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The Black Parade interview - Gerard Way - My Chemical Romance [INROCK (January 2007)]

My Chemical Romance

Interview with Gerard explaining all the songs on ‘The Black Parade’.

Gerard Way / My Chemical Romance INTERVIEW & PHOTOS: P.G. BRUNELLI/INROCK

■ 「The End」 —This is a song that's the complete opposite of its title. It's the introduction to the album and the second track, ‘Dead!’ Gerard Way (vo.): Yes, it is. It's like a bullet was fired and the result was the next song. The reason why it's called ‘The End’ is because the protagonist of the album is in hospital and he's dying. That's why. When you're dying, whether it's from a death wish or a strong memory, you feel that death is coming for you, don't you? So for this character, who we call ‘the patient’… It could be me, it could be you, it could be anyone, not that it's anyone I know, but… the strong memory is when he was a child and his dad took him to a parade in a big city. So when death comes, it takes the form of a parade. And he goes on a journey, whether on his deathbed, or in a parade, or in his dreams, and he investigates his own life and meets strange characters. So ‘The End’ is when he's dying, and ‘Dead!’ is when he dies. Actually, we wrote the intro after ‘Dead!’ was finished. We wanted to start the album with something epic and dramatic. We wanted the listener to understand that a different journey was about to begin. And I wanted the listener to understand that they are part of the story. We didn't want to make any mistakes there… like there were little piano sounds or ambient sounds, and then the first real song would come in. We wanted to tell a clear story from the beginning. So when you hear this song, ‘Dead!’ starts right away.

■「Dead!」 Gerard: It's like a bouncy, hammering, social commentary on this person's life and the human condition. Some people realise that they're dead, but originally the lyrics were written from the point of view of a living person, saying, “You're dead, you're just living like you're dead”. It was actually about myself at first, with a certain sense of self-loathing. It's something that's always been present in our music…

■「This Is How I Disappear」 Gerard: This originally started out as a song about Harry Houdini (a Hungarian-born magician and escape artist from the early 20th century). The sound reminds me of the Rolling Stones' “Paint It Black”, and there's some Black Sabbath riffs in it. It's basically taking our old sound and pushing it to some limits. It's a song that says someone's leaving you, and it's again memories from past lives that lead to… (and he goes silent).

■「The Sharpest Lives」 Gerard: This song was also called ‘A Kiss Before She Goes’ for a little while, but we changed it back because it comes from a more important part of the song. It's a collection of very dark parts of his life. Like drugs, sleeping on the sofa, questioning things…

ーThere's nothing negative about sleeping on the sofa, is there? Gerard: You can question what you do before you sleep on the sofa and that's what I'm talking about. It's a song about someone reflecting on a rough, shaky part of their life. It's a very cliffhanger song.

ーDoes this song in a way relate to your break-up with your girlfriend earlier this year? Gerard: Yeah, I ended a relationship this year with someone I'd been seeing for a long time, and it really fucked me up. Because of the life I'm leading now, it's not working out with her… Because of the touring and all that. I can't have a normal life anymore, so we decided to break up. But it made me very withdrawn and isolated. All the self-loathing aspects of this record are based on this side of me and my experiences. It's another song that's very mean and on edge in sound. Originally we were trying to make this song with as few instruments as possible, so it was almost like electronic music. It was interesting in the sense that it was a departure from our own sound, but it didn't feel like enough of our own work. What's special about this band is that there are actually five of us and what each of us brings to a song, but it wasn't rock, and it didn't feel like it was us enough. We weren't afraid to depart from our own sound, but the problem was that it became too electronic.

■「Welcome To The Black Parade」 Gerard: I think this song's place on the album is far enough forward. Because this is where that character encounters the parade his father took him to. Sound-wise, it should have been earlier, but this song shows the risks we were starting to take musically and the new sounds we were discovering. There's a lot of Queen in this song. It contains everything we've ever wanted to explore, it's like a little epic.

ーSo this is the first single? Gerard: Yeah. There's only a handful of songs on the record that could have been the first single and not become statements. There were times early on when I thought ‘The Sharpest Lives’ would be good, but I felt that song wasn't strong enough to push the boundaries as a first single.

■ 「Teenagers」 Gerard: This song was almost taken off the album. The sound was very simple and it wasn't what we were used to. But then we thought, with lyrics as impactful as these, it had to sound as simple as this. It ended up being one of the most important songs on the album. It's about how teenagers today have kids and are made to believe that the only way to solve their problems is through violence. They are almost forced to be in their own groups and when they meet each other, they fight. They're on drugs to calm themselves down, they don't eat well, and they're promised a lot of things that never come true. By the time they've realised it, they've dropped out of high school and they're working at a gas station. It's a common problem, I grew up working class and I was one of those kids myself. I worked in a supermarket and Frank (Iero, g.) worked at a gas station.

