Interview: Fall Out Boy

"Chicago's weird because when we were starting out, there was really no network for bands. It felt like there was no music coming out of Chicago," explains Patrick, while Andy sits quietly, too weakened from his cold to bear another interview. "I'm not saying we started it, but our generation had to definitely create it. Even if there were bands before us, the network wasn't as defined as it is now."

As for other famous other Chicagoans, he names "John from Panic At The Disco!" OK, so basically it's still only FOB territory. Their latest offering, Infinity On High, fully embraces contemporary American culture, twistig hip hop into rock, a genre that's always being announced as being "on the comeback" with the emergence of each new guitar act.

"I don't know that rock ever went away. I don't know that it's making a comeback," Patrick says. When I tell him that Fred Durst complained to me that America is hip hop, he replies, "Or hip hop is America. It's really intertwined with our culture. I think it only makes sense that it's one of the biggest music forms in the country." It also explains why FOB chose Babyface as a producer. You're thinking, how did that ever happen?

"As a singer, I admire him. His records make you wanna sing. It was one of those things we'd always dreamed of for a long time. 'We were like, "Yeah, let's do a record with Babyface. It was one of those things where we were thinking real big." No dream is ever too big, especially in America. Nevertheless, the band was surprised when he accepted the job offer. "To say the least! I think people in general have this idea of him being an exclusively R&B guy who doesn't know much about rock, but that's completely not the case. He knows more about rock than anyone would expect. And he's really intuitive for it. The other thing is that the songs that we did for him are not particularly R&B. They're very, very rock for the record. I think people will be really surprised by it."

People will also be surprised to hear Jay-Z lending his voice on a track. And FOB's hip hop ventures continue on Timbaland's upcoming compilation album. "Andy and I flew out to Virginia to work on it. We worked on a rock song. It's Fall Out Boy meets Timbaland!" Then there's the remix of This Ain't A Scene, It's An Arms Race, the first single off Infinity, undergoing some changes with the magic knob-turning fingers of a certain Kanye West. But this doesn't mean the band is falls into the hip hop wannabe category. Far from it, reassures Patrick.

"Rock music briefly flirted with the idea of rapping, which was a very stupid idea, and now it has accepted that it should probably "do its thing", respect hip hop music without trying to do it. I think that's where we're at. We are a band that very much owes a great debt to hip hop and we probably listen to it way more than rock."

Despite their ongoing quest for hood cred, Stump also admits to being inspired by '80s pop/rock. "Yeah, I like the '80s. It was very much geared towards that. That's what I was thinking of anyway." He drew his inspiration from some of the most marking records of that era. "I wanted this record to be the most triumphant, biggest feeling. So I was listening to all my favourite big records, like Thriller, Peter Gabriel's So or Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run.

But their biggest inspiration may have been The Simpsons. Named after Fall Out Boy, a character in the popular cartoon series, everyone is surprised that they haven't been sued yet. Except the producers of the show, who actually feared a Grammy-nominated band would take them to court.

"Well, here's the story: we heard that they were making T-shirts that say The Original Fallout Boy. They were just passing them around the office. We found out about this and we were like, 'Dude, let's get one of those shirts! That's the funniest thing!' We contacted the people at The Simpsons: 'We heard you were making these shirts. And they were like, 'Don't sue us!' Here we were, scared that they were going to sue us." Stump says they finally came to an amicable agreement: "We were like, 'Yeah, just give us one of those shirts and everything will be fine.' If anything, it's made me like the show more!"

Does this mean that Fall Out Boy will soon guest star on the show? The idea amuses Patrick. "I've been a lot of things but I've never been a cartoon! That would be wonderful."

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