Fall Out Boy
Fall Out Boy returns to the spotlight with the collaborative Folie à Deux

By Andy Argyrakis

Long before major label life, Fall Out Boy’s fan base was swelling exponentially from the suburbs of Chicago to America at large. But upon signing the dotted line with Island/Def Jam, the pop/punk foursome literally exploded on the global stratosphere, racking up countless singles, sold out stadium shows and famous friends galore. Outside of achieving musical evolution at every exciting turn of the cyclone, members achieved unexpected celebrity status, with bassist Pete Wentz in particular earning a mix of positive and not so hot headlines for marrying pop tart Ashlee Simpson. Nonetheless, he along with front man Patrick Stump, guitarist Joe Trohman and drummer Andy Hurley continue taking all the attention in stride, recently returning to the studio for its fifth full-length Folie à Deux. In a recent phone call from New York, Trohman talks about that tongue twister of a title, Fall Out Boy’s all-star list of current collaborators and the sometimes-skewed media spotlight.

What’s up with the French title for this CD?
It means a madness shared by two. The American Psychological Association uses it as a  term to describe two people who each have a separate psychosis, but when they hang out together, they make a new metal illness. You could apply to that Amy Winehouse and Blake Fielder-Civil. It’s hard to deal with and very hard to treat.

How is this applicable to what you or your fans may face in day-to-day life?
It’s applicable to so many things. It’s more applicable to things outside of Fall Out Boy than in. It can be applicable to an extent, but to kill any rumors before they start, it has nothing to do with something between any two members. It could relate to the recent presidential campaign or Britney [Spears] and paparazzi. That’s what’s so brilliant about the title. It’s a commentary on the outside world in general.

Why did you change the release date from Election Day to December 16?
It was getting too gimmicky. People were asking us “is this a political record?” and “is this some sort of gag you’re doing?” And we were like, “No, we’re putting a damn record out!” I know it caused dismay and our fans sure were bummed. We were all really bummed, but we had to do it for the integrity of the record.

So far the album’s lead single “I Don’t Care” is lighting up MySpace and a lot of people are saying it’s incredibly catchy. What were you guys going for on that track?
I was thinking about that the other day and was wondering, “Does catchy always mean good?” and I think it does. It could be good for the song or good for the pocket, but for “I Don’t Care,” I hope it’s good for the song. It’s definitely an old school blues riff that’s very classic and comes straight off the blues scale. It’s very John Lee Hooker and mixes a throwback with today.

In one sense, the song is definitely Fall Out Boy, yet at the same time, exploring the blues is certainly an evolution. Why is it so important for you guys to expand the sounds rather than remaking the same singles over and over?
It’s different for different bands and it works differently for different bands. You take older punk bands like The Descendents or Black Flag, who are always kind of doing the same thing, but that’s what’s awesome about them. For us, it makes sense that the older we’re getting, we want to experience more stuff. At same time, I don’t think we’re throwing away the beginning because some of those elements still exist. I don’t think we’ll ever be able to make [2003’s] Take This To Your Grave again because that would be impossible with what we’re doing for Fall Out Boy where change is constant. Metallica can’t make Master of Puppets again even though they tried really hard on Death Magnetic and did a pretty good job. There are elements, but you kind of grow out of it, tastes change, styles change and you grow as a musician the longer you’ve been playing. With our new CD — however the hell you pronounce it — it felt the most collaborative. [With 2007’s] Infinity on High, I got distant because I was going through some personal things. I love that record, but I didn’t feel as much a part of that process because of those issues. Even though we were given a deadline for this record, the collaborative process made it really fun.

Speaking of collaborations, how did you get hooked up with legends like Elvis Costello and Debbie Harry?
Aside from the dudes in Panic At the Disco, Gym Class Heroes, The Academy Is… or any of the guys that are already our friends, we basically asked the higher profiled people not knowing if they’d even have the time let alone say “yes,” but surprisingly they did! I had heard inklings that Elvis might be on the record, but the original, unmastered version [of “What a Catch, Donnie”] had his part sung by Patrick. Then I was playing back the first mastered version with my fiancé and was like “holy shit, that’s Elvis Costello!” The same type of feeling came when we heard Debbie Harry singing on one of our songs [“West Coast Smoker”]. But we did get to meet Pharrell [who guests on “w.a.m.s.”], and he was a really cool guy to hang out with. For the superstar he is, he’s such a super normal dude, is easy to connect with, ultra talented and a super big music fan. It’s a little different in hip-hop than rock. Dudes are around in the studio 100 percent of the time in rock, but Pharrell went out on a video shoot and then came back and threw in some amazing ideas off the top of his head.

Any special plans to pump up the big Chicago connection over the band tag teaming with Kanye West on “Tiffany Blews”?
No special promotion in that realm. It would be cool obviously but is not in the works. It’s a totally cool idea and would be awesome, but Kanye operates on Kanye time, which is a different thing. We respect that and let him do his thing — not that we have any way to not let him do his thing — but he has his record and we have ours. Who knows though? Maybe one day.

All of you guys have reached an unfathomable amount of fame, but how has all the attention honestly affected you guys?
I think everybody in Chicago looks at us as four dudes and so do our core fans. But the press loves to spin it and turn it into a two person band, which it’s not. Everyone within Fall Out Boy’s community knows it isn’t, but [the press is] looking to spin a good story.

Does it bother you when Pete or Patrick receive more attention than you or Andy?
It rubs me the wrong way sometimes, and sometimes I laugh. But when it’s your life and what you really define yourself as, to an extent you can’t help [being bothered] when you read [an article] and think “am I really that insignificant?” I have to realize that doesn’t mean anything and I’m learning to do that right now. It’s interesting when people say they see Pete and Patrick [working on all sorts of projects] and then they ask “what do you guys do on the side?” We do a lot on the side that we’re not necessarily ready to unleash to the world at large because we’re still working on it. When you look at bands throughout history, like say Led Zeppelin, you know who [bassist] John Paul Jones and [drummer] John Bonham are, but at the end of the day, the press didn’t focus as much on them as [singer] Robert Plant or [guitarist Jimmy Page]. But that didn’t make them any less important and I’m trying to look at that and stop worrying about the most petty bullshit. That’s hard because I’m an insecure human being who’s very flappable. I’ve always been heavy, so I’m self conscious of that, which makes it hurt when people you don’t even know inflict emotional pain on you. You think “what did I do wrong?” but it comes with the territory and you try to move on.

How do you account for the insane amount of public response since the group debuted in 2003?
To an extent, some of that is explainable through the connection to our fans and the fact that we’re not making art for other people. At same time it is, to a certain extent, unexplainable. The good thing is to have great fans who we’ve always stayed very connected to. The internet’s a readily available tool and makes it easy to stay connected to fans, which makes people stoked. You can post “today I ate a shitty sandwich that made me barf” and they feel connected hearing what’s going on in your life. The other thing is we always have fun on stage, so much in fact that you really want to be a part of that. We make it readily available for you to be part of fun and I think that’s exciting. But you can’t put your finger on why people like what they like and you have to chalk that half up to dumb luck.

You’ve talked about what you mean to the fans, but what do the fans mean to you?
We appreciate our fans a lot. The core fan base has been amazing and so is the fact that they recognize us as a four person band and not some malformed version the press has turned us into. We truly appreciate they’ve stuck with us through thick and thin and are truly interested in us as people and not just a band. That’s very heartwarming and one of the few things harsh in the world of the music industry that keeps us from getting jaded. We truly appreciate them, and I don’t know if they know what they mean to me and the rest of my band.