ーIs that before you became an animator? Gerard: Yeah, I finally finished that gig (at the supermarket) to do what I really wanted to do. But I still felt unfulfilled. Because it felt like the world hadn't changed at all for me. But then 9/11, when the terrorist attacks happened, I decided to quit and do something completely different. This song is important because of what's being said in it.

ーWhat's your relationship with the dying man? Gerard: He's looking back on his life, including when he was a teenager. This isn't a song about anyone's life in particular. If he was looking back on his life, some might say ‘Teenagers’ should have come earlier on the album. In my mind, I have this vision of him meeting a lot of characters in a parade, and some of them are teenagers who committed suicide. He also meets soldiers from the First World War and their mothers, and he meets the devil in the form of two wolves. He meets so many different people that he can justify the inclusion of this song on the album. I can always picture him meeting those teenagers. No matter how hard a story or strong a message is put on the album, I think this song can be on it. If someone says this song doesn't belong, it doesn't matter. Because this song is so important for teenagers, that's why it's on the record. It's like the Beatles' “Sgt. Pepper's” (the fictional band of The Beatles) had a song on their album.

■「I Don't Love You」 Gerard: This was one of the earliest songs we wrote for the album. We wanted to have a Creedence Clearwater Revival vibe. Kind of like "Have You Ever Seen the Rain?". I wanted to make a classic song that would become a classic, so there are a lot of conventions in the chorus of that song. I can't remember the names, but there were a couple of bands from the ‘70s that did that, and we wanted to do it like them. In this one, he (the character) is looking back on a broken heart. One that he was allowed to escape.

■「House Of Wolves」 Gerard: This song was called ‘Sin Sin’ at one point. I wrote it to envision that character going to a rough club after he died. It was like a jazz club from hell. It's a song about damnation, about the price of sin. I envisioned that character obviously going to hell. There's a religious connotation to this song… and the whole album. ‘Mama’ is more about being brought up Catholic than it is about war. There's the farming and the choir boys in here, and I imagine that kind of stuff is kind of like the devil talking. The devil is manipulating religion for his own purposes. He's using symbolism to twist things. This song was definitely written from the devil's point of view.

■「Cancer」 —This is obviously a song about death, isn't it? Gerard: Yeah, exactly. It's one of the most important songs on the album. It's got a lot of different instruments in it. It's a very powerful song and it's called ‘Cancer’ for a reason. You could call it ‘The Hardest Part’, which is very close to the truth… Cancer is so ugly, it affects everyone, it's cruel, it's monstrous. It's like it eats people from the inside out… The lyrics of this song had to be easy to understand. Because this song is something that has to get everyone's attention.

■「Mama」 —The full title of this song is ‘Mama: We Are Going To Hell’, right? Gerard: It's just ‘Mama’ now.

—You said that this song is different from your previous sound, musically it's like a waltz or a mazurka (Polish folk dance). Gerard: Yeah. There's Russian folk music in it. It's a different approach, but we've also included some very traditional elements (folk parts) that we haven't tried before. There are some big choruses in it. We took this old folk music with a gypsy feel and somehow transformed it into rock music. We thought we had to try to make it work somehow, and if we could achieve that, it would be our new sound. The song is so intelligent, creative, and clever that if the song didn't fit the lyrics, it wouldn't sound like that. But the song had to be as smart as the lyrics, otherwise it wouldn't have been on the album.

■「Sleep」 Gerard: It's a song about a nightmare I had when I was in that house (the house where we first stayed). At the same time, it's also about that character. I could imagine him thinking about himself. It's a song about someone who has realised the monster inside him. It was inspired by my nightmares, so it's very close to my inner self. It's a really good song. I think it's almost epic, it's a rock song, like a movie soundtrack.

■「Disenchanted」 Gerard: This is one of our oldest songs. We've been playing it on the ‘Sweet Revenge’ tour for a while now. It's one of the ones we wrote really well and one of the melodies sounded like Wham!, but when I heard it, I had this image in my head of someone lying in a hospital bed watching shitty TV knowing they were going to die. This song is all about the irony and weirdness of that moment. It's like a cliffhanger ballad.

■「Famous Last Words」 Gerard: This is one of the key songs on the album.

