Street's Watching - AP Feb 07
I typed up this article for the good people at DYW, so feel free to ignore, if you wish. It's the AP article about Fall Out Boy.
CAN I GET A….
There’s always time for cupcakes. Sure we’re about two hours late to meet the gang across town at the Bel Age Hotel, but as soon as they see and - more importantly - eat the reason for our tardiness, we’re pretty positive all will be forgiven.
As we open the door to Sprinkles, an upscale cupcake bakery in Beverley Hills, the perky cashiers behind the counter step it up a little more and practically squeal with delight. Unfortunately, it has nothing to do with the fact that Fall Out Boy bassist Pete Wentz just walked in, it’s mostly because the girls are stoked to see one of their favorite regulars.
“I come here at least once a week,” Wentz whispers, as if to validate the unexpectedly boisterious reception. “Sometimes, I’ll drag my friends across the street to Barney’s just so I can run over here. I never buy anything there but I always end up getting cupcakes.”
A line forms behind Wentz as he orders a dozen cupcakes, a few Diet Cokes, and a pair of Cup-A-Cake plastic container (upon our request.) Before his order is rung up, he adds a couple of treats for Hemmingway, his beloved English bulldog who has a slight wonky eye and a tendency to run full speed into closed glassed doors, eat high heel wedges and take big dumps in daddy’s dining room when nobody’s looking.
“Bye, Peter Pan,” says one of the cheery cashiers as she hands him his bag of goodies and a receipt. “We’ll see you soon!”
Unfortunately for Wentz & Co, normalcy comes in small doses.
99 PROBLEMS
It’s mid-November in Los Angeles, and Fall Out Boy’s highly anticipated major label follow-up to 2005’s multi platinum From Under The Cork Tree is nearly finished being mixed and mastered. Song titles have yet to be determined, and the name of the album, Infinity On High, was as much of a surprise to fans as it was to the rest of the band - singer/guitarist Patrick Stump, guitarist Joe Trohman, and drummer Andy Hurley - who were unaware of it until reading an article on MTV.com titled “Fall Out Boy Exclusive! Pete Wentz reveals LP Title.”
Anyone who sits down with the band today will notice that Fall Out boy v.2.0 is a much difference band then the one interviewed a mere two years ago. And while they’ll vehemently deny much has changed (save for a couple million records sold and the amount of zeros to the left of the decimal point in their bank accounts,) it would be impossible for the boy-band not to evolve with their expontential rise through the musical ranks. Culturally, they’ve become red carpet darlings, practically guaranteeing each member will forever have “That Dude From Fall Out Boy: as their designated middle name. Sure, it’s a far cry from being Johnny Depp, but for a group of guys who have prided themselves on their accessibility and their candidness, it’s frustrating for them to see rumors and gossip steal the spotlight from what’s really important - the music.
“(Music is) what moves me, but I don’t think anyone wants to read about that,” says Stump. “I can’t speak for Andy and Joe but I think that the reason you don’t know that much about me because I don’t really care about me. I’m not an interesting story.”
What is the “interesting story”? How about the so-called fabulous life of Pete Wentz - the story most journalists and celebrity bloggers would lead you to believe. Sure, Stump, Trohman, and Hurley may intentionally shy away from spilling their guts in the press (that is, unless it has to do with Star Wars, free-jazz avatar Omette Colorman, or various theories on anti-civilization [see sidebar]) but that doesn’t mean they don’t have anything to say, it’s just hard to hear them over the shutter of flashbulbs outside Hollywood hotspots like Hyde and Bar Marmont.
“Everybody loves a scandal,” gushes Trent Vanegas, creator of Pink Is The New Blog, a celebrity blog which scores nearly 100,000 unique visitors a day, thanks to posts about everything from Fergie peeing herself onstage to the emo-tastic tracklisting for the Superman Returns soundtrack. The scandal he’s referring to is the leak of naked pictures from Wentz’s sidekick last March, which - while completely devasting to Wentz - managed to boost the band’s profile and thrust the bassist to the top of AOL’s list of most-searched naked celebs. “Everybody loves a naked celeb.” says Vanegas. “We were so used to seeing nude pics of femal celebs that when Pete’s pics came out, they spread like wildfire (and) proved to be the perfect marriage of technology and scandalous gossip. Since the pictures hit the internet via LiveJournal, they were able to spread very quickly. I’m not sure [the band would] be in exactly the same place without the leak. Those pictures gave Fall Out Boy media they might not have gotten otherwise.”
That’s something fans and haters will never know. And while some people say there’s no such thing as bad press, those people probably haven’t had the world take a peek at their naughty bits. After all, it’s easy to ignore your own faults when they’re not garnering headlines on Absolutepunk.net or spread across the pages of US Weekly.
