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We get slammed for having this gee-whiz nature about things,” smiles Patrick Stump. “It’s this thing where it sounds like false modesty after a while, so I understand it, but you tell me, how unlikely is it that Fall Out Boy, of all bands, is still here?”
Andy, Joe, Pete and Patrick have been such a relentlessly present force in recent years, a mainstay of radio, arenas and hearts, that it’s easy to forget that it wasn’t always the case. Coming back from any hiatus is tough enough. For Fall Out Boy, they had to shake off a sound and image that helped define the early noughties as well as find a new space to call their own. Echoing the past was never an option. Former glories are for those with nothing new to say. The back to back might of 2013’s ‘Save Rock and Roll’ and 2015’s ‘American Beauty/American Psycho’ saw the band switch lanes, carve out their own space and create something new. ‘M A N I A’ sees them switch it up all over again.
“The older I get, the weirder it is that I’m still here, that we’re still here doing this and that we’re still talking about this,” continues Patrick. “It still feels weird to me every day. Not in a bad way, it’s amazing, but I’m in genuine disbelief every night when we play and have that many people sing along, or are excited to see us, or are wearing the shirt or have the tattoo and all that. Really, still?” he asks with a grin. “It just shocks me. Maybe I’m just oblivious, but it feels very surreal. You never get used to it.”
Back in 2003, Fall Out Boy had a “pretty successful” record with ‘Take This To Your Grave’. “It was fairly up the middle in terms of genre. You can define that album,” explains Patrick. “So when we did ‘From Under The Cork Tree’ [in 2005], I was college age. Maybe I was going to go back to school if the band didn’t work out. And here I am about to do a major label debut record! Most of those major label debuts disappear without a trace. That’s the story for most artists. The odds are you do this; then you never make another record again. I knew bands personally, and that was their story. A lot of the bands from Chicago, a lot of the biggest bands in our universe, our sphere, were bands that had gotten signed and then disappeared off the face of the planet. They got signed, put the record out, nobody cared. That was the narrative we assumed we were going to be a part of.
“Not only did that that not happen, but we put out ‘…Cork Tree’, and it was a big hit. Then we put out ‘Infinity On High’ [in 2007], and by some measures, that was an even bigger hit. It doesn’t make any sense. I don’t mean this in a self-deprecating way, but I’m not the most charismatic guy on earth, right? I didn’t imagine that I would be a part of something that would be that successful. Then we put out ‘Folie A Deux’ [in 2008], and the way this story goes for most bands is that that’s it. That’s all you get. Time’s up. You’re going to be playing the festival circuit, or carnivals and state fairs, for the rest of your life. That’s normally what happens.”
Not for Fall Out Boy, though.
“When we came back post-hiatus [in 2013], it was amazing because I genuinely didn’t know people still wanted us. I didn’t know people missed us or wanted anything out of us. The fact we were coming back with new music that was very different to what we left with, and then people embraced it, that was very liberating. The things I’ve gotten to do now, after the hiatus. It’s so amazing. If Fall Out Boy had kept going and kept being what we were, I don’t think we would have ever been able to score films or work with orchestras and write hip-hop beats and do all the things we get to do now. That would have been an option if we were just the little midwestern pop punk band forever. It’s definitely been very liberating.”
That feeling flows through new album ‘M A N I A’ like blood through veins. Once again but like never before, it sees the band push things forward and chase rabbits down twisted warrens. From the shattered glint of ‘Young & Menace’ through to the spread palm of ‘Bishop’s Knife Trick’, Fall Out Boy nudge your expectations and shift the boundary lines a little further.
It’s what they were always going to do, though. Believers never die.
Back on ‘…Cork Tree’, Patrick said to himself: “This is my only shot. This is probably the last time I’ll ever put out a record. I want something that 10, 15, 20 years down the line, will have laid a blueprint for musical change. I know I’m not a genre guy. I’m not the guy who’s going to be playing the same kind of music for the rest of his life. I wanted to make sure that was there, even then.
“The thing that I’m excited about is that it feels like this record finally realises that for me. It’s like all the things I wanted to set up in ‘…Cork Tree’ have come to life. All the weird, different elements of folk, blues, RnB, future bass, metal and jazz are there. There’s all sorts of weird stuff.”
