Jimmy Eat World is a big band that has been coming to the Bay Area ever since they are a little band. In that time they’ve covered a lot of ground (they even played Noisepop). Tomorrow night they’re bringing their infectious power pop-rock to the Fillmore, one of the city’s most historic venues. Rick Burch, the band’s bass player, answered a few of our questions about how much he loves the area, and about being a bass player.

Favorite Bay Area Venue
My favorite would be Bottom of the Hill. It was one of the first places we played there so it has that nostalgia. Also the people that work there have always been really nice to us. We’ve always had a good time when we’ve played there. We’ve probably played there 5 or 6 times.

Best concert you can remember playing here
I don’t know, hard to define just one concert, they are all really memorable in different ways. When we played with Green Day in Oakland at the Coleseum really cool because it was their home turf. We played another time with them at the baseball stadium—the Giants. That was crazy, to see that place packed with people just going nuts. And just the setting it’s at, with the bay view, it’s awesome.

Bay Area restaurants you like
Ice cream- Maggie’s Moo’s. I get taken there by friends they have a bunch of vegan ice creams. It’s dangerous the size of the servings you get.

Bay Area Connections
I’ve never lived there, always wanted to live there though. I have friends there, I always have a good time when I‘m there, it’s such a great city. The entire Bay Area—Oakland, Berkeley, San Francisco. It’s all very nice, especially coming from Phoenix, it’s such the exact opposite of where I’m living now. It’s always refreshing.

See Jimmy Eat World with Dear in the Headlights. 7/18/08. The Fillmore

Favorite bass line in any song
I’m not a big Aerosmith fan, but the bass line of “Sweet Emotion” is pretty good. For some reason that is the first thing that comes to mine. I’m a big Primus fan-- Jerry Was a Race Car Driver.

Favorite song to perform currently
Right now I’m having lots of fun playing a song called “Dizzy” off our new album. It’s kind of a mid-tempo song. It’s a lot of fun to play. I also have fun playing the more rocking tunes.

Do you have a bass playing idol?
John Entwistle is pretty bad ass—from the Who. He died recently, but he was pretty much the man. The Buzzard, they called him.

Do you help write any of the songs?
We all kind of pitch in our parts. Sometimes a song will just stem from jamming in rehearsal space. We’ll play a riff, build a song. Sometimes Jim will have the whole frame work of the song laid out, riffs everything. We’ll do a little fine tuning. It differs from song to song. We don’t have a formula for how we write. We all pitch in, voice our opinions and evolve the song all together.

What should people notice next time they see you perform?
They should watch for the solo in the song the “Middle”. It’s a petty shredding solo that song.

If you could play in another band, what would it be?
It would be a lot of fun to play in “Girls Against Boys”, because they already have two bass players. Three would even be more fun. The rhythm section of that band is really cool, really groovy.