Interview: Pete Wentz: Saviour of the Music Video

As if Pete Wentz wasn't busy enough getting married, and preparing to be a father all in the same year, he decided to take on a daunting task like trying to save the music video from TV extinction. We caught up with Pete to ask him about his recent birthday celebrations with Ashlee, becoming the host of the new television show "FNMTV", and what's up next for the rockers of Fall Out Boy.

TeenMusic: Hi Pete, thanks for speaking with Teen Music today, and congrats on all the wonderful things happening in your life right now. I read somewhere that you don't like celebrating birthdays, but how did it go this past month?

Pete: It was alright, it was a lot of fun. My wife got me some of the most insane presents that a human being could ever give someone. When you're getting up on 30, it's really about endurance for your birthday party, you really got to make it last. You need that party to last a month. Every time you and your friends are out to dinner, that's part of your birthday party. Like, they're toasting to you, you got to get that f***ing cake out there, make a couple wishes. I like stealing people's wishes, so if you get a cake brought out in front of me and you don't blow those candles out, I'm going to blow them out for you and I'm going to steal your wish.

TeenMusic: How did FNMTV come about?

Pete: We came up with the idea to do a show that championed videos on MTV and MTV seemed interested in it and we had some meetings. We talked and we high-fived at the end of the meeting instead of a handshake and the deal was done. It was a high-five deal.

TeenMusic: What is it that inspires you about your new show? Tell us a little about it.

Pete: I am inspired most by the idea that I can go into the video vault and I can pick out any video in there and play it on the show.

TeenMusic: Who are you most excited to have a guest appearance from on FNMTV?

Pete: I've actually really loved all the guests we've had. I had a really good time with Panic at the Disco because it made it really comfortable for the first episode because they're like brothers of mine. I think Rihanna is great, Snoop is great. I'm just going to list everybody, so it's going to be boring. Rihanna was great, Snoop is awesome, Snoop and Panic together were great, Rihanna and Maroon 5 together were great, Duffy was cool. Wayne, at the time, and he still is, was one of the biggest artists on the planet and that was a change, because he is such a low-key, down-to-Earth person. And then the Jonas Brothers are going to be on, and I'm trying to get in; I'm trying to be all Jonas.

TeenMusic: What prompted Fall Out Boy to release a live album?

Pete: We learned how to play our instruments a lot better than we were playing them before, so we decided we wanted to wait to put out a live record until we were better. We wanted to put out a live record because it was a show that we really wanted to capture, that's the actual truth. It was a tour that we were really proud of, and we wanted a lot of people to be able to see and hear that tour who weren't able to see us, especially outside of the United States, so we decided to capture one of the shows.

TeenMusic: How did you decide on where you wanted to record it?

Pete: To be honest with you, a lot of it is about how cheap it is. It's a lot cheaper to record in places outside of New York, LA and Chicago for various reasons, like how much it costs to film and that stuff. Arizona's always been a great place for us to do shows and it was an extremely fun night. I think it was about 105 or 106 degrees.

TeenMusic: What's Fall Out Boy up to right now? Anything new in the works?

Pete: We're writing right now, see how that goes. No deadline, just hanging out.

TeenMusic: Is there anything else you'd like to say to your fans or address?

Pete: My address is 1414 North Sunset, it's actually an In-N-Out Burger. I'm actually the guy who works the fries, I sleep under the counter, so come on by.

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Copyright 2008 Lyn Kenney