“Musically it’s a progression,” starts Pete Wentz. “It just feels like it’s moving the ball forward.”
“It’s pretty broad in terms of sound,” continues Patrick. “That was there early on. With ‘Young & Menace’, everyone thought it was going to be an electronic record. Then we put out ‘Last Of The Real Ones’, and everyone thought it’d be more rock. It’s not a thing you can pin down; it’s a lot of different things. I think that’s neat. One of my managers was saying how the thing about Fall Out Boy is that we have this natural thing that’s us. Pete’s words, my voice, the way Andy plays drums and Joe plays guitar; there’s something natural about those things that comes through in any context. Or it seems to. If we played Old MacDonald, there would be something inherently Fall Out Boy about the way that we’d do it.” That belief gave the group a license to go on some “musical vacations” and do some “weird things”. “This is one of our more all over the place records, but in a good way.”
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1516831340602{margin-bottom: 30px !important;}”][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”48172″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column offset=”vc_col-lg-offset-0 vc_col-lg-12 vc_col-md-offset-0 vc_col-md-12 vc_col-xs-12″][vc_column_text]Somewhere between ‘…Cork Tree’ and today, Fall Out Boy became more than a band toying with genre. Something like ‘Hold Me Tight or Don’t’ doesn’t sound like anything the band have done before, but it instantly feels like them. It’s a legacy that’s still finding new spaces to explore, but it’s one they hold dear. It’s why you’re hearing ‘M A N I A’ four months later than originally planned. It was missing that spark. That special something that makes FOB twinkle like they do.The turning point came over a coffee. “I was talking to Patrick,” says Pete. “I thought he loved the songs. He thought I loved the songs. We realised we had a problem because neither one of us did. If we hadn’t have had that conversation, we would have put out a record in September, and it would have been much more awkward, asking well, why did we put this record out?
“Originally it felt like an extension of ‘American Beauty/American Psycho’. That would have been fine, but it would have been just fine. We didn’t have ‘Last Of The Real Ones’ yet, we didn’t have ‘Hold Me Tight or Don’t’. We had ‘Champion’, ‘Young & Menace’ and that was it. It wasn’t bad; it was just fine. I don’t want to be just fine. When we go out and play in front of 15,000 kids, I don’t want to play some shit I’m not inspired by. It’s not enough. It’s like faking it. It’s not what we want to do. The benefit was that we were able to try and do something a little more thoughtful.”
Rather than try and breath life into old songs, Fall Out Boy took out the scissors and started cutting. Songs were scrapped because “they were just mediocre to me,” continues Pete. “It wasn’t going to be anyone’s favourite song; it wasn’t going to be a massive song. It was just filler. They were good enough, and that’s just not. You can do anything in 2017. People will give you a chance, but there’s no room for middle of the road. There’s nothing worse than people having no opinion. I’m fine with people saying the sample in ‘Uma Thurman’ is fucking terrible or asking why we put a hair metal scream on the radio. Any of that shit, I’m fine with it. ‘Young & Menace is way to EDM? Okay. For people to just have no reaction? That would be rough.”
For a moment, there was a different lyrical perspective on ‘M A N I A’. “It was straight ahead from our last record. In doing the reboot, it felt like a chance for us to go in and examine other stuff, other perspectives,” offers Pete. ‘Save Rock and Roll’ and ‘American Beauty/American Psycho’ both realise the unrest. Grand statements and opposites attracting under their banner of hyper-charge. Battling anxieties with huge choruses and avoiding the darkness by constantly chasing the light, those two records ran forward, hand in hand, and refused to look back. A kneejerk to a world slowly falling away. ‘M A N I A’ almost followed suit. The band took the spark of ‘Young & Menace’ and tried to write, record and release a new album in just twelve months. In pushing it back, they paused to look around.
The result is a record that refuses to stand still, leaning from left to right and wringing hands as ‘M A N I A’ swells into an “examination of subtle neurosis,” Pete starts. “The Larry David-isms of the world.”
