“It feels like every once in awhile, you’ve gotta do a hard restart that clears the cache and erases the hard drive. I think that’s what “Young and Menace” was – a big palette cleanse. I think it gave us the space to create something brand new. The world can be a big lonely place, especially for kids who are trying to figure themselves out. I think sometimes we can forget that… that’s who Mania is meant to speak to. That’s who I want to reach. I don’t think that kids should feel like they need to adjust their empathy or selves to the world – I’d rather give them the belief that they can adjust the world to fit their empathy.”
Fall Out Boy are never releasing the same album twice but ‘Save Rock and Roll’ and ‘American Beauty/American Psycho’ were quite similar, where ‘M A N I A’ marks the beginning of a new musical adventure. Pete Wentz shared the following about this:
“To me, ‘American Beauty/American Psycho’ and ‘Save Rock and Roll’ were basically one extended album cycle… it was an attempt to create music on the timeline that rappers and DJs do, instead of the typical rock band cycle – in some ways the two blur together to me. So maybe this one is the first of a new era… trying to goldilocks the recipe. There’s the idea that anyone can do a magic trick once – there is a novelty to it – maybe twice, sure. But how do you get past people thinking it’s a trick? How do you get to that place where they begin to wonder if it’s more than sleight of hand or wires? I think that’s where this album lands for me. Sonically, we are sewing multiple eras of – both our own band and own influences – together in a way that is completely new to us through both the production and writing process.”
“I think we have to just move forward – that’s the goal of us (I don’t mean the band; I mean humans) – we just need to evolve. No one wants to be who they were two years ago or 10 years ago… it’s great to have that snapshot, but it’s time to hang up your hat when you think your glory days are behind you. I think the sound of FOB will always come with us because of the nature of how Patrick sings against the music – it is just inherently there.”
Fall Out Boy are releasing the album ‘M A N I A’ on the 15th of September via Virgin EMI/DCD2 Records. So far, the band has released two tracks ‘Young And Menace’ and ‘Champion’. The music video for the latest single ‘Champion’ can be checked out below!
