Tune in this Monday the 20th to catch Gerard and Bob on Steven’s Untitled Rock Show. They recently stopped by the studios to talk with Tom Delonge about their upcoming album, touring, and Tom’s new company Macbeth. Head over to macbethfootwear.com for more info. And click here for a pic of Gerard and Bob w/Tom”
“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?
F: 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. F: 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! F: [sad tone] Yeah, yeah… I: She was bragging about it all over the internet. F: I know… L: How do you feel about these things? F: 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? F: 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* F: How could you not love Bob?!
I: When you started out, did you ever imagine being nominated for 4 VMA’s against Green Day?
F: No, not at all! I: How crazy is that?! F: 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? F: 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? B: It was tiring really. F: 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! B: 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. B: 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? B: I … *thinks* Kind of. I guess so. F: 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 horseriding on the beach. F: *laughs* I don’t think he’s that horseriding-on-the-beach type of guy. B: No. I wanna go skydiving one of these days. F: I’m not!!! I: Why not? F: 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. F: 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.
M: 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. M: 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. B: Did they flat iron his hair too? F: 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? F: Hide objects in it? He might. B: *thinks* I don’t think so. *All giggle*
I: Another question they asked is: if your tourbus driver got ill, who would you trust to drive it?
F: Bob. I: Yeah? Why? F: Cos he’s done it before. B: 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. B: 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… B: Red Bull. I: Hey, that’s two words! B: Oh sorry! *laughs* F: Coffee. B: There you go, coffee. Fun! (All at the same time) Proud. F: Prun! *grins*
M: Yeah. B: How about proud-fun? I: We’ll make that a new forum-word! B: Prun.
I: Have you ever read any of the fanfictions people write about you? *guys laugh* M: 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. F: Oh really? We’re the hottest couple? B: That’s amazing. I: That’s actually one of the most active parts of the forum, the fanfiction section. F: 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? B: High fives. F: 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! F: 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. F: *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! F: Yeah, Prison is like a band favourite. B: 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? F: 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. F: 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?
F: 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? F: 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. F: 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* F: 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? F: 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. B: Bam! *points* All time favourite sad song? M: the Smiths – Asleep. That’s the fucking saddest song ever. B: That Jimmy Eat World song off of that show.. F: Angel song? B: Yeah. F: Oh yeah. Ah, geez, Angel Angel. Oh, right, ready? *flips through book again* F: 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. B: We’re very proud of ourselves! F: 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 on adrenaline for the rest of the day. The guys were lovely and very happy to see that all of you had posted so many questions for them. Thank you forum members, and thanks My Chemical Romance for making this all happen!
“Roadie for a Day!
05-28-2004
My Chemical Romance is giving you the chance to be a Roadie For A Day on their leg of the Warped Tour.
Ten (10) winners will be chosen to be Roadie For A Day. You read it right, ten. Each winner will recieve one (1) All Access pass, a $10 per diem and a special package from My Chemical Romance and etnies.
Tour Dates:
6/25 Reliant Center @ Reliant Park at Houston , TX
6/26 Smirnoff Music Center at Dallas , TX
6/27 Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre at Selma , TX
6/29 New Mexico State University Practice Fie at Las Cruces , NM
6/30 Peoria Sports Complex at Peoria , AZ
7/01 California State University at Fullerton , CA
7/02 California State University at Fullerton , CA
7/03 Pier 30/32 at San Francisco , CA
7/04 Desert Breeze Park at Las Vegas , NV
7/06 Coors Amphitheatre at Chula Vista , CA
7/07 Seaside Park at Ventura , CA
7/08 Sleep Train Amphitheatre at Marysville , CA
7/09 Idaho Center at Nampa , ID
7/10 The Gorge at George , WA
7/11 Columbia Meadows at Saint Helens , OR
7/13 Thunderbird Stadium at Vancouver, BC ,
7/15 Race City Speedway at Calgary, AB ,
7/16 Gallatin County Fairgrounds at Bozeman , MT
7/17 Utah State Fairpark at Salt Lake City , UT
7/18 Invesco Field @ Mile HIgh at Denver , CO
7/24 Tweeter Center at Tinley Park , IL
CONTEST CLOSED!”
etnies.com 2004
source: web.archive.org
original titles for tracks on three cheers for sweet revenge”
“The final tracks for the record have been determined. They are:
(in no particular order)
1. To the End
2. Give ‘em Hell, Kid
3. Thank you for the Venom
4. The Ghost of You
5. I never told you what I do for a living
6. Cemetery Drive
7. Hang ’em High
8. You know what they do to guys like us in Prison
9. Helena
10. If we’re not careful, We’ll turn into Catholics
11. It’s not a fashion statemen, it’s a fucking deathwish
12. I Promise it’s the last time
13. The Jetset lifestyle will kill you”
from mychemicalromance.com 2004
source: web.archive.org
chemical burn by jeff schechter 06/2004 amp scans from mcrhollywood
“THE LIGHTS DIM, AND WITH THE CROWD MILLING AROUND THE energy amongst the young fans in attendance at the Majestic Café in Detroit seemed like a pocket of gas, pent up and ready to erupt. Like a match struck, My Chemical Reaction hit the stage with an explosive presence and the room goes from dormant to devastation. “The crowd’s energy was amazing tonight,” says singer Gerard Way, “The kids climbing up and diving offstage; man that’s why we love Detroit.”
Tearing through a set interwoven with fan favorites, and songs off the impending release on Reprise Records: Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, My Chemical Romance left the stage littered with equipment, and the crowd screaming for more.
Since the release of the debut, I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love in the summer of 2002, it has been a relative landslide of hype about the band. Well- deserved hype at that. From starting the fire on the Warped Tour, to tour-ing constantly throughout the United States, My Chemical Romance has established a heightened state of street credibility and a much wider fan base, as well as a growing energy in their songs and stage performance. Described as an explosion of rage and integrity, whether at one of their shows, sweating and screaming right along with singer Gerard Way, or enchanted by the melodies of “Demolition Lovers” screaming from a stereo, all in question have to agree that My Chemical Romance is a prevalent force to be reckoned with in the years ahead.
Recently signing with the major, Reprise Records, My Chemical Romance jumped right back to work after relentless touring that has spanned the United States and much of Europe; in the UK, Germany, Holland, and Spain. As they now come into their own, My Chemical Romance does not plan on taking their music, newfound position, or their fans for granted. Like a snake full of fresh venom, My Chemical Romance curl up to attack, back in the studio recording what is described as, the darkest and hardest music to date by singer Gerard Way. After such intense songs as “Headfirst for Halos” and “Cubicles” it will be an anxious wait to see what this fresh young band will crank out next.
