“Honestly, Fall Out Boy is too much of a headache to do if we didn't love it” - Pete Wentz weighs in

In the last of our online pieces with members of Fall Out Boy, Pete Wentz explains to Ryan J. Downey how he lost perspective on life and music-making without his bandmates, how he’s not rolling in mad loot and the kind of personal joy the reunion gives him.

How did conversations about the reunion begin? Patrick Stump pointed out that you two were collaborating anyway, you just weren't happy with it.
PETE WENTZ
:
Patrick, in my own head, is the exact opposite of me. Whenever I see black, he always sees white. I need that perspective in my life. When we first got back together, it was a bad karaoke version of Fall Out Boy. It sounded like Cuyahoga Falls’ best version of Fall Out Boy: Just somewhere in the middle of nowhere, this is the karaoke of Fall Out Boy. For me, Patrick has always instructed me on how to live. I mean that in a way that he's not older [than me] and not a vocal person, but how he lives makes me think I could be a better person. He's a nicer person than me. He's empathetic, which is good. At some point, we were attached to each other.

We wanted to include Black Cards in our Unheard Music special last year, but your management wasn’t into that idea. Why not?
I can't remember exactly when it was. I feel like we might have been close enough that we had been doing stuff with Fall Out Boy, so we didn't want to put other stuff out there. This is the problem: When you do a band or any kind of art that's somewhat successful all of a sudden, the next thing you do, you have to figure out. If we were making the record after we made the announcement, you kind of have to do it in front of the world—and that means you don't get time to figure it out. Right when we started Black Cards, it was going to be this band, it was going to make sense, but as this reggaeton thing. As it moved, it changed. When you do a new band, that happens all the time. It happened with Fall Out Boy a bunch of times. We went through a bunch of drummers and figured out, “Okay, Patrick is going to play guitar and sing.”
 

We made a zillion demos with Black Cards, but we never made something. I'm a person who believes in quality stuff: I'm not going to put my stamp on just anything that goes out there. We didn't make a compelling enough album. We put out an EP that I really liked and believed in. It got serviced at dance and modern-rock radio, but I don't feel like we made a concise album that made sense. That was partly my own fault. I was in a black hole emotionally, and I couldn't figure out how to get out and when I finally did, it was like, “Okay, let's make this thing what it is.” It became what it wasn't. I'm not the type of person that will lie to myself. I don't think a lot of people were looking for me to make music like that.

I know what people like about me, and I don't think me making music like that that had no lyrics made sense for people. We played in France several weeks ago with this guy Kavinsky, who's a labelmate of ours. I was like, “Who here knows Kavinsky?” In Paris, two kids raised their hands. There's very little crossover with that music. A lot of it is because the kind of music Fall Out Boy have made and the bands we've toured with are so lyrically based and image-based. Dance music and EDM are more vibey with not a ton of crossover between. Everyone was very nervous and obviously Bob [McLynn, FOB manager] is super-protective of it. Which is good: With other management, we probably would have kept doing Fall Out Boy for far too long. I think it was good we had a lot of council for advice.

We all know the stories about the rock stars who spent it as they made it. Andy Hurley lives in the Midwest and plays in hardcore bands. But you’re in Hollywood and you’ve started different businesses. Is there an element to this comeback that’s necessary for you financially to maintain a lifestyle for you and your son?
My business manager would hate me if I said yes. [Laughs.] We did well enough in an era when people were still buying music that I feel like I made some good solid investments and have had a really great, great business manager who doesn't let me spend money on Starbucks. I live in a pretty chill spot in Studio City. I think my house is smaller than the house I grew up in. It probably cost the same, but it's not some crazy compound or something. I don't live outside of my means. I feel like there were certain things that, while Hurley does the least outside the band to make money, he has his life he lives; he does hardcore bands and that he wants to do. I don't think anyone is cutting them insane checks to play in XtimeoutX or whatever the band is. I think whether it's Patrick producing, me [hosting] Best Ink or Decaydance. I think those [endeavors] supplement my income.

Honestly, Fall Out Boy [would be] too much of a fucking headache to do if we didn't love it. I personally know I have a zillion better ways to make money if that's what it comes down to. There are a couple of things I've figured out about gaming the system. I know how to game and that obviously, I got a foot in the door because of Fall Out Boy. If it were about money, I would just do those things. They’re just a little bit easier. I'm 33 and have a four-year-old. I'm only going to go and travel and be away from him if it matters to me. I had a dad who traveled [when I was] growing up. I didn't really get it: He was a legal consult for Helene Curtis Industries. It's sad it took me 30 years and being a dad to really get that he was just providing for our family. I think that if I have a cool legacy and I can tell my kid I was always thinking about you, and I was doing it because I believed in it, that's a little more meaningful for me. That's something I feel that nobody could ever understand unless you're friends with someone saying it or you're a parent yourself.

That's not to say we are doing Fall Out Boy for charity. It’s somewhere in between. I’ve established myself as a happy adult in the last year-and-a-half of my life. It got hectic for a minute when I was right in the middle of promoting Best Ink and flying from coast to coast to get it all done. The timing wasn’t perfect to do both things. If it was a financial thing, it would have been done differently.

As someone who used to love watching pop culture, then was part of it, and now has sort of come out the other end of the TMZ world somewhat, how are you feeling about the ride?
There’s no handbook for it. I've thought about it for a long time. I feel blessed in everything I've done in my life and have had a chance to do. I feel like I’ve been involved in a lot of things that I’m really proud of and some I’m not super-proud of that changed who I was as a person and cemented me in my beliefs.

It's been a journey and one of those things where I don't feel the need to be in a power-couple relationship. I get sent these things every day: “You're invited to this thing.” If it's to Disneyland and my kid is invited? Awesome. I don't need to be at the opening of every fucking club that happens in Los Angeles. It just blew my mind that right before the hiatus, I got asked a lot of questions. A lot of questions about what was going on in my life, but it was never about what had gotten us in the door. Never about the things that people thought I was talented for. It was just always this vapid celebrity thing. I feel like that is going to go away. It's a bubble that has to pop at some point. At least at this point, people enjoy watching the people that they had celebrated so much. They enjoy watching them suffer a little bit. It feels waning a little bit. Not super-en vogue anymore. It’s getting back to liking people for their talent.

Like maybe the pendulum has swung?
It's cool to see bands like Mumford & Sons and fun. win Grammys. Or fun. I don't know them well enough, but there’s something that feels a little more real.

It's a different thing when you get a little older, and you're kind of an elder statesman. Those things feel cool. When bands like You Me At Six are at the show in London or whatever, it's cool because you're like, “Oh, you guys are a big band in this thing. It's cool that you come to our show.” It felt cool. alt

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