Fall Out Boy lead singer Patrick Stump had a quick chat with JOE about their new record, Conan O’Brien, and still getting starstruck.
By Adrian Collins
JOE: It’s been five years since your last album, why have you chosen to come back now?
Patrick Stump: When we started writing for this record I don’t think we knew we’d make an album. It’s fun really, it’s how we communicate as friends. Some guys go bowling or whatever, we make music.
It was timing more than anything I suppose. I remember something that Quincy Jones said when they were recording Thriller, and by no means am I comparing this record to Thriller, but when everyone in the room is getting goosebumps and feeling that excitement, then you’re on to something, and we felt that.
JOE: What inspired the new album, is there a theme running through it?
PS: Its hard to say, since Pete is the dominant lyricist really, I understand it just about as much as an audience does. From my point of view, I set out a few simple goals that I wanted to achieve on the record, and part of that was letting the lyrics speak for themselves.
I like to over do it with tons of layers and instruments and record my vocal thirty times, but on this record we wanted a bit more simplicity. There was also a push for me to sing unaccompanied, which was terrifying, I wouldn’t be the most naturally confident guy in the world.
JOE: You still feel you have some confidence issues despite being a rock n’ roll frontman?
PS: [laughs] Yeah, I think so. I don’t naturally assume that I’m doing awesome, that’s not me, but I’m definitely more confident than I used to be.
Actually, we were on Conan O’Brien’s show last night, and he’s a huge influence on me, because for people who aren’t confident, he’s this guy who got his cockiness and coolness from being self-deprecating.
When he does his rehearsals he has a guitar and just strums in between his sketches, and he just has this rock star vibe, he’s totally comfortable with being awesome and with being a geek, which is I think where I am. Except not as awesome as Conan, obviously.
JOE: So what can we expect from the album? Will it be similar to your earlier stuff or later stuff?
PS: It certainly doesn’t sound like Folie a Deux to me, but it’s not like the earlier stuff either. It’s not quite as aggressively guitar heavy but it’s more pared down in terms of production. It doesn’t sound like any of our other records to me.
JOE: The title is Save Rock and Roll, is that brave and brazen or are you having a joke?
PS: A little bit of all of those I think. We’ve always been described as a band that’s self-aware and self-deprecating and one review I read pointed out that the title is immediately mockable because it’s so brazen, so I think it’s partially that. It’s too easy make fun of already, so there’s no point.
Also there’s not a lot of rock music on the radio any more, or music that identifies itself as rock, whatever that is, and there’s a lot of people lamenting that but not doing anything about it. We address that on the record, like “hey, we’re the joke band, why are we the ones talking about this seriously?”.
JOE: We’d like to see you back in Ireland soon, any plans to play here?
PS: I can’t make any guarantees in terms of times and places but, yes definitely. Honestly, we played a show in Dublin in around 2006 I think, that might have been one of the best shows we ever played in terms of the audience, we still talk about it. We’ve only been there maybe twice, and it would be a shame to not come back!
JOE: What are your favourite songs to play on tour? Do you prefer playing the new stuff or earlier stuff?
PS: A little bit of everything I think. It’s strange that sometimes when people see us play they react like “what the f**k is this, this band is all over the place” since our records are so different, but when we play it I feel like it makes sense, there’s a progression there.
It was great a few weeks ago to play a show in our home town in Chicago with a new song that we’d released that morning, and everyone knew the words already, that was amazing.
JOE: What’s the weirdest thing to happen on tour?
PS: One of the weirdest things to me is that big stars or their kids come out to our shows, people we really respect and like.
For instance, Bruce Springsteen came to our show one time with his kid, who it turns out is a huge fan, and it was totally crazy, I was just standing there like “holy sh*t, it’s Bruce Springsteen.”
JOE: How has criticism affected you guys? A lot of fans have changed their opinions on the band recently.
PS: Yeah it has, I think, but maybe not in the way people expected it to. There’s a new reality for me in that there’s always going to be somebody who hates what you do, no matter what you do.
I’m always going to be a bit of a shy self-conscious nerd at heart, but I’m extremely confident in this record, and I know in say 20 years I’ll still be happy with what we’ve done.
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