“We went for a grainy, dirty sound, trying to capture the intensity of our live performance on the album,” stated guitarist Frank lero. “We werea bit apprehensive, waiting to seehow the label treated us in the studio. But it worked out great, Reprise gave us creative license to create the sort of record we wanted, this is definitely the record we set out to make.” After a debut record that made such an impact, receiving acclaim from Keith Morris of Black Flag, and the Circle Jerks fame, it will be quite a thing to see how the band has approached their sophomore effort. “Keith Morris is one of my musical idols,” lero admits with enthusiasm, “He contacted the band, and expressed how much of a fan he was of what we were doing. He is actually on Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge. That is one of my greatest experiences so far, writing a piece of music for one of my heroes to perform on our new record.”
My Chemical Romance is like a chemical reaction leaving all things in their wake changed forever. These guys come right off a freight train of rock and roll fury; first stop, right in your face. Raw talent, dark lyrics, and heavy angst cover the debut I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love. Layered musical tent coupled with a fierce sense of annihilation unleash an addiction for My Chemical Romance that is manifested in their solid, loyal fan base. Such a diverse sound was cultivated from the individuals in the bands different tastes.
“We are all different guys, musically,” says lero. With tastes from Brit-Pop, to classically trained guitarists, and hardcore punk rock enthusiasts, My Chemical Romance is a melting pot of beautifully chaotic sounds. “Heading back into the studio, we were anticipating it to be more difficult, so having a lot of ideas already prepared helped in the process.” lero comments on the recording process, “As a band we wanted to capture the live aspects of our shows, because we didn’t feel that the first record did our live performance the justice it deserves.” While exuberant in the youth of My Chemical Romance, this band has paid their dues, and it is like.breaths of fresh air to have such an original band make such an impact in so short a time. Hailing from the turbulent streets of urban New Jersey, the tale of My Chemical Romance chases these five young men back to the days of high school. As acquaintances in younger con-years, the members of My Chemical Romance were tried and true members of the local music scene. It was in their own individual bands that they began a fledgling approach to the world of an indie-rock movement. As time goes, so did the bands, and they all head off in separate directions, seeking separate paths. Keeping in touch over the years, it became apparent that each man’s path wasn’t leading to the places they had imagined. Singer Gerard Way was living in his mom’s basement, making transit to New York City doing animation, when he called up drummer Matt Pelissier, and found they were both in precarious limbos. Not sure where they were headed, the two got together to play some music. After rounding out the roster with Ray Toro and guitar and Mikey Way on bass, the seething seed of My Chemical Romance was born. lero recalls the early days, “After they had all gotten together, Gerard, Ray, Matt and Mikey, I was a huge fan of the music they were making. After the band I was in at the time split up, they decided to get another guitarist, and asked me to join.” The story behind the band is as captivating as the music they create. “This new record is really gonna blow up, it is just as true to what was done with ‘Bullets’ but more energetic and over the top. I can’t wait for the fans to get their hands on the new record. We are set up to tour so much in the next year; I forget what my house looks like already.”
With the release of Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge slated for June, the growing fever of the band’s energy criss-crosses the nation with Avenged Sevenfold on a tour that kicks off in Detroit April 3rd, also look forward to them on this summer’s Warped Tour www.warped-tour.com. With all that lay ahead of them, it is impossible to see just how far My Chem’s signature sound can go. You can check them out online at www.mychemicalromance.com, or wait and find My Chemical Romance in your town, tearing a relative black hole for the masses to peer into throughout the country. In the opinion of this writer, the harder they rock, the darker the better.“
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
My Chemical Romance – Frank Iero interview with Bobby from thepunksite.com
May 19th, 2005 Rexall Place – Edmonton, Alberta
As My Chemical Romance passed through Edmonton as the sole opener for the Green Day North American tour, Frank Iero was nice enough to sit down with me and answer a few questions. He was really cool and gave some intelligent answers and made for a great interview. My friend Jacey helped with some questions and pops in a few times during the interview. Thanks a lot to Frank for doing the interview and to Laura for setting it up. Enjoy!
Please Note: All pictures were taken, without permission, from the band’s site.
Bobby: Starting with the simple questions, you guys have been touring with Green Day for quite a while now. How has that been going?
Frank: Oh man, it’s been amazing. I can’t believe tomorrows our last day. It’s one of those things that you get the phone call, and since you were thirteen you wanted to tour with Green Day, at least play a show or see them or something; and when they ask you to tour with them, it kind of blows your mind. You don’t think that they are asking the right band. But this tour has been amazing. We’ve go to hang out with our heroes who treat us like peers. And we get to watch Green Day every night, so that’s pretty cool.
Bobby: Has there been any really memorable moments from it so far?
Frank: Ah man, there’s so many. I mean, the shows are just insane. The shows are unlike any shows we’ve ever played. The kids are great. In fact, it shows that we’ve been playing really well because it takes a while to get used to an arena, you know? But there’s also other memorable stuff that we’ve done outside of the show on the tour. Just hanging out. Like we all went to go see Star Wars together, the other day we went to a Water Park in town. You know what I’m talking about? That was ridiculous.
Bobby/Jacey: Yeah. The one in the mall?
Frank: Yeah, that one. They take us on dates and stuff, it’s really cool.
Bobby: How did you end up getting the opening spot? Like did they just call you, or what?
Frank: Basically, that’s how it happened. The way things work is that a tour will be planned for a headlining band. And then support bands will submit for the tour and say “Hey, we’d love to go out with you”, you know, “consider us.” So I guess we submitted for it, and they picked us. It was ridiculous too because there’s only two bands and that’s really unheard of these days. Usually it’s like a three band bill, four band bill. And for us just to be us and Green Day… It’s not like they picked us because they needed us to sell tickets or something, like they didn’t need us at all. They just liked our band, and that was really flattering.
Bobby: You guys also recently ended the Taste of Chaos tour with The Used. How was that?
Frank: That was fun. That tour was really different because it was a lot of bands that we had toured with back in the day. Bands like Underoath, Senses Fail, and A Static Lullaby we tour with… I guess two years ago and we were doing hundred person rooms, three hundred person rooms. And The Used we toured with a bunch. So it was like all our friends getting together. And when all our friends got together, we could play arenas; and that was really weird. We’d all kind of look at each other and say “Is this real?” But I guess that’s the beauty of it.
Bobby: On the tour, for your encore you guys and The Used did a cover of Queen and David Bowie’s “Under Pressure” and now you are selling it on iTunes. Why did you decide to do that song?
