Wentz on Fall Out Boy’s Status: Twitter Needs “A Sarcastic Font”
Pete Wentz has been making a lot of statements lately — on his blog, on Twitter and on his T-shirts for his Clandestine clothing line. So how can it be that there is still confusion regarding Fall Out Boy’s situation? Is the band broken up? On a break? What’s the deal?
The bassist tried to help clear things up backstage at Clandestine’s show presented by STYLE360 during New York’s Fashion Week on Tuesday night, when he explained that not all things posted on Twitter are meant to be taken too seriously. “We need a sarcastic font for Twitter,” Wentz said, “so you can type in that font, and people can be like, ‘Oh, he’s being sarcastic right now. We need an actual font.”
That’s because some things that the members of Fall Out Boy (as well as their friends) have tweeted are just jokes (such as Mark Hoppus and John Mayer joining or quitting the band). But some things were serious. How to tell the difference? Even Wentz has a hard time figuring it out, “because I’m manic, I flip back and forth, you know?”
“But to make it really clear,” he said, “we were just burned out, and we need a break. The status is still not changed from the very beginning. We’re just taking a break.”
All the hubbub about the band’s possible demise is “blown so far out of proportion,” Wentz said. “It’s insane. All the pull quotes — ‘I quit Fall Out Boy,’ or ‘Fall Out Boy is on hiatus,’ or ‘Fall Out Boy is broken up’ — more people want to read that article, and I understand that.
“I think the real problem is that we haven’t given people a definitive time of when we’re coming back, or that we’re coming back, but not that we’re not, either,” he continued. “And I think that it’s really hard for people to put that in their heads. I watch all these bands take years off, and no one wonders if like Coldplay is broken up right now when they’re just in between things.”
Though singer Patrick Stump is working on a solo project, Wentz pointed out, he’s been doing so, in a way, for years, whenever he’d come up with songs or musical ideas that didn’t work for the band.
“Here’s the thing,” Wentz said. “He’d be like, ‘Oh, this song won’t work for Fall Out Boy.’ I can’t talk for him at all, but I think technically [the solo album] is something he couldn’t exercise in Fall Out Boy, so I assume it would be some stuff like that or whatever. I saw some stuff he did on his Website, and he’s clearly capable of doing just about anything. I wouldn’t be surprised if [the album] was awesome.”
As for guitarist Joe Trohman and drummer Andy Hurley, they have a project to play with music that wouldn’t work in Fall Out Boy as well, a metal band called The Damned Things (along with members of Anthrax and Every Time I Die). “Joe and Andy’s metal band is something they always wanted to get out,” Wentz said. “So some dudes are playing music right now, and everyone supports everyone else’s band.”
While Wentz has no plans to start a new band of his own, he’s got designing casual wear for Clandestine to keep him busy, as well as chasing after his toddler son Bronx. His main project outside of that? Just growing his beard. “I’m going to go straight to a mustache next,” he laughed. “People are going to hate me.”