Boys shoot for big time (Pioneer Press, August 21, 2003)
Written by Matthew Pais, staff intern
[Image description: A newspaper clipping of this article as it appeared in Alternative Press #303's "The Oral History of 'Take This to Your Grave'". It is captioned "Full page write up in the Pioneer Press." End ID]
For the young members of Fall Out Boy, homecoming no longer means football games, dancing and formalwear. Instead, it means a day-long stop in their hometown and the rare opportunity to sleep in their own beds.
Which is exactly what three out of the four band members were doing one recent afternoon. The Boys had arrived on the North Shore at 5 a.m. that morning after playing a show in Lincoln, Nebraska. At 1 p.m., singer Patrick Strump, 20, guitarist Joe Trohman, 18, and drummer Andy Hurley, 23, were still sound asleep.
Bassist Pete Wentz, 24, has learned to survive on no sleep.
With tattoos running down his arms and a logo-free blue cap twisted on his head to a 30-degree angle from his forehead, Wentz may not be the prototypical alumnus of Winnetka's North Shore Country Day School. But he just might be the busiest.
Fall Out Boy performed approximately 200 shows in the past year, traveling across the country in a run-down van to play their energetic brand of emotive pop-punk.
On the road
"We have to drive with the heat on when it gets hot," Wentz said, during a conversation at an outdoor table of a Wilmette sandwich shop. "You've never had it worse than driving with the heat on in 120-degree weather through the desert."
Touring has its downside. "The first four days, it's really good and fresh," Wentz said. "Then homesickness sets in."
According to Wentz, the band is rarely short on subjects worth arguing about, from the cost of a tour bus to the prospect of the music industry ever seeing another Beatles or Elvis. He said that the disputes never last long. "Five minutes later, we're laughing about it," he said. "These guys are like brothers to me, so our arguments are like family arguments."
Wentz, a Wilmette resident, is not the only member of the band with a North Shore connection. Stumph, a native of Glenview, graduated from Glenbrook South, and Trohman lives in Winnetka and is a New Trier alum. Hurley is from Milwaukee.
Early ambition
Wentz learned to play the guitar when he was 7, and picked up a bass guitar at 14. "I kinda always wanted to be in a band," he said. "It's like the best job in the world."
"I had no idea he was as talented as he obviously is, but it doesn't surprise me that he would be inclined to express himself in that way," says North Shore Country Day School teacher Kevin Randolph, who had Pete (or "Peter," as he calls him), in his 11th grade U.S. history class.
"Some kids are just there for the grades, Peter was there because he had questions he wanted answers to." And even as a teen, Wentz was no follower.
"He didn't take his cue from what was popular in terms of what to wear or what to listen to," said Randolph. "He clearly did not look like a kid out of Abercrombie and Fitch, but we are a school that values diversity."
Falling in
Fall Out Boy started when Wentz and Trohman, already good friends, began writing songs just for fun. After meeting Strump, the three musicians soon added Hurley, an old friend of Wentz, to complete the band.
The band soon moved onto the fast track. "When it took off, we dropped everything," said Wentz, who left DePaul University in his junior year to concentrate on music.
He found leaving school an easy decision. "Nobody really looks back on their life and thinks they should have taken less chances." he said.
In the past year, Fall Out Boy has released its debut album, "Take This to Your Grave," on Fueled by Ramen records, and has appeared at the South by Southwest exhibition in Texas, a prestigious showcase where record companies watch up and coming talent in concert. Wentz said the white-collar crowd did not really get a taste of what Fall Out Boy is all about. "Our performance was way more low-key and didn't really represent who we are."
When watching the video for Fall Out Boy's "Dead on Arrival," it's hard not to think of the footage from the Beatles final concert or the video for U2's "Where the Streets Have No Name." Though the music may be faster and fiercer, the rebellion is undeniable: the police shut down Fall Out Boy's concert after only four songs, Wentz said. "It was just one of the most insane experiences of my life," he explained.
The video was filmed at Arlington Heights' Knights of Columbus, where the band had previously played a show for a packed crowd of fans who sang along to all of the songs. Wentz said that experience proved that Fall Out Boy was on its way to something special. "We were like, 'Whoa, this is bigger than us,' " Wentz said.
He adds that though he gets nervous before performances, ""As soon as I step on the stage, I know exactly what I'm doing," he said. "Afterwards, sometimes I throw up."
Wentz's modesty reveals itself in his reaction to fame. "Why would anybody want my autograph?" he wonders.
Dark side
He may be young, but Wentz's lyrics, which comprise 90% of the songs on "Take This to Your Grave," reflect bitterness toward love. Consider "Chicago is So Two Years Ago," on which he writes, "You want apologies girl, you might hold your breath until your breathing stops/The only things you'll get is this curse on your lips: I hope they taste of me forever/With every breath I wish your body will be broken again."
Writing has always been a way for Wentz to deal with his emotions. "Lots of times I'd rather sit at home with a pen on a Friday night than go out," Wentz said. He said that he often writes with acid in the pen, as evidenced by "The Pros and Cons of Breathing," in which he writes, "My pen is the barrel of the gun/remind me which side you should be on/I wish I was as invisible as you make me feel."
You would never know it from his quick smile and easy manner, but sadness seems to be Wentz's best inspiration. On the band's Web site, he describes his favorite pastimes as "Misery, horrible thoughts and writing."
Music as therapy
Wentz said that he is not alone in his use of music as therapy. "Everyone medicates themselves with music," he said. "It's really important for music to be involved in everyone's life."
The bassist adds that everything he writes is drawn from real-life feelings. "We write honest lyrics and honest music," he said. "I feel like these are issues that everyone can relate to."
The band's commitment to honesty is reflected in Wentz's musical likes and dislikes. He lists The Police, The Cure, Elvis Costello, Green Day, and a slew of New York hard-core punk bands as influences but says he has little respect for the pop-punk posers on MTV. "These TRL guys who act like they have their hearts on their sleeve really just have their egos on their sleeve," he said.
Wentz is grateful for what the band has accomplished thus far. "I think we're the luckiest band around," he said. "I hope I can look back on it and remember it as a really important part of my growing up."