“I love the world; I just don’t love the way it makes me feel,” sings ‘Church’. Full of spirit and fiery soul, it looks at “love or lust, where you’re so into them they become like a religion to you.” ‘Heaven’s Gate’ considers “the idea that you can sneak somebody into Heaven with you, the same way you could sneak somebody into the VIP bit of a club. Religious imagery can be super powerful. Obviously, we’re all over the place with religion. Personally, I don’t know what I think. I like the idea that you can try and be a better version of yourself. Whatever makes you want to do that is good, whether it’s having kids or believing in God or whatever.”
“This record is one of those, I’m here, flaws and all kinda things. And that’s okay. People are a complicated animal. We’re happy and sad, and I feel all these things. It’s a range. A buffet of emotions.” At times, ‘M A N I A’ is awkward, lonely, confused and lost. “There will always be these feelings underneath, but you have to evolve and adapt, and that’s what this record has within it too. There are imperfections, but that’s okay. That’s the intent. It’s not like really one thing. It’s hopeful, more than anything. I think there’s hope.”[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_video link=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YAAyUFL1GQ”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column offset=”vc_col-lg-offset-0 vc_col-lg-12 vc_col-md-offset-0 vc_col-md-12 vc_col-xs-12″][vc_column_text]
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column offset=”vc_col-lg-offset-0 vc_col-lg-12 vc_col-md-offset-0 vc_col-md-12 vc_col-xs-12″][vc_column_text]It’s not just in ‘M A N I A’ that there’s optimism; Pete sees it in the crowds at Fall Out Boy’s shows and as a force for change. “I feel like we live in a world that’s full of abject negativity and I don’t want to add to that. For all we talk about negativity, there’s so much great stuff out in the world. Places to see, people to meet and I think we want to go do that. We live in strange times or whatever and a lot of people are asking is this record going to be like [Green Day’s] ‘American Idiot’? It’s not. ‘American Idiot’ is brilliant because it was this sole dissenting voice, but now the way people take in information, there are so many hot takes. Everything’s been said. To me, this record speaks more to the personal. How you feel and what you feel inside. It’s about what your insecurities and your flaws are. It’s what you project into the world, so it ends up being intensely political.”
“We live in a time when people are always asking ‘What would I have done then?’ This is your time to stand up and do it,” he continues. “It doesn’t need to be a middle finger to this person or whatever. You can just put good out into the world, and that will come back to you, or you’ll feel good about doing it. That includes inclusivity, and moreso to me, the knowledge that it’s alright to be different. It’s totally okay. A lot of people are really different; some people hide it, some people don’t hide it, it’s all okay. We need to embrace it.”
Last time Fall Out Boy wrote a record was 2014. It’s only been a few years, but it already feels like absolutely everything has changed. And not for the better.
“It’s impossible to go anywhere or do anything without thinking about that,” starts Patrick. “That’s where we all are as a society. Every day you wake up and go, seriously? It’s obviously the backdrop of this record, but I didn’t overtly set out to do anything different because I feel like, if I did anything different, it would be out of fear or frustration. I think that’s the point. To not be afraid of right now and to still stay the course and do the thing you wanted to do. We’re a globally focused band, and as people, we care about the rest of the world. And I’m not going to change that because it’s suddenly not in vogue. But also, we’ve never been an overtly political band so, at the same time, I didn’t think it was right to suddenly be that either. It’s just about staying the course and doing what we were going to do, regardless of anything.”
Fall Out Boy have always had this community surrounding them. From their hardcore beginnings, through the awkward dance dance of pop-punk and growing up to now, where they proudly declare themselves “a champion of the people who don’t believe in champions,” there’s been this sense that even if you’re an outsider, they’re outside with you. On ‘M A N I A’, it’s pushed front and centre and shouted from a great height.
“It’s probably more direct now,” agrees Patrick, and for good reason. “That’s the thing; you can’t live in this moment and not live in this moment. It’s everywhere you go. It’s going to pepper everything you think and say on some level. We’re one of those bands that’s always been more about the example than the speech. For me, look at the things we’re listening to and calling on musically, look at the artists we’re touring with. Look at the social culture we’re surrounding ourselves with. That’s where you find that stuff. We’re not going to beat you over the head with it. That’s another thing; I don’t know if I could handle that every night. It’s already so draining just to walk through the world every day, there needs to be a certain kind of reminder that we’re all still people, we’re all still in this together, we’re all still doing this. Society didn’t just suddenly break down because of a few maniacs.
