You may have seen our feature in the latest issue of JVibe magazine (Jan/Feb '07) on Joe Trohman from the band Fall Out Boy. On the web anything is possible, and we've got the uncut version just for you right here.

When Joe Trohman had the idea to start the band Fall Out Boy, he just wanted to find other musicians who liked music as much as he did. Instead, he found huge success. FOB's album From Under the Cork Tree debuted on the Billboard Charts at #9, and the band's preparing to top that with a new album slated for release in February 2007.

“You'll like at least two of the songs...I hope,” 22-year-old Trohman said on the phone from his Chicago home. It's rare for the guitarist of such a big act to have downtime, so we're psyched he decided to spend it telling JVibe about the new record, his bar mitzvah and his famed afro.

You're quoted as saying that touring is a bit like “being married” to the other guys.
Being on tour is really like being married to them, because we share a bus together. Our little habits may annoy one another, but in the end we love each other. It's been nice being on the break. But after not seeing each other for a week or two, I miss them.

I'm happy to go out to LA and hang out—I was just hanging out with Pete [Wentz]. He's my boy, we grew up in the same neighborhood. He just got an English bulldog—he's awesome. So we're gonna try and teach him, Hemingway, to skateboard. He's gonna come on tour with us too. And Patrick, my little dude, is awesome. He's a genius. And I love Andy. He and I have an awesome, weird connection. And of course if you're living with them for 2 or 3 months, you're gonna annoy each other a little bit, but there's no hatred.

Did you expect that you would have the success that you've had?
Not really. I wasn't really happy with the music when we started out. It took a long time before it became something real. It just wasn't there yet. When you start anything, it doesn't just work. Nothing just happens. I remember one day, Patrick had all of these songs and he played them for me and I was like: we finally have songs. And at that point, I was like, I'm gonna stop writing songs because I'm not good at it. You're good at writing music, you should do it.

So he and Pete worked out a system, because Pete's such a great lyricist, and Patrick's so good with music. It took a long time before it became something real and I think at first everyone had their doubts. But it came far beyond anybody's expectations. And the people in the band are so important to me. No one's looking out for number one; everyone's looking out for each other. Bands don't have a history of getting along, so I think we're really lucky.

What's the new album going to be like? Can fans expect it to be different than From Under the Cork Tree?
A lot of bands want to make the new, interesting records—“We took a lot of liberties with this record... blah blah blah.” That's not where we want to go with it. I think we want to have a natural progression, just like there was with Take This to Your Grave to From Under the Cork Tree. But it's gonna sound like us. Fans should expect another Fall Out Boy record. We're not gonna throw them a curve ball. We're not gonna be selfish and do something for ourselves, we're gonna do it for our fans. I think the [new] songs are the best we've ever written. And we do some songs with Babyface, which we're really excited about.

What's a typical day on tour?
I'll sleep 'til about three in the afternoon. We're really laidback on tour. I'm trying to be pretty active, run, hang out with my girlfriend and friends. I call my girlfriend a lot. If I'm not hanging out with her, I'm usually on the phone with her. I love her a lot.

Now, the important stuff: I know you're a big fan of Cocoa Crispies and video games.
I've become kind of a health nut, so I'm off the Cocoa Crispies. It's so hard to get off the Cocoa Crispies, let me tell you. But they're bad for you. Well, they're probably not the worst, but they've got so much sugar. But video games are still there. I've been playing video games ever since I was a little kid and was playing Nintendo. The old ones were so much better, so I have all those on my computer. The old games were so much better. I get a little nostalgic about it. But the new games? No. But when I find one that I love, I'm on it all day. The guys will be like, what are you doing? And I'm like, I'm trying to find the sword that shoots the thing, the fire, and they're like, okay, you're the biggest nerd ever. I have to ask myself every day why my girlfriend is attracted to me.

You've had a lot of amazing experiences with the band so far—what has been your favorite?
I think it was the first time we went to the Video Music Awards. They announced our category, and we were up against My Chemical Romance, who are our good friends. We still think they deserved to win, but we won. I remember sitting next to my girlfriend with a look like, did they just say our names? At that point, I realized we've done way more as a band than we ever expected.

Tell us about your loyal following.
We toured our butts off before anybody knew who we were. We spend a lot of time touring and talking to fans. We really care about them because they give us a job and enable us to do what we love to do. So the bigger we get, the more we want to do for our fans. We're always trying to do things where we can go out to eat with them—we have a big “fan hang-out,” and we have our fan club, which is really dedicated.

My phone number got out recently, and our fans are so sweet, because it was my birthday and they were sending me text messages like, “Happy Birthday, Congratulations on the VMA.” I started text messaging them back, but then it turned into a hundred text messages and I couldn't get them all. Our fans are really cool and sweet. They're into us as people, and they're not creepy.

