Fall Out Boy Interview - 05.19.2005
| Interview with Pete Wentz (bass) Interview by Jason Schleweis | 05.19.2005 | Phone  We actually talked to you last year on Warped Tour and since then you guys have had a whole lot going on; you just kind of blew up. What has been going through your head in the past year? Pretty much as a band we just have to put our heads down and tour and go out and do what we do best which is going out and playing for people every single day. So I haven’t really had a lot of time to think about all that. You know, we’re playing New York and you look up and see Jay-Z and Beyonce and they’re nodding their heads to your band you can’t help but think ‘how the fuck did I get where I am?’ More than anything, we feel undeserving of it. It humbles us and makes us feel very, very lucky. Has there been a hard adjustment period for you guys coming from such a small town and now all of a sudden Rolling Stone is trying to get you on the phone, and you’re playing on Conan O’Brien and everything? It’s very, very surreal ‘cause it’s like something that people ask us about all the time but it was so far from ever being planned or being something that we expected. It feels cool but at the same time we feel like we’re probably four of the most ordinary people you’ll ever meet, just placed in an extraordinary position. Let’s talk about the new album now. I know you guys probably really hate hearing this, but was it hard for you to write From Under The Cork Tree when you knew there were a lot of people labeling you as “the next big thing?” Did you purposely branch off into a different style of music just to show people that there is more to Fall Out Boy? (Laughter) No, we didn’t try to counteract that. And it’s not so much that we hate it, and it’s not so much that we even hate being criticized. Like every time there’s a post about us on anything there’s so many replies about how much of attention whores we are or whatever, or that we’re ruining this kind of music. But more than anything it just leads me to think that (a.) people have too much time on their hands because all people are doing is building people up and then tearing them down. And it’s the same people that build you up are the one’s that often tear you down. And then I think on top of that people say a lot of things that are pretty stupid and a lot of them are pretty unsound. Whether they’re calling us “the next big thing” or they’re saying that we’re ruining music because when you meet us you realize that we’re pretty much just plain kids from the suburbs of Chicago. It’s cool though because it’s surprising when people get to know us. You never put a lot of stock in what people say one way or the other. And that’s cool because obviously you need press and people paying attention to your band but it’s just not something we dwell on because if you did it would just drive you crazy. If Bono from U2 read every little bit of press about him he’d probably be either the world’s biggest ego-maniac or want to shoot himself. When you guys had the final product in your hand and were ready to release From Under The Cork Tree, were you afraid that the change in your sound would alienate your fans at all? It’s funny ‘cause I just got these artists that I believe in and have always done such awesome stuff like, I went to a Bright Eyes show the other day and I’m absolutely in love with I’m Wide Awake, It’s Mourning. I think that’s just phenomenal music and I expected it to be a very good experience. And I knew before I went to the show that everyone was saying he was only playing stuff off Digital Ash and it seems like that’s what he stuck too and I really wanted to hear stuff off the other record. And it left me feeling very disheartened and disappointed when I left. And I’ve been in that position so many times with so many bands and I just don’t want that to happen to people when they walk away from our record or how they walk away from our shows. Because at the same time, Bright Eyes did write this amazing record and I’m sure a lot of people think Digital Ash is too. But I sat there for a minute and realized that there’s plenty of people that could be doing that about our record. And I thought about it and realized there’s probably plenty of things about the record that they do love. And it’s really easy to jump on a band wagon and hate someone or love someone because they believe what they read, or because of the type of music it is, or because of the genre or label it’s on or because you start seeing Fall Out Boy more and more and I think it takes really a true lover of music to love or hate music by a certain band because you actually hate them. And at the end of the day I just hope people will remember us for our sincerity and that we wrote what we wanted to write and if they can’t remember us for that then forget us. It’s no secret that you guys are known for your long and clever song titles or your brutally honest and witty lyrics, so where do you personally come up with the writing creativity for that side of the band? The lyrics are just honestly like a diary of my life. Because that’s all I do is write things down. And if they mean something to someone else’s life then I think that’s awesome! But when I look at my old lyrics I think they’re pretty cliche and the fact that they mean something to anyone else’s life is just a shock and it’s surprising every time and that’s cool. It’s the best feeling there is I guess. But as far as song titles, we’ve always just wanted song titles that the song calls for. And I think the problem with a lot of bands when they get on major labels is that every title goes with the chorus or whatever. And band’s doing that in general is just watered down because there’s no ingenuity or creativity. So we write what we know, and some of them reference nostalgia or...I dunno. I think to a lot of people they might seem unclear or don’t seem to fit with the song at all. But to us they’re crystal clear and it reads like the Bible to me. It’s just really simple and easy. Are there any good song titles or lines that didn’t make the album that would be funny to mention