Fall Out Boy are entering a new era, and they’re doing it in a couple of different ways. Yesterday, the band announced plays to release their new album So Much (For) Stardust, the follow-up to 2018’s Mania, this spring. In that announcement, they shared their new single “Love From The Other Side,” which definitely sounds like a Fall Out Boy song. Later in the day, founding guitarist Joe Trohman announced that he’s “stepping away from Fall Out Boy for a spell” to focus on his mental health.

In a statement on the band’s Twitter, Trohman wrote:

Neil Young once howled that it’s better to burn out than to fade away. But I can tell you unequivocally that burning out is dreadful. Without divulging all the details, I must disclose that my mental health has rapidly deteriorated over the past several years. So, to avoid fading away and never returning, I will be taking a break from work which regrettably includes stepping away from Fall Out Boy for a spell.

It pains me to make this decision, especially when we are releasing a new album that fills me with great pride (the sin I’m most proud of). So, the question remains: Will I return to the fold? Absolutely, one-hundred percent. In the meantime, I must recover which means putting myself and my mental health first. Thank you to everyone, including my bandmates and family, for understanding and respecting this difficult, but necessary, decision.

Smell you sooner than later,

Joe Trohman

A teenage Joe Trohman co-founded Fall Out Boy in 2001, and he’s the person who recruited lead singer Patrick Stump to join the band. Trohman has never taken a break from Fall Out Boy before, and he’s also led the metal supergroup the Damned Things. But Trohman has also been open about his own struggles with mental health. Starting in 2021, Trohman hosted a season of a podcast called I Hate Myself. Last year, he published a memoir called None Of This Rocks.

It appears that Joe Trohman was a full participant in Fall Out Boy when they recorded their new album So Much (For) Stardust. The band’s statement announcing the new album includes the initials of all four members, including Trohman. Last night, though, Fall Out Boy performed their new song “Love From The Other Side” on Jimmy Kimmel Live, and they played as a trio, though they presumably also had a sequencer or an offstage keyboardist or something. Pete Wentz marched to the stage leading an army of Pete Wentz clones. Here’s that performance:

So Much (For) Stardust is out 3/24 on Fueled By Ramen/Elektra.