11/30/2009 interview with steve baltin of spinner.com
“After going the concept route – or at least making a linear work on ‘The Black Parade’ – My Chemical Romance are going in another direction on their forthcoming album, due early next year. Spinner visited the group in their L.A. studio to get an early preview and we were left suitably blown away by the nine very disparate songs we got to hear. The tracks ranged from the atmospheric ‘Light Before Your Eyes,’ a song frontman Gerard Way describes as Pink Floyd-ish, to the ’80s-flavored ‘Trans Am’ and the punk/dance party tune, ‘Death Before Disco,’ which starts off with a Judas Priest ‘Living After Midnight’ vibe and turns into a lyrical salute to the Stooges, Velvet Underground and MC5.
Way tells Spinner the as-yet-untitled album is a definite answer to ‘The Black Parade.’ “Every single record we make is a response to the last,” he says. “But sometimes it’s not only a response to the last record – it’s a response to the opinion of that record or a response to the world at the time of that record.”
What he sees and documents on the new album is a lot of rockers who are in music for the wrong reason. “There’s a definite undercurrent of fame versus working class, people having stuff handed to them with zero talent versus working class kids that start a band,” he says. “Rock ‘n’ roll is not red carpets and MySpace friends – rock ‘n’ roll is dangerous and rock ‘n’ roll should piss people off. Right now, there’s not a lot of that happening. What it is is a lot of people trying to be famous. That seems to be the goal.”
In Way’s opinion, that desire to be famous is messing up the sanctity of rock “n roll. “It’s bled into rock. It came from other places, but it’s bled into rock ‘n’ roll and kind of tainted it a bit,” Way says. “This record is really a response to that as well.”
MCR certainly have the resources and notoriety to bask in that fame as well, so how do they resist that temptation? “Instead of us panicking and trying to see where we can grab the money or grab the opportunity, we just wrote music instead,” Way says. “We tried to write a great record; that was our response to things. I think that writing a great record will sell records these days, as opposed to doing every other f—ing thing that people seem to be doing to sell a record.”
11/30/2009 interview with steve baltin of spinner.com
“The big forum interview with My Chemical Romance!
Reporters: Imre (poison amy) and Lisette (Lica) Bandmembers: Frank, Bob and Mikey Place: The Melkweg (Milkyway), Amsterdam, the Netherlands Date: Wednesday August 31st, 2005, 3.30pm
After a lot of stress and the prospect that the interview might be cancelled, it was finally time to go upstairs and meet the band. Two hours later than scheduled, but hey, they were there so we’re not complaining! Our palms were sweaty and our hearts were racing, but we managed to remain calm and behave like proper journalists instead of squealing fangirls.
L: Let’s start with our list! We’re already talking about messageboards so lets continue on that. Some people sometimes claim to be one of you when they are on forums or other websites, what do you think of that?
Frank: I don’t understand it really, to me it’s kind of like that game the Sims, they’re spending so much time leading this fake life while they could be doing their own thing, and if your dream is to be in a band you should go out and practise instead of playing a video game or pretend you’re somebody else. It gets really creepy when those people do that and put out pictures of you and say a loved one or your dog. When they do that and then talk to other people on your behalf, that really angers me because we don’t know what they’re saying to other people and they might give advise and others might believe it. Internet can be a great thing, but it can also be a really evil thing. I: We have a rule against talking about your private life. Frank: Thank you. I appreciate that.
Mikey: That’s a big problem with MySpace, because some of my friends actually are on MySpace and they get messages, I don’t know how they knew that my friends are on there, but these are people that aren’t even in bands and they would get messages from ‘me’ on MySpace. It’s really weird. I: They know everything. Trust me. Bob: That’s ridiculous. Frank: I’m still a huge fan of music, but when I was a fan of a band I would never ever be that intrusive. You know what I mean, to go as far as walk on someone’s bus and sit down and go through someone’s things, or try to steal something… I: There was one girl last week, she was at one of the shows in London and she was proud that she ripped something off your arm! Frank: [sad tone] Yeah, yeah… I: She was bragging about it all over the internet. Frank: I know… L: How do you feel about these things? Frank: You know, it’s weird. *thinks* I don’t know how I feel about that. I definitely know that when I was at shows I would bring a souvenir home, but it wasn’t someone’s personal property, it was a flyer or something like that. It’s weird if you wanna go into the crowd thinking ‘am I gonna come out with everything?’
L: Are you nervous when you see a large crowd? Are you worried then? Frank: No! Well, no, I mean, it depends. There’s a bunch of different type of fans. You know, there’s people who just wanna say I love you, love your show, and that’s awesome. They respect the music and the art form. And then there’s some people that need to have that souvenir, that need a signature or a picture and there’s some that just scream and try to pull your hair out and that’s ridiculous and then there’s the drunk fan that wants to be the one that punched you.
Unfortunately for the people that just wanna say hi or the people that just want an autograph, sometimes they get flooded because the bad apples are so loud or with so many. It sucks to make people wait outside for hours before you leave because I don’t wanna weed out the bullshit, you know what I mean, the teenie ‘oh wow the new N’Sync is an actual band’ you know that’s a terrible thing, but you try to do more good than bad.
L: How was it for you Bob, when you joined the band they were already on their way to become very successful, how was it for you to step into a band that was already on their way?