“Everyone forgets what they do in their own bedroom, in their own time,” explains Stump. “I was never pissed at Pete for being Pete in his own time. I am pissed at whoever stole that picture and leaked it and for being such a douchebag, and having no sense of decency or privacy.”
The identify of the person who leaked the pictures is still a mystery. Conspiracy theories suggest it was 1) a bitter ex-girlfriend, 2) a bitter ex-friend who launched an online feud with the bassist a couple of weeks earlier, or 3) Wentz himself. For better or for worse, the pictures ushered in a new era in the life of Fall Out Boy. The band no longer belonged to the Midwest. They no longer belonged to the Overcast Kids. Instead, they reluctantly became icons for the MySpace generation, a culture who subscribe to - demand actually - an unapologetically open-book lifestyle.
COMING OF AGE
Back at the hotel, Hurley, Stump, and Trohman have been playing house while rehearsing for a performance of the album’s debut single, “This Ain’t A Scene, It’s An Arms Race,” on the American Music Awards. The trio squeeze onto a couch in the suite’s living room. Wentz sits behind a desk a couple feet away, alternating between pounding on the keys of his Sidekick, and pounding on the keys of an iBook. While fielding questions of big changes and bigger expectations, Trohman has turned the act of eating a cupcake into a contact sport. He picks off the candy water garnish, licks it, and then makes a face in disgust. After placing the candy back in the cardboard box, the newly fro-ed guitarist attempts to shove the entire confection in his mouth, but ends up losing half of it to the wooden coffee table and the other to the carpet. He finally admits defeat and succumbs to a napkin and a fork.
Over the next hour, Trohman appears slightly dazed and confused, alternating between saying nonsensical remarks under his breath and paraphrasing much of what’s said by Stump and Hurley. The past couple years have been a blur of tour buses, rest stops, and award shows, and as the baby of the band, Trohman tends to look up to his elder band mates for everything from musical cues to life advice. At an age where the Average Joe would be graduating from college and entering the work force, Trohman is truly growing up in public. At 22 years old, he has been more places then most twice his age - and probably has more money then them, too.
“For me, the more money I get, the more I freak out,” he admits. And though he’d never complain about being financially secure, he’d definitely agree with the late Notorious B.I.G. - more money, and problems. “People need to understand that life doesn’t get better just because you [have more stuff].”
Trohman’s life has gotten better though, thanks in part to setting down roots in Chicago (he recently purchased a condo in Wicker Park) and celebrating the one-year anniversary of the relationship with his girlfriend Marie, a double major college student who lives in Chi-Town, as well. “It’s very hard for us in our situation to meet a girl who’s going to be genuinely into us.” explains Trohman who, due to the fact that his girlfriend “rules” isn’t planning on reentering the dating pool any time soon. And while the former straight edge hardcore kid doesn’t pretend to have everything figured out, he’s well on his way.
“We’d be growing up and coming into our own doing anything else, it just happens that we’re doing what we’re doing.”
WHAT THE GAME MADE ME
Smooshed between Trohman and Hurley, Stump keeps eyeing a red velvet cupcake while pontificating on the element of healthy competition that exists in the scene between a bunch of other bands who came up at the same time as Fall Out Boy, like My Chemical Romance, and Panic! At The Disco. “I think competition is good,” he explains. “but cannibalizing is not good. It’s hard when you start eating off each other’s ideas.” Ironically as Stump finishes, he submits to a gooey baked good.
What two words would best capture the self-described “uninteresting” Patrick Stump? “Musical genius,” says Nicholas Sciemeca, designed owner of Equal Studio and longtime friend of the band. “I think Patrick is just musically gifted in every way. Everything he has written since we were 17 has some type of great hook. I remember he played this song for me once, and I told him it needed to be a FOB song, but it never made it out. I can still sing it to this day.”
Put him in the studio, and Stump goes through an almost incredible Hulk-like transformation from mild-mannered nerd to self-assured savant. “I will never be confident in myself,” says Stump. “Right now, I’m stumbling over my words and thinking ‘Goddamn, you talk way too much.’ But I’m confident enough now that no matter what anybody else says, no one will ever be able to take away the fact that I made music the way I wanted to. No off-handed remark about what your personal taste is could possibly affect me as a writer. That’s the one place I’m confident. That’s the one thing I know I’m good at.”
If only Stump could take part in this type of self-actualization outside the studio. He’s a well professed fan of acting but doubts that he’d ever try his hand at it. (“I've always had a little acting bug, but one of the problems is that if I wanted to do it right now, they’d want me to play a rock star or something. I’m not a believable rock star! If you cast me as a rock dude, I wouldn’t buy it.”) Apart from his professional accomplishments (working with Babyface, playing his beats for Kayne West) the diminutive front man was put through the wringer prior to making Infinity On High. Two years of touring, geographic space and lost time eventually led to the demise of his four-year relationship with his first and only girlfriend, who he once described as “his family.”
