SMASH MAGAZINE
08/15/05
FALL OUT BOY

It’s A Business Doing Pleasure With You…
Finding humor in the busy life of Fall Out Boy’s Pete Wentz
By: homie

“3 in the afternoon to, pretty much, 3 in the morning, is ‘Pete Time’ from the label. You can call me at 2am and we’ll talk. If you have a problem with your posters not being in stores or it’s a girl or whatever it is.” says Fall Out Boy bassist/vox turned label creator Pete Wentz. It’s been one wild ride with the past two years taking the band from little known obscurity in the greater Chicago area to TRL summer pool party guests on MTV’s “Summer on the Strip.” But whether he’s on the stage, on the phone, or on the couch, Pete is in touch with those around him, sense of humor and all. On this, the last official Warped Tour date for 2005, Smash Magazine gets the call from Boston, from perhaps the most adored band of the tour.

“when i walked through the door there was a kid standing therein shorts and an argyle sweater. we went downstairs and played "through being cool" front to back. i knew we would be best friends forever. this is my first memory of fall out boy” reads a recent journal entry from Wentz on the band’s website. Originally, fans on a strict diet of hardcore, Fall Out Boy found much of their musical leanings in the burgeoning NYHC scene but are also mindful of a history their town had to offer. “I got to see Screeching Weasel, we listened to Cap’n Jazz, Promise Ring, but for the most part we were into heavier bands but we were definitely influenced by Ben Weasel and all the stuff they were doing. It was a really cool time in Chicago because you would get really heavy bands and ska bands and-Blue Meanies-all of those bands would play together so it was kind of like-it made for more interesting shows.” When asked to list the bands he respected of a heavier nature: “Obviously Gorilla Biscuits and Youth of Today, and then you’ve got even heavier stuff like Earthcrisis and Integrity.”

Over the course of the past two years, the band has traveled to countless places giving them the opportunity to have experienced some of the music they’d only once considered listening to. “We’ve kind of been around the world. We went to Manchester and saw where the Smiths are from, the Cure, the Police, Rod Stewart, and then younger bands too. We started a label for younger bands like The Academy Is, Panic! At the Disco who’s actually from Vegas, October Fall, Hush Fall, just bands with a younger, fresher sound that we think are cool.”

Ah yes, we’ve seen this before, Vegas band Panic! At the Disco, as previously interviewed in the pages of Smash. So the hype machine is out there letting the general public know, but what about the guy that actually signed them? What does Wentz have to say on the matter? “I actually remember meeting them years ago when we were on tour opening for Less Than Jake. They were there at the show and I kinda remember their faces. A year or two later they were spamming our message board and our livejournal accounts, saying funny shit. They were joking around like pranksters a little bit and I went on there like ‘what the fuck are these kids doing?’ and the kid was like ‘go listen to my band.’ That’s how we were discovered, but at the same time this kid was like, harassing us all the time so I figured I’d listen to his band and then tell him how much they sucked or whatever, like it would be more ammo for me. He was messing with me so I was messing with him back. I went and listened to the music and they were fucking amazing. They were all young and just a lot like us in our (original) situation and I’d just hate to see a band like this get taken advantage of so we started this label. We kind of set this label up around Panic. Since then we’ve bro’d down with them. We moved to LA for a while and for 3 or 4 months they’d come in and hang out while we were making our record and make man-soup in our hot tub and stuff like that, so…(laughter). They’re good guys and its really exciting for me to be on the other side of things and see another band develop and take these first steps. It’s really kind of cool.”

The label Wentz refers to is indie start-up Decaydance he launched recently with Fueled By Ramen co-creator John Janick. But with a fledging career in front of Wentz as a member of the newly successful Fall Out Boy, it’s admittedly still a bit of a juggling act to keep an eye on the younger acts he’s signed. “It’s frustrating because there’s only so much time in the day. We’re on Warped Tour and these places where cell phone service doesn’t exist. The cool thing is that we partnered up with John from Fueled by Ramen, so he does the whole other side of it. Bands call me, I’ll do the creative stuff, I do like, 99% of the A&R stuff, and when bands have little problems they call me. The rest of the day he’s in the office handling the label and the infrastructure itself so it runs pretty smoothly when I’m on the road. I feel like I’ve got a good partner.”

While Wentz works to ensure the success of these younger acts, Fall Out Boy has simply blown up. The response to their 2003 release “Take This To Your Grave” was greatly respected to the tune of more than 200,000 copies sold, rapidly gaining them the familiar attention of countless major record labels looking for a piece of indie gold. When Island records came calling to re-release the effort and record 2005’s “From Under the Cork Tree” the band was cautiously hesitant to work with one of the rumored larger companies. “There was definitely a hesitation like in anyone’s life or any musician’s career but the goal of Fall Out Boy has always been to be at the forefront of music and make a change, make a difference and really put sincere music back on the face. So obviously we needed to take advantage of these bigger mediums, bigger venues, and a major label is one of those. I’ve met countless major label people. There’s good people and bad people everywhere. It’s not just like one company hires all the good people but we’ve found some people that we really like working with and enjoy and we feel that they are very honest people so we’re sticking with them. Island is pretty cool because when you go to a bigger label there are certain things that you can get. You can get played on TV with a major label. At the same time though, you have to slide the scale of art versus product further towards product when you get on a bigger label cause that’s just how it works. Island has been very cool about having a hands off approach with us. If it aint broke, why fix it. We don’t take any tour support, we do our own thing, we book our own tours, we tour 250-300 days out of the year. They kind of just let us do our thing and when we need their help, when we need them to step in, they’re there for us. So its been a really good experience for us.”

New audiences have been a part of that good experience since the latest release “From Under the Cork Tree.” The band’s video is often seen on TV outlets from the usual suspects to action sports channels. On the internet, the band is one of the most downloaded artists in the brief history of purevolume.com. In and around this summer’s Warped Tour venue’s there’s been little said about more bands than Fall Out Boy. Now poised in the limelight, Wentz has taken a look back at life both in his mind and on his record. When asked about the influence of his childhood on the record, Wentz says, “I think it speaks of me as a person. It’s about my life, I’m addicted to nostalgia. I loved growing up in the 80’s. I have all my transformers still setup in my room and all my He-man sheets on my bed still. It’s kind of a Peter Pan fantasy. Those were some of the memories that were really good to hold onto for me. It’s definitely the kind of person I am.” If he’s nostalgic, it’s only one attribute to the overall makeup of Wentz. A thought provoking comedy is also intertwined within. One glance at Cork Tree will show you song titles that include “Sophomore Slump or Comeback of the Year,” and “I Slept with Someone in Fall Out Boy and All I Got Was This Stupid Song Written About Me.” The band walks a fine line between making the scene and making fun of it. “That’s kind of what the whole record is, making fun this thing that happened and where we came from but at the same time taking our own credit for what we did to be a part of it. I hope more people pick up on that. No one has a patent on how they feel. Bands tell fart jokes for years and then you have bands on the other side that act all serious and never want anyone to see the other side and I don’t think anyone likes that. I think you can have both. You can be this person who does have a serious side and the same time be someone who has fun and makes jokes about themselves so we kind of try to ride the line and do both.”