Jim Adkins: Bands have to grow and change more than ever

Jimmy Eat World’s Jim Adkins says bands have to keep growing and evolving to stay relevant "more now than ever".
The ‘Bleed American’ group’s latest album ‘Surviving’ touches on how the ever-changing music industry – with fans now consuming music at faster rates than ever before with the rise of streaming platforms such as Spotify and Apple Music – means you have to be prepared to move with the times and be open to change.
Speaking to the Daily Star newspaper’s Wired column, he admitted: "A lot of the themes deal with confronting a lot of uncomfortable truths about yourself as that is the difference between just existing and growing.
"You must grow and change and keep up more now than ever."
Jimmy Eat World have been around for 25 years, and Jim recently admitted they have always tried to "focus on the short term" and never anticipated having such a long career.
Asked if they expect to keeping rocking into their 70s like The Rolling Stones, the vocalist – who co-founded the band in 1993 – exclusively told BANG Showbiz: "I don’t know, I think we’ve done a good job without setting realistic goals for ourselves, really tried to focus on the short term – not setting expectations that far in the future and so far that seems to of worked.
"I mean, it’s our 25th year as a band and it’s something I don’t think any of us would have thought we would get too but, you know, we’re just really grateful to be here and it’s awesome."
The US rocker thinks always making music that is "challenging and rewarding" has been a secret ingredient to their longevity, as well as respecting one another’s ideas.
He said: "I think we’ve done a good job of just being respectful to each other and realise that we’re all fighting for the same thing, we’re all on the same team and trying to keep things fun, and trying to keep music challenging, rewarding."