—♪I am not afraid to walk this world alone♪ is a pretty amazing line. Gerard: Yes, it is. It's all about redemption and it's our final statement that we have to finish the album. We were going through a dark period, and this song was born from that. Originally we were going to end it with ‘Sleep’, but that would have been too dark. We put it here because we wanted the listener to finish the album with a sense of hope and redemption.

■「Blood」 (Hidden track). —It's a weird song, it's very fun, very cabaret-like… Gerard: Yeah, this is another song that's commenting on a lot of things. Itt's got a bit of a Queen selfish sound to it. There's a song on their album ‘A Night At The Opera’ called ‘Lazing On A Sunday Afternoon’, which is also a simple song musically, but lyrically very strong. The song mentions a lot about the blood we've dedicated to the album. It's like we're saying, “This is the whole human wreckage, we've given you this misery and we're going to leave you with this feeling”. It's like saying, “This was such a pain making this album, goodbye”.

—How much does ‘Teenagers’ reflect your own experience of being a drug addict until three years ago? Gerard: A whole lot. I remember going to high school on drugs all the time. I was a very cranky guy because I had a strong sense of resignation. I wasn't a troublemaker, I was just high on drugs at the back of the class. I wasn't interested in what I was learning or what was being taught. Because I was convinced that it wasn't really going to help me. I met some very ugly people in high school. They were pretty nasty to each other, and that's how I learnt that there is a hierarchy in the adult world. I think it's very important to learn that, so I'm going to send my kids to high school. Because they have to learn that. What they really learn is, “Okay, now I know what it's like to go out there and how rough the adult world can be.”

—How was it with your parents? I think you must have a better relationship with them now that you're off drugs. Gerard: I think most kids get along better with their parents when they are older. I got along well with my parents even then. I did my homework and I got B grades on average. They knew I was going to be an artist. I wasn't going to be an artist or a lawyer.

—Was rehabilitation (for drugs) hard? Gerard: No, it was the year of touring afterwards that was hard. But I had my bandmates to help me and I had a great therapist with me, so I was fine. I also had a manager who looked after me. It was easy to get clean (from drugs), but the pressure afterwards and the year of work was really hard.

Translator's Note: Well, haven't done a MCR interview translation for some time. For some reason, I'm on a roll in terms of scanning and translating stuff.

Please do support me via my ko-fi! ☕

#Gerard Way #Ray Toro #Frank Iero #Mikey Way #Bob Bryar #My Chemical Romance #The Black Parade era #my scan #translation #interview #INROCK #INROCK January 2007

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sophaeros · 7 months ago

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my chemical romance for inrock, august 2007 / vol. 284 - english translated interview

Ray and Frank talk passionately about their views on life

When I thought about playing at the Budokan, I got so nervous that I couldn't sleep a wink.

Ray Toro & Frank Iero / My Chemical Romance INTERVIEW: YUKO KATO

On the morning of the Budokan concert, Frank and Ray were a little hyper and excited. It was such an important concert. It was a milestone for the band.

── How are you? Ray Toro (g): Awesome. This is actually the first time I've had this much time off in Japan, so I finally have time to explore this beautiful country.

── Where did you go? Ray: Asakusa and stuff... This time, my girlfriend Christy came to Japan with me, so we went together. We had two days off, so the day before yesterday we went to see some sumo wrestling. It's just great to be able to experience so much Japanese culture. (Frank comes in, interrupting Ray, taking off his jacket and putting on a T-shirt.)

── Woah, you have a lot of tattoos. I didn't know that because no one takes their clothes off on stage. Frank Iero (guitar): Yeah, he's covered in tattoos. Ray: Then maybe I should start playing shirtless from today onwards (laughs). Frank: Haha, you want to show off your tattoos? Ray: Well, I think it's better to be a little mysterious, so maybe it's cooler to hide it (laughs). Oh yeah, going back to what I was saying earlier, apart from sightseeing, I've been having a great time this time, performing on "Music Station" and the VMAs (MTV Video Music Awards Japan).

── Frank, what did you do during your two days off? Frank: I was with Ray and the others almost the entire time.

── Oh, you brought your girlfriend too? Frank: Yeah, only Ray and I did. Ray: Because we're smart! Frank: Yes, because we're smart (laughs). But seriously, if I hadn't brought her along, I don't think we would have been able to do as much sightseeing as we did. She knows how to use the subway. (As the interviewer checks the recorder) Are you making sure it's recorded properly? My dad writes for a magazine called "Modern Drummer," so like you, he's always nervous about making sure the interviews are recorded properly.

── Oh, I thought he was a musician. And an instrument instructor too… Frank: Yeah, he's a drum teacher, a magazine writer, and a band drummer.

