Nuke who’s talking

You know you’re getting old when the rock stars start looking younger. Pete Wenz and Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy sit before us, fresh faced and full of enthusiasm.

They also have the world at their feet since the release a year ago of their From Under Cork Tree album, moving from the club circuit to Grammy nominations at warp speed.
Of course, it helps that they’re part of the US punk scene, the biggest underground/overground phenomenon of latter times, a factor of which Pete is well aware.
“We have a gang of bands that we hang out with,” he explains. “You can notice it. I can see the scene growing and coming to the forefront of music a little bit. At the same time you can also smell a fake because every now and then a music industry executive will notice that it’s working and put a band together. You can see the difference in the way that the crowd reacts. They try and throw them in but the audience can spot a fake.”
“We were an accident,” adds Patrick, “there was no plan in it. We were hanging out, then we formed a band, signed to an indie label and then moved to a major. There are a lot of svengali guys sitting around trying to replicate what happens naturally.”
It is definitely the kind of scene that produces bands that mean an awful lot to people, as Pete affirms.
“There’s something that you can’t put your finger on with some of these bands,” he says, “something untouchable. I won’t say Fall Out Boy, but Panic! At The Disco, Taking Back Sunday, My Chemical Romance – there’s something that you can’t just create. Without it, it won’t take off”.
His modesty is misplaced. To untrained ears, Under Cork Tree may not sound hugely different to all the rest of the nu-punkers, but Fall Out Boy are important right now.
The northside of Dublin is awash with black t-shirts and piercings this afternoon, and a UK publication has sent a 12 year old in baggy jeans over to talk to them. Pete has his theories about this phenomenon.
“This is the first kind of music and we’re the first kind of bands that will be successful without radio,” he ventures, “especially in America. It’s an organic fanbase that has built through the internet and dorm rooms and kids’ bedrooms. They feel disenfranchised by the mainstream media so they get into downloading and websites. This is the new breed. Gerard from My Chemical Romance could be on a par with an icon from any other scene but the rest of the population have no idea who he is.”
The pair are a joy to interview, immensely likeable and also knowledgeable. Unlike some of their peers, both seem to grasp the concept that the music that they play has roots beyond Green Day.
“The thing that blows my mind”, enthuses Pete, “is that all these bands came blazing out of Britain – Joy Division, The Cure, The Smiths – and 20 years later American bands are regurgitating it and bringing it back over there. We listen to a lot of punk rock but those are the bands that really influenced me.”
“It’s like an inverse of the British invasion,” adds Patrick, “where the bands took the blues music that was coming out of the States 20 years earlier and made it into a new thing. I don’t know if anyone is doing anything new now, but the comparison still stands. To the average kid, punk is something that logistically had to have happened in the ‘90s, they forget the fact that it all happened so fast.”
“Even by the time you get to the Manchester bands, punk is this ancient idea. In the grand scheme of things people lump it all together but there’s almost a benefit in that, because you get this accidental diversity of people viewing bands like The Cure as punk."
Both men are still slightly astonished at their whirlwind success, but are determined to get the most out of the experience – and not just the obvious rock ‘n’ roll trappings.
“Last night we were driving down from Belfast,” Pete enthuses. “I just sat at the front of the bus and watched as we were driving through Ireland. It’s amazing. I was up when we crossed the border, and I thought it was a toll.”
Patrick’s final observations are a little more obscure:
“You know one of the things I noticed about coming into Ireland? I know it’s a clichéd thing, but your grass is actually greener. I happen to know that particular type of grass is not indigenous to the United States, it was one of the things that was brought over and it doesn’t really fit. Here it just works better.”
As we leave the pair, a girl rushes out of the hotel lift, all red hair and stripy tights, camera in hand. You sense that talking horticulture may be the last thing on her mind.