Bob: When I first started it wasn’t really sure that… Well, I don’t think anybody thought that it was gonna be this successful. When I first started it was still in the van, playing shows for like a hundred people. It wasn’t like this when I first started. As far as the kids being crazy, obviously they *nods towards Frank and Mikey* get it a lot more, but it’s just strange for me. L: Well, you’re completely accepted on the forum, everybody loves Bob, they have it in their signatures. *grins* Frank: How could you not love Bob?!
I: When you started out, did you ever imagine being nominated for 4 VMA’s against Green Day?
Frank: No, not at all! I: How crazy is that?! Frank: Pfff! It’s flattering.M: It was a great experience. The whole thing.F: I’m still reeling from it. I’m really glad it’s over. I: Were you nervous? Frank: Oh god, yeah. I definitely threw up before.M: You can see me biting my nails on camera. Every time they were showing Jamie Fox you can see me right behind him biting my nails a lot. I was really freaked out.F: It’s one of those things where.. Growing up I didn’t get to watch them all the time, but I saw bands like Nirvana play it and Guns’n’Roses. So just to be there and think of all the things that happened on that show and to actually play it, it was ridiculous. I: Because of the MTV awards you had to do the two festivals in England on the same day, how was that? Were you nervous doing those shows? Bob: It was tiring really. Frank: It was very tiring, yeah. And again, we kept like thinking of people that played it before. You know what I mean. I’m definitely keeping the two passes and I’m gonna frame them. It was rad. To do Reading and Leeds and especially on the same day, it was crazy! Bob: We were supposed to fly to Leeds and we couldn’t get on a bus and go to Reading, because we wouldn’t have enough time to set up, so we were supposed to take three helicopters and I was so psyched about that! I was so excited! It would have been so awesome to fly on a helicopter! But then something happened with the weather at Reading and they wouldn’t let the helicopters get that close to so many people, so we just took a plane. L: So the helicopter experience still has to take place. Bob: Yeah. We’re gonna do it one of these days. I don’t care, even if it’s on a day off, we’re taking a helicopter ride! L: Are you a thrill seeker? Bob: I … *thinks* Kind of. I guess so. Frank: As long as it’s got something to do with helicopters or motorcycles or black vans, that kind of stuff. I: You wouldn’t go horse riding on the beach. Frank: *laughs* I don’t think he’s that horseriding-on-the-beach type of guy. Bob: No. I wanna go skydiving one of these days. Frank: I’m not!!! I: Why not? Frank: If you’d asked me a couple of years ago to do it, I’d go ‘yeah, fuck it!’ but now I’m just too happy. You know what I mean? I: You don’t need that. Frank: Yeah! I don’t need to do that.
Then suddenly Bob exclaims: What is wrong with these people?! *reads from book* What would happen if you saw Mikey walk into the bathroom with another toaster? Signed: Bob Bryar’s official bitch.
Mikey: It wasn’t a toaster, it was a heater. I was putting a space heater in the bathroom when I was sick or something. I brought this heater into the shower so it was warm when I got out. It’s not the smartest thing in the world to do, but I was like ‘whatever, I’m fucking freezing’, but apparently they turned it into a toaster.. L: But you were fine. Mikey: Yeah, I’m here right now. *all laugh*
L: For the video from The Ghost of You, you guys have your hair really smooth. We understand how you get your hair like that, but we were wondering how did they get Ray’s hair totally smooth? How much stuff did they put in there?F: You’ll see it on the making of the video, he has like these two little buns. Bob: Did they flat iron his hair too? Frank: They did something. It was all flattened out. It was all bundled together in this little fist of a bulb, so they could only shoot him from the front and part of the side. It was crazy. He was gonna cut his hair and we were all like ‘no don’t do that!!’. I: Did he ever tried to hide objects in his hair? To smuggle them inside? Frank: Hide objects in it? He might. Bob: *thinks* I don’t think so. *All giggle*
I: Another question they asked is: if your tour bus driver got ill, who would you trust to drive it?F: Bob. I: Yeah? Why? Frank: Cos he’s done it before. Bob: It happens a lot when you have to move a bus. When I used to tour with other bands, our drivers would just be like ‘hey, you wanna drive?’ and then I’d drive for like 1000 miles. L: It’s cool to drive something that big, isn’t it. Bob: Yeah, I like to drive and being on tour you never get to drive anywhere. If you’re not in a bus you’re in a cab or if you’re not in a cab you have somebody else driving you, so you know I take every opportunity I get to drive.
L: If you could describe your life so far in 5 words, what words would you choose?M: Tiring, wonderful…F: Surprising, uhm, definitely tiring… Bob: Red Bull. I: Hey, that’s two words! Bob: Oh sorry! *laughs* Frank: Coffee. Bob: There you go, coffee. Fun! (All at the same time) Proud. Frank: Prun! *grins*M: Yeah. Bob: How about proud-fun? I: We’ll make that a new forum-word! Bob: Prun.
I: Have you ever read any of the fanfictions people write about you? *guys laugh* Mikey: My friends sent me one once. It was creepy! My friends are interested in all that stuff, so they all sit online and send it to each other and laugh. And then one of them emailed one to me and it was something really fucking out of hand.F: I heard Mikey’s hot for me. I: The hottest couple is you and Gerard actually. Frank: Oh really? We’re the hottest couple? Bob: That’s amazing. I: That’s actually one of the most active parts of the forum, the fanfiction section. Frank: Wow! That’s crazy. My god… (kind of unsure) Well, if that’s what gets you hot, go for it.