“[My ex-girlfriend] was with me for the ride up. Now I’m at the top of the rollercoaster and I’m on it by myself,” explains Stump, matter-of-factly. “When I go back to my bunk at night, all I've got waiting for me is my GarageBand [music-making software.] Work is the reason that my girlfriend and I broke up, but work was the drinking buddy that I turned to when I lost her. Instead of actually having a drinking buddy, I just went and worked my ass off. The day we broke up, I called up our booking agent and told him to book March 22nd because I didn’t want to be home alone on our anniversary. Book her birthday, book Valentine’s Day, book every fucking day you can.”
“One of the things I look for [now] in a woman is for her to hate my band. I love when girls possibly couldn’t care less about Fall Out Boy. But then it’s hard to get them to come to the shows.”
Stump might be flying solo for the time being, but that allows him to turn even more attention (as if that were humanely possible) to the thing that he’s most proud of - Infinity On High. Although Wentz penned the lyrics and each member wrote his individual parts, Stump acted as the grand maestro. Whether he was experimenting with a mandolin or orchestrating a choir for the chorus of “Hallelujah,” Stump took this opportunity to test the musical boundaries of Fall Out Boy without abandoning their sound completely.
“I think too many bands mistake sounding like greatness for ‘being great,’ and being great is something that happens without anyone knowing it,” he waxes. “I just want to be the best band we can be. I kind of have this cognitive feeling that this is the best I’m going to do. This is the height of myself as a writer and I’m very lucky to have Pete, Andy, and Joe to play off of right now and to make it better.”
THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS
“People from the outside think that there’s this metamorphosis to celebrity mode,” rants Hurley, “like you physically transform into this other thing, but it just doesn’t happen to us. It’s gradual for us. Yes, things change from a financial standpoint and the fact that we’re playing bigger shows and we have less to worry about in certain respects. But, the reasons we do it are the same. The friendships we have with each other are still the same.”
Indeed, the scenery may’ve changed but Hurley’s friends, politics, and morals have stayed the same. The drummer still lives in Wisconsin, and he remains an avid proponent of the underground hardcore and metal scenes, supporting bands like Misery Signals and extreme-metal act Arsis any chance he gets. He’s still adamantly straight edge and as an outspoken vegan and animal rights activist, was voted one of peta2’s sexiest vegetarians.
“I’m still this vegan straight-edge kid from Milwaukee who hates America, hates white people, and hates all this shit as much as I ever have,” admits Hurley. “I’m pissed off about all the fucking shit I was pissed off about [before.] The cold fury I had over things that are happening in this world [is the same now] if not [felt] more then I did when I was 18.” For anyone who was a fan of Hurley’s pre-FOB band’s like Kill The Slavemaster and Racetraitor, which was an overtly political metalcore band a la the Vegan Reich, pop punk or emo might not seem like the most logical music step. But despite popular belief, most of your stereotypical hardcore dudes aren’t just one-sided specimens.”
“Once during an interview, someone asked [our bassist] Kyle [Johnson] what he was listening to, and he said From Under The Cork Tree,” remembers Ryan Morgan, Misery Signal’s drummer and Hurley’s super tight bro. “Then [the interviewer] said, ‘You listen to that crap?’ I think that kids who get into aggressive music build an image around it and let it totally define them, so I can see younger kids having that misconception, Kyle and Andy were in an indie-rock band [Project Rocket] together while still doing metal bands. All of us grew up around poppy music and can define [ourselves] outside of what music [we] listen to.”
So what’s Hurley’s response to all the kids who see him at hardcore shows and cry “sell out”?
“You don’t have to like my band,” says Hurley, who will gladly take the time to explain why to anyone who attempts to tell him he sucks for being in Fall Out Boy. “I understand where [they’re] coming from because I was there. Working in this culture, in this context, is so alien, because it has nothing to do with anything you care about. I was given this opportunity to do this thing that I love and it’s my job too. If you had the chance to be on MTV or play on some show, or be on the cover of some magazine, yeah, it strokes your ego a little bit, [but] it’s not this lasting thing. You don’t go to your grave thinking, ‘I was on the cover of this magazine.’ You go to your grace thinking ‘I made these connections and my best friends are in my hospital room while I’m dying.”
IT’S THE END OF THE WORLD AS HE KNOWS IT [SIDEBAR]
In addition to his views being heavily influence by bands like Earth Crisis, and Rage Against The Machine, FALL OUT BOY drummer ANDY HURLEY hit the books to learn more about how the world works and where his place is in it. Hurley is working on a post-apocalyptic comic book (tentatively titled Post Collapse) that’s expected in the spring. In the meantime, he offers up this suggested reading list of political texts. Don’t worry, these are nothing like those stuffy history books your formaldehyde-smelling teacher makes you read in government class.
