KEY POINTS:
Joanna Hunkin talks to Fall Out Boy's self-professed quiet one, Pete Wentz
Who: Pete Wentz, Fall Out Boy bassist
What: Folies a Deux, in stores December 13; Fall Out Boy play Vector Arena February 23
Tickets: On sale now
Pete Wentz isn't much of a talker. The self-professed loner
talks to his wife - pregnant pop star Ashlee Simpson - and his fellow Fall Out Boy band members. And that's about it.
"I don't really have any friends. I'm not a very likeable person so I don't really talk to anyone else."
It's a little strange then, the bassist, along with fellow bandmate Patrick Stump, has just set a new world record - partaking in the most radio interviews by a pair in a 24-hour period.
Speaking to Wentz the day before the record attempt, he has little to say about the pending challenge - or anything for that matter - but acknowledges it won't be the most pleasant experience, given his natural reticence.
"It could be a disaster. It could be death by radio tomorrow."
But, Wentz rationalises, the band would probably do that many interviews for their new record anyway. Why not get a world record out of it in the process?
The challenge is Wentz's second world record attempt this year, after his band tried - and failed - to become the first group ever to play a concert on each of the seven continents. Their plan came unstuck, however, when bad weather prevented them from playing in Antarctica in March this year.
So just what is it about the Guinness Book of Records that has Wentz so captivated?
"People keep asking why, but it's like, why not?" the bassist explains limply.
The record, which has yet to be officially confirmed, now sits at 72 interviews, blitzing the previous benchmark of 57 interviews, set by New Zealanders Alastair Galpin and John Stansfield in May this year.
With more than 20 world titles to his name, Galpin appears to share Wentz's passion for record-breaking. But Wentz is reluctant to meet up with his rival when the band tour New Zealand next year.
"He might want to punch me in the face," he says.
The band will play one New Zealand show next year, at Auckland's Vector Arena, to support their new album Folies a Deux, due out next month.
The record marks Fall Out Boy's third studio release and features vocals by Elvis Costello and Blondie frontwoman Debbie Harry. But Wentz says the band never got to meet either of the music icons. "I don't mean to ruin the illusion but we didn't actually work with them" says Wentz, with an air of cool indifference.
"They recorded their stuff in a studio and then sent it to us. But yeah, Elvis Costello is still singing on one of our songs, which is cool. When you make an album it's like you have this wish list of people to work with. It's like Christmas. Santa was good to us this year."
Of course it helps that their last album, Infinity on High, debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and spawned the hit single This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race.
Wentz says the band haven't changed the formula too much for the new album, recorded in just 45 days. But he's not celebrating yet.
"Obviously we think it's good but you never know how people will react. It's like, even if the sun's shining, you should still take an umbrella, you know?"
His cautious approach may be, in part, from seeing the adverse reaction to his friends' Panic at the Disco's sophomore album, released earlier this year. Signed to Wentz's Decaydance record label, Panic ditched the angst-fuelled punk rock of their first album, instead experimenting with baroque music and folk rhythms. It was a move that alienated a large part of the group's fan base, as witnessed at their Auckland concert in August, which failed to fill more than a third of Vector Arena's 12,000-seat capacity.
Though Wentz admires the band's efforts, he says it's not a move Fall Out Boy will follow. "They're the type of guys who always do the opposite to everyone else. You say up, they say down. They don't like to play ball. [But] we'll play ball. Because it's nice to hit home runs."
Whether Folies a Deux will earn that epithet remains to be seen. But the proof will be in Vector Arena next February.
