Sigrún Gabríela Jóhannsdóttir

13.9.2011 | 11:04

Who Is Pete Wentz?

Who is Pete Wentz?
Chapter one : Introducing Pete Wentz
PeterLewis Kingston Wentz III known as Pete Wentz is an emo/punk/rock bassist. He was born 5^th of June 1979 inWilmette, the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois. His mother Dale is a high school admissions counselor and his father, Peter Wentz II is anattorney. Pete has one younger brother and younger sister.
In high school, Pete was an all-state soccerplayer that loved music. Though he always had a “magical connection to the ball” and he thought about pursuing the soccer career but he always thoughtthat the music career would be more adventurous and more challenging. Petestarted writing songs when he started skipping school.
After graduation he went to DePaul University to learn

Political Science but he dropped out to focus on his music career.

Chapter two : Music

In the '90 Pete was in several bands, Arma Angelus, Yellow Road Priest and Racetraitor. Pete and the bassist from Arma Angelus, Joe Trohman founded the punk-rock band Fall Out Boy. Joe Trohman introduced Pete to Patric Stump and Andy Hurley. After that there was no going back.
Fall Out Boy released their first EP Fall Out Boy/Project Rocker, Split in 2002. Than after that the same year they released the album Evening out with Your Girlfriend.
The following year they released Take This to Your Grave on the major label Island Records. Soon after that they were signed to that label.
In 2004 they gave out an MCD called My Heart Will Always Be the B-side to My Tongue.
Fall Out Boy released another big album in 2006, From Under the Cork Tree. Not too long after that they gave out a compilation called Maximum Fall Out Boy: The Unauthorized Biography.
In 2007 they released Infinity on High that became a very successful album.
That same year they gave out another compilation, X-posed: The Interview.
In 2008 Fall Out Boy gave out their last full album Folie á Deux. They also gave out a live DVD Live in Phoenix and an album called Believers Never Die: Greatest Hits.
in 2009 the band members off Fall Out Boy decided to take a break from the group for some time. The band still hasn’t played together since 2009.
After Fall Out Boy split up Pete went on and had some music projects of his own.
Now Pete has a new band called Black Cards. They released two songs in July 2010 and now they are working on releasing an album in 2011.

Chapter three : Other Work

Apart from the music Pete Wentz has a company called ClandestineIndustries. It‘s mostly a cloathing line but also sells books and variety of other merchandise (Pete's trademark are hoodies, especially from Clandestine Industries)

Pete designed the logo, It’s a bat/diamond heart.

Pete has a record label called Decaydance Records. He has signed several bandsto that label including Gym Class Heroes, Hey Monday, Panic! At The Disco, TheReady Set, Cobra Starship and of course his own band Black Cards.

Pete designed his own Squire Precision Bass, It’s black and red and has theclandestine logo printed on it and has Pete’s signature at the back of it.Pete has a very similar bass.

Pete wrote a book called The Boy With a Thorne in His Side.

He is also an actor, he has been in several TV shows and one movie. He was inPrivliged, One Tree Hill, Califoniacation, The Girl Next Door, Styl‘d and themovie Sex Drive. In those shows and the movie he appeared as himself.

He was in CSI : NY as a drugdealer.

Pete opend a nightclub in LA called Angels & Kings in 2007 with his band members and also members from Gym Class Heroes, the Academy is... and CobraStarship.

Now they have opend Angels & Kings on three different location, Chicago,Barcelona and New York.

Chapter four : More about Pete

Pete Wentz was married to Ashlee Simpson. They got married in 2008. There were rumors about Ashlee being pregnant at that time. That was true. That same year they confirmed the rumors that they were expecting their first child, Bronx Mowgli Wentz.
In February 2011 Ashley filed for divorce. She thought that they had gotten married to young. Pete did not support her decision.
Pete has two dogs, Hemingway and Rigby.
Hemingway is quite famous, he starred in music video called "Take Over the Brake's Over"(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVbPvf2aYH4&ob=av3e)
Pete was diagnosed with bipolar disorder when he was 18 years old. He has been taking medication for that since he was diagnosed. Once he attempted suicide, he overdosed on Ativan. He claims that Jeff Buckley’s cover of "hallelujah" was what had saved him from death.
Pete is a member of the The Jed Foundation‘sHalf of Us campaign to lower the rate og teenage suicide.

He supports Invisible Children (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wX5vl3eYKhI ) an organization dedicated helping the cause of displaced refugees in Uganda.

Chapter five : Interview

I took a interview with a freind of mine and asked her about what she knew and thought about Pete Wentz. She didn‘t know as much as i do but I think she does know a little more about him now.

The first question was about his music. She told me she likes his music and that he writes good songs. She also thinks he is a good musician and performer. She told me that what she liked a lot about him was how he acts on stage. He is alive and sincere. He does anything to have fun.
I asked her about the main band he was in and she told me that he was/is in Fall Out Boy and he plays bass and also does back vocals/screams. The fist song she heard by Fall Out Boy was “Grand Theft Autom/Where is your Boy“ But her favorite song is “American Suithearts“. She likes the video, it‘s funny and wired.
I asked her about what else she knew about Pete and she told me that she knew that he has a wife Ashlee Simpson, but she filed for a divorce earlyer this year. They have a son named Bronx Mowgli Wentz.
And she also told me that she found the name Bronx Mowgli very wired.
She told me about that when Pete‘s phone got stolen and there were some nude photos of him posted on the internet.
I asked her if she had any last words, than she said yes, he looks nice.

Chapter six : Conclusion

Pete Wentz in an emo/punk/rock bassist, he is an emo guy, uses guyliner and wears skinny jeans, he loves music and he loves to have fun. He gets bored easily and he likes to run a lot of projects at once. He loves his family and his friends are very dear to him.
Pete Wentz is a man who has struggled with bipolar but still he is living his dream.

Chapter seven : Vocabulary

Refugee= a person who flees for refuge or safety, especially to aforeign country,
as in time of political upheaval, war, etc.

Displaced=persons who lack a home, asthrough political exile,destruction of their previous shelter,or lack of financial resources.
Organization= a group of persons organized for some end or work;association: a nonprofit
Bipolar Disorder= involves periods of excitability(mania)alternating with periods of depression. The "mood swings" between mania and depression can be very abrupt.
Clandestine=characterized by, done in, or executed with secrecy orconcealment, especially for purposes of subversion or deception;private or surreptitious: Their clandestine meetings wentundiscovered for two years.
Industries=the aggregate of manufacturing or technically productiveenterprises in a particular field, often named after itsprincipal product: the automobile industry; the steelindustry.
Compilation= the act of compiling: the compilation of documents.
Released= to lease again.
Squire=a title applied to a justice of the peace, local judge, or otherlocal dignitary of a rural district or small town.
Precision= accuracy; exactness: to arrive at an estimate withprecision.