ENDGAME by Derrick Jensen
“This book gives a simple and undeniable view of the culture we live in and illustrates how fundamentally flawed and sick our way of living is. We are in a time of crisis: It’s apparent anytime you turn on the news. It’s visible in the seemingly never ending wars that some part of the world is constantly entrenched in. It’s obvious in the Prozac nation we inhabit. It’s undeniable in the rampant destruction of our home, this planet, and all life upon it. This book explores all of those things and gives real reasons for why they exist - and why they are not the way things are and will always be - while giving me hope for our future and for a better world. Please read this, if it’s the only book you ever read.”
THE STORY OF B by Daniel Quinn
“This is a great introduction to the origins of our current way of life and the reasons some of the problems we face exist and where they come from - done as a fictional story about a guy named B. The appendix which contains the speeches of B - the best part of the book - sum up the ideology well. This book was the most important book I’ve ever read and fundamentally changed the way I see the world, the same way Neo saw the Matrix for what it was after taking the red pill. I read this in high school on the recommendation of an English teacher, so I want to thank Mr. Mackert for changing my life forever.”
A PEOPLE’S HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES by Howard Zinn
“This book is the most comprehensive look at the true history of our nation. It explores the real events that occurred to make this country one of the wealthiest and most powerful forces in the world, and how these events have shaped the nation and the policies that are in place to this day. Zinn reveals a United States that is filled with injustice, oppression, and division, but he also shows how regular people have changed the course of history and policy when they’ve come together to voice a common ideal.”
DIRT OFF YOUR SHOULDERS
Fast-forward 48 hours: Wentz is back in the same suite at the Bel Ago Hotel. Having failed to eat anything substantial for dinner, he starts poking around for leftover cupcakes. Unfortunately, his band mates - and a certain avette AP writer - happened to finish them off hours ago. It’s nearly midnight and Wentz has just returned from a benefit concert for Invisible Children, a non-profit that raises awareness and funds for underprivileged youth in Uganda. With his hood flipped up and eyeliner slightly smudged, Wentz begins talking, although his voice is low and raspy, perhaps from the live performances for AOL and Yahoo! that filled the last few days.
“No one wants to see the little band that they had in their back pocket get gigantic.” says Wentz, with a hint of sadness. “I think we’ve been pretty lucky that most of our fans have stuck with us. But at the same time, I've been there before, and I know how it feels. I often find people questioning my morals or my character and I honestly feel no need to defend it ever. [But] people take silence as compliance.”
With a string of high-profile projects (a reoccurring role on the CW’s One Tree Hill and a controversial stint as a Gap Model) and higher profile Page Six rumblings (like stories of a drunken lap-dance from a certain ‘L.O.V.E.,’ -able pop star while hanging at the NYC hipster party, MisShaped,) it would seem that Wentz is intentionally making himself the target for Fall Out Boy fundamentalists who only want to see band members onstage - not at Hollywood parties. To some, Wentz is the Antichrist; to others, he’s a savior. However, much like the character portrayed in his songs, the “real” Wentz lies somewhere in the middle of both extremes.
“There’s a part of me that wants to say ‘Fuck you, I don’t have a Save Me sign on my back,’” he explains, in a slightly agitated tone. “But then there’s a part of me that does want to be saved. You do want to be figured out and you do want someone to put the pieces together. At the end of the day, you just want [someone] to come up to you and say ‘I did figure it out.’
“I haven’t figured myself out at all or [figured] where I fit into the world, and I think that I probably can be an intensely divided person,” he adds. “I don’t think that anyone really knows me. I don’t even know myself. If I were such a one-dimensional person, I wouldn’t have such a hard time figuring myself out. I would know my motivations for everything.”
Whether Wentz is completely unaware of his motivations has yet to be determined. Who knows if he’s really as internally conflicted as he makes himself out to be? Love him or hate him, all anyone knows for sure is that all eyes will be glued to the band - and Wentz - to see what happens next. And as Fall Out Boy gear up for the release of Infinity on High - a disc which displays some of the band’s most impressive songs to date - it’s hard to imagine that they’ll ever be able to top themselves; but, seeing as they’ve accomplished so much more then they ever expected, who knows if they even want to. The album could garner potential accolades or venomous criticism, but Fall Out Boy are ready to face the future head-on. But it’s for how long that has yet to be determined.
When asked earlier whether the band would go out on top with Infinity On High, Stump had this to say. “I think the band could go on forever - but it could very well be the last record, because I could die in a plane crash. I’m happy enough with this album that if it was the last and that plane goes down, I’m not fucking missing anything.”
