Jim Adkins on 'Bleed American' at 25, the '90s, and Why Jimmy Eat World Still Fits Anywhere

Ahead of Jimmy Eat World's 25th-anniversary tour for Bleed American, Jim Adkins sat down with Joel Madden on Artist Friendly to look back at the 2001 album that wrapped the band's plainspoken, heartfelt songwriting in outsized hooks and a polished sheen — and carried them into the mainstream.

The two dig into the long game of keeping a band alive, what today's creative landscape feels like from the inside, growing up in the '90s, and Jimmy Eat World's strange talent for fitting onto just about any bill across three decades. "Somehow we don't get chased out of the room," Adkins says, recalling tours stacked with ska or hardcore acts where the band somehow still belonged.

From there it's favorite records in the catalogue, how a song actually gets finished, juggling family and the road, and why Bleed American still lands a quarter-century later. Watch the full conversation below.