Fall Out Boy is rockin’ the suburbs.

If band members had it their way, however, they would be rockin’ much more than that.

Patrick Stump, the band’s singer and guitarist, deplores the lack of diversity seen in punk rock, but says he has seen a noticeable increase in people who don’t fit the stereotypical suburbanite mold at Fall Out Boy shows.

“Punk is a subculture, and any subculture is exactly that — a subculture, and culture as a whole has that propensity for xenophobia,” he says. “But when people do get together, it’s pretty awesome. Fall Out Boy shows lately have been a pretty mixed bag, so I’m stoked about that. I don’t know how or why it’s happening, but I hope it keeps happening.”

The faces in the crowd may not be the only faces changing on the punk rock scene, however. Punk in general appears to have a whole new facade, but it may be just an illusion, Stump says.

“The new face of punk rock is basically the old face,” he says. “When I was growing up, it was that era where punk rock meant mohawks and Doc Martens — before Green Day and all that other stuff came along. During that period, a lot of people forgot The Ramones were on a major label and Blondie was considered a punk band.

“Punk rock was just as corporate in the ’70s as it is now — it just looked cooler. Most of our parents weren’t into punk rock, so no one is around to tell us that.”

Punk may have been the same corporate whore in the ’70s and ’80s that it is now, but people perceive early punk rock as an idealistic, groundbreaking time in American music history and thus are sometimes blinded by the romantic idea of utter rebellion set forth by bands like the Ramones and the Sex Pistols, Stump says.

“Everyone likes to fantasize about some bygone era that doesn’t exist any more,” he says. “I always hear people talking about the ’50s and how great family life was. Family life was just as bad in the ’50s as it is now, though — it was just that the TV shows made everything look nice.

“I think what punk evolved into is something way cooler than what its origins are,” he says. “Its origins are this contrived thing, and that being said, I think it has this flawed value structure. But I think the most punk rock thing to do is not worry about being punk rock.”

Although Stump says punk’s beginnings aren’t as pure as many think they are, it was indeed a mindset and a way of life more than a particular kind of music.

Pete Wentz, Fall Out Boy’s bassist, says he agrees.

The band is now on tour with Gym Class Heroes, a group whose music would be classified as indie hip-hip by most. Wentz, however, says Gym Class Heroes is the most punk of all. It is the group’s mentality, he says, that makes it punk.

“The most punk rock band we’ve toured with is Gym Class Heroes,” Wentz says. “They go out every night and every show is just a big ‘fuck you.'”

Although today’s punk and the punk of yore have many similarities, they also have their differences, and a lot of people forget what punk once was and think of it in terms of what it has evolved into, Stump says.

It’s still all about playing the music, though, he says, and music, especially punk, has a way of bringing people together.

“That’s what culture is supposed to do; it’s supposed to have music and entertainment to bring different races and classes together, and punk rock is certainly doing that,” Stump says. “I see borderline homeless dudes hanging out with rich kids at shows. These are two groups who wouldn’t hang out together on their own.

Who: Fall Out Boy with Midtown, Gym Class Heroes and The Academy Is …

Where: Skate North, 5621 Meredith Dr., Des Moines

When: 6:30 p.m. Wednesday

Cost: $13