Frank: Well, it was one of those things that Bert brought up and said “I really want to cover this song; I think it would be awesome if both our bands did it.” And we were like “O yeah, that’s rad!” We love Queen. We love David Bowie. But a lot of things in the industry happen where it’s like “Let’s do this!” and then it never happens. So I guess fortunately, and unfortunately… Unfortunately the tragedy happened and fortunately the song came into fruition because we wanted to do something for the disaster. So I think that kind of sparked it. We recorded our parts in L.A. right before we did the “Helena” video; and the Used did, I think, some of it in L.A. and I think Bert recorded his vocals in England. So it was weird, we were never in the same room or anything like that when we did the song. So the first time we ever did it live was a test. We did it once or twice, and they were gonna film a DVD for the tour and were like “O, it would be great if you guys both did it because you’re both here, it would be really cool.” And we’re like “Alright, we’ll try it.” We were excited to play anyway and then it was just one of those things where it was just fun to do every night, so we just did it.
Bobby: Did they film a DVD for the tour?
Frank: I believe so.
Bobby: Do you know when it will come out?
Frank: Nope, I have no clue.
Bobby: With the release of “Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge”, you guys have skyrocketed up the popularity chain, especially here in Canada. You guys went from playing for 100 kids at Warped Tour to selling out arenas at the Taste Of Chaos and opening for Green Day. Why do you think that is?
Frank: It’s one of those things where you start out, you form a band and you write some songs in your basement and you put out a demo or a record on an indie label and you just tour because you love to do what you do. Then you run into kids on the road and they say that they enjoy your art and say that you’ve changed their life in a certain way and that’s the best compliment you can get. It makes you feel like you’re really doing something, like you’re actually changing the world. We haven’t stopped working since those days, so to take a step back be like “O wow, we’ve come this far” – that really doesn’t happen. All I know is that more kids are coming out. I have two plaques in my room, I don’t know, but I don’t see them – I’m never home. Why did that happen? I’d like to think that people heard it and knew that we were a real band and that we had something to say and enjoyed that and took that to heart. I hope that’s the reason. We’ve worked really hard. Maybe that’s it. Maybe God likes us, I don’t know.
Bobby: Do you guys think that that humongous leap in popularity could ever turn into a bad thing?
Frank: I think that anytime a large number of people hear your music and enjoy your music, that’s a good thing. I’m not stupid; I know that a lot of those people could be fair-weather fans. There’s definitely a lot more “Gerard, you’re so cute” rather then “play this song”. That’s a shame. Hopefully the kids who bought the record now and bought it because they think Gerard’s really cute will listen to the record and learn about the band and grow into it and realize why they really like it. If they don’t, that’s fine. If they’re not there tomorrow, we’ll still be doing this and we’ll still be doing this for the people that do get it.
Bobby: How did you get in contact with Reprise Records to release the album?
Frank: Well, here’s the thing. Do you remember Thursday? When they were huge – well, they are on hiatus right now, but like when they got signed, there was a signing frenzy, you know what I mean? Labels were just salivating to sign any band form New Jersey. Kids that had black hair. Kids that wrote about New Brunswick or anything. Anyone from New Jersey was getting signed and you could see that a lot because anybody that was in a band from New Jersey got signed. We were a band for maybe, maybe, two months; and major labels were calling the practice studio that we were practicing in, and that was really weird. We were just like “This is kind of bull shit. You don’t want to sign us; you just want to sign the next Thursday. We’re not going to do this.” We signed to Eyeball, put out an indie record and toured for a while because that’s what we wanted to do. We wanted to make something on our own and it’s a lot better when you work for something. And then we felt it was time to make a jump, or take the next step. Eyeball couldn’t reach the amount of people that we really wanted to reach. We toured a lot without the record being really anywhere. And we were like “you know what; we’re not going to sign to another label unless we find something that really gets us and it feels like a family.” And one day we were contacted by Reprise. Reprise, Warner, same thing. And we signed for the company. Everybody that works with our band gets us. They wanted us to be My Chemical Romance, they didn’t want us to be The Used, they didn’t want us to be Thursday or whatever. And that was amazing for us. There was no stipulations, its was just go out, be a band and write songs that you love to write. So we were like “alright!” and we did. I really don’t think they thought they were going to get a really good record, and I think we wrote a really good record so we’ve never regretted that decision.
Bobby: What’s it like switching from a small independent like Eyeball to a major like Warner Music?
Frank: You feel like people are behind you, you know what I mean? It’s weird; I always thought that it would feel less like you have people behind you because it’s such a big company with so many bands. But a lot of people have our backs. A lot of people are pushing for this band to do well and for us to reach our goals. We really just have a lot of help and that’s a great thing and there’s people at the label that really believe in you and their job is to, basically, make sure you get what you want. If we wanted to, let’s say, do another David Bowie cover, they would make that happen; and that’s awesome you know. That’s really the only difference, and your record is everywhere.
Bobby: Yeah, because it’s hard to find your first one. All my friends are looking for it and can’t find it.
Frank: For that, we just say go on the internet and find it.
Bobby: I gotta ask this because I love your videos, like we were watching them at my house last night. “Helena” and “I’m Not Okay”, where did you come up with all the concepts of the video?
Frank: Because we’re just nerds. That’s how it is. We sit in our van or our bus, bus now, and just talk about stupid stuff. Read comic books and watch movies. And then the label’s like “We want to do a video” and we’re like “Okay, this is what we want to do.” Then we found a director, his name is Mark Webb. He did both our videos and he’s directing our new video that we are doing in… actually three days. And he’s like “alright, I think we should do this” and we wanted to do this, so we just kind of mixed it all together. Same thing with “Helena,” although “Helena” was a little bit easier only because I left it up to Gerard. It was about his grandmother, him and Mikey. It was their homage to her. It was creepy, because I was at the actual funeral and it resembled the funeral almost to a T. It was really weird. And some of that you wanted, and some of that just happened. But with the dancing and everything like that, well we always try to have an uplifting theme. I think our music is very ironic in that we’ll have a dark theme with heavy music and a darker theme with an uplifting message.
Bobby: You just said you’re shooting a video in three days, for what song?
Frank: “The Ghost Of You.”
Bobby: Do you have any ideas as to what the concept is going to be?
Frank: Yes. But I can’t tell you. Sorry. It’s going to be huge. I promise you this, it’s going to be more like a movie then any other video we’ve done and it’s going to be enormous. Yeah, we’ve thought this out a lot. It could really, really suck, but we hope it doesn’t.
Bobby: Now I’m looking forward to seeing this video. How do you guys pick what songs you want to be singles?
