Joe Trohman is known to many as the guitarist for the popular band Fall Out Boy and his new memoir sheds some light on the darker side of fame.
His Memoir’ None of This Rocks’ discusses issues such as mental health issues, what it means to be a rockstar, and why he doesn’t like to label himself as one.
None of This Rocks
“Rockstar is an energy drink, I hate the term,” said Trohman to People. “I don’t even think there are rockstars anymore. I feel like that’s an outdated character. So I’ve never been comfortable with all of it. Even though I love all the rock gods, I love classic rock, I grew up in the ’90s with grunge and cool noise-rock bands… But I feel so corny attributing that to me.”
Trohman may not like to use the work rockstar to describe himself but millions of fans would disagree. His bandmates Patrick Stump, Pete Wentz, and Andy Hurley dominated the 2000’s and became one of the biggest bands. They were known for having really long song names and could be found on the radio almost all the time.
The memoir was released on September 13 and was written during the pandemic. Trohman discusses past mental health uses, his relationship with his late mother, and how Fall Out Boy came to be. But don’t mistake the author for a rockstar because he doesn’t feel like the label applies to him.
” I don’t feel like a guy that should be in a rock band”
“I just don’t have a great ego,” Trohman says. “I feel like you have to have a great ego to write these books, so I just had to approach it from the angle of ‘I don’t have an ego,’ and that I don’t feel like I deserve any of the success that I’ve had. Definitely, no matter how many tattoos I’ve put on my body, I don’t feel like a guy that should be in a rock band. I really don’t. I feel like such a f—ing dork. All the time… Therefore, when I went in to write this book, it was from a pretty self-deprecating angle. I’ve always been that way.”
The process of writing this novel was more of a journal exercise for Trohman. They felt like journal entries than actually sitting down and writing a book for the guitarist.
You can find anecdotes about the success of the band as well as he complicated relationship with his terminally ill mother while growing up. And also jokes about his labelmate Patrick Slump’s sideburns.
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