Chicago’s hottest rising act, Fall Out Boy, might have started out as a hobby for these four friends, but the success that has evolved in such a short time truly reflects how talented they are. Their breakthrough album, From Under the Cork Tree, has allowed them to achieve the status that most aspiring musician desire. They may be approaching their final days on the 2005 Warped Tour, but FOB will only have a few days off before heading out to Japan and on their headlining tour.
More recently, Fall Out Boy has been seen making music for games like League of Legends and can be heard on soundtracks for Rock Band Blitz, Rocksmith, Fortnite, and Beat Saber just to name a few. I had the opportunity to talk with Pete and Patrick at the 2005 Warped Tour Barrie Date. Wait until Andy finds out what little secret of his they let out.
I am going to start off by asking you what kind of challenges you have had to face being a band from the mid-west?
Pete: I think it is like the coast is really where it is at. For me it wasn’t a challenge as much as it was like. . . It let us marinate for longer. Lots of people from LA or New York kind of have A&R guys, critics and press around their shows. It made us really hungry to get out of there. I don’t know if we would have had that if we were from the coast. It was a really good incubator.
Did Fall Out Boy have support from your family and friends?
Pete: Our families have always been really supportive of us. They bought us two vans, helped us out whenever we were in a crisis. They have always been very supportive.
Any family backgrounds in music?
Patrick: My dad was a folk singer. He was for a long time but he never really decided to go with it.
Do you really love bingo? [Referring to his hat that says “I Love Bingo”]
Patrick: Some one gave me this hat from Japan and I don’t know what it means, I thought it was funny though.
Pete: My brother plays the hookah pipe.
He plays the hookah pipe?
Pete: Yes, A lot. He blazes it a lot. (Laughs)
You guys have been playing on TV quite a bit, is it different performing in that kind of setting as opposed to playing for a crowd?
Pete: This is the thing, we are not models or actors so playing to cameras is really weird for us. Plus the fact that I don’t think people always know how to record us. When we have a chance to play in front of a crowd on TV we do a lot better than playing just by ourselves. It’s not Fall Out Boy but we try our best and know it is something we need to get more comfortable with. It’s not something that we think is all that cool.
Did you guys ever go to Warped Tour as fans?
Pete: I did I went and saw Green Day and New Found Glory.
Can you think of any reasons or stories that would explain why the press constantly refers Warped Tour as a traveling punk rock circus?
Pete: You’re like a carnie, almost.
Patrick: You are the outsiders amongst outsiders. You have these guys in tattoos traveling in a big caravan. It is very similar to how a circus works, you’re in a different town everyday, different people but you travel in this pack of like 60 buses.
With the internet helping out a lot with today’s bands are there any online radio shows that you can think of that are good for playing artist that you might not typically hear on the FM?
Patrick: Yes, Idobi radio and the DJRossstar.
Are you guys going to be on his DVD?
Pete: Yes we are actually. We also did KROCK2, Q101’s online radio. I think that is were it is really at to push boundaries. You can play different music that you wouldn’t hear on radio and appeal to a different fan base.
What will Fall Out Boy be up to following Warped Tour?
Pete: We are going to be doing some international stuff and after that we are going to go home, recuperate a little bit, take a couple showers and than head on our headline tour which will be the full US with The Starting Line, Motion City Soundtrack, and Boys Night Out.
One last question, is it true your roadie has seen Andy naked?
Pete: I am sure. We use to call his “Guy”. You know what I am referring to when I call it his “guy”, right?
Yes.
Pete: We use to call it Santa’s Little Helper. If you have ever watched The Simpson’s it’s the dog that runs around with its tongue out of its mouth all the time. That’s kind of how it would be when he runs around in his boxers. Santa’s Little Helper would jump out every once in a while.