L: Do you have something with you when you go out on stage, like a lucky thing? Bob: High fives. Frank: Yeah we do, like high fives before we go on stage. I don’t think there’s any charm I have.. I think it changes like I’ll have something for a time that I feel is lucky, but then it’ll probably break or something and you get something new… Like these shoes *everyone looks at Frank’s feet* are lucky I think. None of it’s really lucky at all of course. *thinks* I have these dogtags that I wear a lot, but I can’t wear them on stage because it hurts my neck. I: Yeah and someone might steal them! Frank: Yeah that’s it, but I wear them all the time, except when I’m playing.
L: Yeah, you go crazy on stage and sometimes you’re lying on the floor, how are you able to play like that?F: You get used to it, like with anything. When we’re playing a new song, like right now we’re playing a new song. Well, not new new, but new for us because we haven’t played it in so long, so ah, we’ll play eh *looks at Bob* should we tell them? *Bob nods* Alright, we’re playing Jetset tonight and I’m not used to playing that song, so I’ll just stand there and make sure I hit every chord. L: So you’re not going crazy. Frank: *laughs* No, but you know what I mean like it’s hard because I get into it and I would do it, but at the same time if it’s so new I can’t. Once I’m comfortable with it I can do whatever I want. I: Is there a favourite song when you play? All: Prison! Frank: Yeah, Prison is like a band favourite. Bob: Yeah we like to play that. It’s become the song that when we need to play something for a soundcheck we pick that. I really like playing Jetset too though. I: Why didn’t you put it in the set before? Frank: We’ve never played certain songs, I mean like never ever played them. I think Jetset was one of those until we were like ‘yeah lets finally get this out’. We had about five songs to pick from for the headline tour, some older stuff that we haven’t played in a really long time and there’s this song called Cubicles that we’ve never played. I think you guys played it (to Mikey)…M: Yeah we’ve played it on a couple of shows.F: But I’ve never actually played it. I: It must be nice to do a different set. Frank: Yeah! You know it’s fun to be doing something that you haven’t played in a really long time because it puts a spin on things and it kind of challenges you.
L: Most places have a very active local music scene, do you ever go to a band of the local music scene when you’re in a city?
Frank: I would love to if we had a second off, but we never do.
L: And back home in New Jersey, do you go there to local shows? Frank: Yeah, if we’re home for a while and there’s a show going on, I’ll go see it. But it’s hard because we do this for a living and I mean we love what we do and we love music, but sometimes the last thing we wanna do is go to a show. It has to be a really good show, you know what I mean. I: Yah, but it must also be part of your job to keep up to date about new bands. Frank: Yeah, well we tour so much and we hear so many things from different people, I mean I found out about a lot of different bands from just kids. It kind of keeps you in your favourite scene, you know. And we get demos all the time.
I: A few weeks ago I interviewed the singer from HIM, Ville, and he told me he had been talking to you guys about maybe touring together.F: That would be cool. Yeah. He’s a great guy. He’s really nice. I: I know! *grins* Frank: I think that would rule. To me, HIM are kind of like the European Bon Jovi. That’s what I get when I listen to them.
Sadly the girl from the record company interrupted us by saying it was nearly time and we could ask one last question. Lica asked it. L: About the second I’m Not Okay video; it starts off with Ray and Gerard sitting there and Gerard says: I don’t wanna make it, I just wanna… What does he wanna do? frank: Ok, the original line was: I don’t wanna make it, I just wanna rock! And we didn’t like it. If you keep an open end you can make it whatever you want it to be, you know. The rest of that, the whole opening scene, was written out. It was scripted and we were like ‘this isn’t really working’ so Ray actually re-wrote everything. Everything you hear in the video, other then ‘I just wanna’ is something that Ray wrote maybe ten minutes before we shot it!
Then the girl from the record company came back inside to tell us we really needed to wrap it up and Frank practically begged her to do two more from the book, like he suggested when we started out. Bob flips through the book. Bob: Bam! *points* All time favourite sad song? Mikey: the Smiths – Asleep. That’s the fucking saddest song ever. Bob: That Jimmy Eat World song off of that show.. Frank: Angel song? Bob: Yeah. Frank: Oh yeah. Ah, geez, Angel Angel. Oh, right, ready? *flips through book again* Frank: When you guys stop and think about how you ended up where you are now, do you feel really lucky and jump for joy, or do you don’t give a damn at all? *laughs* I think we are the luckiest people in the whole fucking world. Bob: We’re very proud of ourselves! Frank: To be able to say that, you know, you’ve accomplished goals, that you set for yourself so long ago and this is awesome you know, like to be on tv or on the radio – fuck the radio and tv! To hear kids in different countries or different states sing along to songs that you wrote in your basement is the most surreal experience that you’ll ever have. And to have it mean something to people you never thought you would ever meet. That right there is the most amazing thing.“
We had a minute to go on a picture with them and say goodbye. Frank told us that he really appreciated what we are doing for the band and thanked us for everything by giving us both a very tight hug. As you can probably imagine, we high oaforum members, and thanks My Chemical Romance for making this all happen!
With the upcoming release of Danger Days: The True Lives Of The Fabulous Killjoys, My Chemical Romance are intent on building on the success they enjoyed with 2006’s multi-platinum The Black Parade.
Already the album’s first single from Danger Days, the memorably titled and positively bouncy Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na), is making a serious dent at radio. And the album as a whole is a joyride of exuberant, slamming rock that leaves a listener little time to catch one’s breath – a far cry from the dark-tinged themes and musical soundscapes that made up The Black Parade.
