Long live the car-crash hearts, indeed: 25 years after their formation, Fall Out Boy just dropped a single, “Aces,” that stands with their best work — and their biggest-ever touris on sale today. The Twilight of the Punks Tour hits North America next
July, with openers the Offspring, Good Charlotte, and The Story So Far. To give a taste of the tour, FOB — Pete Wentz, Patrick Stump, Joe Trohman, and Andy Hurley — played a tiny pop-up show at L.A.’s Koreatown Plaza Tuesday, including a live debut of “Aces” that already had their fans scream-singing along.
Here are our full interviews (conducted separately and combined) with Patrick Stump and Pete Wentz.
What got you guys back together to record?
Patrick Stump: What has it been, almost four years between us getting in the studio? And it’s one of those things where people would always ask me, “Are you guys still writing?” And I’m like, “We’re always writing. We were writing through the [2009-2012] hiatus.” There’s never a period where Pete and I aren’t talking and writing. There’s a lot of times where you don’t have anything that you really feel like you need to share. And so we landed on this song, and it was like, “Let’s get in the studio.”
It’s really a very natural thing. I dug out some old amplifiers that I hadn’t played on since probably 2008. And it was really funny — when I played chords, I was like, “Oh, wow, that sounds very 2006.”
Pete Wentz: There always starts to get to be a little bit of an itch. But beyond there being the itch, I think about it way more in terms of what I would want out of a band like us. What standard would I hold? ’Cause my life at home is so task-oriented. You’re just going to the next meal or the next cleanup. And so in that way, it’s very regimented and easy. And so it’s a lot harder to go, “Hmm, what would a Fall Out Boy song sound like in 2026? And what would our voice be like? And what would a show look like?” And that’s a lot more big and broad of a question, and in some ways, there needs to be a reason for doing it. Just doing it “just because” doesn’t usually work for art.
It starts with me and Patrick going back and forth usually, and sometimes it’ll start with a lyric on that side, or other times Patrick will feel really driven. I was just looking because there’s a video of him organizing his records, and I’m like, “This guy has, like, four billion records.” I think he just listens to seven-inches all the time, which I don’t think a lot of people do in this day and age, but I really think he does, and there’s no way that that didn’t infiltrate the process of him making music.
The song does sound very 2006, but with fresh energy.
Stump: They’re the same amplifiers as on “Sugar.” I’m not a really nostalgic guy. I’m not a guy that gets really motivated by getting back to the past. But there was something really eerie almost about, like I said, just chords. Just playing open chords, and hearing that same sound coming out of speakers was neat. It was a new thing because I’m also playing it [now], and I know music theory now instead of when I was 19. It was a surprise to me.
Where had these amps been, and why had you stayed away from them for so long?
Stump: They’re just in storage. It’s one of those things where you go through so many different tours and stage setups and production managers and tour managers. And there they are, and I was like, “Oh, let’s hear what they sound like.”
And it was great. I’d never seen this before — we broke a speaker cabinet. The electronics blew up. It was very weird.
With the last album, So Much (for) Stardust, it kind of picked up where you had left off with Folie à Deux in 2008, before the hiatus — you reunited with producer Neal Avron for it, and for this single too. Did you discuss a direction this time around, or what you’re trying to do?
Stump: Not really. It’s this isolated thing, right? It’s this song. I will say, obviously, I obsess over things, right? Over musical things. And in the 2010s, there was this speed and economy where you would just go into a studio for an hour, and people were slapping together every idea that you had, and all of a sudden you had a song, and you’re like, “Wait a second. Can I take that again?” And I missed the way Neal is like Kubrick, where we’re gonna take it 1,000 times, and we’re gonna spend so much time on mic placement and that kind of stuff. And take one sounded pretty good, but it’s still about those impossible-to-place things. I really missed that.
It’s funny ’cause the performance, the initial drum, bass, guitar stuff, that was done pretty quick, but then just all these little details where we’re like, “OK, so on bar three, should this feedback swell — that’s panned to the left channel — should we move that to …” I love how granular it gets.
Pete, how do you see this song fitting into the band’s evolution?
Wentz: So around when we were putting out Save Rock and Roll, when we put out American Beauty, there were no bands on the radio at all, and pop radio was a really pervasive force at the time. And so in some ways — in terms of when you’re giving your kid medicine and you hide it with some sugar — a band is there, but it’s kind of hidden or it’s baked in. And ultimately, the frustration of doing that came out on our record Mania.
And Mania we put out, right? And we thought this one song was gonna be the single, and we realized it was another sea change, which is so interesting to have happen, where people really pick the singles themselves now. We live in a time where there just aren’t gatekeepers. In some ways, people are building their own playlists or deciding what they like. Which is rad. And so that made us feel the freedom on Stardust to just make whatever.
And for Patrick, I think it was really going back to taking our time to create each song, and he was like, “We gotta pick the drum mics.” And we hadn’t done that in such a long time. You didn’t have to hide anything. We were at a time where whatever you put out, the stranger it is or the more authentic, in a time where there’s a lot of inauthenticity, authentic stuff really cut through.
