There was a sudden tremor in the world’s music industry when a few diehard Fall Out Boy fans stumbled over a February schedule of Jimmy Kimmel Live that showed the Chicago band were the musical guest.
Pair that with a changed Wikipedia entry that had an update as “active 2013 – present” and not a single fan could keep the return of the four-piece off their lips.
Despite all four members downplaying the rumour to begin with, it was finally let loose that Fall Out Boy were to return alongside the release of their first single in four years – “My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light ‘Em Up)”.
Now with the band having finished up their promotional Australian tour, lead singer and guitarist Patrick Stump had a lot of questions to answer.
Easing back into touring, the famed redhead mentioned his current time in Australia as “the best fun he’s ever had.”
“I’ve definitely been more aware of what’s going on this time around,” he adds. “I mean, I’m extremely jetlagged, but that’s not stopping me from having a fantastic time.”
Their two-date Australian tour that saw them play their explosive shows in intimate venues such as Sydney’s Metro Theatre and Melbourne’s Palais Theatre was anything but a letdown, with both dates selling out in mere minutes. “The album is good, in my opinion. I read a lot of tutorials on how to produce things over time, and we’re really hoping that all of our fans like our change in direction.”
With such a popular band, on their first tour in years, there must have been a good reason for a selection of such intimate venues? “We didn’t fear the idea that we may not be as big as we were previously, but we sort of expected it,” answers Stump.
“But that wasn’t the entire reason why we played in intimate venues. There are people who are made for arenas – you watch a Bruce Springsteen arena concert and he’s just soaking it all up and making the best of it all,” he defers.
“Don’t get me wrong – I would absolutely love to play arena shows once again, but for now, it just seemed right to play the smaller shows.”
Just a few months after returning to the circuit, the date of the quartet’s latest studio release, Save Rock And Roll, has been pushed forward – something Stump refers to as “the coolest thing a record company could ever do.”
“We got a call from our record company and they were just like ‘hey, we’d love it if you could bring your album out a little sooner’ which is amazing, because we’re so excited for all of our fans to hear it,” Stump enthuses.
“The album is good, in my opinion. I read a lot of tutorials on how to produce things over time, and we’re really hoping that all of our fans like our change in direction. We definitely understand that there’s a new breed of pop punk going around, and we’d rather pay respect to the new scene by not copying what they do, and just going our own way.”
Generally understood as the band’s ‘overall nice guy’, Stump has managed to be the frontman of a band who have turned into a household name, and yet still remains down to earth.
“I read something about Steve Carell once, where he’s a nice person because he was in his mid-forties before he was ever really noticed, and so he’s always so appreciative and I try to replicate that,” says Stump. “People always have dips in their careers, and it’s not until you have one of those that you can realize the fact you’re still a person.”“I loved my solo project, but I was sort of waiting until everyone was ready.”
“I may have been on magazine covers and followed by media, but it was really all Pete [Wentz, bassist/songwriter] who they were looking for – I was just in hiding for most of it,” Stump continues.
With all four members splitting into their respective solo projects – Patrick Stump’s Soul Punk, Pete Wentz’ Black Cards, and Joe Trohman & Andy Hurley’s supergroup The Damned Things – it seems as though they were all just musical placeholders. Stump doggedly agrees: “I loved my solo project, but I was sort of waiting until everyone was ready.”
“That was until a read an interview with Pete saying he didn’t want to get back together. I was like ‘Oh. Now I have this solo record out, and I have to play it out like it was so much more than just a side project.’ Of course, it wasn’t true and the media does often blow things up.”
Those lucky enough to have already seen Fall Out Boy perform on their Save Rock And Roll Tour may have noticed some exciting changes to their older songs, with Stump explaining that they had to ‘re-learn’ their catalogue from scratch.
These changes included guitarist Trohman comfortably slotting into full-time lead guitar, a change in vocal style, and drummer Andy Hurley providing some backup vocals.
The members of Fall Out Boy have never seemed keener to get back into the daily duty of bringing their music worldwide, and so it would be right to expect a prosperous second chapter to the Chicago rockers’ career.
Save Rock And Roll is out April 12th through Universal.