Getting there wasn’t so easy, however, for the New Jersey-based band, which consists of singer Gerard Way, his bassist brother Mikey, along with guitarists Ray Toro and Frank Iero (drummer Bob Bryar departed earlier this year). Throughout 2009, the group worked with producer Brendan O’Brien (Pearl Jam, Rage Against The Machine, Bruce Springsteen), desperately trying to reinvent themselves and capture magic…to no avail. At the beginning of 2010, the band made the painful (and no doubt costly) decision to shelve the album and start all over again, this time reuniting with Black Parade producer (and newly minted Warner Bros Records Label Group Chairman) Rob Cavallo.
“It was a hard decision to scrap the record we had made with Brendan, but in the end it was the right decision,” says Toro “Nobody was feeling quite right about what we had done. There was no joy in the record. It had nothing to do with Brendan. We were the problem.”
The difficulties in recording Danger Days the first time, is there anything specific you can point to?
“We were just burnt out. The touring schedule on The Black Parade was very hectic, and it probably went on six months longer than it should have. When we started talking about what the next album should be, we saw The Black Parade as the enemy – it was a big, theatrical rock record, and we were wearing the costumes and stuff. We wanted to go the other way.
“So we spent 2009 writing and recording and trying to do a real stripped-down record. I remember distinctly, whereas in the past I would have laid down a bunch of different guitar tracks, harmonies and stuff, this time I said, ‘No, I can’t do that.’ After a while, it started to feel like I was going against my nature.”
Did Brendan ever say to you guys, “This is good, but it’s not great?”
“He was really trying; he did the best he could with us. He knew things weren’t clicking, and he’d try to rally us. I remember he said, ‘Hey, on some songs, I’d love to hear you do what you did on The Black Parade.’ Because there wasn’t any of the harmonized guitar parts or the stacking that I usually do. He was trying to get us to make one record, and we wanted to make something totally different.
“Musically, we wanted to go back to our basement. But just because we wanted to do something different didn’t make it easy. In many ways, we felt as though we were holding ourselves back creatively. We were going through the motions. Some of the songs were good, but we weren’t happy with all of them.”
Did any songs from the original sessions make the finished album?
“Yeah, but we recut them. There’s Bulletproof Heart, Party Poison and a song called The Only Hope For Me Is You. Those songs always excited us, so we weren’t going to lose them.”
Having worked with Rob Cavallo on The Black Parade, I assume he was the natural choice to come in after you tabled the first attempt at Danger Days.
“Rob’s always been one of our biggest cheerleaders, and he and the rest of the guys at the label totally backed our decision to start over again. Originally, Rob came in to work on some mixes and see if he could help things along, but before long it became clear what we had to do.
“With Rob, we got the band back. We got out creative energy back. I think one of the problems with the sessions with Brendan was, we had already decided what the album should sound like, and in hindsight, you really can’t do that. You have to let the music speak and be what it wants. We found our sound again, and it was exciting.”
The record seems like a stark contrast to The Black Parade. It’s more hopeful and upbeat.
“It’s weird. That wasn’t the goal at any point. I think it was just how we were feeling in the studio once we got back on track with Rob. In 2009, the record was kind of strange, and not everybody in the group was sold on what we were doing. Once we got going with Rob, like I said, our spark came back. So maybe that’s why it sounds, you know, the way it does.”
As a guitarist, who are your influences? Who did you listen to early on?
“Really, my biggest influence was my older brother, Louie. He was awesome, man. He was 17 or 18 when he started playing. I shared a bedroom with Louie and my other brother, Ed. And I just remember being in bed and hearing Louie play the guitar till all hours of the night and into two in the morning. He was great.
“That’s how I first got into the guitar, from hearing and watching Louie. He was into Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Hendrix, Metallica, Motley Crue – a lot of classic rock with some metal thrown in. So I got into that stuff as well. He helped me out a lot. He had a stack of Guitar World magazines – I’d go through them and look at the tabs. Then I got more into guys like Jeff Beck and David Gilmour.”
How did you develop your style into what it is now?
“I think it’s a mixture, the classic rock and then more metal bands. Megadeth, Pantera, Metallica, Iron Maiden – I think I have more of a faster-riffing, minor-key kind of thing going on. Then, as I got older, I got into punk bands. So I mix it up: I love the attitude of punk, but I love the precision of a lot of the metal players.”
With influences such as you mentioned, what kind of practice schedule do you adhere to? Punk players are more about vibe and spontaneity –
“I know what you’re getting at. I definitely used to practice more. I think I found that the best middle ground is one where you’re hitting your notes and feel comfortable on the fretboard, but you still want to leave room for attitude and freshness. Listen to a guy like Stevie Ray Vaughan, who’s one of my favorites. He’s a flawless player, but you hear the heart and soul there – he’s reacting for the moment.”
How did you come to join My Chemical Romance?
“It’s funny. Gerard said that I was the best player he’d ever heard, which kind of floored me. I don’t think that’s true, but it was nice that he would say that. I didn’t have to audition or anything. We were friends, so he already knew what I could do. I think he knew that I was always trying to push myself as a player.
“And I still am. I love searching for new lines and parts. Every song is a challenge. That’s what keeps me excited. For instance, there’s a song on the new record called Planetary (GO!), and I had to try to figure out how to make the guitar sound like a keyboard or a synthesizer. What I ended up doing was using an Electro-Harmonix POG, which is one of my favorite pedals. It’s sick – you have all of these octaves to play with. So I found some great sounds to use there.
