Don't Punk with My Heart: Fall Out Boy & Ryan Adams - "Love, Sex, Death" (Island-PAX AM)
It's pretty safe to say that Fall Out Boy are far from the righteous Chicago Punk band they used to be and quite honestly, their most recent album was far from "Saving Rock and Roll." But I also have to admit that FOB's live show, which I caught on Temple's basketball court, was an enjoyable Pop-Punk experience all in itself; a mix of tracks both old and new spanning from Take This to Your Grave (2003) to Save Rock and Roll (2013), scattered with giant branded beach balls and momentary piano/acoustic guitar break-downs. Post recording and releasing Rock and Roll, Fall Out Boy headed down to Alt. Country/former Punk youth Ryan Adams' Los Angeles-based studios. Patrick Stump, Pete Wentz, Andy Hurley, Joe Trohman & Mr. Mandy Moore managed to record 8 tracks over a 2-day period at PAX AM Studio, sessions which would eventually become the PAX AM Days EP; It was officially announced in the wee hours of Sunday-Monday morning that the Ryan Adams-produced tracks will be appended onto a deluxe Save Rock and Roll 2-disc package slated for an October 15th re-release. "[Guitarist] Joe [Trohman]'s hair was super huge both days and Patrick [Stump] sang his vocals in the front yard of the studio facing the 7-11 on Sunset Boulevard," Adams goofily stated in a Rolling Stone mini-interview.
Along with the release details, Island Records & PAX AM also unleashed the first pseudo-single from PAX AM Days late Sunday night, "Love, Sex, Death." It's a roughly 1:30-long Hardcore Punk romper that's reminiscent of 1970-80's Black Flag, Misfits, and Iggy & The Stooges, which were most likely sources of influence. During an impromptu "listening session" with music journalist Drew Millard, guitarist Joe Trohamn lamented: "People would have expected a bunch of remixes after the album. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but this is not what people expected us to do... Misfits, Black Flag, Descendents, Dag Nasty, anything real late 70's, early 80's Punk and Hardcore stuff was influential to the creation of the music, and I think even the lyrical content, too." Patrick Stump & Pete Wentz have seemingly abandoned their now-infamous wordy song titles in lei of some slightly more hard-edged track titles like "We Were Doomed from The Start," "Hot to The Touch," and "Eternal Summer." While it's currently available for pre-order and soon, packaged along with Save Rock and Roll (Oct. 15th), PAX AM Days will become available on it's own this upcoming Record Store Day (Black Friday), too.