Fall Out Boy?
Day off: Wilmette, Illinois is not exactly a breeding ground for rock'n'roll rebellion; the well-to-do suburb of Chicago is best known as the home of movie teenage tearaway Ferris Bueller. But now another breed of streetwise rock outlaw has emerged from the orderly avenues and manicured gardens of this upper middle class idyll. Fall Out Boy are the tweenies' alternative to Green Day and Good Charlotte, and have already shifted a million copies of their third album, Under the Cork Tree. The quartet - bassist/ lyricist Pete Wentz, singer/guitarist Patrick Stump, guitarist Joe Trohman and drummer Andy Hurley - are boys-next- door with attitude, the kinda guys you'd bring home to mom - and they'd hit on her. These Illinoiseniks will be landing on Dublin's Ambassador on January 21st.
Little scribbler: As a schoolboy, privileged young Pete Wentz used to obsessively read children's books such as Babar and Curious George. He was soon inspired to write his own books, but, lacking a publisher or anyone who would take him seriously, he copied them himself and sold them door-to-door from the back of his wagon. If anyone in Wilmette still has one of these prototype masterpieces, they might consider putting them on eBay, because Wentz's writings have now brought the band into the Billboard Top 10. As the lyricist with Fall Out Boy, Wentz is responsible for such snappy song titles as Champagne for My Real Friends, Real Pain for My Sham Friends, My Heart Will Always Be the B-side to My Tongue, and Our Lawyer Made Us Change the Name of This Song so We Wouldn't Get Sued.
Pop the cork: Like every other kid in town, Wentz played in a local hardcore band. When it fell apart he got together for a jam session with his friends Trohman and Hurley. They recruited Stump as a frontman, and began playing at local venues and colleges. Although Wentz was never stuck for song lyrics, the quartet couldn't think of a name, so they asked the audience at a gig to suggest one. Alas, "Garbage" was already taken, so they settled on "Fall Out Boy". They sent a three-song demo out to record labels, and released a debut album, Fall Out Boy's Evening Out with Your Girl. 2003's Take This to Your Grave featured such tunes as Reinventing the Wheel to Run Myself Over and Chicago Is so Two Years Ago, but it was Under the Cork Tree, its title inspired by a children's book, that gave Fall Out Boy their big breakthrough.