With this song, it’s interesting ’cause I can play it for my kids now, and they all have all kinds of opinions and have their own view of what our band was before and what the music sounded like before. And so actually they were saying it sounds like there’s a nostalgic sound to it, but that the lyrics were very 2026. And I was like, “Oh, that’s interesting.” And so, yeah, I can definitely hear it.
At some point you’re judging your thing against your old thing, and when you’re inside the machine it’s a little bit hard to do because you’re like, “I don’t know.” It all sounds exactly the same to me, and then also none of it really sounds the same. So it’s interesting.
Where did the rapid-fire little guitar lick at the beginning come from?
Stump: I went and saw Paul Simon, and he was talking about how when he was doing Simon & Garfunkel, he would write all these really intricate guitar parts, but then he was the only guitar player, and so he had to play them. And after a while he was like, “Fuck, that’s a lot. Why did I paint myself in this very complicated corner?” And then when he started doing his solo thing, he started hiring other guitar players to just play it, and he’s like, “Oh, that’s great. I don’t have to do this and sing at the same time.” So that was something that I’d been playing for a while, and I was [practicing] it, like, okay, I’m gonna sing this.
And I was like, it’d be really fun if I didn’t have to play this. So then I brought it to Joe [Trohman]. It’s fun getting to pawn off the challenge. I get to do all the shredding in this little room by myself and then I’ll demo it that way, but then I’m forcing Joe to have to really practice it, and I get to sit back and just do chords. It’s great.
I think we, as a society, are starting to appreciate bands again, and there’s just something about a live drummer. Hearing Andy Hurley really play on this is fun.
Wentz: It’s so cool to see the playing field leveled, where everybody can create in their bedroom on a laptop. But at the same time, the 10,000-plus hours that Andy Hurley’s done on the drums, that’s just very, very hard to replicate in a test tube. You have to get out there and go and play in Knights of Columbus halls to do it. There’s no other way around it.
Stump: I do really like hearing everybody in the studio again. It’s pretty amazing, like I said, that thing where you sit back and it’s not even about the playing.
The way that Andy hits a drum is different than the way that I hit a drum. That’s one of the things that’s most exciting for me is that I demo a lot of the stuff, so I play all the stuff on the demo and then we get it into the room, and then everyone plays it differently and then it happens. Then the thing really happens. I’m excited about that.
The lyrics really do speak to fighting off aging.
Stump: Yeah, yeah. Yeah, well, Pete’s one of those ones that’s really funny. He won’t, even to me, he won’t explain. So my guess is always as good as the audience’s. Because a lot of the way that Pete writes too is really more like a quote book. I remember this Yogi Berra book that my dad had. That’s how Pete writes, is just these really compelling one-liners, and then I take them and put them together. And it’s weird because sometimes I find that I have imbued a different meaning by misinterpreting it. I don’t know where he’s going with it. I know where I see it.
There’s something in the aging thing for me where I’m perpetually this little awkward guy. I’m still 15, but then I’m also in my late 70s. I never know where I fit, and wherever I’m supposed to make the most sense, I still haven’t found it yet.
Wentz: It used to be the question, “Can you imagine getting on the stage when you’re like 50?” And I’m like, “Ah, it’s like three years away.” Nobody would ask that question now. You know what I mean? Or maybe they would, but it’s so much more real of a question. There’s actually gotta be an answer.
Fans are obviously going to wonder: Is there an album attached to this? Will there be one at some point?
Stump: So I thought about that, ’cause I’m like, “You’re gonna get asked about that.” But it’s one of those things where, after Andrew Garfield, what do you do? Because the thing is that either I’m gonna say the truth, which is that there’s not currently an album, and it’s gonna be, “Well, he’s lying about it,” or that there’s some, that there’s the … There’s no answer. So I don’t know. I mean, there’s not, there’s not, there’s nothing. I don’t have a, there’s no … Even if I were to …
Yeah, I can say honestly, currently there is no album. I’m not currently working on an album. But every space, I know now, every incomplete thought, there will be like, “Oh, well, that means this.” So it’s like, what do I even say … I’m watching all the Marvel stuff, and every interview it’s like, “Oh, so are you in Doomsday?” And every answer that’s “no,” everyone’s like, “That means it’s yes.”
But will the album be in Avengers: Doomsday?
Stump: [laughs] Exactly. Yeah.
Wentz: So we were looking at the process in a way that was similar to Hella Mega, which was the big tour we did with Green Day and Weezer. So when we did that, we did a song, and so we thought about it in terms of a song.
I feel like there has to be something more to complete the picture, but I don’t know if it’s just an album, or there could be a … I don’t really know. That’s a bad answer, but I would love to do a Fall Out Boy musical. I just wanna do something that has a slightly skewed perspective. But there’s not an album that we’re gonna dump out tomorrow currently, unless Patrick has done it without talking to anybody.
It’s a very big tour — the biggest you’ve done as headliners. Tell me about the thinking behind that.
Stump: I don’t know, man. That’s one of those things that’s beyond me. The first headlining tour, Crush [Management] came back to me with the routings, and I was looking at them. And we’re talking headlining the Metro. And I saw those routings and I was like, “This is insane.” There’s no way you think we’re gonna fill those places.