“[This] record wasn’t written with the intent of it being the last Fall Out Boy record,” adds Wentz, coyly. “[But] no one can live this life this fast, this long.”
CAN I GET A….
There’s always time for cupcakes. Sure we’re about two hours late to meet the gang across town at the Bel Age Hotel, but as soon as they see and - more importantly - eat the reason for our tardiness, we’re pretty positive all will be forgiven.
As we open the door to Sprinkles, an upscale cupcake bakery in Beverley Hills, the perky cashiers behind the counter step it up a little more and practically squeal with delight. Unfortunately, it has nothing to do with the fact that Fall Out Boy bassist Pete Wentz just walked in, it’s mostly because the girls are stoked to see one of their favorite regulars.
“I come here at least once a week,” Wentz whispers, as if to validate the unexpectedly boisterious reception. “Sometimes, I’ll drag my friends across the street to Barney’s just so I can run over here. I never buy anything there but I always end up getting cupcakes.”
A line forms behind Wentz as he orders a dozen cupcakes, a few Diet Cokes, and a pair of Cup-A-Cake plastic container (upon our request.) Before his order is rung up, he adds a couple of treats for Hemmingway, his beloved English bulldog who has a slight wonky eye and a tendency to run full speed into closed glassed doors, eat high heel wedges and take big dumps in daddy’s dining room when nobody’s looking.
“Bye, Peter Pan,” says one of the cheery cashiers as she hands him his bag of goodies and a receipt. “We’ll see you soon!”
Unfortunately for Wentz & Co, normalcy comes in small doses.
99 PROBLEMS
It’s mid-November in Los Angeles, and Fall Out Boy’s highly anticipated major label follow-up to 2005’s multi platinum From Under The Cork Tree is nearly finished being mixed and mastered. Song titles have yet to be determined, and the name of the album, Infinity On High, was as much of a surprise to fans as it was to the rest of the band - singer/guitarist Patrick Stump, guitarist Joe Trohman, and drummer Andy Hurley - who were unaware of it until reading an article on MTV.com titled “Fall Out Boy Exclusive! Pete Wentz reveals LP Title.”
Anyone who sits down with the band today will notice that Fall Out boy v.2.0 is a much difference band then the one interviewed a mere two years ago. And while they’ll vehemently deny much has changed (save for a couple million records sold and the amount of zeros to the left of the decimal point in their bank accounts,) it would be impossible for the boy-band not to evolve with their expontential rise through the musical ranks. Culturally, they’ve become red carpet darlings, practically guaranteeing each member will forever have “That Dude From Fall Out Boy: as their designated middle name. Sure, it’s a far cry from being Johnny Depp, but for a group of guys who have prided themselves on their accessibility and their candidness, it’s frustrating for them to see rumors and gossip steal the spotlight from what’s really important - the music.
“(Music is) what moves me, but I don’t think anyone wants to read about that,” says Stump. “I can’t speak for Andy and Joe but I think that the reason you don’t know that much about me because I don’t really care about me. I’m not an interesting story.”
What is the “interesting story”? How about the so-called fabulous life of Pete Wentz - the story most journalists and celebrity bloggers would lead you to believe. Sure, Stump, Trohman, and Hurley may intentionally shy away from spilling their guts in the press (that is, unless it has to do with Star Wars, free-jazz avatar Omette Colorman, or various theories on anti-civilization [see sidebar]) but that doesn’t mean they don’t have anything to say, it’s just hard to hear them over the shutter of flashbulbs outside Hollywood hotspots like Hyde and Bar Marmont.
“Everybody loves a scandal,” gushes Trent Vanegas, creator of Pink Is The New Blog, a celebrity blog which scores nearly 100,000 unique visitors a day, thanks to posts about everything from Fergie peeing herself onstage to the emo-tastic tracklisting for the Superman Returns soundtrack. The scandal he’s referring to is the leak of naked pictures from Wentz’s sidekick last March, which - while completely devasting to Wentz - managed to boost the band’s profile and thrust the bassist to the top of AOL’s list of most-searched naked celebs. “Everybody loves a naked celeb.” says Vanegas. “We were so used to seeing nude pics of femal celebs that when Pete’s pics came out, they spread like wildfire (and) proved to be the perfect marriage of technology and scandalous gossip. Since the pictures hit the internet via LiveJournal, they were able to spread very quickly. I’m not sure [the band would] be in exactly the same place without the leak. Those pictures gave Fall Out Boy media they might not have gotten otherwise.”
That’s something fans and haters will never know. And while some people say there’s no such thing as bad press, those people probably haven’t had the world take a peek at their naughty bits. After all, it’s easy to ignore your own faults when they’re not garnering headlines on Absolutepunk.net or spread across the pages of US Weekly.