now? (Laughter) There’s lots of titles...definitely one that my friend was throwing around a bunch that we wished we had gotten to use was “The Only Thing I Look Good In Is Everything.” And it was going to be for the first song on the record because it matched the egomaniacal theme of that song. And then there’s lots of lines that could-have-should-have been in like in “Sugar We’re Goin’ Down” where it says “I’m just a notch in your bedpost / But you’re just a line in a song” I think one of the line’s that was considered for it was “You’re just a new haircut and a bad tattoo.” It’s like someone just wrote a book on how to fit in. (Laughter) Being that fans look forward to the lyrics and titles on each of your albums, was that hard to meet people’s expectations when writing From Under The Cork Tree? Yeah it drove me insane! Because on the last record we were just trying to get one person to listen and one person to care. And then you just see how those lyrics got picked apart and put under a microscope. So when you write another album you have to watch how you go about doing it because know that they’re going to get picked apart again and you want to be able to do commentary while they’re getting picked apart. And you hear about all these bands that aren’t really living the life they’re talking about in their lyrics. That was one of the hardest parts and an even harder part is that you have to know where you came from and know your part in the scene. So pointing the finger at yourself is really hard. Another thing that you’ve mentioned very briefly before is that you want to start a side project with William Beckett of The Academy Is... next year. Has there been any developments with that yet? Yeah! It’s something that’s far different than people expect. It’s not a band, it’s something really different and really cool. But I don’t want to go to far into it because we haven’t really solidified what it’s going to be and how it’s going to be involved yet. It’s something that I haven’t seen somebody ever do. It’s just something we came up with and we were at a party at Bamboozle and we sat in a sliding closet for about an hour and a half and just thought about what we were going to do. (Laughter) Is it awkward for you guys to know that a lot of the bands that have come out of Chicago recently have pretty much just been because of your guys’ success? Um [long pause] no. ‘Cause I think everyone stands on the shoulders of everyone else and there’s been other bands before us from Chicago that have done this. But we really don’t see it around us. One of the coolest parts to touring is that you get to see other bands and other people on the stage and realize that you can be them. Like with The Academy Is..., I called up Fueled By Ramen every single day for two weeks begging them to sign them. (Laughter) And finally they did and look where The Academy is going now. There’s just some amazing bands that I think deserve attention and we’ve just created this club with our own kind of theme and I think that there are bands making they’re mark. And expect that it could possibly be what Long Island was three years ago; I could see Chicago being that. You guys are getting ready to headline Warped Tour this year, so are you excited to be on a bigger stage this year (one that won’t collapse after two songs)? (Laughter) We didn’t want anyone to get hurt but we really wanted to play more than two songs! In general though, it’s a good feeling because someone somewhere considers us on the same level with like The Transplants and My Chemical Romance. And it’s like, I don’t really see it. But it’s cool that somebody does, and that means a lot. Warped Tour is something we’ve been going to for a long time and to be able to play on one of the main stages of Warped Tour is so cool! Are you guys going out on Warped Tour in a van again or has Island Records actually hooked you up with a bus this time around? I think we’re getting a bus...so we don’t die in the process! (Laughter) Although the van isn’t put away forever, so I’m sure we’ll be back in it sometime. Just looking at Purevolume earlier, it appears you guys are the number one most played band on the site. Is that something you guys really keep track or not? What does it mean (if anything) to you guys to be closing in on four million plays? Yeah it does mean something to me! That’s just always those kids that have given a fuck about us. I mean besides Purevolume, they were there from the very beginning. We were never really a band where critics were like “holy fuck this music is so innovative and cool” and we’ve never been an industry band either. We’re just one of those bands that gets downloaded in dorm rooms, and bedrooms, and kids came out by word-of-mouth. And that’s so cool because it never stopped. It’s still growing and becoming this huge thing we never expected it to be. So I’m definitely proud of it. If we just walked away from the band, we’d have learned one thing, and it’s that these kids have been there from the very beginning. I know when you started the band, you never had any goals or expectations for being in Fall Out Boy. But after realizing that this is your career and after experiencing so much success lately, do you now have a new set of goals established for the future of the band? Well that’s the whole thing about Fall Out Boy; is that it’s never been about goals before. You just kind of follow the snow ball that rolls and rolls. And just try to add to it. When bands start believing they’re own hype is when it can be dangerous, because you’ll always have people whispering in your ear. How your bands going to be the biggest thing in the world and stuff. And the best thing you can ever do is just not listen to any of that. You’re going to have a lot of days where you’ll hear the best things in your life and a lot of days where you hear the worst things in your life and even some days in between. So you just hope that by the end of the day, it’s all worth it. Any last questions or comments? (Laughter) Well the new CD is out so go pick that up. And then go to falloutboyrock.com and just thank you for the interview! |
