thing that was highlighted over the years was the time over the last couple of years being prevented from performing to live audiences in person. When something you cherish is taken away from you, you might not realise that it was such an integral part of you until it’s gone,” he says.
“We have a sense of urgency. We’re ready to deliver and we’re here for the long run.”
My Chemical Romance and Jimmy Eat World play Rod Laver Arena on Thursday, March 16th and Friday, March 17th, with very limited tickets still available.
