Patrick Stump Discusses His Funky Solo Album And His Hatred Of Tweeting

We got a video sneak peak of Patrick Stump’s solo effort, and now the smooth, golden-throated vocalist is openly discussing his forthcoming album. Stump recently chatted with Spin magazine to discuss songs (“As Long As I Know I’m Getting Paid,” a lengthy song title Pete Wentz couldn’t have penned it better himself), his influences (which range from Prince to Conan O’Brien), and his distate for Twitter. Highlights from the interview below. 

Patrick tells Spin that he’s been waiting to record a solo album for half his life, but being in one of the biggest bands on the planet kind of got in his way:

“I was going to record a solo album when I was 15 on a four-track. I started working on it, but then Fall Out Boy happened. The band was awesome and took me in a totally different direction. I don’t regret it at all, but the band delayed the record I had been planning. Ultimately, I feel like I’ve been working on the same solo record for the past 10 years.”

Patrick, a huge Prince fan all his life, admits that “Funk is my default setting” and that his album will have some swagger to it, although he “had to exercise some restraint… a good writer knows when to scratch his favorite paragraph. My favorite paragraph is always the funky one.” Will his followers be caught off guard by the new tunes coming out of their favorite Fall Out Boy singer’s mouth? Not necessarily:

“I used to think that. But I’ve grown to understand that the good side-effect of all of the information that’s swirling around these days is that everyone’s open to new things. Back in the 1980s “Walk This Way” was a crazy idea—unheard of. Now crossing into another genre is requisite for pop. Snoop Dogg has a country record, you know? I’m surprised at how nonchalantly people accept stuff like that.”

But the fact that the audience is likely to welcome a certain amount of stylistic change doesn’t mean Stump is ready to start sharing more of his private thoughts with fans. It looks like any tweeting Stump does will be saved for promotional purposes instead of personal revelations or John Mayer-style non-sequiturs. His song “Love Selfish Love,” as well as his whole album, reflects his revulsion at our TMI-heavy celebrity culture:

“It’s sad that people really go out of their way to tell everyone everything about themselves. Our country has verbal diarrhea…. there’s no mystery, no surprise… It would be nice to go on a first date with somebody and not be able to know everything about them from their MySpace or Facebook profile. There’s no first impressions anymore. You go to a job interview and they’ll probably Google you. It’s a shame — people should play it a little closer to the chest as far as what information they release to the world. If I’m angry about something I’m not going to take to my Twitter.”

Wentz should probably heed that advice, no? Head on over to Spin for the full interview.