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Fall Out Boy
South By Southwest (SXSW) is one of the preeminent new music venues in the U.S. The annual event closes down Austin's 6th Avenue and turns the clubs and theaters that line the street into make or break arenas for countless bands, many of which are unsigned. The idea is to impress some record label type. At the very least get some music writer to pen a few kind words that might create a buzz. Unfortunately, in most cases the label heavyweights and the writers are all too wasted to remember what they hell they heard, much less determine whether they liked it or not. Chicago's Fall Out Boy actually beat the odds and came out of their '03 SXSW appearances with positive reviews that helped build a national following.
Fall Out Boy formed in '00. A self-released demo hit the following year with a split LP, with Project Rocket, coming out in '02. Early, the next year they released "Evening Out With Your Girlfriend." That got the group noticed. First they were signed to Fueled By Ramen, a label co-owned by Less Than Jake drummer Vinnie Balzano. Island Records also got into the act providing the advance for the group's "proper" debut. "Take This To Your Grave" was the result.
'05 release "Under The Cork Tree" preceded an extensive tour. F.O.B. even won a Road Woodie (Best Tour) at the student-selected mtvU Woodie Awards held in New York. While all this was going on Peter Wentz found the time to "discover"* and sign Panic! At The Disco to his own Decaydance label.
"Infinity On High" dropped in early '07. The album's title had an artistic reference. "It's taken from a quote by Vincent van Gogh," said Wentz. The first single was "This Ain't A Scene, It's An Arms Race." The group then headlined the Honda Civic Tour. "We try and make a show that we would have wanted to go see if we were kids going to see shows right now," added Joseph Trohman.
Having just started thinking about F.O.B.'s fifth album, Wentz was interviewed by MTV News. "It's early, but the ideas we've got right now, they're really guitar-riff-heavy," said the bassist. "A lot of other bands, like AC/DC or the White Stripes, you know their songs by the opening guitar riff, so basically, I want our record to be like an AC/DC album or a White Stripes album." Then, Wentz amended that a bit. "Actually, I'm just kidding about that. Well, I was kidding about the White Stripes part. Not AC/DC."
Meanwhile, Patrick Stump appeared on the TV show Law And Order (as of Marty Dreshler on an episode titled "Darkness") and the group collaborated with Rapper T.I. on "Out In The Cold," which appeared on the vinyl edition of his "Paper Trail" album.
Back on their own turf, F.O.B. issued "Folie A Deux" just before Christmas, '08. The album's title literally means a "madness shared by two."
"Believers Never Die," F.O.B.'s greatest hits album, came out a year later. The collection included "Sugar, We're Goin' Down" and "Dead On Arrival." The new songs were "Alpha Dog" and a cover of Michael Jackson's "Beat It." There was also a DVD with videos and band commentary. But all was not well.
F.O.B. weren't the first to air their issues publically but their February, '09, online outbursts showed just how petty and wishy-washy musicians can be when breaking up or even thinking about it.
Wentz got the ball rolling on his blog when he stated that he wasn't sure F.O.B. would ever play together again stating "as a band we grew apart." Stump, who was working on a solo album (though he was initially reluctant to call it that), responded by writing, "I'm not in Fall Out Boy right now."
Likely the root of the problem was the "failure" of "Folie a Duex." Fall Out Boy was a platinum act - album sales over 1 million copies. However, that set logged a little over 400,000. Respectable, but not up to standards.
Wentz concluded the discussion of F.O.B.'s future by writing, "If it's fun for everyone to do again, we're going to do it."
The end result was an "indefinite hiatus." To fill the void, Stump finished his solo album while Trohman and Hurley formed Damn Things. After a spell, Wentz weighed in with his own band, Back Cards. "The break is indeed over," wrote Wentz on the band's website.
* They sent him a two-song demo.
F.O.B. plays muscular yet melodic and engaging Punk. They can, at times, approximate the snotty charm of prime Blink 182. Ex-girlfriends, soon to be ex-girlfriends, bad breaks and life in general, from a jaundiced point of view, are the lyrical topics addressed by Stump's heart-on-my-sleeve tenor. It can be difficult to determine whether Stump is singing with his tongue-in-his-cheek or biting down on it hard. Fortunately, the group's music is as clever as their song titles ("Our Lawyer Made Us Change The Name Of This Song So We Wouldn't Get Sued" or "The Pros And Cons Of Breathing" and "It's Not A Side Effect Of The Cocaine, It Must Be Love"). Fall Out Boy Rocks and Rocks hard.
Despite what Wentz might hope, "Folie A Deux" does not sound like AC/DC but there are moments when F.O.B. sound like, well… F.O.B. The single "I Don't Care" is lean-mean Punk. "(Coffee Is For Closers)" and "27" are right there.
Still, you can't run full throttle through an album (must be a label rule). So F.O.B. gets Funky on "Tiffany Blews" and nail it with the bouncy, "20 Dollar Nose Bleed." The rest of the album is OK. It's a shame "She's My Winona," which is pretty good, just doesn't explode.
"Infinity On High" proves that F.O.B is a group to reckon with. "Thriller" with its reference to "car crash hearts" sets the tone. There is a reckless momentum to the album that escapes by the skin of its teeth. "This Ain't A Scene, It's An Arms Race" plays to F.O.B.'s strengths. It's a high voltage song with hyper backing vocals that punctuate and propel the track. Little wonder it was released as a single. The contrast of a thumping bass line and slashing guitar drive "Thanks For The Memories" while "Carpal Tunnel Of Love" and "Hum Hallelujah" provide the hook filled energy to put the album over.
Fall Out Boy's earlier albums ("Take This To Your Grave," "Evening Out With Your Girlfriend" and "From Under The Cork Tree") all feature potent performances. Even the acoustic EP "My Heart Will Always Be The B-Side To My Tongue" with "My Heart Is The Worst Kind Of Weapon" and the aforementioned "Cocaine" is an entertaining and compelling effort.
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