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| ::Interviews:: |
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| review & interview content, as well as web site graphics & design, copywrite 2003-2004 Euphonia Online. use of materials granted only with reasonable purposes. |
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| interviewed by robby sumner |
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| Interview with Pete October 7th, 2004 |
Patrick Strump - Vocals Joe Trohman - Guitar Pete Wentz - Bass Andy Hurley - Drums |
| E: So Pete, you're a founding member of the band Fall Out Boy... what's been new with the band recently?
Pete: Well, we're on tour with Taking Back Sunday... we're getting ready to record for our full-length for Island/Def Jam in November and December... that's pretty much it. E: How's touring with Taking Back Sunday been? Pete: Oh, it's been fun. It's been awesome. They're probably the coolest guys in the coolest band to tour with, so... E: Have you ever done anything with them before? Pete: We played with them a long time ago, when no one knew either of our bands. A couple of times, definitely, yeah. E: So have you been listening to their new album at all lately? Pete: Right when I came out, I got it. I think that it's awesome--it's a really great record. E: Has the fan response been pretty good for this tour? Pete: Oh, yeah, absolutely... people have been asking for this tour to happen for a while. They wanted to see us and Matchbook [Romance] and TBS together, so it's definitely been fun and definitely exciting. E: Do you think that, having been playing for so long as you have, your live shows have gotten at all to the point where they've become somewhat mechanical and repetitive each night you play? Pete: No, absolutely not! I think it's different in every city and the reaction is different from people in general. I think that when it becomes routine and it becomes mechanical, that's kind of when it's time to throw in the towel. E: How important do you think it is to keep in touch with your extended fanbase while on tour, be it through news posts, online journals, etc.? Pete: I think it's one of the most important things, because there's plenty of people who don't get the chance to see you, and they want to know what's going on. They wanna know what's up with you, or what's up with your band... and it would be hard to talk to those people on an every day basis, individually, so kind of keeping in touch with your journal, or whatever method of doing it is, is probably a really good idea. I guess it depends on how close your relationship with your fans is, too. E: Do you that that when it comes to fans, there's a variety of different types? Pete: Oh, absolutely. Like, you have your radio fans, you have your people-who-never-leave-their-bedroom kind of fans, you have the people who are at every single show... you have the people obsessed, you have the people who are just staying right on, drinking and having a good time with their friends... it's like, I think it's the whole range, kind of. E: When the fans give you their input on the music you write, does it end up influencing on the songs you record for the next album? Pete: I think it definitely affects the recording process. It affects how you change your songs, because that's who you, at the end of the day, are you trying to please. You try to please yourself first, and then next your fans--you don't want to alienate them. E: If you could go back to the earlier days of the band, are there things you'd have done differently? Pete: Yeah, there's many things we would do differently. I guess it's just like the same thing as if I could go back to the start of my life, there are a lot of things I would do differently. If you make it through life or you make it through having a band with no regrets, then you probably are not quite doing things right, or probably don't have a conscience or know about regret. E: Is the band still proud of the stuff it wrote starting out? Pete: Yes, because that's the foundation of what we've built. Do I think those are the best songs we've ever written? No, absolutely not. Am I embarrassed of some things I've done? Yeah. But at the end of the day, that's how we started and that's where it began, and if we hadn't done those things we wouldn't have gotten to where we are. In five years from now, we'll be saying the same thing about these [songs], and if you don't... then you're not truly progressing. E: Do you expect a lot of progression now that you're doing your releases under Island Records? Pete: Yeah, but I think the progression would have happened regardless--I mean, that's just how we are as people. We're three years older than our last record. That's kind of just how it goes. But I think having the money in order to be able focus completely on writing, rather than having to have jobs and stuff, will definitely help the progression. E: Is there anything you really hope to achieve over the next couple years as a band? Pete: I want the most people that could possibly be able to hear our music to be able to hear it. E: But isn't that the main goal for every band throughout their career? Pete: No, not at all. I think different bands have different goals, and that's okay... that's what makes every band different. E: That should pretty much do it. Thanks a lot, man. Pete: Okay... thank you! |