“Everyone forgets what they do in their own bedroom, in their own time,” explains Stump. “I was never pissed at Pete for being Pete in his own time. I am pissed at whoever stole that picture and leaked it and for being such a douchebag, and having no sense of decency or privacy.”
The identify of the person who leaked the pictures is still a mystery. Conspiracy theories suggest it was 1) a bitter ex-girlfriend, 2) a bitter ex-friend who launched an online feud with the bassist a couple of weeks earlier, or 3) Wentz himself. For better or for worse, the pictures ushered in a new era in the life of Fall Out Boy. The band no longer belonged to the Midwest. They no longer belonged to the Overcast Kids. Instead, they reluctantly became icons for the MySpace generation, a culture who subscribe to - demand actually - an unapologetically open-book lifestyle.
COMING OF AGE
Back at the hotel, Hurley, Stump, and Trohman have been playing house while rehearsing for a performance of the album’s debut single, “This Ain’t A Scene, It’s An Arms Race,” on the American Music Awards. The trio squeeze onto a couch in the suite’s living room. Wentz sits behind a desk a couple feet away, alternating between pounding on the keys of his Sidekick, and pounding on the keys of an iBook. While fielding questions of big changes and bigger expectations, Trohman has turned the act of eating a cupcake into a contact sport. He picks off the candy water garnish, licks it, and then makes a face in disgust. After placing the candy back in the cardboard box, the newly fro-ed guitarist attempts to shove the entire confection in his mouth, but ends up losing half of it to the wooden coffee table and the other to the carpet. He finally admits defeat and succumbs to a napkin and a fork.
Over the next hour, Trohman appears slightly dazed and confused, alternating between saying nonsensical remarks under his breath and paraphrasing much of what’s said by Stump and Hurley. The past couple years have been a blur of tour buses, rest stops, and award shows, and as the baby of the band, Trohman tends to look up to his elder band mates for everything from musical cues to life advice. At an age where the Average Joe would be graduating from college and entering the work force, Trohman is truly growing up in public. At 22 years old, he has been more places then most twice his age - and probably has more money then them, too.
“For me, the more money I get, the more I freak out,” he admits. And though he’d never complain about being financially secure, he’d definitely agree with the late Notorious B.I.G. - more money, and problems. “People need to understand that life doesn’t get better just because you [have more stuff].”
Trohman’s life has gotten better though, thanks in part to setting down roots in Chicago (he recently purchased a condo in Wicker Park) and celebrating the one-year anniversary of the relationship with his girlfriend Marie, a double major college student who lives in Chi-Town, as well. “It’s very hard for us in our situation to meet a girl who’s going to be genuinely into us.” explains Trohman who, due to the fact that his girlfriend “rules” isn’t planning on reentering the dating pool any time soon. And while the former straight edge hardcore kid doesn’t pretend to have everything figured out, he’s well on his way.
“We’d be growing up and coming into our own doing anything else, it just happens that we’re doing what we’re doing.”
WHAT THE GAME MADE ME
Smooshed between Trohman and Hurley, Stump keeps eyeing a red velvet cupcake while pontificating on the element of healthy competition that exists in the scene between a bunch of other bands who came up at the same time as Fall Out Boy, like My Chemical Romance, and Panic! At The Disco. “I think competition is good,” he explains. “but cannibalizing is not good. It’s hard when you start eating off each other’s ideas.” Ironically as Stump finishes, he submits to a gooey baked good.
What two words would best capture the self-described “uninteresting” Patrick Stump? “Musical genius,” says Nicholas Sciemeca, designed owner of Equal Studio and longtime friend of the band. “I think Patrick is just musically gifted in every way. Everything he has written since we were 17 has some type of great hook. I remember he played this song for me once, and I told him it needed to be a FOB song, but it never made it out. I can still sing it to this day.”
Put him in the studio, and Stump goes through an almost incredible Hulk-like transformation from mild-mannered nerd to self-assured savant. “I will never be confident in myself,” says Stump. “Right now, I’m stumbling over my words and thinking ‘Goddamn, you talk way too much.’ But I’m confident enough now that no matter what anybody else says, no one will ever be able to take away the fact that I made music the way I wanted to. No off-handed remark about what your personal taste is could possibly affect me as a writer. That’s the one place I’m confident. That’s the one thing I know I’m good at.”
If only Stump could take part in this type of self-actualization outside the studio. He’s a well professed fan of acting but doubts that he’d ever try his hand at it. (“I've always had a little acting bug, but one of the problems is that if I wanted to do it right now, they’d want me to play a rock star or something. I’m not a believable rock star! If you cast me as a rock dude, I wouldn’t buy it.”) Apart from his professional accomplishments (working with Babyface, playing his beats for Kayne West) the diminutive front man was put through the wringer prior to making Infinity On High. Two years of touring, geographic space and lost time eventually led to the demise of his four-year relationship with his first and only girlfriend, who he once described as “his family.”
