My Chemical Romance Interview - 03.29.2005
| Interview with Gerard Way (vocals) Interview by Rob Todd | 03.29.2005 | Phone  We talked to you on June 18 last summer, only 10 days after the release of Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge. Since then My Chemical Romance has just exploded. Did you think MCR could get much bigger than previously before its release? What do you attribute to that? That’s an interesting question. We weren’t sure. We know in our hearts that we could; we believed in ourselves a great deal. Being in this band requires a lot of self belief because it’s not the easy road and we were wondering, it was more of a curiosity to see if people were going to get us on a large scale so we didn’t know. Regardless, we were pretty content with where we were anyway. I think we did 15,000 in our first week and already, to us that was already amazing for this band because we’d never had a lot of distribution. We felt that already reaching 15,000 was awesome and now we’ve reached somewhere like 600,000. We didn’t know but we believed we were the band that could do it. What do you think of your success now, not even a year later? I think it’s pretty incredible and it’s really a testament to not only the human spirit, but just the fact that people were again for real music. It’s not to say that real bands before us, even in the previous year that had come out, but we saw a lot of our friends unfortunately get the shit knocked out of them by commercial radio and record labels. We saw a lot of our friends go through the ringer and it was upsetting to us. And we saw a lot of bands ripping off our friends and getting huge and it kind of bummed us out. In a way we kinda felt that it was our mission to make it work in any way possible. We think that it’s a beautiful thing that people want to see this band succeed because they feel it’s a valid band. This is my opinion but it seems that there are a lot more bands coming from, New Jersey in particular, but the East Coast compared to the West Coast it seems like there are more bands coming from that area that are more genuine—they’re doing it because they love it. Where as the bands from the West Coast are there because of the industry. I think, unfortunately what you’re going to run into are a bunch of industry bands on the West Coast ‘cause that’s where the whole music business is run out of. You really have to dig deep to find those bands that really believe in [what they’re doing]. As opposed to bands that have had cousins in band, they’ve had best friends in bands, they’ve been in bands signed to major labels so they know the whole game, they’re basically playing the game. I don’t know, I can’t make a totally honest opinion on that only because I haven’t spent much time on the West Coast and the bands that I’ve met from the West Coast have all been genuinely sincere about what they do. Especially a band like Thrice, being the best example of band that likes to take it beyond the music and really help people on a social level. Last time we talked to you, when we asked the proverbial: “Do you have anything else to add?” You focused on supporting the good, genuine local bands playing in clubs and whatever happens to your local scene. Do you think now that My Chemical Romance has become so huge people might not take you as serious and just say, “Well that’s easy for him to say.” Yeah, I think it depends on each person, it’s kind of based on the individual themselves. If I was someone who heard that I would take it almost more seriously. I would realize that they are at a national level, they aren’t connected to their local scene anymore and they’re still talking about it when it could be, or should be, the furthest thing from their minds ‘cause they’re not even plugged into that scene anymore. I would take it even more seriously if somebody kept bringing it up, even when they are really huge. But, then there’s going to be people who are like, ‘well that’s easy for him to say.’ But, at the same time, if they know anything about this band they would know that we ate shit, got sick, slept on wood floors, caught flues—we did the whole thing for like two and half years with no promise of ever getting big and no desire to ever be giant. It was just like, ‘Let’s just be this band.’ I think anybody that becomes more educated about this band understands a little more where we’re coming from when we say things like that. I definitely understand what you mean from researching you guys much more this time around than the last time we interviewed you. I vaguely remember that interview too because that week after [Three Cheers] came out I remember pretty much every interview I did because it was a very exciting time for me because of the fact that our record had just come out and we didn’t know what was gonna happen. It was exciting to do press on that new record so I actually remember a few of them. I kinda remember what we had talked about. I can remember you seeming a bit nervous. The band was nervous because we didn’t know what was gonna happen. It was kinda like at that point it became a gamble because [there was] lots of money spent. Even though we’re smart about money but it’s still a