EXCLUSIVE: Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz To Make Big Announcement Before Year's End

You know when Pete Wentz starts paraphrasing Jay-Z, he means business. Actually, I wasn’t sure what the Fall Out Boy bassist meant when he dropped this during our conversation – but I think we’re all about to find out soon.

“People are gonna be really sick about the next deal I make,” said Wentz, who is also the head of Decaydance Records. “If people felt weird about the last one, people are gonna feel real weird about the next one.”

I asked Wentz to elaborate on his “On To The Next One” reference, and well… he at least continued.

“It’s got nothing to do with Fall Out Boy or Island Def Jam,” Wentz admitted. “It’s gonna be different, and it’s gonna make people feel sick, or happy.”

The only timeline Wentz gave to the big announcement is that it will not happen on Thanksgiving or Christmas, but will happen before the end of the year. He said that everyone is a little lost on what’s happening, but that he’s going through with it – whatever it is – anyways.

Interestingly enough, shortly after our conversation, he posted this Twitter update, "I kinda lost my mind for real. Not really looking for it either".

Wentz called in to The Ralphie Radio Show to promote Believers Never Die: Greatest Hits. The FOB compilation hit stores and iTunes on Tuesday, and features two new tracks.

“Ahh man… funny question, yunno?” Wentz responded when I asked why the band released a “best of” album at this particular moment in time. “Fourth quarter. Labels like to put out greatest hits in the fourth quarter, don’t they? And ‘why now?’ because it’s like, the band doesn’t have enough hits to have a greatest hits. And ‘why now?’ because maybe it’s like, you have a contract you want to get out of. We asked ourselves all those questions, and then decided to put it out as something for the fans.”
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Part 1: Believers Never Die: Greatest Hits, "Alpha Dog"

Part 2: Hair Cut, Future Plans, Angels & Kings (Wentz's NYC Bar)

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The timing is also curious given that Fall Out Boy as a band is currently on a hiatus, or as Wentz told MTV News the night before – a “decompressing.” So, while supporters may not have new material in the immediate future, they will have two new songs from the release, including the first single, “Alpha Dog.”

“We felt like (“Alpha Dog”) didn’t fit in,” Wentz reasoned as to why the track didn’t appear on Folie A Deux. The song did pop up on a mixtape the label head released prior to Fall Out Boy’s last LP. “It felt too electronic. At the time it felt futuristic, now it feels it is the right time for it.”

And oh how the times have changed. Wentz is 30, with a child and a wife, and will be living in New York for at least the next 13 weeks. His spouse, Ashlee Simpson-Wentz, makes her Broadway debut on November 30 in the musical, “Chicago.” For Wentz, this will translate to more time with his son. Bronx Mowgli Wentz turns 1 on Friday. This will probably also find the entrepreneur with more opportunities to manage and appear at his New York bar, Angels and Kings. The drinking establishment might be to blame for the slow, sometimes rambling responses I received from Wentz throughout our chat.

“I was there, in my head, last night,” Wentz said. “But I don’t think I was there, in reality.”

EXCLUSIVE: All Time Low's Alex Gaskarth Talks Tours, Twitter, The VMA's

By even his own account, he stretched the truth, but that didn’t stop All Time Low’s Alex Gaskarth from describing the band’s upcoming fall tour as a “spectacle on wheels.”

“A little bit like Cirque du Soleil, minus leotards, plus alcohol and tattoos,” described Gaskarth of The Glamour Kills Tour. “And still maybe a few backflips, I dunno.”

The lead singer eventually toned down the hyperbole, but point taken – the upcoming trek, which includes supporting acts We The Kings, Hey Monday, and The Friday Night Boys - will be a sight to behold. The tour is comprised of 41 dates, kicking off in Hartford, CT, moving west, and the ending back east in Philadelphia.

Not too shabby for a band that just a mere two years ago, played the Smartpunk Stage at Vans Warped Tour. Since that time, All Time Low has opened for Fall Out Boy, toured Europe, and landed a sweet record deal that affords them a healthy amount of radio promotion. The band itself built up quite a following in the process. You know you’re big when someone starts a Twitter account on behalf of… your hair.
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“I’ve been made aware of it. It’s not anyone that I know,” revealed Gaskarth of the Twitter account, whose username is conveniently enough, “gaskarthsHair.” “Yunno, more power to ‘em. If they want to speak on behalf of my hair, they’re entitled to.”

