In the Studio: Fall Out Boy

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Fall Out Boy's forthcoming Folie a Deux is part of a Star Wars-like trilogy, insists bassist and vocalist Pete Wentz. It began with the band's 2005 major-label debut, From Under the Cork Tree. "That was A New Hope, then Infinity on High was Empire Strikes Back," Wentz explains. And this one? "It's our Weekend at Bernie's." Dude's clearly lost a grip on his '80s trivia now that he's married with children.

Impending fatherhood, in fact, hung like a loaded Huggie over him and his Boys as they recorded Folie. "This is the first record we've made that I'll be able to play for my baby," Wentz explains. "That's a lot more pressure than whatever my record label thinks of it." It may also explain why the limelight-ready rocker is happy to lay back and let his front man, Patrick Stump bask in the sonic spotlight. "On Infinity, we realized that Patrick's voice was something people loved, so we cleared a lot of space for his voice," Wentz says. "And obviously the stuff we did with Babyface [who co-produced] was very vocal-based." Wentz is pushing for some of his other musical contributions to surface in the mix, though. "I spent the summer learning mandolin, so hopefully that'll make it on there." But overall, the new songs gel better than those on past albums such as From Under the Cork Tree, when Wentz says, "We were fumbling around like you do in junior high--you're bumping and grinding, but you're not sure how it all works."

The recording sessions were a secret affair. The band rendezvoused with producer Neal Avron at The Pass Studios in Los Angeles, a location that was kept in strict confidence in order to prevent details from leaking to area shutterbugs and screaming fans. "It was like going to the Batcave," Wentz says. And he and his band mates these days are superfriends. A stymied Antarctica gig and a long diversion in Chile in late March resulted in epic bro-downs. "We really came together as a band just sitting around in hotel rooms," says Wentz. "We were like Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato!"

Between Stump's freelance production gigs (he helmed several cuts on Gym Class Heroes' latest) and Wentz's stint overseeing FNMTV, the guys didn't have many hours to kill between takes. But Wentz says they still found time for Scattergories, and they've all been training for an upcoming Connect Four tournament with the game's self-proclaimed champ, Kanye West.

Potential studio guests include Pharrell Williams, Panic at the Disco front man Brendon Urie and a few stars Wentz is reluctant to mention for fear of "blowing it before it happens." One name that was not ever in the mix, however, was Wentz's pregnant wife, Ashlee Simpson. "We try to keep those parts of our lives very separate," he says. "We try to be sounding boards, but right now we're both in a time of our lives where it's important to do it alone-neither of us want to become a footnote in the other one's thing." Besides, he laughs, "I think the last thing she's thinking about is the new Fall Out Boy record."

All About the Album
Producer: Neal Avron
Studio: The Pass Studios, Los Angeles
Last Album: Infinity on High, 2007
New Album: Folie a Deux, November 4