gamble no matter how you slice it. People are devoting lots of time, energy, and money on your band at that point to make it happen. We were nervous because we didn’t want to be that band that disappointed people that worked so hard for us. It was a financial thing so much as we just didn’t want to disappoint anybody who believed in us and a lot of people at Warner Brothers really believed in this band like more than anything and had been there since before they signed us and not even caring if we signed with them at all, just really genuine fans of the band who just wanted to see us do good. I just think we were nervous about a lot of things. I think one of things that I was kind of nervous about was trying to do it, failing at it, and going back to some kind of scene with, potentially, a lack of credibility because we had tried and we had gambled and it didn’t work. I think that was a concern of mine but after a couple of weeks I didn’t even care about that anymore, I wasn’t concerned about it, ‘cause we never…this band’s attitude is very punk-rock but we never waved around a punk-rock flag saying, ‘F the majors, f commercialism,’ we didn’t do that. What we said was we’re a band that wants to reach a shit load of people so then that stopped being a concern after a while. I don’t care about credibility at all. We signed to a major not caring about credibility and I think it’s one of the things that protected us from losing credibility. You mean, even though you’ve signed to a major, you’re still doing the music you really want to do. I think a lot of people probably see Warner Brothers as one of the worst giant industry labels but it’s really reassuring to hear that even WB has that genuine side—not just wanting to make money but support good music. Yeah, a label like Warner Brothers, especially in the underground community is looked at as this mammoth machine that chews up and spits people out. Warner Brothers is extremely proud of us because they’re excited to have a real band again. A lot of times what happens is it’s just not in the cards, there’s not a lot of bands around [the label] that they sell. You have a lot of people unhappy about the records they’re working. It happens even at Warner, it happens at every major label. It’s like, they’re not really psyched about pushing a bullshit artist and that’s why a lot of those bands that are full of shit go away because some dude brought this band in and we’re going to see if it sticks against the wall. But the reason they’re so proud of us is because they’re proud to be working something real again. I guess I’d never looked at it that way. There’s a lot [where] I try to look at things from both sides of the fence even before we were signed to a major. That was one of the things that I had thought about even before that’s why it made sense for us to sign ‘cause I was like, ‘they probably, actually want a real band!’ They want something real again, they want to be excited about getting up and going to work every morning and that’s what we did at that label was make a lot of people excited about music again. That’s probably why it’s such a family and such a team effort. We deal with a very small group of people. I’m sure there’s other A&Rs and other people at that label that work other acts that are very commercial. Acts like Ashlee Simpson, I don’t think she’s on [Warner Brothers] but you know what I mean. The people that we work with wanted to work something very real. Do you think it’s important for your fans to realize the influence the NJ scene had on you guys, Eyeball Records in particular, and vise versa? I think it’s very important to realize that…I hate to keep using the word but it’s not for credibility purposes. Especially if they’re musicians and they want to be in a band and they want to reach a lot of people and they have something positive to say. It’s important for people to know that we were on an indie and we worked our asses off. I hate seeing real bands try and do the quick fix and sign to a major right away and think they’re gonna get huge. It’s not like that, I think it’s pretty impossible. I want them to know that it takes work. If you’re willing to do this be prepared to eat a lot of shit for a long time. Generally two and half years isn’t that long a time, there are bands that have eaten shit way longer than us. I’ll definitely say that we got a crash course very quickly in it and the amount of sickness and turmoil that we went through in that two and half years probably equals about six years (laughter). It was a total crash course and we never stopped touring and it was such a rapid rate and financially we couldn’t really keep up so we’d just have to eat shit. We just kept doing these tours and it got to the point where we couldn’t even afford hotel rooms even though we were on these big tours ‘cause we would take tour support and when we were on Eyeball there wasn’t tour support available. I want people to realize that you really have to work for it, your really have to start from the ground up ‘cause every one of those kids that gets into your band when you’re on an indie, when it’s all said and done, you wouldn’t trade one of those kids for 50 who just found out