Among the other perks of the fame: invites to award shows. Alex and crew were at the MTV VMA’s, and the front man thought Lady GaGa’s performance was “phenomenal.”

“They did a good job of sort of adapting that already-strange video in to an even stranger and harder to understand stage performance,” said Gaskarth. But she has the most phenomenal live voice. I give that girl props.”

Not so phenomenal: the antics of a one KanYe West. Alex likened his first reaction to that of everyone else’s inside Radio City Music Hall.

“Everyone gasped, everyone rolled their eyes, everybody sighed, and everybody forgot about it.”

But unfortunately for West, Alex is incorrect on one point – as no one has forgotten it.

TMZ'S LESLIE HARRIS: John Mayer's Challenge

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After TMZ posted a mugshot of Fall Out Boy front man Patrick Stump, John Mayer stepped to the plate with a challenge of his own...

Catch Leslie on TMZ TV - Weekdays at 6 on Channel 38 - The CW.

EXCLUSIVE: Hey Monday's Cassadee Pope on "How You Love Me Now" & Splurging on Tour

Working with big name songwriters and producers can have both pros and cons. This came to light in the recent feud between Kelly Clarkson and her record label over releasing the track, “Already Gone” to radio stations. Clarkson felt the song sounded too similar to Beyonce’s “Halo.” OneRepublic front man Ryan Tedder wrote and produced both.

Butch Walker is behind many tracks from quite a few big name artists – from Avril Lavigne to Simple Plan, Katy Perry to Pink. Walker’s latest production is the song, “How You Love Me Now.” It’s a single from Hold On Tight, the debut LP of Hey Monday, a pop-rock group fronted by Cassadee Pope. The lead singer insists she wasn’t worried about the final collaboration with Walker sounding too similar to his other pieces of work.

“That’s always a risk,” admitted Pope. “But if you stay true to what your sound is and everything, and if it clicks with that other person, it’s usually just what you want.”

Pope called in to The Ralphie Radio Show on Tuesday to chat about a plethora of topics – including the new single, which Cassadee describes as “prideful.”

“It’s just about getting your heart broken and then that person wanting you back, but they also have someone else on the side,” Pope explained. “And you just kinda tell them that that’s not gonna happen.”
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Hey Monday’s debut LP also spawned the track, “Homecoming” which Pete Wentz featured on his CitizensFOB mix-tape last fall. The pop rockers are signed to Wentz’s Decaydence label. The association with the Fall Out Boy bassist carries many perks – Hey Monday supported Fall Out Boy on the band’s “Believer’s Never Die Tour Part Deux” last spring. Pope and Wentz also cameo together in Degrassi: The Next Generation TV Movie. In case you’re wondering, the lead singer did not meet actor and Young Money emcee Aubrey “Drake” Graham – he does not appear in the film.

Currently Hey Monday is playing a set of acoustic shows at Hot Topic stores across the country. Pope admitted, the idea to shop before or after performing at the malls is tempting.

“I kinda splurged the first few days, but I’m being good now,” said Pope. “I kinda had an episode in Forever 21. I bought a lot of shirts and, I think I bought a skirt too. I packed light for this tour because I knew I’d be shopping.”

This fall, Hey Monday will tour to support We The Kings and All Time Low.

EXCLUSIVE: Cobra Starship's Gabe Saporta On Angels & Kings, New CD, Pete Wentz's Birthday

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Cobra Starship's Gabe Saporta is glad he called The Ralphie Radio Show. Thankfully for the lead singer, I reminded him that Pete Wentz's birthday was the next day. Sure Gabe may not know what to get Pete, but Saporta did chat about Cobra's new CD and the bar he, Pete, and a few others own in NYC: Angels & Kings.

Check out Gabe talking about Leighton Meester and Cobra's new single, "Good Girls Go Bad" here.
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I suppose you could excuse Cobra Starship’s Gabe Saporta if he did forget Pete Wentz’s birthday… his band is touring the globe and gearing up for the release of a new LP in August.

But, thankfully for Gabe (and possibly a gift-receiving Pete), I reminded the lead singer of June 5’s significance when he called up The Ralphie Radio Show.

“Aw man, thank you for reminding me, you just saved my life!” Saporta acknowledged as an answer to a question about what he’d get Wentz for his 30th life anniversary. “I’m always glad to know when it’s Pete’s birthday because it always reminds me that I’m a little younger than him.”