“That’s the other thing too; I was reading something, I don’t know if it’s a sociological principle or a physiological principle, but we tend to think that happy people are less intelligent. That’s an assumption we make as a species. A cultural thing that we assume that if someone is happy, they’re not paying enough attention. As a result, I feel like there is no shortage of bad news. If you look in any direction, there’s bad news. But there’s good news too. You don’t hear it because when there’s good news, there’s this inner cynic that wants to come out and that’s something we have been a little more overt about. No man, it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy to be negative all of the time. You have to embrace some of the good stuff, and if someone says you’re an idiot then whatever, but it’s important to notice there are still good things in the world, people are still good. Just because some people have let their fear and anger make them do some not so good things, doesn’t mean everyone has.” [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1516831353529{margin-bottom: 30px !important;}”][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”48138″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column offset=”vc_col-lg-offset-0 vc_col-lg-12 vc_col-md-offset-0 vc_col-md-12 vc_col-xs-12″][vc_column_text]Years ago Fall Out Boy found the level they were operating on, and the celebrity that came with it, a bit silly. So they mocked it. Hoods up, tongues in cheek, and laughing at what they could get away with, the band didn’t care if they were dropping water balloons onto the red carpet, parodying rock star stereotypes or simply having a bit of fun. That sense of humour, “it’s all there still,” confirms Patrick. “You still have to be able to laugh at yourself, that’s important. When you take yourself too seriously, you lose perspective. There’s still some fun to be had at it. Listen, ten years I didn’t have, we didn’t have, access to the emotions and perspectives to really, completely understand the platform but now, I think it’s important. You have a responsibility with the platform you have to use it to make change in a good way. I feel really comfortable onstage speaking to the kids who come to our shows. At the same time, when it comes to an awards show or something like that, I still don’t think we fit in all that well. We’re still outsiders in that. In some ways, I feel like we fit in now. In other ways, it’s still the same.”
Fall Out Boy celebrate differences. It’s been there from the start, and it’s part of their DNA. “I find meaning in the music, that moves me more than words. Pete attaches more to lyrical things. We have these parallel ideas, so when we put the record together we take a step back and go, okay, does this work for you? Yes. Does this still work for you? Yes. Okay, that’s the record. It’s building this dual narrative. It’s like in a movie where you’re following a few stories at once.
“One of the things I still do with Pete’s lyrics and titles, is not ask. I don’t want to know. I don’t want any context for it because I feel like, especially with writing to his titles, writing with his lyrics and his art, I think part of the fun is that I’m only as smart as I am. It’s a principle of improv. I took a couple of improv classes, and one of the things they say is, your character can only be as smart as you are, but they should be as smart as you are. The character knows as much as you do about the world. Pete says these things and either I get them, or I don’t. And that’s fun for me. I still have it, on a regular basis. We’ll be in the middle of a show, and I’ll be playing a song that I’ve played every night for a decade, and I’ll catch some tiny wordplay I didn’t notice. That’s the fun of it. It’s a puzzle you keep unravelling.”
The band share a common belief in what they’re doing. That sentiment about something being inherently Fall Out Boy carried by them all while the question of their importance is met with the same answer.
“Fall Out Boy is important to me,” starts Patrick. “It’s important to us. I’m sure there are people in our audience for whom it’s important for, but I don’t carry that around in any way. Maybe that’s my own self-esteem, but I don’t know if I’d ever dare to say I was doing anything important. It’s just something I do and have to continue doing.”
“It’s important to me, and for the guys in the band,” echoes Pete. “I don’t think it’s important in the same way Doctors Without Borders are doing stuff in Syria, I think it’s less important than that. I have to understand the scope of the importance. I know it’s important to me, but I know there are vastly more important things happening in the world.” Fall Out Boy give their audience a hope though, and that’s an importance that can’t be undersold. “I really do hope that that’s the case,” he smiles.
