Fall Out Boy return to Vegas to play the Pearl at Palms on Sunday night.

When Patrick Stump greets me on the phone, I say, "Is this Pete?"

He is good-natured about the mistake. He is used to it.

Still, in Vegas his band's connection to celebrity culture is more visible than most stops on a Fall Out Boy tour. With bandmate Pete Wentz being married to Ashlee Simpson, Stump sees a clear line between Fall Out Boy's success and celebrity notoriety:

"I don't feel that I am part of celebrity culture, though I know I am a periphery character. I am around them sometimes."

He does not have to define who he means by "them."

"It is weird. But I don't know that it has affected us that much. The only thing I notice is the personal nature of some questions. I read interviews with bands that aren't in the celebrity sphere and I envy that. They get to talk about the mechanics of music, and that is why I am here is because of that."

Here is how Stump experiences Las Vegas:

"I am a mellow guy on tour. Vegas means a lot of hotel time and working on music. But I remember one time on my way to bed I saw our former tour manager playing at a table with a big smile on his face. When I came down in the morning he was standing at the same table with a frown on his face. One time they gave us a suite with a bowling alley. I came into the room and it was total insanity. I got my computer and left."

Since he spends so much time on the road, I wondered if he thought being part of the online generation of rock stars made touring less lonely, less "Turn the Page:"

"I wonder about that. Everyone is connected, but in this very impersonal way. No one has any mystery to their lives. They are electing not to have any secrets, because everyone goes onto whatever social networking thing. I never did any of it. All my friends are on it. I was something of a Luddite before I had my laptop. And, by modern terms I am not particularly computer savvy. I am on Wikipedia all the time. But I don't know if this makes people less lonely or more lonely. You have a couple hundred MySpace friends. But you don't know any of them personally. There is an idea of connection but it is a flimsy connection between yourself in the rest of the world when you are just Twittering people. I am not saying those things aren't cool. But you can't rely exclusively on that."

I was curious about how Fall Out Boy, a band he has been in since a teen, has attempted to capture growing up in its music:

"I think it [our music] got a lot more honest. Not that it wasn't honest before. But when you start out you are emulating people. When I started singing I was trying to sing like other people. As a guitar player, I was just trying to play. But as time goes on you find out who you are, and you find your place. You also find out what  has really influenced your stuff. I was surprised what an influence as a guitar player Prince and the Time were on me, and as a singer Sam Cooke. I am not saying I am anywhere near as good as them, but that is where I get it from. And, what makes you more honest is you lose your fear of showing yourself. " (Courtesy photo)