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Interview with Fall Out Boy
By: Caz* Bevan
 Possibly the most anticipated band of 2005's Warped Tour, Fall Out Boy played a set so strong and so powerful that it caused a movement; a riot even. I have never in my life seen so many bodies crowd surfing. One by one they fell over the barricades. At least 25 security guards were constantly helping them down, pushing them aside. Fans were attempting to jump on stage. The screams were constant; the energy, unbelievable. Appealing as always, Pete Wentz worked the crowd. He jumped off his full stack. He stood at the edges of the stage. Lead singer, Patrick Stump seemed less shy than normal. Despite the sun in his eyes, he sang passionately and with an intensity that made girls weak in the knees. I know this for a fact! I stood by and watched dozens of young, attractive fans pulled to the side and laid in the grass. This was not just a case of mild heat exhaustion. This was a case of pure Fall Out Boy excitement gone straight to the head.
Before the show I had a chance to participate in a press conference with Pete Wentz and Patrick Stump.
What is your advice to college students that want to go into the music business?
Pete: Stay in school. Do not get into the music business. The thing is - I know some of the kids that take classes on music business and stuff, and it's not even like that. I don't know anybody that really benefited from it.
Patrick: The music business is one of a few places where everything you've heard about it seems entirely cliche, but it's true.
Pete: The turnover rate is so fast. If you value your own ideals and ethical standards, do not get involved.
If you suggest that people don't go into the music business, why are you here?
Pete: Because we're musicians. It's hard some times, but at the same time I can't imagine life without it. All of a sudden you're just doing it. When we started there was no music business involved. We were just trying to book shows. We came into the music business by accident. There are a lot of people that were pretty cool. We're pretty lucky I think because there's a lot of bands that are really hungry and get into bad situations with really bad people. It's fortunate that we never ended up with anyone like that. It's the music business versus the business of music. There's a lot of people on both sides of that.
How did your popularity change you personally and as a band?
Patrick: I never got recognized ever at our old shows before.
Pete: I don't feel like it really changed. It's not like we can't walk down the street or anything. We can't walk around Warped Tour but that's like 9,000 Fall Out Boy fans. It'll be weird when we can't walk down the street or something, but right now it's cool.
Where do you get the information for your music from? Relationships? People you know?
Pete: Everything. Every interaction you have whether you're watching TV or with someone. I think it's like that for everyone. I guess that's what it's like for bands with really bad lyrics, they just sit around and watch TV.
So you wrote the book you recently came out with - what made you do that?
Pete: I had a surplus of lyrics kind of. Like in Fall Out Boy songs, we can't write stuff like that. When I was growing up I was into creepy things. It's not like with Fall Out Boy we can be like, "Ok, this is our one dark song," and do the wizard hand. It's not believable. Writing the book for me was like in Fight Club when they said what's the one thing you want to do before you die - build a house or buy a Porsche - for me it was to write a book.
What is the biggest thing a fan has ever done to meet you guys?
Pete: There were these radios that cost like $1,500. A kid stole one and the Warped Tour people were like, "Ok now that's not funny, give it back." He was saying things like, "Not as funny as when I #$%@ your Mom." The Warped Tour people were like, "We're going to come find you right now!" He said, "Good luck finding me around 10,000 people." They thought about it and how the radio was $1,500 and they needed to get it back so they asked, "What do you want?" The kid said, "I just want to get into the San Antonio show and meet Fall Out Boy." We never met him or whatever, but if he showed up we would have congratulated him for his effort.
How long have you been singing?
Patrick: I've only been singing for this band. I kind of arrived at it by accident. I was trying out for drums. I was also a songwriter and I was like, "I got this thing," and I just started singing it. They were like, "Yea, you should do that instead." So I never did play drums. I dunno. It's weird. I've been singing for about four years. It's nothing I ever considered would happen to me. I'm not the best singer so it's weird.
What is your favorite part of being on Warped Tour? How do you, as bands, interact with each other?
Pete: My favorite part is meeting people and hanging out with people. It's like school lunch where everyone sits at the loser table. Of course there are different kinds of people or whatever.
Do you like Salt Lake?
Pete: I like it because before we played here I saw SLC Punk or whatever and I thought, it's not like that. Then we got here and a lot of it was. It's a little more dangerous at the shows. I think it's because of the conservative population. People are rebelling a lot more here and kids are more vocal. It's exciting to see people like that because they really want to be your fan. I guess The Used probably helped out a bit because a lot of kids got that exposure that probably wouldn't have before.
Is it hard to play when you guys are in a bad mood?
Pete: I think it goes both ways. I think it can be cathartic on stage, but you can't be in a bad mood the entire set. When we're mad at each other it doesn't work, but when we're just mad the energy just works out. Usually if we're mad at each other before a set we'll try to come to terms with each other I think because otherwise it's just awkward.
Is this your first Warped Tour?
Pete: This is our second year. We played a few shows last year.
What's the difference between this year and last year?
Pete: I think the obvious difference is a lot of the bands that were on the smaller stages last year are on the main stage this year. We all came up together for the most part. It's like junior varsity. I think we're still JV though.
So this is Warped Tour's 11th year - how would you describe it?
Pete: It's the only festival tour to me that gets bigger and bigger every year. There are so many reasons. The amount of bands you see and the amount they put into it, the price is really low. It's really competitive and so diverse. There's so many different bands at any time that there's no reason you shouldn't be watching a band that you really like.
Patrick: It's the festival that knows how to pull their own head out of their ass. It's not like the same tour, the same five bands every year. It's the kid's festival. The music will change.
Pete: It's ridiculous how popular it gets like Warped Tour weddings. All of the bands are really excited to be out on Warped Tour. You know you're going to be dirty and you're not going to sleep a lot. You'll be under these horrible conditions and you know there's the possibility to make better money if you did your own headlining tour, but you're really excited to be a part of this thing that's bigger than you. That's why all these bands are here and playing at 11:00 on whatever day. Why would they do that? They do it because they are excited about it.
What has been your favorite show on the Warped Tour?
Pete: I think it was The Gorge in Seattle. We were there and we were suppose to play at 10:00 at night, which is like the latest I've ever heard. As far as the numbers go, it's not our best area. We were nervous about it. We did a signing, and there were like fifteen kids. We were like, "Well, this is going to suck." But it was so beautiful and there were so many kids there, and all the bands were behind us watching us. We had built it up to be so bad and it was complete opposite.
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