Jimmy Eat World rocks into Petaluma

The rock band’s upcoming 10-date Integrity Blues Tour includes a stop at Petaluma’s The Phoenix Theater this Saturday.|

When Jimmy Eat World formed more than 20 years ago, the band members didn’t think the group would stay together a year, let alone long enough to record nine studio albums, scoring a gold and platinum record along the way.

“Never, no way,” said singer and guitarist Jim Adkins from his home in the Greater Phoenix Area of Arizona.“I didn’t even know what we would be doing a year from that time.”

Over the past two decades, Jimmy Eat World has fulfilled the promise of its name. The high-energy, indie music video for “The Middle,” a song about a girl who feels like she doesn’t belong, made the Total Request Live countdown regularly in the halcyon days of MTV and Carson Daly. The song’s catchy lyrics, “everything will be just fine,” became an anthem for kids who felt like they didn’t belong to the mainstream, and led to Adkins joining Taylor Swift on stage during a live cover of the song, years after it was written. Jimmy Eat World songs were featured in cult classic films like 1998’s “Never Been Kissed” and became so popular that these days, strains of “Hear You Me” or “Sweetness” can even be heard during late night grocery trips in Safeway.

Yet, it still surprises Adkins every time.

“Any time one of our songs comes on it’s always kind of a trip for me. It’s never gotten to be a normal thing,” he said.

In fact, Adkins can still remember the first time he heard a Jimmy Eat World song on the radio. The band was in their tour van driving down Laurel Canyon Boulevard in Los Angeles, a stretch he described as a “crazy” two-lane, winding road.

“I just remember it was a very surreal experience. We kind of couldn’t believe it,” he said.

But before all of this, Jimmy Eat World was a group of punk-rock kids who would play wherever they could, including unconventional spaces.

“When we were coming up and just kind of making a name for ourselves, we would play anywhere that anyone would want to promote a show for us, and that meant a lot of different things,” Adkins recalled. “A lot of art spaces that were probably open for a grand total of eight months.”

Along with underground concerts, the band also had a few gigs at bars, even when only half the band was old enough to enter. Adkins said it doesn’t feel like that long ago he and drummer Zach Lind were 20 and couldn’t hang out at some of the venues they played in San Diego or Washington state.

“I remember having to sit outside in our van until we played and then we’d go in and play and we’d have to get out,” he said.

Perhaps this is the reason the band’s upcoming 10-date Integrity Blues Tour includes a stop at Petaluma’s renowned all-ages venue, The Phoenix Theater.

“I’m getting old right now, but you know, I still feel like that kid that’s standing outside who can’t get into the show and is just bummed out. We try to avoid (creating) that situation as much as we can,” he said.

Remarkably, the band - also consisting of drummer Lind, guitarist Tom Linton and bassist Rick Burch - has managed to keep almost all of its founding members with the exception of Burch, who joined for the group’s second album “Static Prevails.”

Though Adkins said the band was grateful for its national and worldly touring opportunities, he also said part of what has kept the members together for so long was not taking themselves too seriously.

“I think we’ve done a good job at keeping things fun. That’s really the key to it,” he said. “If it’s not fun and you’re not enjoying it, you’re going to either decide you don’t want to do it anymore or you’re going to start subconsciously self-sabotaging until it’s just not possible anymore.”

Though the band members spend a lot of time together working on music and playing shows, they share common interests on their time off, too.

“We’ll see each other at the same concerts of other bands we like often. That’s usually where I see the other guys. It’s like ‘oh hey you’re coming to this, cool!’”

Adkins isn’t sure what’s next for the band after this tour.

“I think we’re entering a phase in the band where you don’t really clock out ever,” he said.

He suspects the band will start writing and recording after this tour, but he’s not sure if it’ll be a full-length album.

“I have a feeling we’ll put out something whether it takes the shape of a full-length album or a series of smaller length records. It’ll be kind of fun to play around with that,” he said. “Integrity Blues is our ninth album as a band and I don’t know, we haven’t had that band meeting yet.”

Though what’s next is still unclear, for now, Adkins suggests attendees for Jimmy Eat World’s upcoming show at The Phoenix Theater show up early because he’s excited about the opening act.

“We have a band from Japan named Man With A Mission who doesn’t play America very often.”

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