There's a petition online that you should grow back your hair, did you know that? I believe they call it your Jew-fro.
I know about that petition. I'll work on [my hair], it'll grow back, then I cut it off. It's just hard to deal with. You know what? Big news: I might be growing my afro back. This might sound crazy, but in the beginning of the movie Old School , there's a Jewish guy who shows up at the door—it's actually the director—that's what I want my afro to look like. That's a really styled afro. Then I need the mustache and the polo shirt unbuttoned with my chest hair hanging out. I think it would turn a lot of people off, for some reason. But I like that look. It's kind of what my Dad looked like before I was born. I think I could pull it off.

As a fan of other bands, have you ever met any of your idols or musicians that you admire?
I got to meet Meatloaf; that was awesome. Bat out of Hell was the first record I ever owned, so that was really cool. I recently met all the New Found Glory guys, and I love them and think they're the coolest dudes in the world. I'm becoming friends with them, and they're actually a reason we started Fall Out Boy, because they're these hardcore dudes that are in this emo band and that's sort of the formula we based off of for us. That's a band that Jews rock—there are lot of Jews in New Found Glory.

We also love Jay-Z. He got wind of the fact that we love him and at our New York show, he came out and did our introduction, and he's come out to see us multiple times. He's such a cool guy, so down to earth. In my head, I'm still 15, and I want to meet all these people and be best friends with them, and obviously that's not reality.

How did music play into your childhood?
When I was little, I always loved music. My parents always wanted me to play viola in the school band, and I was like, all right. But I never practiced. Then they said, why don't you try trombone? Another classic idea. The whole time I really wanted to play guitar. So my dad said if I got all B's on my report card, I could get an electric guitar. He took me to a used guitar shop and got me a $50 guitar and $50 amp, and that's when I started playing.

So what was little Joe Trohman like? Did you have a typical Jewish upbringing?
Yeah, both of my parents are Jewish. I grew up in Ohio and we went to synagogue and celebrated Passover. I went to Hebrew school, and I think we were more Jewish culturally than we were religiously because after my brother's bar mitzvah, we stopped going to synagogue entirely.

Do you ever think of going back?
Actually, I've been looking into going [to synagogue] again on my own, because I'm older now and can appreciate it more. My parents made it so that my brother and I were both very proud of being Jewish, but were never forceful with our religious practices.

My Dad is so stereotypically Jewish, it's funny. It's great. I think everybody likes to look at Larry David and say, if anyone is really Jewish, they have to act like Larry David. And I think to an extent, my Dad has some of those tendencies. And I mean that in the most heartfelt way. He's a Doctor, so he has a very stereotypical Jewish profession.

Did you have a bar mitzvah?
I did. It was cool—I did the ceremony where I sang really badly because I was 13 and my voice was cracking. It was a little embarrassing. I think that I would have felt incomplete if I didn't do it, so I recommend it to everyone who is 12 going on 13. And your family gives you a lot of money. I bought an amp with it, so it was cool.

See, it started your music career.
Yeah. I would recommend saving the cash—I blew it all. But that's not why I did it, honestly. As a Jewish person, it was like a right of passage. The money was an added bonus.

Did you know that you're in the Urban Dictionary online under the definition for a “Jew Pimp?” It says: “A male of the Jewish faith who is extremely sexy and/or awesome. Jew Pimps often have insane guitar playing skills.”
Well, that's very sweet. I don't consider myself that handsome, and I consider my guitar skills to be mediocre. I try not to peruse the internet too much to find out about myself because you can read a lot of not-nice things, and I take those things to heart. But it's nice to be in the Urban Dictionary. I didn't even know I was urban.

Speaking of guitar skills, I hear you have a deal with Washburn Guitars in Chicago.
Yeah, I have signature models coming out. Washburn is the coolest company. I'm really good friends with my artist relations guy, who is also Jewish. Washburn's out of the Chicago area so I'm hanging out with him constantly when I'm home. It's really hard for guitarists to get an endorsement, so I feel really blessed.

We're putting out a couple different signature models; some high end models, so I'm working on those right now and they'll be coming out very soon. I've always wanted an endorsement deal. I was playing some other guitars and when they came to me. I went over to the factory and they showed me all these guitars they had just made. They had guys who came from other guitar companies to work for Washburn and make guitars and there was just no way I could pass it up. I'm so excited about it.

I had to check out the guitars personally because I don't want to be associated with a guitar I don't like. And they are awesome. I actually used one a little bit on our record. Right after I got the deal, I told Mike Kennerty from the All-American Rejects about it, and I showed him my guitar and he liked it a lot, and now he plays Washburn. I'm trying to help out and beef up the guitars a little.

You've already accomplished a lot for being so young. What are your hopes for the future?
I want to do this band for as long as people will allow us to do it. It's me, and it's how I identify myself. Even if this is where it leaves me, if this is where it stops, I'm happy. We're going to stay true to the fans, just like they're true to us. That's the most important thing.

Nicole Roberge is a LA-based journalist who abandoned her Spice Girls and NSYNC CDs back home in Connecticut in pursuit of boys with guitars. Since then she has interviewed her favorites: Howie Day, Gavin DeGraw, Jason Mraz and now Joe Trohman, but hasn't quite nabbed her very own music man yet.