Finding balance
Jimmy Eat World plays music from across its 20-year career
There’s no getting used to the first day of tour.
Not even after more than 20 years of touring. Yet Zach Lind takes it all in stride and remains positive about the latest leg of tour.
“The tour overall has been fantastic,” he says in a recent phone interview. “Today is the first day of the latest run, and we’re looking forward to it. We’ve played a lot of shows this year.”
Lind ia a member of the rock band Jimmy Eat World.
Joining Lind in the band are Jim Adkins, Tom Linton and Rick Burch.
Jimmy Eat World formed in 1993 in Mesa, Ariz., and found commercial success in 2001 with its album “Bleed American.”
The album charted four singles, but it was “The Middle” that reached No. 1 and catapulted the band to new heights.
Since then, Jimmy Eat World has continued touring and putting out new music.
The band is now touring in support of its latest release, “Integrity Blues,” released in October 2016.
Over the course of more than 20 years of touring, Lind remains grateful to be doing what he loves.
“It’s a lot of hard work,” he says. “It’s sneaky hard work. I think when you are in a band that is writing its own material and making records, in a way it’s like running through a gantlet. For us, it always feels worth it.”
For the better part of this year, Jimmy Eat World has crisscrossed the country on tour to support “Integrity Blues.”
Lind says the band incorporates four or five songs from the new album.
It is also aware of the eight previous albums, which also get into the set list.
“There’s a lot of material that translates really well, and it feels right playing them live,” he says. “People have come and bought tickets, and it’s sort of a balance between old and new. We try to do a really good cross section of the span of our career.”
Before work began on “Integrity Blues,” Lind and crew took a year off from all things Jimmy Eat World.
“For this record, we worked backward logistically,” he says. “We hired a producer, a mixer and booked studios before we even started writing. Our producer, Justin (MeldalJohnsen), was involved from the first part of the project. It really helped shape the record. We trusted his instincts, and (he) helped guide us. … Everything came together really well.”