Pete Wentz and Fall Out Boy had a moderately successful comeback in 2013 with Save Rock and Roll and the single "My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light 'Em Up)" after a five-year hiatus, and the bassist says they're "80 percent of the way done" with a sixth album, American Beauty/American Psycho.
He recently spoke with Alternative Press about the record, and focused on the idea of pop vs. rock music.
"We realize that while we are not in the upper echelon of [acts] like Foo Fighters, Paul McCartney, Coldplay — these bands that are clearly legacy [acts], they are huge, and everyone knows them and what they sound like — I think we're also not a starter band," Wentz said. "We're somewhere along, like, the JV. Our goal — or the mission statement — is to make rock music that can be played in big venues, but is also contemporary and you can hear it on the radio.
"It is a bit of a challenge to do it, because I feel like ... we feel like a little bit more on an island. I feel like when we started this out, there was a movement of bands, and now it feels like we're alone. We toured this summer with Paramore, which was really cool, because I feel like we have some like-minded [friends]. But in general, it feels a little bit like we're figuring it out on our own terms."
Wentz sees the bridge between genres as necessary.
"It's hard for people to swallow, kind of," he said. "But there are parts of me that want to be like, 'Yeah, but Guns N' Roses were a pop band,' you know what I'm saying? Led Zeppelin were a pop band. They're not remembered like that in history, but that's the way they were played on the radio, and that's who their fans were. That's the way stadiums were sold out."
American Beauty/American Psycho is due January 20. Check out the new single "Centuries."
