5 Questions: Joe Trohman
With four albums in hand, including this year's No. 1 seller "Infinity on High," Fall Out Boy has entrenched itself as one of the era's leading rock outfits. Inserting the elements of classic pop-rock -- glossy hooks, brisk tempos, big choruses -- into a punk-touched modern template, the Chicago quartet pulled away from the emo pack earlier in the decade to build itself a hardy home in the mainstream. The band visits metro Detroit this weekend in one of the big rock bills of the young summer season. Guitarist Joe Trohman answered questions from Free Press music writer Brian McCollum as Fall Out Boy prepped to hit the road.
Q: What's been the most significant change in your personal lives since breaking to this next level?
A: When I'm at home sitting around, there's an aspect of, "When am I going to get the next call to go do" band business? I'm always on call in a way. Life is never at a standstill now. But the thing is, we all still get along, so I think as a band, our temperament is still really good. We're not arguing. We're not getting in fights.
Stuff can be and is very hectic, very demanding. There's an aspect of stress and tension, just due to the fact that you never know how much time you're going to have off. Even when you're off, stuff gets booked like two days in advance, so all of a sudden, there's the phone call -- "We've got this thing we've got to go do." But I don't think anybody's bummed out ... because we still see them as opportunities.
Q: You've enlisted a lot of young, unsigned bands to open shows on this tour. Being in the thick of all the madness you just described, how easy it for you to keep tabs on what's coming up?
A: The first time we ever played on a tour like this, Blink-182 had us play a side stage. I remember how great an opportunity that was for us, how much it helped. So we wanted to give that opportunity to other bands. I try to keep up, in the scene that we're a part of. There are so many new bands all the time, you can feel lost. But there's definitely a lot of good bands right now on their way to becoming something larger or cult success.
Q: What advice do you try to give newcomers now?
A: It's weird. Sometimes artists ask questions about stuff they don't need to be worried about yet. The other day, we were talking to a band. They were talking about labels courting them, asking what we thought about that. We said: "Don't worry about that right now. Worry about getting good people to back you, playing good shows and building a fan base."
Q: Is there a different onstage approach for you guys now that you're playing larger venues?
A: I could explain really lame stuff, like playing to a click track and practicing with monitors, all that. Really, we have the same approach in playing live whether big or small -- we interact with the crowd as much as possible.
Q: Your fan base is a generation that's all about the Internet. What are your feelings about song downloading -- the unauthorized sort?
A: We're a band that really benefited from the fruits of the Internet: showing people who we are, our music, all that. It can really help bands that are unsigned.
But it does hurt bands on major labels. ... It's like a love-hate relationship. I back downloading for some bands, but for others it messes the whole thing up. We're in a really weird territory right now. The Wild West of the music industry, so to speak. The industry doesn't have a handle on it right now. As an artist myself, when I download, I like to pay for it. I get it from iTunes.
Brian McCollum, Free Press pop music writer
Source: Freep.com
Q: What's been the most significant change in your personal lives since breaking to this next level?
A: When I'm at home sitting around, there's an aspect of, "When am I going to get the next call to go do" band business? I'm always on call in a way. Life is never at a standstill now. But the thing is, we all still get along, so I think as a band, our temperament is still really good. We're not arguing. We're not getting in fights.
Stuff can be and is very hectic, very demanding. There's an aspect of stress and tension, just due to the fact that you never know how much time you're going to have off. Even when you're off, stuff gets booked like two days in advance, so all of a sudden, there's the phone call -- "We've got this thing we've got to go do." But I don't think anybody's bummed out ... because we still see them as opportunities.
Q: You've enlisted a lot of young, unsigned bands to open shows on this tour. Being in the thick of all the madness you just described, how easy it for you to keep tabs on what's coming up?
A: The first time we ever played on a tour like this, Blink-182 had us play a side stage. I remember how great an opportunity that was for us, how much it helped. So we wanted to give that opportunity to other bands. I try to keep up, in the scene that we're a part of. There are so many new bands all the time, you can feel lost. But there's definitely a lot of good bands right now on their way to becoming something larger or cult success.
Q: What advice do you try to give newcomers now?
A: It's weird. Sometimes artists ask questions about stuff they don't need to be worried about yet. The other day, we were talking to a band. They were talking about labels courting them, asking what we thought about that. We said: "Don't worry about that right now. Worry about getting good people to back you, playing good shows and building a fan base."
Q: Is there a different onstage approach for you guys now that you're playing larger venues?
A: I could explain really lame stuff, like playing to a click track and practicing with monitors, all that. Really, we have the same approach in playing live whether big or small -- we interact with the crowd as much as possible.
Q: Your fan base is a generation that's all about the Internet. What are your feelings about song downloading -- the unauthorized sort?
A: We're a band that really benefited from the fruits of the Internet: showing people who we are, our music, all that. It can really help bands that are unsigned.
But it does hurt bands on major labels. ... It's like a love-hate relationship. I back downloading for some bands, but for others it messes the whole thing up. We're in a really weird territory right now. The Wild West of the music industry, so to speak. The industry doesn't have a handle on it right now. As an artist myself, when I download, I like to pay for it. I get it from iTunes.
Brian McCollum, Free Press pop music writer
Source: Freep.com