about you from the radio. That’s how important to what makes your band what it is—it’s those kids from the beginning. You know from being a struggling comic book artist before MCR took off that it’s not the easiest profession. Is it painful for you to see the gradual downfall of comic books and the lack of interest in the great art form that it is? That’s a really interesting question, I’m glad you asked. Here’s the way I feel about comics: I feel there was a time when I was in it was what I feel the darkest time in about 20 years of comics—nobody was getting a chance, nobody was getting work. I had dudes that were fans of mine so much so that they would pay me to do stuff for their independent comics but they couldn’t give me a job doing major stuff. It’s a sad situation when you’ve got young artists that people really like because they need big names to sell comics ‘cause nothing else was selling comics but big names. I feel that now is a much better time for comics even though there’s going to be this negativity with it. I think a lot of damage was done in the 90s of craze with polygraphic covers, gimmick covers and that’s what really just ruined comics and right after that period was when I decided I was gonna get involved. I was at that age where it just wasn’t in the timing. Nobody was buying comics anymore ‘cause everybody that was interested in comics bought them so they could sell them on the internet then when they realized they were worthless, once you read them and realize they were crappy and then all together didn’t want anything to do with comics. It rekindled interest but in a very negative way. In the aftermath was when I tried to make it. What I’ve seen in comics now I’m very excited about them again. It’s not in great shape but it’s also hard to get people to read books. It’s harder to get people to read, it harder to get people to take comics seriously because they grew up reading them as children. I think there’s a lot of really intelligent authors right now like Grant Morrison and Warren Ellis, there’s a lot of really smart guys getting adults and keeping adults involved in comics. I don’t think it’s that bad right now that’s my opinion as an outsider ‘cause I’m not involved in them anymore. Do you think it’s something you’ll get back to—pardon my skepticism—after MCR? I’m actually going to get involved in it right now. I just started writing a comic called the Umbrella Brigade that has nothing to do with My Chemical Romance and I think that’s how it has to be. Obviously, my being in My Chemical Romance, there’s going to be a certain number of issues that people are going to buy but I don’t want to have it as another merch item for people to buy and I’m not going to sell it at shows probably. I don’t want it connected to the band because then I feel that that would just be corny and just exploiting something that’s happening with the band right now. I’m very excited, I’m going to do all the design work for it and write, unfortunately I can’t draw it because of schedule. Ever since I got clean and sober I have nine extra hours every day that I have nothing to really do with. I have a lot of press to do, that’s one thing that happens often and then some days it’s like a driving day off and then we get somewhere and I have eight hours. I can either go to the mall or I can go write comics. I find that ever since I got sober that I just have this desire to create again and be involved in comics so I’m very excited about it. Do you think your brother or anybody else in the band is going to be involved at all? I’d actually like to get Mikey involved. I actually bounce a lot of stuff off Frank too ‘cause he’s a comic fan. We’re all generally comic fans. Mikey is a huge comic fan, we grew up reading comics together. I’d definitely like to get Mikey involved to assist me with some of the story lines ‘cause he has a really bizarre way of thinking and it’s very much unlike anybody else I’ve ever met so I’m sure he’ll come up with some. I want to do a very bizarre comic. It’s a superhero comic for people that really aren’t into superheroes. I want to do it in a very bizarre, Twilight Zone-ish, cerebral type stories. I want it to be a celebration of superheroes not like a deconstructing superhero comic. I don’t want to do like a “Watchmen” with it ‘cause that’s kind of become the new thing to do is just rip off the “Watchmen.” They’re just these introspective, deconstructing superhero stories. I’m more of interested in celebrating the medium because I love superheroes. So not an antihero is what I’m hearing? Yeah, I definitely want to avoid the antihero. I want to make it more about relationships and superpowered individuals and really bizarre stories that are just fun to read—stories that transcend the superhero as far as something getting something out of the story as far as dudes hitting other dudes. Do you ever think that the name, “Taste of Chaos,” is somewhat ironic? You know what, at first, I thought it was a little inaccurate but by this point it’s completely accurate. I’ve seen absolute moments of utter chaos out in the crowd and just bodies upon bodies just flying over that barricade. The tour is doing something pretty incredible