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Connect the World

Interview with Pete Wentz

Aired March 26, 2010 - 17:49   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

MAX FOSTER: Not only is he a member of one of the hottest bands in the United States right now; he's also a businessman and has his foot in the fashion industry.

But Pete Wentz doesn't let all of that go to his head. A bass player and vocalist for the band Fallout Boy, he's currently a campaigner for the United Nations, and is directly involved in the UNICEF Tap project, which aims to bring clean, safe water to millions of children around the world.

The project encourages people to donate money for the tap water in restaurants that they usually enjoy for free.

Pete Wentz says he was a spy to get involved, in part, by becoming a dad. Married to pop start Ashlee Simpson, the couple have a 1-year old son called Bronx.

A musician and social activist, Pete Wentz is your Connector of the Day.

It's an offensive mood, I think it's fair to say. Well, I caught up with Pete Wentz, and I began by asking him when he first got involved with United Nations.

WENTZ: Probably first after becoming a father. I'd been involved with little organizations. Invisible Children. I'd gone to Uganda.

But learning that children around the world -- especially in Africa -- had to walk 6 kilometers to get clean water, or to get water. as a father, it made me feel absolutely horrid.

I thought of my son, and that he would view these children as "other," children. It made me want to get involved.

FOSTER: You're married to the singer, Ashlee Simpson. You have a son together that you've just been talking about. Anna asks, "Has becoming a father changed you?" It sounds like it has.

WENTZ: For me, my son has made me want to make the world a better place.

FOSTER: Carrie in Australia says, "Would you ever consider a career in politics?" I guess not yet.

WENTZ: Right now, I think that I don't know enough. And I would like to support causes that are important to me, and not being written about or photographed around the world. I think that it's important to support people who are in the dark, right now.

FOSTER: The main thing you're known for is music, of course. Navi (ph) has a question about that. How did you get into the music scene when you were a teenager?

WENTZ: When I was a teenager, I just kind of put headphones on so the world around me did not exist. Then I started playing music, and I didn't know how to play at all.

Fallout Boy snowballed into what it became.

FOSTER: Yes. Lexi wants to know, "What advice would you give to aspiring artists?" Because you obviously made it so big so young. Not just music, she says, but "arts in general."

WENTZ: That's the hardest question to answer. Biggest suggestion I would have would be, "Don't listen to what other people say."

Michael Jordan said that you will fail 100 times more than you will succeed. If you apply that to art, I think the same is true.

FOSTER: Okay. Sara finally wants to know if you and Ashlee are going to make a reality TV show together."

WENTZ: What we're trying to do is make life for our son as normal as possible. And between the paparazzi and his dad taking Polaroids of him, and camera-phone pictures of him, he has enough cameras in his life. Therefore I don't really think that a reality TV show is in the works.

FOSTER: The life of a rockstar! Being a rockstar (INAUDIBLE)

END