Next week, our annual Most Anticipated Music issue will hit stands, highlighting some of the 2011 releases we're already jonesing for. As an early holiday gift to you, we're sharing a glimpse into the album-release plans from another dozen-plus bands and musicians, including ALESANA, SAY ANYTHING and more. So, settle in, read on and start strategizing about how much of that holiday cash you're gonna have to save for next year's new music. We kick things off with an extended interview with PATRICK STUMP on his upcoming solo debut.
 

EXPECT IT: TBA  (ISLAND)

Don’t expect former Fall Out Boy singer Patrick Stump’s solo debut solo album to sound like his old band. The album, titled Soul Punk, is a nearly autonomous effort with Stump writing, producing, singing and playing a slew of instruments, allowing the disc to truly reflect his musical sensibility. Sure, it’s a lot of pressure to follow up on FOB’s success, but on this album Stump is most interested in laying the groundwork for the sort of musician he hopes to become.

How long did you spend making this album?

Not that long, actually. I’ve been waiting a lot this year. It’s been really “funstrating.” I had a lot of time to do pre-production and just get the songs in order, but I had my engineer who I really wanted to work with, and his schedule wasn’t fully cleared. There was a studio I was at and their studio wasn’t totally cleared—a lot of stuff like that. But once I actually got in, I maybe spent, like, two months recording.

How old is the oldest song on the album?

It was kind of a rough year. Personally it was a bummer year. A lot of stuff happened, a lot of family things happened. That changed a lot of stuff. Nothing [on the album] is in the state that it was in prior to February of this year. It all changed around then. There’s maybe one song that survived, which is maybe a year or two old. There was a lot of material I had that predates Fall Out Boy, but most of that got cut in favor of newer stuff that was more relevant to me at the moment.

How did your experiences this year affect the tone of the album?

Well, it’s soul punk. And I don’t mean that as it sounds—it’s not Fat Wreck covers of Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes. It is its own piece, its own thing. I say that because the tone did change. Initially, it was an angry record. It was almost meandering because I’d been writing for years and years and years. This year, everything became about a few things—and they were very negative things—but I found that my record became very positive. It’s really a “make lemonade” kind of record. The record changed from being confessional to being something that’s open and honest, but doesn’t name names and places. I’m telling emotions; I’m not telling stories.

How many instruments did you play on it?

I don’t know; it’s hard to count! I love a lot of modern hip-hop and R&B production, but I was really frustrated with how I’d ask producers where they got their drum sound or something and they’d say it was a sample they got from a hard drive. I wanted to replicate some of those rhythms but with live instruments. There’s definitely the potential for Phil Spector/Brian Wilson excess in terms of how many instruments I touched. There are instruments I play on the record that I cannot play to save my life and we got the one take that worked. I am definitely not a woodwinds player.

Does Soul Punk feel like a debut album for you?

No, I don’t feel like it’s a first record for me. I don’t get that luxury. I don’t get the luxury of anonymity and making my mistakes in private. That puts a lot of pressure on my first record. I purposely made it not feel like that. I wanted it to be a complete, finished thought. I wanted it to be something that’s cohesive so it plays as one whole piece. I want to make a mission statement for what I want to be as an artist. I’m not a kid anymore, so I don’t want to write about being a kid anymore. I’m stepping into where I intend to be as a writer in this chapter in my life. —Emily Zemler

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