Burly Bear 7.28.01

    Amid the fervent of today's prefab-pop-idol marketplace, there are more pre-teen would-be superstars than ever before, all of them vying for that elusive major label contract. But for the members of Jimmy Eat World - who released two major label albums before hitting legal drinking age - freedom from that same contract put the Mesa, Ariz., foursome on the path to what is arguably their finest work: Bleed American.

    Released July 24, 2001, Bleed American is Jimmy Eat World's fourth full-length album and the first issued by DreamWorks Records, though it was recorded on the band's own dime after they severed ties with their previous label. "There was no record company, no A&R guy, no manager - just us," says singer-guitarist Jim Adkins. "We looked at the whole thing as a liberating experience, rather than part of any deliberate plan."

    Indeed, record industry fate had effectively given Jimmy Eat World a new lease on life. After the band's split with the label in August 1999, they commemorated their independence with a self-promoted, five-week tour of Europe, their first ever. That the erstwhile record company had not released Jimmy Eat World material overseas was hardly an obstacle: Ever resourceful, the band simply purchased their own records directly from the distributor and shipped them to Europe by themselves.

    It has been posited that, since the band's inception in 1994, Jimmy Eat World has done their best work when left to their own devices. After all, the band's large and devoted hometown crowd was amassed through numerous self-booked shows, a handful of DIY 7-inch singles, split records recorded with other bands and an eponymous album released on Tempe, Ariz.-based Wooden Blue Records.

    "'Bleed American' isn't about any one thing," Adkins explains. "It's about a general dissatisfaction and a yearning for something more - not necessarily something material but emotional. It describes a feeling that something's missing."

    Elsewhere on Bleed American, songs like "Sweetness," "If You Don't, Don't" and "Your House" seem to harbor a romantic sensibility, though Adkins prefers not to specify. "I look at these songs more as moods than statements," he says. "However people choose to interpret them is fine." To be sure, the record's more experimental turns, like the somber "Cheating Gets It's Faster (Evil)" or the expansive "Cautioners," leave as much room for the listener's own experiences and emotions as anything on Static Prevails or Clarity.

    "It's like any form of artistic expression," Adkins concludes. "Whether it's art, music, literature, whatever - hopefully you get something out of it. If not, I guess we've failed. But, hopefully, you do."