Frank: Well, it’s one of those things where when we wrote the record we had ideas for what songs we wanted to hear on the radio, but we didn’t really decide any. It was kind of like “we like all our songs, you’re the label, and you decide which ones to put out.” And they were like “okay, put this one out. Put this one out. Put this one out.” If, after this one, they do another, I hope it’s “Prison.”
Bobby: On the “I’m Not Okay” video, Gerard says “I don’t wanna make it, I just wanna…” and then it cuts to the music. Can you finish that sentence for us? “I don’t wanna make it, I just wanna…”
Frank: See, the original line was… well, it summed up the entire cheesiness of the teen movie type thing. It was “I just wanna rock!” And it was just too much. We wrote a million other things, “I just wanna be myself”… ah, what were the other ones… there were so many. But we just left it open because I think you get a lot more out of it if you just leave it open and put whatever you want to put in there. In that scene, Gerard is like every kid. He’s me, he’s you, he’s everyone. It’s like, you know what, a lot of people are told they aren’t going to make it, but just do what you do best and live your life. Live it for yourself, and really just fuck everybody else.
Bobby: A lot of punk “elitists” are starting to complain about the whole “emo” trend. Guys wearing makeup, and wearing girls pants. Mark Adkins from Guttermouth went on a huge rant about it all on their site and even went to the limit of calling Gerard a “fat pink raccoon.” What’s your opinion on all of that?
Frank: I think, he’s a racist, he’s a sexist, he’s homophobic, he’s a hateful person, and it’s just wrong. We could all sit here and call people names and hate people for the way they dress or the music they like or just the things that they think are cool. But that doesn’t make us any better. It’s an awful thing where you have such a soap box, like you have a lot of fans that are into your band, and you use that to spew hate. I guess that’s his opinion.
Bobby: You guys are also heavily involved in the Shirts For A Cure project and have a total of four t-shirts on there now. Why are you guys so involved in that?
Frank: Because it’s a good cause. Definitely, maybe this sounds dumb or naive, but when I started playing music and when I started growing up, all I ever wanted to do was to change the world in some way. Make a foot print. I think the worst thing you could possibly do is to live your life and have the world be the same way it was before you were here as it is after. I think that we’re here for a reason and if we don’t do something to make the world a better place, then we just wasted everyone’s time. And if we can do something as small as put t-shirts on website and raise money for a cure, then we’re going to do that.
Bobby: Okay, if you guys could pick one person or band, dead or alive, to tour with, who would you pick to tour with and why?
Frank: Oh man… Definitely the original Misfits line up because they are just amazing. The Clash would be amazing. The bands that I grew listening to, like Black Flag. Man, if I could tour with Black Flag with Keith Morris singing, like the original line up, that would be amazing. Yeah, bands like that.
Bobby: Okay, now onto to more unusual questions that I like to ask at all interviews. First off all, if you guys were stranded on a desert island, with no food and nothing to eat, which one of the band members would you eat to survive?
Frank: Wow. O man. It definitely wouldn’t be Mikey, because he’s got nothing. I don’t know. I wouldn’t eat Gerard or Bob because they are just great company, and I wouldn’t eat Toro because he’d probably be the one to figure out a way off the island. So I’d probably have to eat my own leg.
Bobby: If you were the member of the opposite sex for a day, or a week, or whoever long you wanted, what would you do and why?
Frank: Man, what would I do…? I’d probably get lower car insurance. I don’t know, what would I do… that’s a good question, I’ve never really thought about it.
Bobby: Yeah, not many people do.
Frank: Yeah, I don’t know. Nothing is ringing a bell. Sorry. I’d probably just sit home and eat chocolate cake, that’s all I would do.
Bobby: Okay, here’s a question from my friend Tyson, he’s wanted me to ask this at an interview for so long now. Rosie O’Donnell or Whoopi Goldberg. Who would you do?
Frank: Wow… Christ… Man, there’s no like secret C choice?
Jacey: No happy medium.
Frank: Man. Could I at least give Whoopi Goldberg eyebrows?
Bobby: Yeah.
Frank: Okay, Whoopi Goldberg with eyebrows.
Bobby: Could you tell us something about the band or one of its members that not many people know about? Like a little quirk or something that do on the road.
Frank: Umm, okay, let’s see. I’m trying to think of things that won’t embarrass anybody. One thing, just one?
Bobby: Well, how ever many you want to tell us.
Frank: I’ll give you one about everybody. Ray’s never around. Ray will constantly be on his phone, playing a video game or playing guitar in the back lounge with earphones on. Like you will not see him, you do not see him at all. That kid is dedicated to technology completely. Bob is addicted to “24” – the television show. Mikey will be broke at the age of thirty, but have every DVD, comic book, and video game known to man. Gerard, this is probably widely known, but I will assure you, Gerard is as close to genius as you could possibly get.
Bobby: Okay, I guess that’s about it. Do you have any final thoughts you want to add?
Frank: Whatever you do, don’t ever be full of shit.
Bobby: Alright, thanks a lot for doing the interview.
Frank: I appreciate it man.
source: thepunksite.com
“Musician Interview with: Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance”
Recently, I chatted with Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance and below is what he had to say: FLES: What are your favorite songs from “Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge?”
Gerard: The most special song to me is ‘Helena,’ which is about my grandma. I think my Favorite song to play live and my favorite on the record is ‘You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Prison.’ I think it’s very important for us as a band to write songs like prison because it’s kind of constantly breaking boundaries of what could be done by a modern rock band and still work. I think it’s important to do those things and take risks. I think it’s the most important song on the record for that reason.
FLES: When you went into the studio to record the album how many songs did you have and how did you decide which ones would make it onto the album?
Gerard: We actually went into pre production with not that many, I think we had about half a record, then we got really inspired and ended up writing a whole bunch of songs, tweaking sections of songs we previously had and fragments [of songs] became songs. We had become so inspired we got finished with reproduction a week early. I’d say there really isn’t anything left over, but like two songs. One of which was kind of a joke and the other one was an acoustic thing we wanted actually wanted to have the whole band but by then we didn’t have time to redo it.
FLES: How long did it take to record the album?
Gerard: I think only two months. I think we would have gotten it done a little faster than that but [producer] Howard [Benson] wanted to kind of paced the record because we started moving so quickly, because it was so spontaneous. He said, sometimes if you make a record too fast it gets away from you then when your done with it you realize there’s lots of stuff wrong with it. So there were lot of moments were [we] had to stop for a few days here and there.
FLES: How do you decide which songs are releases as singles?
