Jimmy Eat World fans got a brief history lesson on Friday night (July 27) as drummer Zach Lind offered some insight into how the band came up with their name — and how it presented some issues they didn’t fully think through when they picked it.
With a series of tweets, Lind recalled how he and his bandmates settled on Jimmy Eat World, and how they definitely didn’t consider its acronym for merchandise and visuals at the time.
Advice for new bands: When coming up with a band name, make sure it’s acronym displayed really large on your artwork or t shirts won’t be complicating matters. You’re welcome.
— Jimmy Eat World (@jimmyeatworld) July 27, 2018
After a few jokes at his own expense, Lind walked down memory lane to revisit how the band started playing under the moniker in the first place:
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A little history on how we came up with the band name: We were rehearsing in my garage (Zach here) and Jim told us we got asked to play a party in the storage room of Name Brand Exchange in Mesa on Southern and Val Vista in Feb of 94. pic.twitter.com/qe5lw5X6CX
— Jimmy Eat World (@jimmyeatworld) July 27, 2018
So we took a break from the garage and huddled around our kitchen island and decided to play the show but at that time, we hadn’t yet sorted out a name so we needed to figure that out ASAP.
— Jimmy Eat World (@jimmyeatworld) July 27, 2018
Tom and Rick (who wasn’t in the band quite yet) played in a band together that would change their name for every show. Me, zach, would go to a lot of those shows and I was there when they called themselves “Jimmy Eat World” and it stuck with me.
— Jimmy Eat World (@jimmyeatworld) July 27, 2018
So I’m not sure who threw that name out but it was brought up and we discussed it for less than 5 min, no shit, we decided to call ourselves Jimmy Eat World so we could play this dumb ass party. My memory was that it was a Valentines Day Party but not sure.
— Jimmy Eat World (@jimmyeatworld) July 27, 2018
And there you have it: Jimmy Eat World was so named more so for necessity than anything else, though there’s a lesson to be learned for bands currently trying to come up with a name for their own outfit.
So moral of the story: even seemingly small and insignificant decisions can be much bigger than you could imagine. Slow down sometimes and make sure it’s right.
— Jimmy Eat World (@jimmyeatworld) July 27, 2018
And I’m not saying our name is not “right” but when we have to design Merch or artwork I often wish we would have deliberated a bit more. Thanks for listening. Xoxo.
— Jimmy Eat World (@jimmyeatworld) July 27, 2018