Music

RECORD SHOPPING WITH: Patrick Stump

by Nicole Villeneuve

In the spring of 2005, Fall Out Boy exploded from the edges of Chicago’s underground hardcore punk community and its message boards (and Livejournals) onto TVs and magazines. The band was formed in the first place out of frustration with the scene’s limitations, but in the big leagues, they still struggled with being misunderstood.

“Fall Out Boy was very tongue in cheek,” singer Patrick Stump says. “It was fun, but when you contextually only see us on MTV and only expect us to be vapid pop stars, then the subtext is totally lost. It was fun to be in Fall Out Boy and be on stage and be the four of us, but it really wasn’t fun to say you were in Fall Out Boy for a while.”

In late 2009, the band went on hiatus, and early the next year, Stump announced that he was working on his solo record. Finally slated for release on October 18, Soul Punk let Stump fully explore his vast musical influences and abilities; he wrote and recorded and performed the entire thing himself, making every aspect of it something that he couldn’t do in the band. It was also, as Stump says, a way to excise his pop demons.

“I was at those hardcore shows. I was in those basements, I was singing those lyrics. I was there. But for whatever reason, I never felt fully welcome there,” Stump explains. “I wasn’t ashamed of liking pop music, or R&B, and soul, and hip-hop, and jazz. So I wanted to make somewhere where I was comfortable. My record is where I’m comfortable.”

We took Stump to Soundscapes Records in Toronto and asked him to talk about some of his favourites and influences. Here are three ablums he picked out for us. (Photo Gallery below)

1. Various Artists – African Scream Contest: “It’s a compilation of stuff from [African countries] Benin and Togo in the 70s, and it is amazing. I’m such a sucker for poly-rhythms. But there’s so much stuff on here that does relate to my record. I feel like this is just a party. When you listen to it, sonically, it’s like—I read somewhere that Indian food is supposed to have, at any given time, 52 flavours? Or something like that? I’m probably botching that quote. But anyway, I feel like rhythmically, this stuff has 52 flavours. There’s so many layers to it.”

2. Herbie Hancock – Head Hunters: “I remember the first time I heard this, I was like 8. And there was a smaller version of the swing revivalism, not quite like the one that happened in the late 90s, but there was a smaller revival. And I saw this record cover and asked, ‘what is that?’ and my dad said, ‘oh that’s jazz,’ and I said ‘I like jazz!’ And he said, ‘it’s not like that jazz. You’re not going to like it.’ But he put it on and I was blown away. That [other jazz] was cool too, but this spoke to me.”

3. Otis Rush – Mourning in the Morning: Specifically “My Love Will Never Die,” on this record. It’s one of my all-time favourite recordings of anything ever. I think, I as a singer, I aspire to a lot of this. I want to be like that. I’m not, though. But you know.

Photos by David Topping