Cobra Starship’s 29 year-old lead singer discussed Cobra’s new single with Gossip Girl’s Leighton Meester – the story behind Hot Mess – and the pending legal issues with a New York City bar co-owned by Wentz, himself, and members of the Gym Class Heroes.

“(Laughing) It was just something we were using to describe all of our favorite kind of girls,” Saporta admitted of Hot Mess, which drops August 11. “Then we’re like, ‘Why don’t we just call the album that?’”

The story behind Cobra’s new LP title doesn’t seem the least far-fetched. Saporta takes pride in the band’s reputation for its fun-first, music-second approach.

“You can’t insult me because, that’s the whole point of our band is yunno, we like to knock each other all the time.”

Matter of fact, the insults can even yield positive results. Saporta notes that one of the songs on the new CD, “Pete Wentz is the Only Reason We’re Famous” stemmed from a live on-line fan chat.

It also makes sense that the front man neither felt insulted nor shied away from questions regarding the bar he part-owns with Wentz, Angels and Kings. The drinking establishment recently experienced a run-in with New York State Liquor Authority. Officials cited the spot for serving minors. Saporta noted that the bar is now open, and that New York in general is offering quite the amount of tickets these days.

“They’re just cracking down left and right, even on crazy stuff – on like parking tickets and garbage fines,” said Saporta. “It’s hard to run a business like that, we’re not there to run it.”

Instead, Saporta and company are making music, playing shows, and filming videos. The band just wrapped up the shoot for “Good Girls Go Bad” – a track produced and written by Kevin Rudolf and American Idol judge Kara DioGuardi. Cobra’s front man noted that both Gossip Girl actresses-turned-singers – Meester and Taylor Momsen, were possibilities for the song.

“They both talked to our management,” revealed Saporta. “I’m like, ‘Yo, they came in here? Why didn’t you tell me about it? I wanna meet them, I love Gossip Girl!’”

DAILY DOWNLOAD - New FOB, Jonas Brothers...

05.12.09 : Fall Out Boy - Headfirst Slide Into Cooperstown... (Originally featured in Oct. '08)

05.11.09 : Jonas Brothers - Paranoid

DAILY DOWNLOAD: Fall Out Boy f. Lil Wayne - America's Suitehearts

04.29.09 : Fall Out Boy f. Lil' Wayne - America's Suitehearts (Remix)

FOB's Pete Wentz actually tipped me off as to the existance of this remix. A quick Google search yielded the MP3. Certainly a healthy debate could occur as to if this trumps the original off of Folie A Deux, but any collab between the princes of pop-emo and Weezy F. Baby deserves atleast one radio spin, right?

EXCLUSIVE: FALL OUT BOY'S PETE WENTZ!

His dad still pays his cell phone bill, TMZ isn't as bad as his tweets make it out to be, plus much more.

Part 1: The Big announcement, Returning to Chicago

Part 2: "America's Suitehearts" Remix w/ Blink 182's Mark Hoppus, Being a Husband/Father, TMZ

RALPHIE REPORT: The Cab/Demi Lovato; Obama

The following will appear Wednesday in The Weekender.
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Surely it was uncomfortable enough in the back of that Posten Taxi, even before I asked the question about his alleged girlfriend…

Don’t get the wrong idea, nothing shady going on. Just another genius (read: cliché) idea conjured up by the 97 BHT staff (shout out Adam!): Let’s interview Alex DeLeon and Ian Crawford of The Cab… in a cab.

So Alex, Ian, and I piled in to the backseat of the yellow taxi waiting outside T.G.I. Friday’s, where we just ate lunch with a lucky 97 BHT listener and two members of The Academy Is… . We chatted about the band’s relationship with label-head and Fall Out Boy bassist Pete Wentz (Alex says they go back and forth over text messaging, with light-hearted jabs like “asshole”), and the shows planned for this spring (We The Kings, Forever The Sickest Kids among the tour-mates). 

Then, with a bit of guilt looming (and I NEVER feel guilty about this kind of stuff), I asked the singer of “Bounce” about his personal relationship with Disney star Demi Lovato. On-line forums and Wikipedia pages were filled with rumors about the couple – from dating to not dating, joint statements, and more.

“Me and Demi are really, really close. I mean, we’re great…” DeLeon said before catching himself, presumably trying not to out themselves but also not tell a straight-up lie on camera (the segment can be viewed at 97bht.com).

“We like to hang out, we’re really, really close,” he reiterated. “I actually just got off the phone with her.”

