POLITICS OF ROCK WE'RE JIMMY EAT WORLD, AND WE APPROVE THIS MESSAGE.

Byline: Sandra Barrera Staff Writer

Jim Adkins of Jimmy Eat World is known for his heart-on-sleeve rock anthems, not his politics.

But ask him about the title track to his band's new album, ``Futures,'' and politics are what you get. The frontman of the Arizona rock foursome, playing to a sold-out Henry Fonda Theatre tonight, recently told MTV the song is about voting President Bush out of office.

In responding to the comment, Adkins says: ``I don't think instantly voting for a new president is going to magically solve all our problems in a poof. But I do think that under a Kerry administration it would be a more suitable environment for addressing real problems.''

Adkins and his bandmates have rocked against Bush before. Over the summer, they contributed a song to the ``Future Soundtrack for America,'' a compilation fund-raiser for progressive organizations such as MoveOn.org and the Sierra Club.

On ``Futures,'' politics are not the only force driving Jimmy Eat World. The album also tackles addictive personalities and romantic foibles, sometimes blurring the lines between the two.

Blender magazine recently described ``Pain,'' currently third on Billboard's modern rock singles' chart, as ``detailing a character's devastating addiction to a girl and/or Vicodin.''

Alternative Press notes the band's ``darker lyrical approach,'' but adds ``frat guys are still gonna like it.''

College radio was the first to embrace Jimmy Eat World early in its career.

The band was founded in 1994 by Adkins and three friends - Zach Lind, Tom Linton and Mitch Porter - all of whom had known each other since kindergarten. Back then, Adkins says the ``loftiest goal'' the band had going for itself was to put out a single, which it did on more than one occasion.

Those EPs and singles attracted for the band a cultlike following, even notice from the majors.

By then the lineup had changed. Porter left the band and was replaced by another school pal, Rick Burch.

Jimmy Eat World released two albums on Capitol.

The band later signed to DreamWorks, on which it made its breakthrough with the album ``Bleed American'' in early summer 2001.

Granted, it didn't break until ``The Middle'' took radio by storm a year later.

Jimmy Eat World now finds itself on yet another label - Interscope - because of the recent acquisition of DreamWorks by Universal Music Group.

Adkins admits things were a little shaky during the acquisition. But he wasn't too worried.

``Even if we did get dropped, it wouldn't be the end of the world,'' he says, adding, ``especially after attaining the level of success we had after the last record.

``There's so many more people that are curious about what we're going to do next,'' he says. ``Way more than we've ever had to deal with before.''

Sandra Barrera, [phone]

sandra.barrera(at)dailynews.com

JIMMY EAT WORLD

Where: Henry Fonda Theatre, 6126 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles.

When: 7:30 tonight.

Tickets: Sold out; try brokers.

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Photo:

no caption (Jimmy Eat Wolrd)