── Woah, is that so? Frank: That reminds me, my dad once interviewed Carmine Appice, the drummer of a band called Vanilla Fudge, but he didn't record it properly, and he was pretty panicked. When that happens, you have to rely on your memory or start over. That makes the artist angry... well, it's a story that doesn't really matter to me (laughs). Um, what were we talking about? Ah, that's right, sightseeing. As I said, we went to Asakusa, and we drew our fortunes, lit some incense sticks, and after purifying our hands and mouths with the smoke, we went inside a temple and prayed. My fortune was great, by the way. After that, we went to Shibuya and Ginza, and last night we went to Roppongi Hills to see "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End".

── Did you like the movie? Frank: Oh, it was amazing! I can't believe a Disney movie could be so brutal. Especially… Ray: Come on, I haven't seen it yet! (covers his ears)

── By the way, I'm really relieved to see that you both look healthy. When I watched "Music Station," Gerard (Way, vocals) looked so skinny… Frank: Yeah, I guess you lose weight when you're on tour that much. He hasn't been feeling too great lately.

── Oh, is that so? Frank: We were all pretty sick, because we got food poisoning. Gerard didn't get food poisoning, but...

── Well, what happened to him? Ray: No, it's just that when you're on tour, you get tired. You have less time to sleep and eat. But don't worry, everyone's fine (laughs). But I hardly slept at all last night... I was so nervous (laughs).

── Oh, why? Because you're playing at Budokan? Frank: Yeah. I get to play at the historic Budokan with my favorite band (Bouncing Souls). It’s such a big, important thing for our career, and I couldn't sleep because I was thinking about it. I couldn't sleep at all.

── But compared to where you'll be performing at Wembley Stadium (June 16th in the UK, supporting Muse), the Budokan only holds 10,000 people. Frank: It's not a question of size. I have a lot of DVDs of Kiss playing at the Budokan, and it's a place where a lot of our heroes have played, including Cheap Trick.

── Are there any plans to release the footage from that time on DVD? Frank: We're going to film it, but we're not going to release it. We just want to keep it for ourselves as a keepsake. And with Mikey (Way, b.) gone now, it just feels wrong to release something without him.

── Speaking of Mikey, the host of "Music Station" also asked him, "Is it okay to take a honeymoon?" There aren't many musicians who take honeymoon holidays. Frank: Ah, well (laughs). We have a motto that the message is more important than the messenger. That is, our show and music are more important than the individuals in the band. That's why Mikey told us that he wanted us to continue doing that. On the other hand, being in this band, you get to have a lot of really great experiences, but in exchange, you don't get to experience the little things that normal people experience on a daily basis. For example, going on a honeymoon, traveling with the people you love, spending time with your family. So I wanted Mikey to experience those things, and I wanted to give him the opportunity to do so.

── Hmm... To be honest, I thought Mikey's hiatus was for a different reason. I read his interview with SPIN magazine earlier this year, and it seems like the situation in America is pretty crazy right now, right? So maybe it was a bit tough for him, since he’s a sensitive person… Frank: Yeah, yeah he's definitely sensitive, but this time it was a decision that we made to respect Mikey's desire to do the same thing as everyone else. Ray: It's because of this crazy schedule that we can't do normal things. We've been doing this for five years straight. Can you imagine having a job where you only get one or two weeks off a year? Frank: Plus, they got married on the road. They never had a chance to be alone together.

── But what about you? You didn't get a honeymoon holiday, did you? Frank: When I was really sick, I did take time off (laughs). Like at Big Day Out. I got a doctor's order. I've said this before, but when you do this kind of work, it's not so easy to take time off just because you're a little sick.

── That's right. There are a lot of things that you have to sacrifice. Frank: Exactly. But sometimes you just refuse to sacrifice your body or your mind. I think that's what happened with Mikey. He was overwhelmed physically and mentally and he needed to take a break. And he just got married, so now was the perfect time to take a break. And we're not just a band, we're like a family... so I miss him a lot and I'd love to be on the Budokan stage with him...

── When is he going to return to the band? Frank: I was actually just talking to him recently, and he said he wants to come back for the Projekt Revolution tour (with Linkin Park), so around August. But that's just a tentative date, and if he needs more time, it'll be a little later.

── It seems like someone is missing every time you come to Japan (laughs). Frank: Well, it's because other bands have time off and we don't have any, because we're always working.