I quickly asked him to send our regards to Lovato, as well as to rag on her a bit… she almost missed her show this summer with the Jonas Brothers at Montage Mountain due to not catching a flight.

BARACK-BERRY TO STAY IN OVAL OFFICE?

While the country is swept up in the inauguration of our 44th President and first black Commander-In Chief, Barack Obama, the new leader of the free world, attempts to keep a freedom of his own: the use of his BlackBerry.

CNBC quoted Mr. Obama as saying the Secret Service would have to “pry (the BlackBerry) out of his hands.” The financial network estimates that a figure of $10-15 million could be placed on our new president’s endorsement of the device.

Both sides of the argument seem to hold some validity: Obama contends that a president should not have to rely solely on others to receive information and contact others on the outside. However, The Secret Service worries about security breaches, especially with the e-mails the President could be sending and receiving.

The President is aware of such issues, noting that he realizes anything in these e-mails could end up in a newspaper, and would compose the messages with this in mind.

And if you’re wondering, CNBC also reports that President Obama enjoys Planters Trail Mix, Honest Tea, Ray-Ban sunglasses, Nike training clothes, and Asics running shoes. He may be attempting to cut government spending, but don’t call the man “cheap.”
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Listen to Ralphie Aversa weekdays from 5-10p on 97 BHT.

Interviewing The Cab... In A Cab.

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Cliche? Very. But that didn't stop 97 BHT's Ralphie Aversa from interviewing Alex DeLeon and Ian Crawford of The Cab, in a cab, courtesy of Posten Taxi in Wilkes-Barre. The boys were in town with The Academy Is... for an acoustic performance at Hot Topic inside The Wyoming Valley Mall.

The boys talk about Fall Out Boy, Lil Wayne, Demi Lovato, & much more.

Video:

Audio:

Dumb Cheap Prices on AAR/FOB LPs

How about the new All-American Rejects album, "When The World Comes Down" - for a mere $2.99?

Or Fall Out Boy's "Folie A Deux" for $3.99? Saweet.

EXCLUSIVE: fall out boy!

It's official - Patrick Stump & Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy broke the Guinness World Record for Most Radio Interviews Completed by a Pair in 24 Hours. Ralphie & 97 BHT contributed to the record-breaking cause, with interview #60!

Part 1: The Guinness Record, Folie A Deux, Mutual Friends

Part 2: Amerca's Suitehearts, Election Day Plans

Folie A Deux hits stores on December 16th!

DAILY DOWNLOAD: lovin' new FOB...

Check back every weeknight to listen to Ralphie's "Daily Download" - the one song you should have on your iTunes playlist!

10.27.08 : Fall Out Boy - America's Suitehearts

i think this will be my favorite track off their new cd...

helping fall out boy break a guinness record...

just when you think the week cannot escalate anymore...

from the entertainment news on the front of 97bht.com...

"The members of Fall Out Boy are trying to break a Guinness World Record. "People" magazine reports the band's frontman Patrick Stump and bassist Pete Wentz aim to conduct the most amount of radio interviews in the space of 24 hours. The current record stands at 57 stations in one day. The pair will attempt the challenge this Friday, October 31st, beginning at 3 a.m. Pacific time at Premiere Studios in Los Angeles. The group also looks forward to the release of their new album "Folie A Deux," due in stores December 16th."

yes, pete and/or patrick will be phoning in this friday... stay tuned for details...

final fob video - the staff's thoughts...

marino, justin bryant, and i all share our thoughts in a not-so-serious way about tuesday's stop of "the young wild things tour" in philly.

travie throws the remix on an fob song...

one of the cooler portions of fall out boy's set... pete wentz gabs into one of my favorite tracks on infinity on high - "the takeover, the break's over" - and travis from gym class heroes emerges with his two cents slash sixteen bars.

hotness. that should be an in-studio remix so i can play it on the radio...

fall out boy covers the killers...

imagine our surprise when the boys from chi-town paid homage to their labelmates from vegas with a rendition of "mr. brightside"...

fall out boy - exclusive video from philly.

highlights of their 90 minute set from tuesday's show at the wachovia spectrum in philadelphia...

fall out boy : backstage passes.

kind of... a sample sheet of the various passes distributed at tuesday's "wild young things" tour stop in philly at the wachovia spectrum...

you can't read it - but photogs are only allowed to snap shots of the first two songs, videographers get the first :30 seconds of those same songs.

what's fall out boy scuured about?

pictures from the young wild things tour...