“On a song like Save Yourself, the playing is more precise, with heavy palm mutes on the verses. The solo is more of a pentatonic thing, kind of like what Kirk Hammett might play. So exploring all of those aspects but trying to keep it fresh and with a bit of a punk spirit is what keeps me going.”
Two guitar bands are funny animals: one guy can’t do what the other guy does. Do you find that you have to change your style or hold back in any way to play with Frank?
“No, not at all. I love playing with Frank. Our styles are very distinct. He’s much more melodic than I am. If you listen to him, he’s always harmonizing with or backing up the vocal melody. His guitar is more like another lead vocal. I guess I’m the ‘lead guitarist’ per se, but we’re always swapping roles. Sometimes he does little leads on the choruses. He so free. He’s got an energy that I find very inspiring.”
In the past, you’ve played Les Pauls pretty exclusively. Are those still your go-to guitars?
“Yeah, definitely. But I’ll tell you, recently I had the chance to play one of Jimi Hendrix’s Strats. Totally mind-blowing! This guy, Jimmy from Mates Rehearsal Studios in California, has one – I had shown for practice, and I didn’t have a guitar to play. So Jimmy let me play this Hendrix Strat that he got from Jimi’s old guitar tech. The thing was beat to shit, but it was the best-playing guitar ever. I played it for a year – Jimmy let me use it in the studio. Man, I loved that. It was fucking awesome!
“Live, I’m still a Les Paul guy, but playing Jimi Hendrix’s Strat really got me interested in Strats and other guitars. In fact, I’m in desperate search for the ultimate Tele to play. If I can find one, I’m there.”
Lastly, let me ask you about your drummer situation. You recently got a new guy in…
“Well, not really. My Chem is a four-piece, and we’re going to stay that way. We’ve been playing with Mike [Pedicone], who’s a good friend of ours. He’s terrific, but he’s not an official member. I think we’re going to stay a four-piece.”
11/18/2010 joe bosso with music radar ray toro interview
I saw that “Na Na Na” is being used as the theme for the upcoming “TLC” WWE pay-per-view. Are you guys big wrestling fans?
Frank: That’s awesome. We all were back in the ‘80s. Our dads had all taken us to WWF wrestling events and stuff. But Mikey [Way] tries to follow it. He gets back into it here and there. He’s the dude, like if you mention, “Who’s that guy?” – he’ll totally know. It came up last night, as a matter of fact. We were talking to our friend, and his father is friends with a guy that wrestled in the ’80s. I guess one of his characters was called “The Genius.” Mikey was like, “Oh my God. He used to be this guy … He used to wear this graduation hat.” It’s crazy, the amount of wrestling knowledge that Mikey Way has.
12/14/2010 christina fuoco-karasinski with soundspike q&a with frank iero
Rediscovering themselves as creative, dangerous and daring
After spending most of 2009 working with producer Brendan O’Brien on a follow-up to their hit 2006 album The Black Parade, the members of My Chemical Romance were hit with an unsettling realization: They didn’t like their new material all that much. They felt bored and stifled. So when a quick session to write a couple of additional songs veered in a more inspiring direction, the band saw its chance to start over.
Re-teaming with Black Parade producer Rob Cavallo, the musicians—singer Gerard Way, bass player Mikey Way and guitarists Ray Toro and Frank Iero—ditched the rules they had established for themselves about their sound and the kind of songs they wrote (for the sessions, drummer John Miceli replaced now-departed member Bob Bryar behind the kit). Unburdened of those constraints, the group soon emerged from Cavallo’s Calabasas, Calif., studio with Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys. Although imagined as a series of pirate-radio broadcasts coming from California in the year 2019, the band’s energetic, hook-filled fourth album is not designed as a strictly conceptual theatrical piece in the way The Black Parade was (witness Days’ straightforwardly rocking first single, “Na Na Na [Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na]”). “It was a long gestation period to get to this record,” says Ray Toro, “but I don’t think it would have worked any other way.” We spoke with Toro about the changes and self-discoveries that finally led to My Chemical Romance’s new music.
Were you comfortable with how elaborate TheBlack Parade tour was?
I felt like we were doing a stage show or a musical, instead of being a band. We wore these rigid costumes, the show was the same every night. It wasn’t choreographed, but it was timed out to feel like the album. We missed the spontaneity. When you say “rock ’n’ roll band,” you think spontaneous. The Black Parade was very restrictive. We had stripped out all the best parts of the band, even the creativity, and we didn’t get back to actually being a rock ’n’ roll band until we started doing Danger Days this year.
Why didn’t you release the album you made with Brendan O’Brien?
At the end of 2009, we decided to get into the studio with Rob Cavallo and write one or two new tracks to fill out that [O’Brien-produced] record. We realized the momentum from these new songs was carrying us, and we decided to scrap everything else we had done. It was clear to us that the true My Chemical Romance was in the songs that ended up on Danger Days. That’s us being creative, dangerous, daring—and the previous stuff we were working on had none of that.
Why did that epiphany take so long?
We have a desire to constantly create something new, and after we were done touring on The Black Parade, we didn’t have anything left. So we took a break, then started the process: We wrote and recorded an entire record and scrapped it. If we had tried to get into the studio sooner after finishing the tour, we probably wouldn’t be a band today. And if we put out that record we were working on in 2009, we probably wouldn’t be a band today.