Gerard: We don’t. I think it’s the smartest thing a band can do is not to decide what your singles are because then you don’t write songs to be singles. We let the label decide. That way you can literally honestly say to yourself we don’t write singles, we write records, and you can really retain your artistic Integrity that way. So we gave them [Warner Brothers] the record literally sight unseen and said “here pick the singles, if you find any at all.” They found four, at one point there were six songs they were very excited about, then decided on four of them.
FLES: What was your reaction the first time you heard one of your songs on the radio?
Gerard: It was off our first record, [I Brought You My Bullets You Brought Me Your Love], and I heard ‘Vampires Will Never Hurt You,’ on a college radio station and it was probably the biggest thing to me in the world. To this day, even hearing “Revenge” songs on commercial radio isn’t as big a deal as that first time hearing it on just a college radio station. I think it had like a hundred mile radius.
FLES: Does the band have any plans to release a live CD/DVD?
Gerard: We have been filming footage since the last warped tour and we still have a camera out. I don’t know, we’re talking about it. We feel usually people will put out DVD’s in order to sell as many DVD’s as they did records. That to us is kind of a cheap and sleazy thing to do, ‘cuz their hot at the moment so lets rush a DVD together and get it out. If we put one out it’s going to be because we have so much footage that really tells the complete story of the band as far as we when we had signed to a major [label] the process of recording a record, making the record, and then busting our ass touring on it for the whole time. I think, if we get enough footage to warrant a DVD, we’ll have one. Live CD is something we never actually talked about. We’re kind of one of those bands you need to see live in order to get it. We don’t know if a live CD would work for us but it might, I don’t know.
FLES: Well, we’ve seen MCR about 5 times in concert and I think a live CD would be a great. I think you guys are really good live.
Gerard: Thank you very much. I think it would be cool. Maybe in between not this record or the next but after the next record it might be a good idea to put out a live CD.
FLES: How much preparation went into planning and performing “Under Pressure” with The Used?
Gerard: I’d say a fair amount, not a lot. As far as preparation it was really just go ahead and do it. Two bands in two separate countries we had a very small window of opportunity in which to do it. Two of my guys flew out a day early to LA before we started some tour and I was out there and did my vocals. The Used based off of our template of the song put their parts over it and then it was together. We didn’t play it live together until a week into the Taste of Chaos tour. It was pretty much let’s go head and go this. We tried it for two sound checks then we played it live.
FLES: Is iTunes the only place to purchase the song?
Gerard: Yes.
FLES: Will My Chemical Romance and The Used collaborate on more songs in the future?
Gerard: It’s hard to say. We’re such good friends and we’ve known each other for a long time, I’m sure that’s a possibility. We love collaborating it’s a very cool thing to do; especially if it’s for the right reasons. The thing about Under Pressure, it was for a good cause.
FLES: Do you have any Idea how much money the song raised for the Tsunami Relief?
Gerard: I Believe when it came out $25,000 dollars was initially raised and I think it’s still up in the top three (at the time of this Interview) at iTunes and still raising a lot of money.
FLES: Has the popularity of My Chemical Romance taken you by surprise?
Gerard: It really has. We really believed in ourselves. We believed in the music, we believed in the record, I think a lot more than a lot of other people did. We kind of always knew it was going to be something very big, in terms of speaking to people but we were very surprised by the same element were not use to we’re use to being normal guys. That’s the whole idea behind the band that were very private normal people that when we get onstage we become like these extraordinary characters almost like superhero’s that’s kind of how it works. It started carrying to offstage and we became really the same offstage and that was really strange for us and it’s harder to deal with especially if your bunch of guys that are just like geeky comic book nerds that have no privacy.
FLES: Where Do You See My Chemical Romance say five years from now?
Gerard: In five years, I would see us getting ready to put out a new record after the next one. We’ll probably put out another record after this then tour extensively on it. Then I’d like to see the band take a break for a little while to reevaluate themselves as individuals and as a band and to kind of evolve again as a band, I think that’s really needs to happen and I think some of that stuff only happens from breaks. I see us probably as almost a completely different sounding band with the same ethics. Maybe on a different level I’m not really sure. I know we’ll still be doing this though.
FLES: Any idea when the next album will come out?
Gerard: We want it to come out two years to the [release] day of Revenge. We probably would have called the record sooner but Revenge ended up doing so well that we’re going to continue to tour on it.
FLES: What was it like for you to tour with Green Day?
Gerard: We’ve been on it for about a week now and we’re probably on the seventh show. I’m going to say for the record they are the nicest guys we’ve ever met. We’ve never seen a band reach out to us so much in so many ways, in a live set, on a person level. They really make us feel like fellow musicians. We’ve toured with bands that were only slightly bigger than us or at our level that acted more like rock stars. They don’t even act like rock stars, they’re just a punk band and they put on the greatest, greatest fucking show in the world. I definitely think they’re the greatest rock band right now.
FLES: What are your thoughts on being nominated for “Golden gods” award?
Gerard: You know I just found out about that. I’m not very familiar with the golden gods award but I am very familiar with Metal Hammer who does those. Metal Hammer is a really supportive magazine and its really great. I wasn’t aware of the award but it feels awesome to be nominated for anything. We kind of stay away from press though, positive or negative, we kind of live in a bubble. It’s good to not want nominations and it’s good to not strive for nominations, If you get them it’s kind of like frosting, it’s a bonus. We were use to for so long being the band who was kind of underrated and we were use to not being nominated for stuff and use to being under the radar for so long even though, we felt we deserved a little more recognition. In a reader’s poll two months ago we were the most underrated band now were the most overrated band. It’s funny to go from underrated to overrated so quickly. You get so exposed it becomes less cool to be into your band.
FLES: I have a feeling My Chemical Romance will be nominated for quite a bit of awards in the future.
Gerard: Thank you. We have a good feeling about that stuff too.
FLES: Gerard, Thank you for your time.
Gerard: No problem. Thank you very much.
My Chemical Romance is from Newark, NJ and tour on a regular basis. Their music in on Warner Brothers Records and is available at the usual outlets. Online users may purchase their music at Amazon.com. For more band information visit the official My Chemical Romance website . To sample music by My Chemical Romance visit their page at myspace.com.
HT: Some people are just beginning to discover your success. How long has the band been together and jamming?
Gerard: The band has been together 3 years. Another interesting fact is that the band has yet to “jam.” It’s never been the kind of situation where we sit around and search for songs. The songs find us, we assemble, and put the pieces together.
HT: You guys write music that follows some type of concept. Does this help you write the music and do you mind giving us a breakdown of how a concept is brought to the writing table?
Gerard: The concepts for the songs almost always come from the music. How the music makes us feel dictates where the direction lies. Occasionally, the song concept will come from a long list of unused song titles I have sitting in my mom’s computer. They will sometimes find a home.
