"He's an awesome dude and he's always done good by us," FOB guitarist Joe Trohman calling from Vienna.
Trohman says the band is looking forward to returning to the Valley — where they're performing at Mesa Amphitheatre — and hoping to hit the town if time allows. "We've played Phoenix a ton, but it seems like we never really get to enjoy it," he says. "I've walked around the (Mill Avenue) area before and there are a lot of cool restaurants and bars down there. (Kyle) keeps telling us about some bar called Geisha [A Go Go]. We'd like to check it out."
When asked what the guitarist would sing at the downtown Scottsdale lounge, which boasts private karaoke rooms, Trohman laughs and says, "probably, like, a Henry Rollins song. I like karaoke."
Fall Out Boy are currently touring in support of last year's Folie A Deux, their most solid album to date and Trohman's favorite FOB disc. Folie A Deux, which loosely translates to "a madness shared by two," is filled with the group's typical melodic pop-punk jams and crunchy guitar riffs, catchy anthems ("America's Suitehearts," "I Don't Care"), and celebrity snark: "Throw your cameras in the air and wave them like you just don't care."
Trohman says the disc is a reflection of how much better they've become as artists: "It's my favorite collection of songs," he says noting that his favorite tracks are "What a Catch Donnie" and "Headfirst Slide into Cooperstown on a Bad Bet." "This record has really become a satire now. It's more of a commentary . . . We just like to put the mirror in peoples' faces a little bit. We're trying."
While FOB bassist, lyricist, mouthpiece, and media whore Pete Wentz has branched beyond music with acting (he recently appeared in an episode of CSI: NY with wife Ashlee Simpson), runs his own record label (Decaydance Records), clothing company (Clandestine Industries), and bars (New York and Chicago's Angels & Kings), Trohman says he's sticking strictly to the music.
"Everything I do has to be about music, whereas Pete has a 1,000 different ideas," he says. "I'd like to work on some music side projects. Music is my life."
