We had one of our biggest crowds ever this morning, thanks to the group Fall Out Boy. In the midst of all the concert craziness, Fall Out Boy bassist Pete Wentz took a couple minutes to chat with fellow-Chicagoan/Today Staffer Devin Johnson:
Q: So first off, was this the earliest gig you've ever had?
Wentz: Yes, definitely. I haven't gone to bed yet actually. We flew in from Mexico at midnight last night, and then went and watched "Transformers." By the time that was over it was 4, and I was like I probably shouldn't even try to go to bed now, it'd be a bad idea.
Q: What did you think of "Transformers?"
Wentz: I thought it was awesome in a weird way, like I thought the CGI was awesome, but I'm a total nerd and so I was like 'that character doesn't go like that! that's not how he transforms!' because I grew up on Transformers and I own them all.
Q: So you guys are going to be doing something on July 12 that you're really passionate about. Tell us about that.
Wentz: We stumbled upon this organization called Invisible Children and they kind of bring the plight of children to the foreground, like impoverished children around the world but specifically focusing on Uganda where there is like a crazy situation with child soldiers. There's a civil war that's like one of the longest running civil wars in Africa right now and you can actually get a great backstory on it if you just watch "The Last King of Scotland" which is a really great film that has like kind of the backstory on Uganda. But we're actually going over there with Invisible Children and we're going to shoot our next video for our song "Me and You" over there and we're going to shoot it on 24p cameras and donate the money that we were going to use in the video for the film or the video to a project over there, I think towards a school I think, I'm not 100% sure but we're going to go over there and actually right now currently people live in these displacement camps which are like 1 square mile big and its just terrible conditions, like the sanitation and everything is just disgusting and atrocious there and people have lived there for like 20 years and stuff like that so we wanted to kind of see it first hand. Because its so hard to like disengage and actually kind of emphathize with people you know or whatever, you can think about it in your head but its easier to do when you're actually there and can experience it and it is part of the adventure too so we're excited to go there.
Q: Tomorrow you guys are playing Live Earth, how is that different from your typical gig?
Wentz: Yea you know festivals are real crazy but this one in particular is really insane... We're very low on the totem pole as far as that goes so we feel honored to even just get a chance to be involved in it at all. I don't think that the global temperature will lower due to rock bands playing or whatever but I think that more than anything that it kind of sometimes will electrify your fans and kind of get them interested in things that are bigger than just your songs, or your bands t-shirts and that's really an important thing to do. You know you look at people like Bono and Chris Rock and even to like Oprah and people like that who have gotten involved in these awesome endeavors that are humanitarian and larger than themselves and I think that that's something that we all need to focus on and it makes you feel better as a person in general.
Q: Some artists you've worked with in the past are going to be performing, any surprises?
Wentz: We've been going back and forth as everybody knows with Kanye, so we've been talking about doing something. I don't know if it'll end up working out timewise but its been going, its been in the air definitely.
Q: This question comes from one of our viewers, Suzanne Trabia in Las Vegas: Who was your favorite band to listen to in high school?
Wentz: I was pretty geeky. I started off with Michael Jackson and moved to like Guns 'N' Roses and then punk rock bands like A Minor Thread and Gorilla Biscuits and New York Hardcore and Earth Crisis and weird heavy bands. I liked The Cure, I always liked Green Day and I don't know I listened to a wide array of kinds of music. I listened to a lot of Bob Marley in high school.
Q: Here's another viewer question asked by Shayna from Florida: If you could bring back any bad clothing trend, what would it be?
Wentz: Oh I've got so many I'd like to bring back. Hyper-color t-shirts, I'd like to bring back Tevas, I'd try to bring back tight rolled jeans, I'm currently trying to bring back the mullet, accidentely, which is not really a clothing thing but its considered effort.