which is getting large numbers of people in arenas again to listen to rock music and it’s doing it with a new kind of music and I think that’s what’s so landmark about this tour. We’re about to set a record in California, in Long Beach, for the most attendance at the Long Beach Arena which is really incredible ‘cause none of these bands are really from California. [Editors note: A Static Lullaby is from Orange County, sorry Gerard.] People just really want to come out and see music and see new rock music. I guess, from our end it was so orderly that it didn’t seem too chaotic. We actually had a problem with the getting security to let us take pictures. That’s actually been one of the biggest disappointments to me because the staff of Warped Tour that runs this is so professional and so good at what they do and then we’ll get to these local cities and have to deal with the local staff and a lot of these local security are really dropping the ball and it has nothing to do with the people at Warped Tour. They’re setting everything up and there’s such a lack of communication with these local staff. It’s been really disappointing. I’ve had parents, loved ones, friends not getting to see us until like two minutes before we start playing and these are people that have passes and they’re just not there. It’s been kind of drag. Every local staff has kind of dropped the ball on passes and security. Security has not been the best. Exactly, our problem was with the Detroit security crew. They’ve been varying from rude to incompetent. There’s been kids getting on stage every night. There’s been all these guys, all the people on this tour, all the staff, all the production, all the crew just trying to work, just trying to makes this happen on schedule and they can’t even really rely on a lot of these security guards to protect us. It’s kind of sad to see but the kids are going ape shit anyway so you never know what they’re going to do. And you know what, the guys in the very front that are compassionate they’re not showing up to work wanting to beat kids up, they’re having a hard time and I really feel for a lot of the security that are right up in the trench ‘cause they are dealing with hundreds and hundreds of kids, maybe even thousands, coming over that thing every night and I’ve seen them very hectic, extremely stressful looking. We have to finish with this. The encore of “Under Pressure” was totally unexpected and pretty much the highlight of the whole night. If you could elaborate on how that came about it would be great. Thank you. Yeah, absolutely, I can tell you the story behind it. It was Bert [McCracken of The Used], it was his idea. A few months ago he had mentioned covering “Under Pressure” and I was like, “That’s a cool idea. I love Queen, I love Bowie so the best of both worlds, it’s a duet. Sounds great, lets do it.” Then the tsunami happened and we realized there was actually a purpose for this song, we can use it to raise money for the tsunami so then it became more about that. That was really awesome that we were able to help out with this song. It’s going to be available on iTunes and then every time you download it’s going to donate to, I believe, Music for Relief. To raise awareness about the song Bert said, ‘Hey, lets go out and lets do this live.’ I was extremely nervous ‘cause I’ve never played with anybody besides my band, I’ve never really been in bands [previously]. We just pulled it off. We practiced two separate days during sound check and I was still really nervous and then Brandon from The Used, the drummer was the one that believed in it the most and he was like, ‘No, we can do this,’ and then we went out and did it and it was amazing. I think it’s super cool ‘cause you don’t see that kind of thing anymore. You see a lot of competitiveness, you see a lot of bands talking shit about other bands, you don’t see bands come together for one purpose very often, especially in a live sense. You’ll see Neil Young with Pete [?], guys that are legends but you rarely see new bands doing that together. You always know when a show is over when the house lights come up and you know the people that don’t go very often ‘cause they start to leave but I’ve never seen anyone start bringing equipment back onto the stage so I was like, “What the hell is going on?” Both bands came back out and I was blown away and you looked like you were having a great time too. I’m glad ‘cause that was the purpose of it, to raise awareness and really impact people ‘cause this is something totally new, we’re still new at it too so it was like, “Lets just try this together.” The thing about that song too is that it’s an extremely positive song. It’s a really nice way to end that tour ‘cause it’s just so positive. I think people walk away from that less aggressive and go, ‘That was really cool. I didn’t know all the words to it. I didn’t mosh to it but it was a really beautiful song and when I ever going to see these two bands on the same stage again.’ Hopefully again sometime soon. I’d love to collaborate again it was extremely fun. I think maybe during our headliner we’ll collaborate with somebody, whoever we decide to bring out on that. It was that fun! |
