A US rock star has dropped out of his band’s gigs for the rest of the year to undergo career-saving surgery.
Fall Out Boy guitarist and founding member Joe Trohman, 40, revealed he is stepping back from touring in a bid to prevent permanent damage to his hand.
Fall Out Boy’s Joe Trohman is stepping down from live gigs for the rest of the year[/caption]
The guitarist needs surgery on his hand[/caption]
He wrote on Instagram, “After years of managing ongoing issues with my right hand, it’s become clear that I need surgery to avoid permanent damage.
“Unfortunately, this means I’ll have to take the rest of the year off from playing with the band.
“The silver lining is that I’m on track for a full recovery. The band will still be playing all scheduled shows.
“I’m looking forward to recovering so I can get back out there with the guys. Thanks so much for the love and support.”
The band is playing in Calgary, Canada tonight and have festival dates in Japan and Brazil over the summer.
Fans sent their well wishes, with one writing, “It’s okay Joe, we love you and I hope everything goes well, take all the time you need.”
Another said, “I just fell to my knees in Walmart. Wishing you luck Joe.”
In 2023, Trohman took several months off the road to focus on his mental health. His guitar tech Ben Young stepped in on that occasion.
Speaking at the time, Trohman said, “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).”
The guitarist spoke of his “severe” mental health issues in his 2022 memoir, None of This Rocks.
Trohman has been in and out of therapy since the age of 10 and said he often sees things “through dark-tinted lenses a little bit”.
Fall Out Boy achieved underground success in 2003 after they released their debut album, Take This to Your Grave.
They skyrocketed to worldwide fame in 2005 after the release of the album From Under the Cork Tree, with its lead single Sugar We’re Goin’ Down reaching number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts.
In 2006, the band was nominated for Best New Artist at the Grammy Awards.
A year later, their third album, Infinity On High, topped the Billboard 200.
The band went on an indefinite hiatus in 2009, citing exhaustion as the key reason.
“We were being pushed too hard, we were working too often, and I think we had no grounding. There was no, ‘This is where I live, this is my family, this is my house, here’s where I get mental health assistance, I take my medication this many times a day,’” Trohman shared in an interview with Kerrang.
“None of that stuff was happening, it was all just go go go, different places, different things, if you have to succeed you’ve gotta do this.
“And it got to a point where — I can only speak for myself here — but I thought, ‘I think we’ve succeeded… can we stop for a minute? I need to go to my house.’”
They reunited in 2013 with the release of the album Save Rock and Roll.
The band found superstardom 20 years ago[/caption]
