Music, musings and miscellanea

This interview originally appeared at Chartattack.com

Jimmy Eat World‘s 2009 tour to celebrate the 10th anniversary of their landmark Clarity album was in many ways a nostalgia trip for both the band and their fans. Like Weezer’s Pinkerton, Clarity was an under-appreciated gem in late ’90s burgeoning emo scene.

But the tour would also prove to be creatively fruitful for the Arizona quartet, as it gave them a chance to reconnect with the record’s producer, Mark Trombino (Blink-182, Gob).

“He came out to the show in San Diego and hung out,” explains guitarist Tom Linton.

Following the success of Bleed American, Trombino had once again been tapped to help the group record 2004′s Futures, but had to bow out after scheduling conflicts arose due to what Linton describes as the band’s lack of proper preparation.

“We weren’t ready to go into the studio,” he says. “We kind of went in with a lot of the music finished, but the lyrics weren’t really done.

“There was tons of pressure on Jim [Adkins, vocals/guitar].

“It was just really bad timing. It just wasn’t working out.”

Prior to running into Trombino, Jimmy Eat World had already begun work on what would eventually become their recently released Invented album. With their meeting fresh in mind, the band decided to team up with the producer again.

“We just felt the songs that we had were almost suited for Mark,” Linton says. “He just has great ideas as far as song arrangements. He also comes up with really cool keyboard lines.

“And he’s brutally honest, which is probably the best part about him. If he doesn’t like something, he’ll be pretty straight up with you.”

While reteaming with Trombino makes Invented seem like somewhat of a throwback record for Jimmy Eat World, the album also finds them introducing new elements to their creative process. Chief among them is the new lyrical approach Adkins took during recording.

The singer/songwriter drew inspiration from a book of Cindy Sherman’s photography. He began writing from the viewpoint of the characters in Sherman’s photos, giving many of Invented‘s lyrics a female perspective.

Given this new approach, it seems somewhat appropriate that the band were able to find a female foil for Adkins in singer Courtney Marie Andrews.

“She plays around Phoenix,” Linton says. “She’s a folk artist. Jim met her at a show and started talking to her. He had her come down to the studio and it ended up working out.”

Along with contributing back-up vocals to five of the new songs — including “Coffee and Cigarettes” where she duets with Adkins — Andrews will tour with the band, singing and playing keyboards.

“It’s really nice having someone singing all those back up vocals that we haven’t had there,” says Linton. “She’s kicking butt.”

“My Best Theory”