“[My ex-girlfriend] was with me for the ride up. Now I’m at the top of the rollercoaster and I’m on it by myself,” explains Stump, matter-of-factly. “When I go back to my bunk at night, all I've got waiting for me is my GarageBand [music-making software.] Work is the reason that my girlfriend and I broke up, but work was the drinking buddy that I turned to when I lost her. Instead of actually having a drinking buddy, I just went and worked my ass off. The day we broke up, I called up our booking agent and told him to book March 22nd because I didn’t want to be home alone on our anniversary. Book her birthday, book Valentine’s Day, book every fucking day you can.”
“One of the things I look for [now] in a woman is for her to hate my band. I love when girls possibly couldn’t care less about Fall Out Boy. But then it’s hard to get them to come to the shows.”
Stump might be flying solo for the time being, but that allows him to turn even more attention (as if that were humanely possible) to the thing that he’s most proud of - Infinity On High. Although Wentz penned the lyrics and each member wrote his individual parts, Stump acted as the grand maestro. Whether he was experimenting with a mandolin or orchestrating a choir for the chorus of “Hallelujah,” Stump took this opportunity to test the musical boundaries of Fall Out Boy without abandoning their sound completely.
“I think too many bands mistake sounding like greatness for ‘being great,’ and being great is something that happens without anyone knowing it,” he waxes. “I just want to be the best band we can be. I kind of have this cognitive feeling that this is the best I’m going to do. This is the height of myself as a writer and I’m very lucky to have Pete, Andy, and Joe to play off of right now and to make it better.”
THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS
“People from the outside think that there’s this metamorphosis to celebrity mode,” rants Hurley, “like you physically transform into this other thing, but it just doesn’t happen to us. It’s gradual for us. Yes, things change from a financial standpoint and the fact that we’re playing bigger shows and we have less to worry about in certain respects. But, the reasons we do it are the same. The friendships we have with each other are still the same.”
Indeed, the scenery may’ve changed but Hurley’s friends, politics, and morals have stayed the same. The drummer still lives in Wisconsin, and he remains an avid proponent of the underground hardcore and metal scenes, supporting bands like Misery Signals and extreme-metal act Arsis any chance he gets. He’s still adamantly straight edge and as an outspoken vegan and animal rights activist, was voted one of peta2’s sexiest vegetarians.
“I’m still this vegan straight-edge kid from Milwaukee who hates America, hates white people, and hates all this shit as much as I ever have,” admits Hurley. “I’m pissed off about all the fucking shit I was pissed off about [before.] The cold fury I had over things that are happening in this world [is the same now] if not [felt] more then I did when I was 18.” For anyone who was a fan of Hurley’s pre-FOB band’s like Kill The Slavemaster and Racetraitor, which was an overtly political metalcore band a la the Vegan Reich, pop punk or emo might not seem like the most logical music step. But despite popular belief, most of your stereotypical hardcore dudes aren’t just one-sided specimens.”
“Once during an interview, someone asked [our bassist] Kyle [Johnson] what he was listening to, and he said From Under The Cork Tree,” remembers Ryan Morgan, Misery Signal’s drummer and Hurley’s super tight bro. “Then [the interviewer] said, ‘You listen to that crap?’ I think that kids who get into aggressive music build an image around it and let it totally define them, so I can see younger kids having that misconception, Kyle and Andy were in an indie-rock band [Project Rocket] together while still doing metal bands. All of us grew up around poppy music and can define [ourselves] outside of what music [we] listen to.”
So what’s Hurley’s response to all the kids who see him at hardcore shows and cry “sell out”?
“You don’t have to like my band,” says Hurley, who will gladly take the time to explain why to anyone who attempts to tell him he sucks for being in Fall Out Boy. “I understand where [they’re] coming from because I was there. Working in this culture, in this context, is so alien, because it has nothing to do with anything you care about. I was given this opportunity to do this thing that I love and it’s my job too. If you had the chance to be on MTV or play on some show, or be on the cover of some magazine, yeah, it strokes your ego a little bit, [but] it’s not this lasting thing. You don’t go to your grave thinking, ‘I was on the cover of this magazine.’ You go to your grace thinking ‘I made these connections and my best friends are in my hospital room while I’m dying.”
IT’S THE END OF THE WORLD AS HE KNOWS IT [SIDEBAR]
In addition to his views being heavily influence by bands like Earth Crisis, and Rage Against The Machine, FALL OUT BOY drummer ANDY HURLEY hit the books to learn more about how the world works and where his place is in it. Hurley is working on a post-apocalyptic comic book (tentatively titled Post Collapse) that’s expected in the spring. In the meantime, he offers up this suggested reading list of political texts. Don’t worry, these are nothing like those stuffy history books your formaldehyde-smelling teacher makes you read in government class.
