Photo Credit: Jack Edinger
Fall Out Boy bassist Pete Wentz was thrilled that his band was able to spend the summer doing a major tour for a lot of reasons.
The tour with co-headliners Paramore enabled Fall Out Boy to fulfill a long-time wish of many fans who had for years wanted to see the two groups together. It was also a chance for Fall Out Boy to introduce its music to Paramore fans who might not have been that familiar with the music of Wentz’s group. And yes, Fall Out Boy no doubt cashed some hefty paychecks for its efforts along the way.
But perhaps the most rewarding feeling for Wentz is seeing his band conclude the U.S. portion of its touring cycle behind its 2013 album, Save Rock and Roll, by playing the largest venues available outside of mammoth sports stadiums. “Being able to get into amphitheaters is great,” Wentz said in a recent teleconference interview with a group of reporters. “I guess we didn’t even have the hope of that when we started this album process.”
That statement might seem like false modesty coming from a member of a band that has known what it’s like to have million-selling albums and play arenas before, but Fall Out Boy’s future was probably that uncertain when the group started this latest chapter in its career.
The group’s career started fast, with two platinum-plus hit albums, 2005’s From Under the Cork Tree and 2007’s Infinity on High.
But then the waters started getting choppy.
The group’s next album, 2009’s Folie à Deux, was more musically adventurous, and many fans didn’t like what they heard. Some even booed the songs when Fall Out Boy played them on tour in support of the album.
Meanwhile, tensions within the band got worse on the road, to the point that toward the end of the tour, singer-guitarist Patrick Stump proposed and the rest of the group agreed that Fall Out Boy should go on hiatus.
It wasn’t until 2012 that Wentz and Stump took the first steps toward a reunion by getting together to try writing songs. A first session came up empty, but a little later, the pair reconvened and came up with the song “Where Did The Party Go.” Feeling they were on to something, a meeting with all four band members was scheduled to discuss a reunion of Fall Out Boy and how the group should proceed.
Fall Out Boy was back. The band members, though, wondered if anyone would care.
After all, the emo movement that gave the band a niche early in its career was over and Fall Out Boy had been off of the radar for nearly four years. In today’s fast-changing pop music world, that was an eternity.
Despite such concerns, Fall Out Boy didn’t try to re-create its sound circa 2005 or 2007. Instead, the group took some chances on Save Rock and Roll and moved forward musically.
The album is more diverse musically. “Just One Yesterday” brings some shades of soul into the group’s rocking pop sound, while “The Mighty Fall” mixes gritty rock with hip-hop and guest vocals from Big Sean.
Taking some musical chances may have backfired on Folie à Deux. But this time, fans embraced the new direction. “My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark (Light Em Up)” hit the top 15 or better on multiple charts, while “Alone Together” and “The Phoenix” went top 15 on Billboard’s Hot Rock Songs chart.
Wentz said Fall Out Boy has always tried to push forward, and in fact has a new studio album, American Beauty/American Psycho, set for release on Jan. 20, 2015. He senses that may be a good attribute these days.
Official video for "Centuries," the new single is out now, download on iTunes http://smarturl.it/dFOBCenturies.
“I think one of the things that you have to be open to as a band is adapting and you have to understand that part of your deal as an artist is you have to play music and create art that your audience is going to enjoy,” he said. “But at the same time, you also have to push the envelope and push people into new areas that maybe they wouldn’t have known or felt super comfortable with. I think that’s something we’ve always kind of played around with as a band. I don’t know if that’s helped better or hurt that.
“But I think at the end of the day, or where we’re at right now with culture and pop culture, I think people are less defined by genres,” Wentz said. “Like when I talk to kids, they’re like ‘Oh, I like this song and this song.’ And they’re just really different artists. It’s like the YouTube culture or whatever. I think that that probably helped our band, and we’ve never really felt completely defined by genre.”
Fall Out Boy headlines the second night of FM 102.1’s Big Snow Show with Walk the Moon and Vinyl Theatre at The Rave on Tuesday, Dec. 16 at 7 p.m.
