In the early 2000s, Fall Out Boy hit it big with songs like “Sugar We’re Going Down”, “Dance Dance” and “This Ain’t a Scene, It’s an Arms Race.” After taking a four year hiatus, the band reformed in 2013 and released the album Save Rock and Roll. The album not only lead to a huge hit in “My Songs Know What You Did In the Dark (Light Em Up)” but also featured an artist who knows a thing or two about writing songs for Disney: Elton John.
Now Fall Out Boy’s music can be heard in Disney’s latest Animated Classic, Big Hero 6. The band’s song “Immortals” is the only non-score track on the film’s album and is played both during the movie as well as in its closing credits. In fact, if you’ve seen the film, you probably left the theatre humming the tune.
On Friday, November 7th, three of the band’s members (Patrick Stump, Pete Wentz and Joe Trohman) stopped by The El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood to introduce the film to an excited crowd. Afterwards, I got to sit down with them in the Richard and Robert Sherman Star Dressing Room and ask them about the song, Big Hero 6 and some of their other favorite Disney films:
Kyle Burbank: So your song “Immortals” is used during a montage in this film. Animated films take a long time to make so when did you guys enter the process and was the song written specifically for the film or was it something you guys had left over from Save Rock and Roll?
Joe Trohman: So the interesting thing that we learned about how animated films are made is that since every single thing in the scene that you see needs to be created, including all the background noise and everything… There’s not a lot of deleted scenes because they don’t want to have to create anything that they don’t know for sure is going to be in the film. So when we went there it was storyboard and ideas.
Patrick Stump: We saw a lot of production art; there wasn’t a lot of animation yet. Well, that’s what we say, but I know there was actually a ton of animation already done but not to—
JT: But not what we saw.
PS: Yeah. And to your question to how we wrote it and when we wrote it, it was something that we started as soon as we left that meeting. I had so many ideas I think because of the world, because of San Fransokyo. The idea of San Fransokyo I was just so excited about that that I think I went home and wrote like four songs kind of for it. And this was the first— you know, usually your first thoughts is your best thought — this was my first vision.
Pete Wentz: And a b-side from Save Rock and Roll would not have worked. I mean I don’t know that we even have real b-sides but something left over wouldn’t have sounded the right— This needed to exist within the universe of Big Hero 6 lyrically, thematically, sonically.
KB: I just feel like Save Rock and Roll, a lot of those songs do feel very heroic as evidenced by the fact that they use “My Songs Know What You Did In the Dark” in the trailer. So…
PS: I definitely think that us as a band, we probably got asked to do it because of the sound we kind of culminated on Save Rock and Roll, so I’m sure that it’s no coincidence that us this time in our career and this time for the movie that it worked out, you know? Because, I mean, I’m sure if it were right after Folie [à Deux] I don’t know that we’d be the right band for that.
KB: Did you guy get a chance to meet Ryan who voices Hiro? Because I interviewed him a few weeks ago and he was talking about what a big fan he was of you guys.
JT: Yes.
PW: I talked to him and I was trying to cart my 6-year-old to the car because he was about to turn grumpy and he was like, “Nice to meet you; I’m a big fan,” and I was like, “Cool,” you know, whatever. And then he mentioned like a bunch of songs specifically and I was like, “I’m gonna stop and talk to him,” because like this guy is actually a fan! Or went on Wikipedia the night before or whatever, but he’s like actually a fan so we stopped and had like a cool interaction.
KB: Yeah, I was excited for him. So I have to ask if you guys have favorite Disney films.
JT: I like Fantasia. I was discussing this with my wife at the premiere [of Big Hero 6] before the movie started. I know what hers are; she likes all princess related ones. But yeah, Fantasia’s really my most favorite. I mean, I love pretty much all of them, but yeah, I dunno, I like that there’s no talking in it. There’s just excellent score and it’s kinda pretty trippy and weird and dark.
PS: I think we grew up at a pretty awesome time because it was the advent of the return of— the big return of the Disney movie, the Disney cartoon. After Great Mouse Detective, you had The Little Mermaid, The Lion King and Aladdin — Not in that order, but whatever. That was a great moment for animation and all those songs and stories, that was great. And then Beauty and the Beast won an Oscar right?
KB: It was nominated for an Oscar, but it won a Golden Globe.
PS: Right. But it was nominated for Best Picture, right?
KB: Right.
PS: Which is crazy! It’s huge… But anyway, I think Disney, I think a lot of those movies had a big influence. But then also — we’re sitting and there’s all this Sherman Brothers stuff around us — I didn’t really know about a lot of the movies they had done until I got married and my wife is a big fan of Mary Poppins and Bedknobs and Broomsticks and all the stuff that they wrote, so now I’d say that Mary Poppins is up there too.
KB: Pete?
PW: Oh, shoot… I appreciate Up, and I appreciate any of the stuff that really has a broad appeal. Like, even when I’m watching Big Hero 6, I’m like, “Oh my god,” there’s like jokes that probably go over some of the kid’s heads but… I guess being a dad and going to the movies I love being able to have things that I can relate to.
JT: A lot of the Pixar stuff.
PW: Yeah, I actually didn’t want to go for Pixar because that’s a whole other ball of wax, but I’d say that Ratatouille is one of my favorite movies ever, probably.
JT: Monster Inc.
KB: That’s probably mine, if you include Pixar.
PS: I think Ratatouille is pretty special for artists. As an artist there’s a lot — all of the stuff with the critic you’re like, “yeah, totally.”
Fall Out Boy’s song “Immortals” can be found on the Big Hero 6 Soundtrack and their latest album Save Rock and Roll is available everywhere.