ENDGAME by Derrick Jensen
“This book gives a simple and undeniable view of the culture we live in and illustrates how fundamentally flawed and sick our way of living is. We are in a time of crisis: It’s apparent anytime you turn on the news. It’s visible in the seemingly never ending wars that some part of the world is constantly entrenched in. It’s obvious in the Prozac nation we inhabit. It’s undeniable in the rampant destruction of our home, this planet, and all life upon it. This book explores all of those things and gives real reasons for why they exist - and why they are not the way things are and will always be - while giving me hope for our future and for a better world. Please read this, if it’s the only book you ever read.”
THE STORY OF B by Daniel Quinn
“This is a great introduction to the origins of our current way of life and the reasons some of the problems we face exist and where they come from - done as a fictional story about a guy named B. The appendix which contains the speeches of B - the best part of the book - sum up the ideology well. This book was the most important book I’ve ever read and fundamentally changed the way I see the world, the same way Neo saw the Matrix for what it was after taking the red pill. I read this in high school on the recommendation of an English teacher, so I want to thank Mr. Mackert for changing my life forever.”
A PEOPLE’S HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES by Howard Zinn
“This book is the most comprehensive look at the true history of our nation. It explores the real events that occurred to make this country one of the wealthiest and most powerful forces in the world, and how these events have shaped the nation and the policies that are in place to this day. Zinn reveals a United States that is filled with injustice, oppression, and division, but he also shows how regular people have changed the course of history and policy when they’ve come together to voice a common ideal.”
DIRT OFF YOUR SHOULDERS
Fast-forward 48 hours: Wentz is back in the same suite at the Bel Ago Hotel. Having failed to eat anything substantial for dinner, he starts poking around for leftover cupcakes. Unfortunately, his band mates - and a certain avette AP writer - happened to finish them off hours ago. It’s nearly midnight and Wentz has just returned from a benefit concert for Invisible Children, a non-profit that raises awareness and funds for underprivileged youth in Uganda. With his hood flipped up and eyeliner slightly smudged, Wentz begins talking, although his voice is low and raspy, perhaps from the live performances for AOL and Yahoo! that filled the last few days.
“No one wants to see the little band that they had in their back pocket get gigantic.” says Wentz, with a hint of sadness. “I think we’ve been pretty lucky that most of our fans have stuck with us. But at the same time, I've been there before, and I know how it feels. I often find people questioning my morals or my character and I honestly feel no need to defend it ever. [But] people take silence as compliance.”
With a string of high-profile projects (a reoccurring role on the CW’s One Tree Hill and a controversial stint as a Gap Model) and higher profile Page Six rumblings (like stories of a drunken lap-dance from a certain ‘L.O.V.E.,’ -able pop star while hanging at the NYC hipster party, MisShaped,) it would seem that Wentz is intentionally making himself the target for Fall Out Boy fundamentalists who only want to see band members onstage - not at Hollywood parties. To some, Wentz is the Antichrist; to others, he’s a savior. However, much like the character portrayed in his songs, the “real” Wentz lies somewhere in the middle of both extremes.
“There’s a part of me that wants to say ‘Fuck you, I don’t have a Save Me sign on my back,’” he explains, in a slightly agitated tone. “But then there’s a part of me that does want to be saved. You do want to be figured out and you do want someone to put the pieces together. At the end of the day, you just want [someone] to come up to you and say ‘I did figure it out.’
“I haven’t figured myself out at all or [figured] where I fit into the world, and I think that I probably can be an intensely divided person,” he adds. “I don’t think that anyone really knows me. I don’t even know myself. If I were such a one-dimensional person, I wouldn’t have such a hard time figuring myself out. I would know my motivations for everything.”
Whether Wentz is completely unaware of his motivations has yet to be determined. Who knows if he’s really as internally conflicted as he makes himself out to be? Love him or hate him, all anyone knows for sure is that all eyes will be glued to the band - and Wentz - to see what happens next. And as Fall Out Boy gear up for the release of Infinity on High - a disc which displays some of the band’s most impressive songs to date - it’s hard to imagine that they’ll ever be able to top themselves; but, seeing as they’ve accomplished so much more then they ever expected, who knows if they even want to. The album could garner potential accolades or venomous criticism, but Fall Out Boy are ready to face the future head-on. But it’s for how long that has yet to be determined.
When asked earlier whether the band would go out on top with Infinity On High, Stump had this to say. “I think the band could go on forever - but it could very well be the last record, because I could die in a plane crash. I’m happy enough with this album that if it was the last and that plane goes down, I’m not fucking missing anything.”
“[This] record wasn’t written with the intent of it being the last Fall Out Boy record,” adds Wentz, coyly. “[But] no one can live this life this fast, this long.”