“We were a band that wanted to challenge our listeners,” Pete continues. “It’s not a challenge that would annoy or purposefully be difficult, but I love The Clash; they changed. With Bowie, he put characters to rest and started new ones. It can be frustrating at the time, but it adds to the longevity of the music and the art that they were making, and that’s important. If we had played it safe the first time we had a follow-up, it would have been a lot harder, but we always switched it. And that’s okay, sometimes you know it’s not exactly right. Everything we do isn’t for everyone who listens, but that’s okay. I’d rather be moving the ball forward and pushing it than playing it safe.
“There’s nothing more punk rock than playing Fall Out Boy songs on pop radio in 2017, that’s pretty wild.” [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_video link=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jG1JY0rt2Os”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column offset=”vc_col-lg-offset-0 vc_col-lg-12 vc_col-md-offset-0 vc_col-md-12 vc_col-xs-12″][vc_column_text]
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column offset=”vc_col-lg-offset-0 vc_col-lg-12 vc_col-md-offset-0 vc_col-md-12 vc_col-xs-12″][vc_column_text]That sense of belonging where you shouldn’t belong is also the reason why the band still end their sets with ‘Take This to Your Grave’ track, ‘Saturday’. “There’s something about it that still feels like we’re playing it at a punk rock club. We just never stopped doing it, so we keep doing it. At the same time, we’re playing these songs that are a billion times bigger than ‘Saturday’ ever was. I don’t know if we’ll ever stop doing it. It’s so funny. We’re playing in this big football arena, and we’ll play this song that maybe half the people won’t know, but it’s still fun.”
“It’s so refreshing that you can include different ideas, as long as it’s not a parody,” Pete once explained to Upset backstage at Reading Festival. For well over a decade, Fall Out Boy have been at the forefront of trends and musical evolution. Sometimes they rushed ahead (hi, ‘Folie’) but they’ve always been a band with something to say, something to add to the mix.
“Hopefully it’s because we’re listening to other people too. It’s why we have people like Jayden Smith on tour; there are a lot of kids and futuristic thinkers out there. One of the things we try and do is amplify what they’re thinking and doing,” explains Pete, echoing Patrick’s idea about surrounding themselves with the culture they want to represent. “It feels like the world caught up with us. Genre has never been a thing for us, we’ve incorporated a ton of hip-hop and metal into what we do, just because those were our influences, and now it feels like the world doesn’t care about genre as much. It’s super freeing in that way. You can make whatever and collaborate with whoever. That’s how we always wanted to do it, and it feels great that you can do that now. It feels like we’re untethered now. We can play shows with Jayden Smith, PVRIS, AWOLNATION, Wiz Khalifa and it all makes sense. That’s super liberating.”
And people have always listened, which has let Fall Out Boy play. “It’s a combination of things. On the one hand, you have your audience and what they want to hear,” continues Pete. “We’ve been very lucky in having a pretty brave audience that has allowed us to do some very weird things over the years. I think about ‘Folie’, we’ve had some very strange excursions sonically that our audience has stuck through with us. Another part is probably just figuring yourselves out. There’s a part of art that’s aiming for something, missing the mark, and finding yourself. Sometimes, it’s that experimentation. When you experiment, there’s trial and error. Sometimes there are errors. It was trying to figure out who we were in all these different contexts. That took a little while to find. Of our more broad records, our more musically, stylistically different albums, ‘M A N I A’ is easily our most cohesive. Our most Fall Out Boy.”
“We’ve been very lucky we’ve found an audience that wants to take risks with us,” adds Patrick. “That’s the coolest thing. That’s the exciting thing. We have an audience that knows we like a lot of music, and they like a lot of music. So, we can go in. If anything, the challenge there is finding the restraint in what not to do because they give us license to do anything. It’s trying to find what is the most natural thing for you to do if you’re going to do something weird and different.”
Fall Out Boy are driven forward by a want, not a need. “There’s still stuff to say,” explains Pete. “There’s still stuff under the surface we wanted to say, and that’s important. At the same time, we didn’t have any plans to make a record until Patrick played ‘Young & Menace’. It’s about feeling inspired, and we were inspired by that.”
“It’s really difficult to do this band when you don’t love it,” continues Patrick. “It hasn’t happened very much, but there have been a few times, for all four of us, where ‘I don’t like this song, I don’t like this thing. I don’t like what we’re doing here’. And you’re a twenty-hour flight from home, sweating your balls off trying to perform this song and not fully believing in it, and it’s not worth it. That’s not worth any of it. For what it’s worth, we’re something of a what you see, is what you get. It’s hard for us to fake it. I don’t want to be faking it. I don’t want to be lying to people, saying, ‘Oh yeah, this is great huh?’