The situation was that dire?
We just weren’t in the right place at that time. It really took writing “Na Na Na” and reuniting with Rob Cavallo. All those elements really added up to this atmosphere where it was inspiring to work again. Prior to that, we were showing up at the studio like zombies.
Where did “Na Na Na” come from?
We were all frustrated, and Gerard had gone out with his wife for a long weekend in the desert. He ended up writing the riff and the lyrics to “Na Na Na.” When we got back to Cavallo’s studio, he brought it up and we tracked it. There was an energy in that room that was very different from the prior sessions. It was pretty clear when we wrote that song that we were going to start over, but we didn’t really know it until we were about four songs in. That song was the catalyst for starting over and rediscovering what this band is. Before, everything was, “You can’t, you don’t, you shouldn’t.” We wrote “Na Na Na” and all of that went out the window.
When did the concept emerge?
It was all organic. Gerard had been coming up with a lot of art pieces. He was working on a comic with a friend of ours, Shaun Simon, back home, and it had some of the same ideas as the record. If you look at the lyrics, it’s about the returning of color to the world, of danger. That’s the crux of what the record is about. But it’s only conceptual in the sense that it’s framed as a pirate-radio broadcast from the future. When you listen to the record, there’s not a story being told. As far as characters and settings, that’s more for the videos.
Did you purposely avoid a narrative?
On The Black Parade, one of the things we got stuck in was trying to tell a story. That’s a big undertaking, and when you’re trying to tell a story, the songwriting suffers, because sometimes you have to do certain things musically to tell that story. This album was simply about writing a collection of great songs.
What was the writing like?
We did most of it in the studio, which was cool. That’s also why it’s the most organic record we’ve done. We had all these tools at our disposal all the time, and that was a great way to write. There was no time that took place between when you had an idea and when you could try it. To me, music is something that you have to capture right when you hear it. This is the first record we really wrote in a studio, and I think we’ll always do it that way. The possibilities are endless.
How fast did you work?
The first batch of four or five songs came pretty quickly. Two days after “Na Na Na,” we wrote “Vampire Money” and then “SING.” Each song was so different from the last, and every day in the studio you were getting something different. We were being challenged as musicians and songwriters to do something different, something that we’d never done before. I can’t even explain how exciting that is. There was this energy, this vibrancy, in the studio, and in the music, too. You could definitely tell when somebody had an idea. We usually would get to the studio in the early afternoon, and you could just see a look in people’s eyes, like, “I’ve got this idea!” It was the most freeing feeling any of us have ever had. It felt like rediscovering the band.
06/11/2004 equal music interview with gerard by danielle moskowitz
“When Warner Brothers/Reprise invited me to come talk with Gerard from My Chemical Romance about their new album at their record release show, how could I have refused?
The show was in their home state of NJ, packed with 1300 cheering fans. What made the show even cooler for me was featured artist, Nightmare of You was on the bill too! (NOY is still currently unsigned and have been playing with My Chem. Good for them!) I love when Equal Music bands get together!
Is their latest apart of a trilogy? Front man Gerard explains. He also reveals what why it didn’t turn out to be the concept record they had planned it to be and what are they doing in Tokyo with The Beastie Boys? (Original interview from Oct. 31, 2003 follows this latest one from June)
DM: When we spoke last you guys were shopping for a producer. Who did you wind up working with and why?
Gerard: We wound up working with Howard Benson. A big reason was because he contacted us which is always very exciting. He was very enthusiastic about the project. It’s not so much that he got what world we came from because he’s worked with bands like P.O.D. and Blindside which is a completely different universe but he got what we were trying to do with the music and so we connected on a lot of levels.
DM: How was this experience different from working with Alex (Eyeball Records) and Geoff (Thursday [Island/Def Jam]) front man?
Gerard: That whole experience was hanging with friends and having a really fun time. There wasn’t a lot of money or pressure. But then this experience didn’t have that much pressure either which was weird. It was very a positive experience that had a really good flow. But yeah it was very different.
DM: You said in October that while you were finishing the first record you knew what you wanted the second one to be called (which is their latest, Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge) and at the time since you knew the name for the second one you had an idea for what you wanted the third record to be called, although there’s not going to be a trilogy so how do you know? Where’s the connection with that?
Gerard:It’s the kind of connection where you kind of always have a sense of what you’re band is doing and where it’s headed. I think we have a good idea of kind of like what the first record should be.It should be fast and dirty and cheap. Then the second one you really up the ante and really go for it with this one. The third one you try to explore new avenues. We ended up doing a lot of that on this record. We actually ended up being way more experiemantal than we thought we were going to be. It sounded good to us so we said let’s keep doing it.
DM: To jump ahead, do you know what the next one’s going to be called?
Gerard: From this experience I learned I shouldn’t do that anymore because it locks you into something. And this record wound up being half a concept record because so much happened in our lives that when it came time to write lyrics I found out that it was less ficiton and more fact. So it’s a very loose concept record. I want to see what happens for the third one and actually not plan anything out. I think that will be interesting because- it’s not that we’re calculated but we always kind of know where we’re headed and kind of vibe on it. For the next one I kind of don’t want to have that.
DM: What kind of mood do you feel like the new album has?
Gerard:I just started listening to it as a piece now, not just bits here and there it’s really about loss. The first record was more about pain, misery and agression and violence. Although the lyrics can be disturbing at points, it’s really about loss. In the end that’s what it wound up being more about instead of some story. You can pick it out of at least four or five of the songs. Even the performances that everyone gives too makes it feel like it’s really about loss.
