Static Prevails

Jimmy Eat World released their self-titled debut album in 1994, through local label Wooden Blue records.[1] As the members left high school, frontman Jim Adkins was part of a production company with Joel Leibow, co-founder of Wooden Blue. The production company listed itself in Maximumrocknroll's guide Book Your Own Fuckin' Life, which assisted bands, promoters,and venues to book shows across the country. After being contacted by Christie Front Drive for a show, Leibow asked the band to do a split single with Jimmy Eat World.[2] Various major labels contacted the band asking for a tape of their music.[3]

A talent scout from Capitol Records went to a show to check out Sense Field, however, the opening act, Christie Front Drive, caught their attention. The scout asked them if they had new material he could hear. The band mentioned they had released a split with Jimmy Eat World.[4] Sometime later, Jimmy Eat World played a benefit show; a staff member at Capitol Records was in the audience, and approached them.[3] In mid-1995, they signed a development deal with the label that included one album, with the possibility for six more.[5][6] Around this time, bassist Mitch Porter became a Mormon missionary, and left the band.[3] Carrier bassist Rick Burch, who guitarist Tom Linton had known since the seventh grade, replaced him.[5]

When Jimmy Eat World was searching for an engineer to record their forthcoming album, they came across former Drive Like Jehu member Mark Trombino. The band recorded two songs with him, "Opener" and "77 Satellites", both of which were released through record label An Industry for Outer Space on 7" vinyl.[2] At Capitol's insistence, Jimmy Eat World went to a rehearsal room in Los Angeles, California, having been told to write some new songs, and rework others guided by a producer they had hired.[7] The band did pre-production at Mind's Eye Digital in Mesa, Arizona, with engineer Larry Elyea. Static Prevails was recorded in 1995 at Sound City in Los Angeles, and at Big Fish, in Encinitas, California.[8] While Jimmy Eat World wanted Trombino to produce the album, Capitol insisted on the production duo of Tom Rothrock and Rob Schnapf, who had previously produced the likes of Foo Fighters and Beck. The label eventually relented, with Jimmy Eat World working with Trombino, and Wes Kidd of labelmates Triple Fast Action; Jimmy Eat World were also given a producer credit.[7]

Billy Bowers and Jeff Sheehan served as assistant engineers at Sound City.[8] When Jimmy Eat World recorded "Seventeen" it initially featured the chorus lyric "You're only seventeen", however, when they realized it sounded too similar to a song by Winger, Linton changed the lyrics, and the band re-recorded it.[9] Trombino, who also acted as engineer, mixed almost all the tracks, except "Rockstar" and "Seventeen", in Studio C at Capitol Studios. Peter Doell, Billy Smith, and Steve Genewick worked as assistant engineers at Capitol. Rothrock and Schnapf mixed "Rockstar" and "Seventeen" at Sunset Sound, with assistant engineer Cappy Japngie.[8] Captiol insisted Rothrock and Schnapf mix these tracks because the label planned to send the songs to alternative radio stations; subsequently, the vocals on both tracks ended up high in the mix.[7] Stephen Marcussen mastered the recordings at Precision Mastering. Craig Aaronson served as the executive producer.[8]

Static Prevails marked a shift from the band's previous pop punk material in the vein of NOFX and J Church,[10] into melodic post-hardcore[11] and emo,[12] by bands such as Seam, Tortoise, and Sunny Day Real Estate.[4] Drummer Zach Lind attributed this change in style to listening to Christie Front Drive, who they found to be "really melodic but still very powerful."[10] Lind played in a more aggressive and noisier style of rock-oriented drumming, with elements of his punk rock roots.[10] Unlike their previous album, sung mainly by Linton, or subsequent records sung predominantly by Adkins, Static Prevails splits lead vocals almost evenly between both singers.[13] Ted Simon compared Adkins' vocals to those of the Replacements' frontman Paul Westerberg.[3]

In addition to playing the drums, Lind played the accordion, and the concertina. Eric Richter of Christie Front Drive provided additional vocals on "Digits", Kidd played an acoustic guitar on "Claire", Sarah Pont played violin, and Trombino contributed on the Moog synthesizer.[8] The opening track "Thinking, That's All" and "Call It in the Air" were screamo-esque songs, the former channeling the sound of Unwound.[13][14] "Claire" evoked Texas Is the Reason with its quiet and loud sections, aided by a violin. "Call It in the Air" with its punk-esque sound earned it a comparison to Sense Field.[14] Tracks Like "Seventeen", "Digits" and "Robot Factory" are reminiscent of releases on indie labels like Homestead and Twin/Tone Records.[3] An earlier version of "Digits" was released on their split with Christie Front Drive.[2] The closing track "Anderson Mesa" features a string arrangement.[15]

After handing in the finished album, the staff at Capitol were "bummed ... Just guys being like, 'Uh ... this is a lot different than what we expected'", according to Linton.[4] Jimmy Eat World toured the west coast in anticipation of their new album between May and July 1996.[16] Capitol Records released Static Prevails on July 23, 1996.[17] The cover artwork features a sideways photo of chimneys, taken on a rooftop in Denver, Colorado, by Paul Drake.[8][18] The vinyl version, which featured different artwork, included the bonus 7" vinyl of "In the Same Room" and "77 Satellites".[19] The band made a music video for "Rockstar", which was included on some copies of the CD version of the album as enhanced content.[8]

Capitol released "Call It in the Air" as the lead single on a 7" vinyl, with "Rockstar" as the B-side.[20] Jimmy Eat World promoted Static Prevails with a mini US tour along the west coast; later the band embarked on a tour with Smoking Popes and the Figgs.[3][14] In February 1997, the band embarked on a cross-country US tour with Sense Field.[21] Capitol Records felt the original version of "Seventeen" would work in the movie Never Been Kissed (1999), and in return for letting the label use it in the film, the band met Drew Barrymore.[9] Along with Clarity (1999), Static Prevails was re-released in 2007; "77 Satellites" and "What Would I Say to You Now" were included as bonus tracks.[22] Static Prevails, along with Clarity and Futures (2004), was re-pressed on vinyl in 2014.[23]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[24]
BBC Music	Unfavorable[25]
RTÉ	[12]

Static Prevails was met with mixed reviews from music critics. AllMusic reviewer Mike DaRonco stated, "what Static Prevails essentially lacks is the songwriting maturity that Jimmy Eat World could have perfected; but it's almost as if the studio heads at Capitol wouldn't let them so that there would be more room for radio-friendly pop songs. In the end, nobody won."[24] Harry Guerin of RTÉ found it to be "largely a textbook emo record" that "never really keeps your attention throughout." It had "too many instances of familiar sounding riffs and overwrought vocals ... to be convincing."[12] The New Rolling Stone Album Guide said it was "very much of its time," complete with "anxiety-ridden vocals, lyrics of suburban melodrama, and screaming punk guitars."[26] BBC Music writer Tim Nelson opened his review asking if the album title was "presumably meant ironically" as "staying still is one thing this propulsive pop album ... doesn’t do." The music "crosses the abyss between indie indulgence and soul-sucking corporate pap with aplomb."[25]

Michael Carriere views Static Prevails and Clarity as landmarks in the second wave of emo.[27] In 2012, The A.V. Club noted, "As with so many punk bands that signed to a major during that decade, Jimmy Eat World gained precious few new fans—and lost many old ones—with Static Prevails."[28]

All songs written by Jimmy Eat World. All recordings produced by Wes Kidd, Mark Trombino, and Jimmy Eat World.[8]

Personnel per booklet.[8]

Citations

Sources

• Static Prevails (bonus track version) at YouTube (streamed copy where licensed)