JIMMY EAT WORLD was formed in 1993 in Mesa, Arizona. Childhood friends Jim Adkins (vocals/guitar) and Zach Lind (drums) got together with Tom Linton (vocals/guitar) and Mitch Porter (bass). The name of the band originates from a drawing done by Linton’s younger brother Ed, who often fought his brother Jim. Ed usually lost, and retaliated by drawing a picture in crayon of Jim with the Earth in his mouth, with the caption “Jimmy eat world”.

They were first signed with a local label called Wooden Blue Records, releasing their debut EP, One, Two, Three, Four and their first studio album, Jimmy Eat World, both in 1994. Mitch Porter left the band before their next release, with Rick Burch taking his place. Their second studio album, Static Prevails, was released in 1996 on Capitol Records. They also released Clarity while signed with Capitol, and this was the point where Adkins began singing lead vocals instead of Linton, who sang backup.

 The band’s big break came with the release of their platinum album Bleed American in 2001. Four singles from this album charted within the top 20 of Hot Modern Rock Tracks, and “The Middle” peaked at number 5 on the Billboard Top 100. The name of the album was changed to Jimmy Eat World following the September 11 attacks, reverting back to the original name when the album was reissued in 2008.

Futures, released in 2004, rose to a Gold Record status. The production of this album was taken on by Gil Norton (who worked with the Pixies and the Foo Fighters) after the band had disagreements with Mark Trombino, the producer of their previous three albums. They went with Butch Vig (Nirvana, Garbage, The Smashing Pumpkins, Green Day) as executive producer for their next album, Chase This Light, which they decided to self-produce. It reached number five on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart when it was released in 2007, becoming their highest charting album.

They considered self-releasing their next album, Invented, but ended up releasing it on the Interscope label and enlisting Mark Trombino once again as co-producer. Jimmy Eat World is currently touring and playing multiple music festivals nationally and internationally.