And they’re like, “No, that’s our gig. Trust us.” I’m like, “OK.” And that’s pretty much been every tour that we’ve done. They send me one of those, and I’m like, “You can’t be serious, though. That seems pretty …”
The thinking is dragging me kicking and screaming, ’cause I’m like, I gotta think there can’t be that many people, you know? It’s pretty exciting though. When we played Wrigley a few times and somebody asked me, “Did you ever imagine that you were gonna play Wrigley?” And I’m like, “I didn’t know bands could play there.” So I think this tour is beyond that.
Wentz: This is our shot. This is our chance to do the biggest version of the whole thing. And in a pure Fall Out Boy [way], throw the kitchen sink into the whole thing. This is the time to do the production that looks like the musical, or this is the time to do the inside of your brain and do it in a stadium.
Whatever always usually ends up happening is we try to build the whole thing and it’s basically papier-mâché and they’re like, “You can’t tour this,” and we try to find a way to tour the thing. So we haven’t built any of that yet, but I’m pretty excited about it, to do it when we do.
What can you say about production and the set list? What should people expect? Patrick says he usually doesn’t see what you’ve planned until the first day.
Wentz: OK, so the last tour when we did Stardust, we did our version of the Eras Tour. We did Days of Fall Out Past, and it was just our discography in chronological order, which was cool and a nightmare. When the whole show went perfectly, it barely worked. And of course, obviously, the show never, almost never goes perfectly. So I don’t think it will be that.
I just love the idea, we grew up obviously, on Jim Henson, and we grew up on this tangible idea. And I’m a big believer that you should actually be able to walk into the world and touch the thing and feel the thing. So I do want it to feel like a universe unto itself, that when people come to Soldier Field or when they come wherever, you’ll be able to walk into the experience and feel like you are inside of it, and it’s something that you can only experience there.
Any specific ideas?
Wentz: I’ve been thinking a lot about the Fireside Bowl lately, which is a little teeny tiny venue. Every town or city has a venue that probably really shouldn’t be a punk rock venue, but then it becomes it and you’re like, “Yeah, we have a stage,” but there’s a bowling alley and the owner kinda doesn’t want you there, but at the same time you bring in just enough money that they kind of allow you to be there. And that one was ours. And listen, I haven’t talked about it at all, but would it be fun to rebuild that? I don’t really know.
On the largest scale, this is our chance. Will Fall Out Boy ever get to play Soldier Field again? I don’t know. Hopefully, but also maybe not, so maybe we should do something that will be added to Soldier Field’s Wikipedia.
Patrick, what are your thoughts about staging?
Stump: I did the acting thing for a little while, and I could be the character for a minute while the camera’s rolling, but then when it’s not, it feels … It’s not exhausting. It feels annoying.
And so when it comes to the rock star stuff, in the past, on the last couple tours, I found a lot of comfort in just being like, “I’m just some schmuck that sings.” And there’s a fun to that, and so yeah. I’m looking to lean into that. ’Cause that’s who Pete is. That’s almost his biggest expression. It’s almost bigger to him than the lyrics, the staging, and I’m like, “That’s awesome.” I’m the different version where I screw up and I laugh at myself.
The piano stuff was so funny on the last tour. So I would like to try and contrive something like that where I get an opportunity to just be who I am because it really frames the intensity of Pete’s visions. ’Cause I know this is the truth, I won’t see any of that for a long time.
He’s spending so much time with fabricators and staging people, talking through all the vision stuff that I’m not CC’d on all those emails. It happens so fast. On the last tour I knew some of the beats, but I got there and on the first day I’m like, “Holy shit, there’s a 40-foot dog head.” I didn’t really know that, and I’m seeing it just like the audience. I kinda like that. So yeah, I know that I’m gonna bring my gee-whiz charm. I say that so sarcastically, but whatever. But I don’t know what to expect and I anticipate it to be pretty surprising for all of us.
Where did the tour name come from?
Wentz: Me and my kid went and watched [Rafael] Nadal[‘s] last match at the French Open, and he’s getting just kinda destroyed by [Alexander] Zverev, this younger guy, and this French guy turns to me and he goes, “Twilight of the Gods.” And I was like, “Oh, yeah. Got it, got it.”
Joe had to miss some tour dates because of issues with his hands. How’s he doing?
Wentz: He did something recently to it again, I think, actually. I know his hand was — he had nerve damage, but he’s had surgery. I think it’s okay. He was able to record, and everything was all good with that, so he’ll be at the shows. But I do think it’s been an ongoing issue.
Finally, what can you say about the state of the group?
Wentz: We’re in a good place in terms of, we’ve allowed each other to interact as adults. We’ll be at the airport and some kid’ll come up to Andy and be like, “I started playing drums because of you.” And in my head, there’s part of me that still pictures him as the guy that I met when he was 17, 16, or whatever. And I’m like, “What? Andy Hurley?” And it allows you the perspective of being like, “Oh, yeah, we’ve grown up,” which is kinda cool.
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