Fall Out Boy's Evening Out With Your Girlfriend - Background and Development

Background and Development

Fall Out Boy formed near Chicago, Illinois in 2001. The band debuted with a self-released demo in the same year and released Project Rocket / Fall Out Boy, a split EP with Project Rocket, in 2002, prior to Evening Out. The lyrics to the whole album are written by lead vocalist Patrick Stump. On later albums, bassist Pete Wentz wrote the majority of the band's lyrics. The album is also the only Fall Out Boy album not featuring Andy Hurley on drums. Evening Out was not actually recorded with five members, the cover art shows that but it is just an illustration. Members at that time; Patrick Stump (lead vocals), Pete Wentz (bass guitar), Joe Trohman (guitar) and Mike Pariskuwicz (drums) recorded it. Although incorrect, Pariskuwicz and guitarist TJ Racine have been said to be two Chicago musicians the band recruited in their early days, who left after Evening Out was released before Stump picked up guitar and Hurley joined as the full-time drummer to form the band's current lineup. Stump explained that "TJ Racine was already out of the band by the time tracked " and that TJ "wasn't in the band for that long." Pariskuwicz did indeed handle the drumming duties for the album. After the release, he left the band and Andy Hurley would join as the current drummer, before the follow-up album Take This to Your Grave (2003). Trohman played almost all the guitars on it, with Stump playing a small part on "Moving Pictures". The entire album was recorded in two days and was not supposed to be released. Stump also stated "I don't consider it a real album." The band was not involved in the 2005 re-release and did not receive royalties for either versions, "both were a scam on us."

Songs from Evening Out were played by the band in their early shows to a small local audience, before they received mainstream attention. When the band reached mainstream popularity, they did not often mention this album but songs would continue to sporadically appear in set lists at concerts.

"Calm Before the Storm" was later re-recorded with additions to the arrangement, including backing vocals (screaming) from bassist Pete Wentz, for the follow-up album Take This to Your Grave later that year. "Pretty in Punk" is a play on the title of the John Hughes film Pretty in Pink. The songs "Switchblades and Infidelity", "Growing Up" and "Moving Pictures" were originally from their Project Rocket / Fall Out Boy split EP.

A part of the song "Growing Up" is sung by William Beckett of The Academy Is... in Fall Out Boy's later song "What a Catch, Donnie", from their 2008 release Folie à Deux. The song is also included as the last track on the band's 2009 greatest hits album, Believers Never Die - Greatest Hits.