── If that's the case, shouldn't you think about taking a proper rest? After the "Sweet Revenge" tour, everyone was in a bad mood and exhausted, and the atmosphere in the band wasn't very good, was it? Frank: Uh-huh. It's not like we hated each other or anything. But like you said, the tour was exhausting. That's why we took a month off after that. We didn't even talk about music for a month. And then we came back with renewed energy. But you know, we love music so much, and we love the art we do, so it's really hard to leave it. We feel like we can't be satisfied if we're not working or playing music. It's no exaggeration to say that this band saved our lives. We have to play music to survive. Sometimes we got sick. I have a particularly low immune system, so I get sick easily. Even when we played at Wembley, I was pretty sick on the second day.

── I wonder why. You look so healthy… Frank: I'm glad to hear that (laughs). But I do have some internal issues... I have problems with my digestive and immune systems, I get tired more easily than the average person, and I can't function without a lot of sleep.

── So you chose a profession that didn't suit your body. Frank: No, no, it's the job that's making me sick. I got really sick on the first tour and it just got worse and worse. I have a permanent immune system disorder. I have to take medicine every day for my stomach.

── Ray, are you okay? Ray: I feel amazing. I used to be sick all the time when we were touring in a van and stuff. I had an upset stomach… Frank: Maybe you gave it to me? (laughs)

── You two don't smoke, right? I think that's very important. Ray: Yeah, I smoked a little bit a year or two ago because I was feeling stressed, but I quit because I was worried it would turn into a habit. Frank: I've been smoke-free for about four years now.

── So the band has a smoking and a non-smoking tour bus? Gerard and Bob (Bryar, dr.) are the smokers… Frank: Yeah. But Gerard and Bob are both trying to quit this year. Quitting smoking was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life, so I think they'll have a hard time too. Ray: Every time Gerard smokes a cigarette I say, "That one will kill you." It's bad for your throat and it might even affect your voice, right? If he doesn't quit this year, I'll cut off one of my fingers every time he smokes. That's the only way to stop him (laughs)! Frank: Haha (laughs). That's how bad cigarettes are for your health.

── A lot of things happened within the band during this tour. Mikey got married backstage in Las Vegas, two of the band members got food poisoning… Ray: Yeah, me, Bob, (Matt) Cortez who plays bass for Mikey, and about half of the crew were affected. Frank: Luckily for me, I don't eat chicken or any meat at all. Ray: Because of that, everyone was in and out of the hospital for about a week. The members of Muse also got food poisoning.

── It seems that fans have even sent threats, including death threats, to the restaurants where you had meals? Frank: (with a serious look on his face) Yes, that's awful, right? I'd like to take this opportunity to say one thing about it: please don't do anything like that. We still don't know exactly what caused the food poisoning, and we're still investigating. Ray: Yeah, we don't want that either.

── By the way, in your interview with SPIN magazine you said something interesting: "We're not afraid to live." Is that a kind of mantra for the band? Frank: Uh-huh.

── But for us humans, just living is normal and we don't think about it, so why do we tell ourselves these things? Frank: This is just my opinion, but I think that in our culture these days, whether it's Japanese culture or American culture, but in all of our cultures, we're slowly forgetting the simple thing of love. I think we're exhausted by the violence that's happening in our daily lives, the wars that are happening in the world, and the hatred that we have for each other. Because of that, we tend to forget how wonderful life is and how connected we are as humans. We know the desire to interact with each other and the love that we should have for each other. Isn't it strange that all the smart scientists in the world can come together and invent these high-quality recording machines, but they can't feed the poor in other countries? I think it's strange. It's really sad that we have completely forgotten how wonderful it is to be alive and how important it is to help each other. We should never forget how beautiful life is, and that's why it's so important for us to spread that message. Also, everyone has a fear of death, but I think death is something that should be celebrated, to look back on the life that a person has lived. That's why it's important to think about what you do while you're alive and what kind of change you can bring to the world. Even one person can make a difference. We're just five ordinary guys, but our music has had a big impact on people all over the world, and I think that's a change. So wouldn't it be great if everyone could live with that kind of awareness? And I hope we can tell the next generation that it's okay to feel anxious or think that you're not okay. Anyway, I think it's important to have the desire to make some kind of change. Even if it's something small. If you have an extra dollar bill in your pocket, give it to someone who needs it. In addition to that, in a world that is so cruel and full of misery, I think it's important not to be afraid to live your life to the fullest for yourself and make yourself as happy as possible.

── Are you guys happy now? Ray: I'm happy. Frank: Me too. A healthy body and a happy mind is enough.

#my translations #bands #mcr #my chemical romance #frank iero #ray toro #tbp era #interviews #inrock #super cute interview #they talk about mikey not being there w them because hes on his honeymoon and their ethos as a band

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