“That’s why we pushed the record back. We don’t need to make a new Fall Out Boy record. There’s nothing that says we have to; there’s no one asking for one. Well, apart from the fans. And contractually, we’re expected to make another one. But if we never did another record, just went home and got old, I don’t think anyone would bat an eyelash. That’s a normal thing for a lot of artists. The only reason to put out a new record is that you have something to say, either musically or literally or artistically. We have something to get out; we have something we want people to hear. And that’s the thing, that’s what we wait for. When we feel like we have something we want people to hear, we start a record. When we don’t, then we don’t. Simple as that. There are different philosophies. I know some very great artists and very great writers who force themselves to write, and write some amazing, inspired work that way, but for us, we’re past the experiment stage. When we know we have something, we know we’re going to do it.”[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”48173″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column offset=”vc_col-lg-offset-0 vc_col-lg-12 vc_col-md-offset-0 vc_col-md-12 vc_col-xs-12″][vc_column_text]As close as Fall Out Boy are, as much as they inspire one another and believe in what they’re doing, there’s the feeling that it could all stop at any moment. The thing about sparks, of feelings and of fire, is that they’re here one moment, seemingly unstoppable, then gone the next.
“We’re all very comfortable with that,” starts Patrick. “All of my favourite bands ended when they ended, and ended when they should have. That’s a tough thing because you might not want to, but you have to know when you’re not needed. I used to work at a used record store. One of the things about this used record store, was that it wasn’t a cool used record store. This was just stuff people didn’t want anymore; it was a donate bin basically. And I had become very acquainted with the albums after the artist loses it. For all these artists, there were so many of these records where the band really had something going, the artist really had their finger on the pulse of something, and then they put out this record where they lost the interest but had to do it. I knew these records front to back because that’s all we had. I never want to put one out. I would rather put out nothing.
“’Folie’ was a weird record, and it didn’t work on a lot of levels for people, but at least I know at the end of the day, there was nothing cynical about the record. There was no, ‘I don’t know, someone will buy it’. That was never a part of it. You can never get into that complacency because it makes you a worse artist. It taints your legacy to put those records out, those records where your audience can tell you’re just going through the motions. I never want to go through the motions.
“And also, that’s the thing I like doing. That’s why I’m here. I like making the record. I tour, I perform, I sing. There are all these things about them that I really do love, but that’s not what got me here. The reason I want to make music is so I can be in the studio and write new, exciting songs. So, if I’m ever there just going through the motions, that’s my own personal hell. I’d never want to put that record out. At some point the pendulum could stop, the gyroscope could stop spinning, and the whole thing could fall apart. If we ever lose that spark, it’s the right thing to do. If we don’t have anything we want to say, anything we’re excited about, then this stops.”
For all the talk of possible ends, ‘M A N I A’ never feels like a final statement. It swings, swells and dances with the belief that this could be forever. It feels like Fall Out Boy enjoying being Fall Out Boy. “I want it to be an experience for people,” starts Pete. “I remember being a little kid and going to a movie theatre at midday at the weekend. You’d come out and be surprised that it was still light out because you were so inside of the film. I want people to have that feeling. I want people to go inside of it and come out, feeling like they really experience something. It’s a high bar so we’ll see,” he laughs.
“Records are funny. Art is funny, isn’t it?” asks Patrick. “Now we dissect Hitchcock films, they’re high art, and we understand how much craft went into making them, but at the time he was making them his primary goal was to entertain people. He wanted people to enjoy the hour and a half they were in the theatre. That’s an important thing to remember. As lofty as any of our ambitions, ideas or feelings are, at the end of the day none of it matters if people don’t like the music you’re making. You can fall back on ‘Oh, people don’t get it’, but they would get it. When something is really good, people will find it. It doesn’t matter how weird or esoteric it is. That’s the main thing I want, to make a record that means something people. It’s as simple as that.” P
Fall Out Boy’s album ‘M A N I A’ is out now. Taken from the February 2018 issue of Upset. Order a copy now 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