Fall Out Boy to Rock Hershey Park Saturday, July 19
By Brian Aberback
After returning to the music scene following a four-year hiatus, Fall Out Boy is assessing its future in a rapidly changing rock-pop landscape.
“We're in a strange place where we’re not exactly sure who our contemporaries are,” bassist Pete Wentz said by phone. “We came from a very specific scene of music that doesn’t seem to exist anymore [pop-punk and alternative]. We're trying to figure out our place in rock and pop music.”
Fall Out Boy’s co-headlining tour with Paramore includes a stop on Saturday at the Star Pavilion at Hersheypark Stadium. Last year the band released its fifth disc, “Save Rock and Roll,” Fall Out Boy’s second album to hit No. 1 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart. Wentz said he and singer-guitarist Patrick Stump have begun separately working on new material.
“The new music we’ve written so far is vastly different than any of our other stuff,” Wentz said. “Save Rock and Roll” may hint at the Chicago-based band’s new direction. While the album retains the big guitar hooks of past Fall Out Boy efforts, it also includes hefty doses of electronic beats more likely to inspire dancehall moves than a mosh pit.
Wentz said it's too early to tell if the next Fall Out Boy release will follow in “Save Rock and "Roll's” footsteps. “Patrick and I have shown each other some of the stuff we’ve written but we haven’t gotten to the point of putting complete songs together,” Wentz said. Fall Out Boy also includes guitarist Joe Trohman and drummer Andy Hurley.
The band is also looking to tie the release of its future music to other forms of artistic impression. For instance, Wentz pointed to Fall Out Boy producing a music video for every song on “Save Rock and Roll” between February 2013 and May 2014, a project known as “The Young Blood Chronicles.” “Fall Out Boy in 2014 is about the curation of ideas as much as it is about creating albums,” Wentz said. "There are great other streams that you can examine as an artist. We’re focusing on bigger ideas.”
Fall Out Boy began life as a side project formed by Wentz and Troham in 2001. The duo, which played in separate hardcore bands, was looking for an outlet for their love of pop punk. Fall Out Boy soon became a full-time endeavor and the band released its debut album, “Take This to Your Grave,” in 2003.
The band's breakthrough sophomore effort, “From Under the Cork Tree” (2005), hit No. 9 on the Billboard albums chart. The disc featured the Top 10 singles, “Sugar, We’re Goin' Down," and the infectious “Dance, Dance,” the latter of which won two 2006 Teen Choice Awards and that year’s MTV Viewer’s Choice Music Video Award.
Fall Out Boy’s third album, “Infinity On High” (2007), hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and featured the No. 2 single, “This Ain't a Scene, It’s an Arms Race.” Fall Out Boy released Folie à Deux in 2008 before taking a break during which band members concentrated on solo and side projects. Wentz said fans can expect an extensive stage production at its Hersheypark show on Saturday. “We’ve created new content for our video screens and have a couple of tricks up our sleeve,” he said. “It’s going to have all the bells and whistles.”
Wentz also spoke about the ubiquitous presence at shows of fans who appear more interested in photographing and videotaping the band than immersing themselves in the music.
While many acts have expressed frustration and resignation over this recent trend, Wentz sees the phenomenon as a teachable moment. “We’re not the kind of band to scream at kids to get off their phones,” he said. “We try to be as interactive with fans as possible, from meet and greets before shows to our performance onstage. “We try to create moments where you’re not going to want to stand there with your phone but get involved instead.”
IF YOU GO: Fall Out Boy. Star Pavilion at Hersheypark Stadium. $29.50, $39.50, $49.50. 717-534-3911 or www.hersheyparkstadium.com
