INTERVIEW - Fall Out Boy

Chicago’s fi nest, Fall Out Boy, fancies funny songs and pizza

By NIYAZ PIRANI

Daily Titan Staff

Very few bands are able to combine catchy melodies and cleverly sarcastic yet meaningful lyrics into punchy three-minute songs. Chicago’s Fall Out Boy has not only done it but they’ve done it the right way.

Bassist/songwriter Pete Wentz talked at Fallfest 2004 about being a fl uke, illegal downloading and what happens when you sleep with Fall Out Boy.

Niyaz Pirani: So did you steal the name from Milhouse?

Pete Wentz: Originally we didn’t have a band name the fi rst couple shows. We asked the crowd what we should be called and some kid yelled out Fall Out Boy.

NP: So how did you guys start out?

PW: We were all in hardcore bands and metal bands and we were kinda doing this on the side. I guess it spiraled into something bigger than it was.

NP: How’d you go from metal to pop punk?

PW: We’ve always listened to stuff like the Descendents. Honestly, this started as the biggest goof-off ever. It was never supposed to be what it is.

NP: I remember seeing you guys a couple years ago on MTV’s “You Hear It First.” Do you think being on MTV was the thing that did it for you guys?

PW: I think some people did take notice because of that but I can’t really pinpoint it down to one moment. We did the cover of Alternative Press and some stuff in Rolling Stone but I think more than anything it’s been about continually touring.

Eventually people were like, “Man, this band keeps coming through my town; I guess I’ll watch them once.” We’re a sound that defi nitely grows on people.

NP: As of Oct. 15, you guys were the fi rst band with 1 million downloads on Purevolume. I’ll admit that I downloaded your whole album and eventually bought it. How do you feel about people downloading your music?

PW: As much as my label hates it when I talk about it, I’m a big downloader myself. I think it’s great that fans are excited. Bands that you’re really interested in are bands you want to download. You want to check it out and then go buy the record.

I think the problem lies when the industry has bands that create just one single and 11 bad songs. Honestly, there are a lot of guilty pleasures where I’ll just download the one song because it’s not worth buying the album. It just spreads the band out to more people and if you really like a band, you’re going to buy the album.

NP: In your opinion, what makes a song a Fall Out Boy song?

PW: Defi nitely the lyrics and Patrick’s voice because nothing else sounds like it. I want people to feel the exact place where I was when I wrote it. I still get shivers when some songs kick in.

NP: “Chicago is So Two Years Ago” is a pop punk break-up necessity. Who did what to you to make you write that song?

PW: Probably in four years nobody will care how my ex-girlfriend treated me. At the time I would be playing out of town but when I’d go back, that’s when you fi nd out that people are fucking your friends.

There’s only so many times you can yell at somebody and so many times they can hang up on you. Everybody’s been in the situation where you wish a person into the most awful situation.

NP: I’m sure the crowd is growing with every tour. Are you trying to write more sing-alongs for the new record?

PW: When we wrote the fi rst record, there was nothing to write for except ourselves. Now we’re on a major and 40-year-old guys’ jobs are on the line.

We wrote a couple of songs and said, “Wow, these songs fuckin’ suck, they’re horrible.” We could phone it in and rewrite the same record but that’s not what we want to do.

We’re just writing Fall Out Boy songs. Hopefully people will keep reacting but if they don’t, I mean, it was never supposed to go this far anyway.

NP: Is there a name for the new record?

PW: Not yet. NP: Just like the band?

PW: Exactly. Every band says that the melodic parts are more melodic and the heavy parts are heavier with a new record but I think we’ve grown up.

The fi rst record was defi nitely assessment. The next record was more reaction. This record is about repair.

We have a song called “I Slept with Fall Out Boy and All I Got was this Stupid Song Written About Me.” People can expect what they got from Fall Out Boy except that we’re a bit weirder and crazier because we’ve been on the road 300 days straight.

NP: So do you miss Chicago?

PW: Yeah, it’s one of those weird things though. It’s homesick versus sick of being home.

NP: But the food – don’t you miss the gyros?

PW: No, it’s defi nitely the pizza, dude.