DM: Do you feel like it’s dark?
Gerard:Yeah. It’s already been called that by a lot of people. We got a parental advisory without even having more than one curse in it. I think it’s dark but I think it’s a lot more positive than the first record.
DM: Yeah, I remember you saying that you felt the ups were going to be more up and the downs more down.
Gerard:Yeah and they really ended up being like that. But, there’s definitely more moments of positivity and celebration than on the first record.
DM: What are some of difference of working with an indie and working with a major?
Gerard:This record was really painless so I can’t truthfully answer that as a band that’s in our position. We are really rare case of– it was very similar to the first record where we did exactly what we wanted and luckily because they knew who we were when they signed us that’s exactly what they wanted. There wasn’t much of a difference other than the fact that there was obviously a lot more deadlines and a lot more pressure to get things done on time. That was the big difference but that was actually it.
DM: You’re going to Tokyo soon for Summer Sonic Fest. You must be excited.
Gerard:Yeah, it’s awesome, we get to play with The Beastie Boys and I’ve never seen them.
DM: What’s going on for you guys for the rest of the year?
Gerard:Pretty much straight touring till the record cycle is over. It’s usually about eighteen months from the time you start a record until you’re done touring on it and should be starting a new one. There’s already stuff I really want to write. I want to start immediately. As soon as we finished this I wanted to just do another. We’re very much a live band but at the same time you get in the studio and you remember you’re very much all songwriters and we had forgotten that part of us. I’m still in that head fix where I want to write more songs.
DM: Maybe you can still do that while you’re on the road.
Gerard:Yeah, we plan to do it on Warped Tour. It will be our first time really on a bus so we’re going to have more space and we’ll be comfortable. Right ater that we’re going back to a van so Warped Tour is really going to be the time that we write.
danielle moskowitz october 31, 2003 (2nd interview below)
Juxtaposing raw vocals and a punk edge against riffs suddenly gone melodic, My Chemical Romance takes you from upbeat drumming in one measure to a moment where you find yourself lost in slow, somber guitars the next. Listen closely as their vocalist Gerard reveals glimpses of himself through his brutally honest lyrics that hold traces of darkness around them.
DM: The bands success seems to have come very quickly. How long were you a band before signing to Eyeball Records?
Gerard: Let’s see—January is when we started playing as a band. We signed around our third or fourth show. It’s been quick since the beginning.
DM: What were you doing with your lives before the band took off?
Gerard: I was doing animation in the city [New York]. I was actually doing toy design in Hoboken [New Jersey], and Frankie was going to school, Mikey was going to school, Otter was a mechanic, and Ray was delivering film I believe and interning and stuff like that for film. We all just weren’t happy doing what we were doing, ya know?
DM: Geoff from the band Thursday and Alex from Eyeball [Records] I know played a big part in the recording of your last CD.
Gerard: Yeah, definitely.
DM: Are they going to be playing any part on your CD that will be coming out?
Gerard: I don’t think so. Sometimes you want to use the same people sometimes you want to see what would happen with other people. I’m sure they’ll hear it and we’ll ask their opinions.
DM: So they’re not going to help produce?
Gerard: Nah.
DM: What made you guys decide that a major was the next best move?
Gerard: It was one of those things where everything else was moving really fast but we had been able to keep up with it, ya know? We had been able to keep up with the shows that we were getting which were like going from playing basements to playing in front of 10,000 people with Jimmy Eat World. So it went from that to that, and it seemed like a very natural progression. And although a lot of people think it seemed quick, all that talk and all that nonsense was happening before our record even came out. It was like, we basically not fought them off, but said hey we’re going to be a band and do that, ya know? And then when we’re ready…Actually it was a lot longer process than most bands that are getting signed today.
DM: What made Reprise the best label for you guys?
Gerard: It was the best company. They were very familiar with us. We had a lot of fans at the company before we had signed. We had a lot of people helping out before we had signed.
DM: And they understand where you guys wanted to go musically, as a band?
Gerard: Yeah, exactly. That was the big thing. They knew where we wanted to go, they knew how we wanted to do things, and they were going to let us do it our way. Very low pressure type thing. Just kind of let us be us and you distribute us.
DM: When is the new album due out?
Gerard: We’re hoping it will come out in about in about spring. We’re going to record in January. We don’t have a producer yet. We’re looking at a few people and they’re looking at us. So it’s kind of that whole game right now.
DM: Do you have a title yet?
Gerard: Yeah, it’s called Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge. And it was a title that… we pretty much known the title for the first record before it was finished and as soon as we were done with that I kind of knew what I wanted the title to be for the second. So it’s kind of in the process where I kind of know what I want the third to be too.
DM: Is it a trilogy type thing?
Gerard: No. This one’s different from the last and it’s more fictitious, but it’s still heartfelt. And it’s more of a concept record than the last one, where the last one was more of an autobiography. But the next one’s more of a concept album about a person; the next one after that I don’t what know what it will be.
DM: While you guys have been on tour you’ve been playing new songs live and they seem to be heavier. Would you say that is the direction you guys are going in?
Gerard: Well, yeah. The heavier stuffs heavier. The heavy stuff we did before is definitely heavier now. Those same elements are there; we’re just spending a little more time on the heavy stuff. But at the same time I think there’s way more melody. Maybe not in the stuff we’re playing out live, but it’s more violently happy. But it’s also very ironically bleak ya know, as far as tone goes.