HT: If you were stranded on a deserted island with only 3 albums to jam out to, which ones would you choose?
Gerard: This is a tough one but I would probably go with The Queen Is Dead by The Smiths, Walk Among Us by The Misfits, and Music For Airports by Brian Eno.
Gerard: The band was nervous, scared, excited, and anxious but all very positive and looking forward to what we were about to make, which, by the way, had no definite shape or sound.
HT: You guys have been on tour forever! What’s one of the things you love most about being on the road?
Gerard: The camaraderie you share with your band mates and other bands is priceless. The victories and defeats you have everyday are immeasurable when compared to other lifestyles or careers. The risk and hardship are great but when you have 3,000 people sing back your words, you win like no one ever wins.
HT: Gerard, does anyone ever mistaken you for Billy Corgan?
Gerard: When I was younger, it would happen all the time. When he shaved his head, people thought I was him with a wig on. He is, in fact, a lot taller than me.
Gerard: We don’t get on the internet much, but when we do, some of our favorite sites are www.homestarrunner.com, www.absolutepunk.net, and www.americandreamcomics.comHT: We are in a new age of music with new gadgets to accommodate that music, and it’s pushing us into the future. How do you position yourself on music downloads, for or against?
Gerard: Downloading is a good thing, protected under the federal laws. The way I’ve always felt about music downloading is this. If you are curious and want to find out what a band sounds like, then go download it. If you like it, go buy it. If you hate it, well then there’s really no reason to buy it. But ultimately, a band’s record sales support them personally, so if you want the artist to be able to go live and work then you should pick up their music… for the cheapest price possible.
HT: What’s a question you wish was never asked from a fan or interview?
Gerard: Hmm…“Would you please bite me on the neck?”
source: web.archive.org
‘Skylines & Turnstiles’
R.P – In Skylines and Turnstiles awkward silence is mentioned – who out of the band is most likely to break an awkward silence first?
F – To break it…Mikey Way
R.P – And how?
F – Catchphrase!G – Hmm, I think Ray Toro right probably break an awkward silence.F – I had a different answerG – Who in the band likely to break an awkward silence. It’s a tie between Ray Toro making a joke or Frank making a smart ass comment. One of those two things will break up an awkward silence, me and Mikey will just sit there and let it go.
R.P – Slightly different from Frank’s answer
G – What…Who he say?
R.P – He said Mikey
G – AhF – CatchphraseG – That’s right!F – He just walks in a room and goes noonerG – Yeah that’s true, that’s trueF – Ahh so you were wrong!G – Well no it’s all agreed really, I think me and Mikey have the catchphrase thing. “
source: web.archive.org
merch from mychemicalromance.com 2004
01/12/2005 k rock concert for tsunami relief at starland ballroom sayreville nj source: gettyimages.com
01/12/2005 k rock concert for tsunami relief at starland ballroom sayreville nj source: gettyimages.com
and bonus just this one was crazy:
I know I should put what show but just be cool 😉 source: web.archive.org
My Chemical Romance – Frank Iero interview with Bobby from thepunksite.com May 19th, 2005 Rexall Place – Edmonton, Alberta As My Chemical Romance passed through Edmonton as the sole opener for the Green Day North American tour, Frank Iero was nice enough to sit down with me and answer a few questions. He was really cool and gave some intelligent answers and made for a great interview. My friend Jacey helped with some questions and pops in a few times during the interview. Thanks a lot to Frank for doing the interview and to Laura for setting it up. Enjoy! Please Note: All pictures were taken, without permission, from the band’s site. Bobby: Starting with the simple questions, you guys have been touring with Green Day for quite a while now. How has that been going? Frank: Oh man, it’s been amazing. I can’t believe tomorrows our last day. It’s one of those things that you get the phone call, and since you were thirteen you wanted to tour with Green Day, at least play a show or see them or something; and when they ask you to tour with them, it kind of blows your mind. You don’t think that they are asking the right band. But this tour has been amazing. We’ve go to hang out with our heroes who treat us like peers. And we get to watch Green Day every night, so that’s pretty cool. Bobby: Has there been any really memorable moments from it so far? Frank: Ah man, there’s so many. I mean, the shows are just insane. The shows are unlike any shows we’ve ever played. The kids are great. In fact, it shows that we’ve been playing really well because it takes a while to get used to an arena, you know? But there’s also other memorable stuff that we’ve done outside of the show on the tour. Just hanging out. Like we all went to go see Star Wars together, the other day we went to a Water Park in town. You know what I’m talking about? That was ridiculous. Bobby/Jacey: Yeah. The one in the mall? Frank: Yeah, that one. They take us on dates and stuff, it’s really cool. Bobby: How did you end up getting the opening spot? Like did they just call you, or what? Frank: Basically, that’s how it happened. The way things work is that a tour will be planned for a headlining band. And then support bands will submit for the tour and say “Hey, we’d love to go out with you”, you know, “consider us.” So I guess we submitted for it, and they picked us. It was ridiculous too because there’s only two bands and that’s really unheard of these days. Usually it’s like a three band bill, four band bill. And for us just to be us and Green Day… It’s not like they picked us because they needed us to sell tickets or something, like they didn’t need us at all. They just liked our band, and that was really flattering. Bobby: You guys also recently ended the Taste of Chaos tour with The Used. How was that? Frank: That was fun. That tour was really different because it was a lot of bands that we had toured with back in the day. Bands like Underoath, Senses Fail, and A Static Lullaby we tour with… I guess two years ago and we were doing hundred person rooms, three hundred person rooms. And The Used we toured with a bunch. So it was like all our friends getting together. And when all our friends got together, we could play arenas; and that was really weird. We’d all kind of look at each other and say “Is this real?” But I guess that’s the beauty of it. Bobby: On the tour, for your encore you guys and The Used did a cover of Queen and David Bowie’s “Under Pressure” and now you are selling it on iTunes. Why did you decide to do that song? Frank: Well, it was one of those things that Bert brought up and said “I really want to cover this song; I think it would be awesome if both our bands did it.” And we were like “O yeah, that’s rad!” We love Queen. We love David Bowie. But a lot of things in the industry happen where it’s like “Let’s do this!” and then it never happens. So I guess fortunately, and unfortunately… Unfortunately the tragedy happened and fortunately the song came into fruition because we wanted to do something for the disaster. So I think that kind of sparked it. We recorded our parts in L.A. right before we did the “Helena” video; and the Used did, I think, some of it in L.A. and I think Bert recorded his vocals in England. So it was weird, we were never in the same room or anything like that when we did the song. So the first time we ever did it live was a test. We did it once or twice, and they were gonna film a DVD for the tour and were like “O, it would be great if you guys both did it because you’re both here, it would be really cool.” And we’re like “Alright, we’ll