How will you spend your Thanksgiving break?
If you don't own a television and your internet connection has been down for the last six months, it's possible you haven't heard of Fall Out Boy. Otherwise, chances are you've seen one of their No. 1 videos on Total Request Live. Or perhaps you're one of their 432,733 MySpace friends. Maybe you even caught them headlining this summer's Warped Tour or you own their platinum album From Under the Cork Tree, which has been a mainstay in the Billboard Top 50 since it was released in May.
Having accumulated enough mainstream music achievements to last any band a lifetime, the members of Fall Out Boy find themselves at a challenging crossroads in their young musical career - namely, how to keep their loyal fan base intact and earn a credible reputation in the music industry, while trying to avoid gaining too much exposure or being lumped together with the Good Charlotte and Sum 41 sellouts of the world.
"The publicity is still helping," said drummer Andy Hurley in an interview. "But at the same time, we've turned down at lot of opportunities that we didn't think vibed well with who we are as a band. At least TRL retires your video after a certain amount of time so the kids don't get too sick of it."
Bassist Pete Wentz, the band's most outspoken member, isn't too worried about how long the band will be able to remain in the spotlight.
"Whether there's billions of cameras flashing or if it's just four of us in somebody's basement, it's still going be fun and exciting for us," Wentz said. "Either way, Fall Out Boy is going to exist."
As the band's lyricist, Wentz is responsible for the poignant songs that comprise From Under the Cork Tree. But humorous titles like, "I Slept with Someone in Fall Out Boy and All I Got Was This Stupid Song Written About Me" conceal the lyrics' serious intent, Wentz said.
"You have a lot of bands that come out and they only have songs about fart jokes, and all of a sudden they want to be serious and people don't buy it," Wentz said. "You also have a lot of emo bands that are always serious and wearing black clothes. But you know those guys joke around sometimes. I guess we just act how human beings act - and sometimes we're happy and sometimes we're not."
Wentz said his favorite song on the album is "I've Got a Dark Alley and a Bad Idea That Says You Should Shut Your Mouth (Summer Song)," which he wrote after a battling a severe case of anxiety earlier this year that landed him in the hospital.
After signing to Island/Def Jam Records and being hailed as one of Rolling Stone's "Top Ten Artists to Watch in 2005," Wentz felt pressured to produce big results. His unease is evident in the song's chorus: "And the record won't stop skipping/And the lies just won't stop slipping/And besides, my reputation's on the line."
"It's the most honest song on the album to me," Wentz said. "It captured a moment in time that will never happen again."
The range of emotions expressed on the album is almost as broad as the band's fan base.
At Fall Out Boy's sold-out Roseland Ballroom show last month, prepubescent teenyboppers exchanged sweat with old-school hardcore punks. It's possible that the band, which is rounded out by singer/guitarist Patrick Stump and guitarist Joe Trohman, owes its success to its ability to gain diverse audience members - from those can relate to Wentz's clever lyrics to others who adore his bandmates' poster-boy hotness.
In any case, it seems as though success hasn't affected the members' characters as much as it has their bank accounts.
"I'm still this dork who reads comics and is awkward around girls," Hurley said.
And being in a successful rock band does have its drawbacks, after all.
"The other day, a kid asked me to sign his pacemaker, and that was kind of scary for me," Wentz said. "I was like, 'Please don't die.' "