DM: Track seven on your CD [I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love] is called Skylines and Turnstiles. Is it true that it was inspired by September 11?
Gerard: Yeah, and in fact that event happening was a big thing about why we started the band because, I was on my to a meeting with Cartoon Network and then that happened and I was like what the fuck am I doing with my life.
DM: You saw it happen? You were in the city?
Gerard: Yeah, I was in Hoboken, on the way there. I was right across the river and I was on my way in right around that, very close to that area, but more around Canal, and I was like what the fuck am I doing?
DM: It made you feel like life’s too short and you need to go for what you want?
Gerard: Yeah, yeah exactly. Like obviously life is way too short, you don’t know when your numbers coming and I also felt like I wasn’t making a difference at all, ya know what I mean?
DM: There are a couple theories circulating about your repeated mention of vampires in your lyrics. Can you clear that up?
Gerard: It’s a metaphor for being in your twenties and getting sucked into that singles, alcoholic nightlife culture, ya know what I mean? It’s interesting, because you’ll find that a lot of bands use the supernatural as a gimmick, and that’s really all it is, it’s just like horror punk, and that’s all it is. We’re not really into vampires. I like to wear black, but…
Contact [email protected] for more about My Chemical Romance. Check them out on select Warped Tour Dates later this year
A CONVERSATION WITH GERARD WAY from theboyzine.com 1/18/2015
“Gerard way is the renaissance-type singer songwriter // Goth prince frontman // comic bookartist // proud father best known for both his solo music and his band My Chemical Romance.We got a chance to ask him a few questions in early January. Enjoy!
What is your favorite animal?
I would have to say an ape; for a long time I didn’t take the time to know the difference between primates, but my wife and I have been really into animals—apes are just very gentle creatures.
As an emotional professional, how do you feel when people tell you to man up?
You know, growing up as a boy you are always told not to show your emotions, that it is a sign of weakness. I have been lucky enough to lead a life where I can celebrate how I really feel—but there is still negative attention towards it and it is still considered weakness.
Is there a point, then, where one does need to (for lack of a better word) man up?
You know I really don’t like that phrase. “man up”, because it implies that emotional strength in rough times is a masculine trait, when in reality some of the strongest people I know are women. But yes, there are a lot of times when you should control your emotions– times of crisis and need where you really can’t let them get involved. I have learned to pull my emotions out of a lot of big decisions.
You often make it a point to spread the message of gender equality in your shows. Could you describe that a little bit?
It is something I have been lucky enough to be educated about. I generally try to pay attention to it, make sure I get my facts from the best sources and whatnot, and I really relate to it. I never really subscribed to the archetype masculinity growing up, I had no interest in sports or anything like that. There was a time where I was called a girl so often that when I discovered the idea of transgenderism I considered myself to be more of a girl. So I identify with trans people and women a lot because I was a girl to a lot of people growing up. When I was doing MCR I think I finally got to display my femininity through the glam theatrical aspects of the band. It made me feel more hopeful, that I was allowed to be flamboyant. I want to make sure women and men and everyone in between feel safe and empowered.
Was there a person or thing that first sparked your interest in feminism?
When I was around 16 I became friends with these really cool girls, and that’s how I got exposed to Bikini Kill, Helium, Bratmobile—that was the real punk. All the other hardcore scenes at the time were a little bit hypermasculine and violent, which was totally unappealing to me. But here are these bands—Bikini Kill, et cetera that were actually talking about important things. That was real punk. Great bands.
What sort of advice can you offer to all of us boyz reading?
You have to surround yourself with ‘the others’. Whether they’re the creatives that you know or whatever it is. Because you guys will feed each other, that’s the nature of people. Find companions who will push you in the field you are in.
Do you hang onto traces of boyishness? Comics and digging up worms?
Well first off I don’t consider those things boyish. I am really happy that things like comics have become less marketed specifically toward boys—did you know that 50 percent of comic book readers are girls now? There is a really great picture I saw one time of a little girl with all the spiderman toys in a toy store clearly angry that they were in the ‘boys’ section. We need to let kids have more freedom of choice in who they want to be.
But answering your question, I have always been super into comic books. I didn’t really ever like sports, so I played dungeons and dragons a lot. That was a really important creative outlet for me. Of course I still love Star wars, and biking.
How do you find ways to stay positive?
Society is so interconnected these days, there is so much noise. It is really important I think to turn the noise down, to find ways to do so. Whether you’re in a creative field or not, you need to find a way to follow what is in your gut because that noise that is so obstructive is creeping. Think about the art you make, the people you love.
My routine is really simple but important to me. I wake up every morning and my wife and I get our daughter ready for school and I drive her there. And that’s when work begins for me. I am lucky that one day I can be recording a new song and the next I am putting all of my energy into a comic.
Do you consider your marriage to be a partnership?
I am very glad you asked. I consider my whole family dynamic a three way partnership actually. My wife and I have been partners since day one, and now our daughter is the newest addition to the mix. Of course we have different duties to each other—my wife and my job is to educate my daughter and make her feel great and teach her how to work hard, to let her choose what she loves. That’s very important to us. It is great coming home from the road because Lindsay (my wife) and I get to work together more.
Thank you so much for doing this interview, is there anything we haven’t touched that you want to say?
Don’t chase your dreams, let your dreams chase you