try it.” We were excited to play anyway and then it was just one of those things where it was just fun to do every night, so we just did it. Bobby: Did they film a DVD for the tour? Frank: I believe so. Bobby: Do you know when it will come out? Frank: Nope, I have no clue. Bobby: With the release of “Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge”, you guys have skyrocketed up the popularity chain, especially here in Canada. You guys went from playing for 100 kids at Warped Tour to selling out arenas at the Taste Of Chaos and opening for Green Day. Why do you think that is? Frank: It’s one of those things where you start out, you form a band and you write some songs in your basement and you put out a demo or a record on an indie label and you just tour because you love to do what you do. Then you run into kids on the road and they say that they enjoy your art and say that you’ve changed their life in a certain way and that’s the best compliment you can get. It makes you feel like you’re really doing something, like you’re actually changing the world. We haven’t stopped working since those days, so to take a step back be like “O wow, we’ve come this far” – that really doesn’t happen. All I know is that more kids are coming out. I have two plaques in my room, I don’t know, but I don’t see them – I’m never home. Why did that happen? I’d like to think that people heard it and knew that we were a real band and that we had something to say and enjoyed that and took that to heart. I hope that’s the reason. We’ve worked really hard. Maybe that’s it. Maybe God likes us, I don’t know. Bobby: Do you guys think that that humongous leap in popularity could ever turn into a bad thing? Frank: I think that anytime a large number of people hear your music and enjoy your music, that’s a good thing. I’m not stupid; I know that a lot of those people could be fair-weather fans. There’s definitely a lot more “Gerard, you’re so cute” rather then “play this song”. That’s a shame. Hopefully the kids who bought the record now and bought it because they think Gerard’s really cute will listen to the record and learn about the band and grow into it and realize why they really like it. If they don’t, that’s fine. If they’re not there tomorrow, we’ll still be doing this and we’ll still be doing this for the people that do get it. Bobby: How did you get in contact with Reprise Records to release the album? Frank: Well, here’s the thing. Do you remember Thursday? When they were huge – well, they are on hiatus right now, but like when they got signed, there was a signing frenzy, you know what I mean? Labels were just salivating to sign any band form New Jersey. Kids that had black hair. Kids that wrote about New Brunswick or anything. Anyone from New Jersey was getting signed and you could see that a lot because anybody that was in a band from New Jersey got signed. We were a band for maybe, maybe, two months; and major labels were calling the practice studio that we were practicing in, and that was really weird. We were just like “This is kind of bull shit. You don’t want to sign us; you just want to sign the next Thursday. We’re not going to do this.” We signed to Eyeball, put out an indie record and toured for a while because that’s what we wanted to do. We wanted to make something on our own and it’s a lot better when you work for something. And then we felt it was time to make a jump, or take the next step. Eyeball couldn’t reach the amount of people that we really wanted to reach. We toured a lot without the record being really anywhere. And we were like “you know what; we’re not going to sign to another label unless we find something that really gets us and it feels like a family.” And one day we were contacted by Reprise. Reprise, Warner, same thing. And we signed for the company. Everybody that works with our band gets us. They wanted us to be My Chemical Romance, they didn’t want us to be The Used, they didn’t want us to be Thursday or whatever. And that was amazing for us. There was no stipulations, its was just go out, be a band and write songs that you love to write. So we were like “alright!” and we did. I really don’t think they thought they were going to get a really good record, and I think we wrote a really good record so we’ve never regretted that decision. Bobby: What’s it like switching from a small independent like Eyeball to a major like Warner Music? Frank: You feel like people are behind you, you know what I mean? It’s weird; I always thought that it would feel less like you have people behind you because it’s such a big company with so many bands. But a lot of people have our backs. A lot of people are pushing for this band to do well and for us to reach our goals. We really just have a lot of help and that’s a great thing and there’s people at the label that really believe in you and their job is to, basically, make sure you get what you want. If we wanted to, let’s say, do another David Bowie cover, they would make that happen; and that’s awesome you know. That’s really the only difference, and your record is everywhere. Bobby: Yeah, because it’s hard to find your first one. All my friends are looking for it and can’t find it. Frank: For that, we just say go on the internet and find it. Bobby: I gotta ask this because I love your videos, like we were watching them at my house last night. “Helena” and “I’m Not Okay”, where did you come up with all the concepts of the video? Frank: Because we’re just nerds. That’s how it is. We sit in our van or our bus, bus now, and just talk about stupid stuff. Read comic books and watch movies. And then the label’s like “We want to do a video” and we’re like “Okay, this is what we want to do.” Then we found a director, his name is Mark Webb. He did both our videos and he’s directing our new video that we are doing in… actually three days. And he’s like “alright, I think we should do this” and we wanted to do this, so we just kind of mixed it all together. Same thing with “Helena,” although “Helena” was a little bit easier only because I left it up to Gerard. It was about his grandmother, him and Mikey. It was their homage to her. It was creepy, because I was at the actual funeral and it resembled the funeral almost to a T. It was really weird. And some of that you wanted, and some of that just happened. But with the dancing and everything like that, well we always try to have an uplifting theme. I think our music is very ironic in that we’ll have a dark theme with heavy music and a darker theme with an uplifting message. Bobby: You just said you’re shooting a video in three days, for what song? Frank: “The Ghost Of You.” Bobby: Do you have any ideas as to what the concept is going to be? Frank: Yes. But I can’t tell you. Sorry. It’s going to be huge. I promise you this, it’s going to be more like a movie then any other video we’ve done and it’s going to be enormous. Yeah, we’ve thought this out a lot. It could really, really suck, but we hope it doesn’t. Bobby: Now I’m looking forward to seeing this video. How do you guys pick what songs you want to be singles? Frank: Well, it’s one of those things where when we wrote the record we had ideas for what songs we wanted to hear on the radio, but we didn’t really decide any. It was kind of like “we like all our songs, you’re the label, and you decide which ones to put out.” And they were like “okay, put this one out. Put this one out. Put this one out.” If, after this one, they do another, I hope it’s “Prison.” Bobby: On the “I’m Not Okay” video, Gerard says “I don’t wanna make it, I just wanna…” and then it cuts to the music. Can you finish that sentence for us? “I don’t wanna make it, I just wanna…” Frank: See, the original line was… well, it summed up the entire cheesiness of the teen movie type thing. It was “I just wanna rock!” And it was just too much. We wrote a million other things, “I just wanna be myself”… ah, what were the other ones… there were so many. But we just left it open because I think you get a lot more out of it if you just leave it open and put whatever you want to put in there. In that scene, Gerard is like every kid. He’s me, he’s you, he’s everyone. It’s like, you know what, a lot of people are told they aren’t going to make it, but just do what you do best and live your life. Live it for yourself, and really just fuck everybody else. Bobby: A lot of punk “elitists” are starting to complain about the whole “emo” trend. Guys wearing makeup, and wearing girls pants. Mark Adkins from Guttermouth went on a huge rant about it all on their site and even went to the limit of calling Gerard a “fat pink raccoon.” What’s your opinion on all of that? Frank: I think, he’s a racist, he’s a sexist, he’s homophobic, he’s a hateful person, and it’s just wrong. We could all sit here and call people names and hate people for the way they dress or the music they like or just the things that they think are cool. But that doesn’t make us any better. It’s an awful thing where you have such a soap box, like you have a lot of fans that are into your band, and you use that to spew hate. I guess that’s his opinion. Bobby: You guys are also heavily involved in the Shirts For A Cure project and have a total of four t-shirts on there now. Why are you guys so involved in that? Frank: Because it’s a good cause. Definitely, maybe this sounds dumb or naive, but when I started playing music and when I started growing up, all I ever wanted to do was to change the world in some way. Make a foot print. I think the worst thing you could possibly do is to live your life and have the world be the same way it was before you were here as it is after. I think that we’re here for a reason and if we don’t do something to make the world a better place, then we just wasted everyone’s time. And if we can do something as small as put t-shirts on website and raise money for a cure, then we’re going to do that. Bobby: Okay, if you guys could pick one person or band, dead or alive, to tour with, who would you pick to tour with and why? Frank: Oh man… Definitely the original Misfits line up because they are just amazing. The Clash would be amazing. The bands that I grew listening to, like Black Flag. Man, if I could tour with Black Flag with Keith Morris singing, like the original line up, that would be amazing. Yeah, bands like that. Bobby: Okay, now onto to more unusual questions that I like to ask at all interviews. First off all, if you guys were stranded on a desert island, with no food and nothing to eat, which one of the band members would you eat to survive? Frank: Wow. O man. It definitely wouldn’t be Mikey, because he’s got nothing. I don’t know. I wouldn’t eat Gerard or Bob because they are just great company, and I wouldn’t eat Toro because he’d probably be the one to figure out a way off the island. So I’d probably have to eat my own leg. Bobby: If you were the member of the opposite sex for a day, or a week, or whoever long you wanted, what would you do and why? Frank: Man, what would I do…? I’d probably get lower car insurance. I don’t know, what would I do… that’s a good question, I’ve never really thought about it. Bobby: Yeah, not many people do. Frank: Yeah, I don’t know. Nothing is ringing a bell. Sorry. I’d probably just sit home and eat chocolate cake, that’s all I would do. Bobby: Okay, here’s a question from my friend Tyson, he’s wanted me to ask this at an interview for so long now. Rosie O’Donnell or Whoopi Goldberg. Who would you do? Frank: Wow… Christ… Man, there’s no like secret C choice? Jacey: No happy medium. Frank: Man. Could I at least give Whoopi Goldberg eyebrows? Bobby: Yeah. Frank: Okay, Whoopi Goldberg with eyebrows. Bobby: Could you tell us something about the band or one of its members that not many people know about? Like a little quirk or something that do on the road. Frank: Umm, okay, let’s see. I’m trying to think of things that won’t embarrass anybody. One thing, just one? Bobby: Well, how ever many you want to tell us. Frank: I’ll give you one about everybody. Ray’s never around. Ray will constantly be on his phone, playing a video game or playing guitar in the back lounge with earphones on. Like you will not see him, you do not see him at all. That kid is dedicated to technology completely. Bob is addicted to “24” – the television show. Mikey will be broke at the age of thirty, but have every DVD, comic book, and video game known to man. Gerard, this is probably widely known, but I will assure you, Gerard is as close to genius as you could possibly get. Bobby: Okay, I guess that’s about it. Do you have any final thoughts you want to add? Frank: Whatever you do, don’t ever be full of shit. Bobby: Alright, thanks a lot for doing the interview. Frank: I appreciate it man. source: thepunksite.com
HT: Some people are just beginning to discover your success. How long has the band been together and jamming? Gerard: The band has been together 3 years. Another interesting fact is that the band has yet to “jam.” It’s never been the kind of situation where we sit around and search for songs. The songs find us, we assemble, and put the pieces together. HT: You guys write music that follows some type of concept. Does this help you write the music and do you mind giving us a breakdown of how a concept is brought to the writing table? Gerard: The concepts for the songs almost always come from the music. How the music makes us feel dictates where the direction lies. Occasionally, the song concept will come from a long list of unused song titles I have sitting in my mom’s computer. They will sometimes find a home. HT: If you were stranded on a deserted island with only 3 albums to jam out to, which ones would you choose? Gerard: This is a tough one but I would probably go with The Queen Is Dead by The Smiths, Walk Among Us by The Misfits, and Music For Airports by Brian Eno. Gerard: The band was nervous, scared, excited, and anxious but all very positive and looking forward to what we were about to make, which, by the way, had no definite shape or sound. HT: You guys have been on tour forever! What’s one of the things you love most about being on the road? Gerard: The camaraderie you share with your band mates and other bands is priceless. The victories and defeats you have everyday are immeasurable when compared to other lifestyles or careers. The risk and hardship are great but when you have 3,000 people sing back your words, you win like no one ever wins. HT: Gerard, does anyone ever mistaken you for Billy Corgan? Gerard: When I was younger, it would happen all the time. When he shaved his head, people thought I was him with a wig on. He is, in fact, a lot taller than me. Gerard: We don’t get on the internet much, but when we do, some of our favorite sites are www.homestarrunner.com, www.absolutepunk.net, and www.americandreamcomics.com HT: We are in a new age of music with new gadgets to accommodate that music, and it’s pushing us into the future. How do you position yourself on music downloads, for or against? Gerard: Downloading is a good thing, protected under the federal laws. The way I’ve always felt about music downloading is this. If you are curious and want to find out what a band sounds like, then go download it. If you like it, go buy it. If you hate it, well then there’s really no reason to buy it. But ultimately, a band’s record sales support them personally, so if you want the artist to be able to go live and work then you should pick up their music… for the cheapest price possible. HT: What’s a question you wish was never asked from a fan or interview? Gerard: Hmm…“Would you please bite me on the neck?” source: web.archive.org
this post is about the bat. I had one. you can get them anywhere and put them in your car! 😎
