Gerard Way on ‘The Umbrella Academy,’ My Chemical Romance … and Liza Minnelli

Gerard Way

George Gene Gustines, writing at The New York Times:

My initial inspiration was a few different things. I had been such a fan of the Marvel Silver Age, and I grew up reading Chris Claremont’s X-Men. Marvel characters had a lot of issues and problems, but I wanted to give them deeper, more complex problems. I was also reading Hellboy by Mike Mignola, and to me that was a postmodern horror comic. There was nothing like that for superheroes. I usually try to make things that I wish existed that I would want to listen to or read.

Gerard Way Talks With the Guardian

My Chemical Romance

Leonie Cooper, writing at The Guardian:

“That’s stuff I thought about when the world started to get super fucked-up again,” he reveals. “It definitely came into my head, but I’d changed so much as a person. I didn’t know how I’d fit into it any more, I didn’t know how the band would fit into it any more. But you’re right, the world is definitely in need of something positive.”

I am evidently not the only one inquiring about the possibility of a comeback for a band that meant so much to so many. “We definitely get offers regularly to reunite – it’s a constant thing,” he says. “It’s flattering, it’s really nice of people …” But no chance? “I miss playing with the guys, but I don’t think so …”

Frank Iero Talks About the Infamous ‘Black Parade’ Teaser Video

My Chemical Romance

Frank Iero sat down with Seton O’Conner and talks a little about that My Chemical Romance teaser trailer that caused pandemonium a few years ago:

We wanted to do a 10-year anniversary release of it, and we had some demos left over and some songs that didn’t make the record and we were like, ‘Oh, cool. We’ll put it all together.’ Every year, we meet and have a barbecue kind of thing. We’ll have the barbecue, kids will hang out and we’ll discuss business for the next year. And we were like, ‘Oh, that would be really cool. We should do a little teaser trailer for it. Alright, that’s what we’ll do.’ So, we told the lady what we wanted, and they made this trailer, and we released it. And all of a sudden we were like, ‘Oh, wait. Everyone’s real confused.’

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Review: My Chemical Romance – The Black Parade

The Black Parade

Let me preface this My Chemical Romance retrospective by stating that they are my favorite band, and I still hold The Black Parade as one of my top-5 favorite albums ever recorded. Throughout My Chemical Romance’s career, I was astounded by their rise to fame, and having seen them go as the first opening band on tour with The Used, to headlining stadiums by the time The Black Parade reached its heights, and I have marveled at the lore and theatrics surrounding my favorite artist.

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That My Chemical Romance “Tour Announcement” Has Been Up For Years

My Chemical Romance

Over the weekend Alt Press ran a story headlined with, “Are My Chemical Romance planning a tour?,” based on the following evidence:

The band’s site was updated with an “MCRX TOUR” announcement, and the description reads: “Check back soon for more details on the upcoming tour.”

Upcoming tour?

We’re freaking out a little bit. (OK, we’re freaking out A LOT.)

This damn line on their website causes a freakout every few months.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but the website has had that same blurb on it for years. Here it is in October of 2016.

If and when My Chemical Romance return, given everything we know about the band, I’d have to imagine it’ll be a well thought out and produced announcement.1


  1. And I am a believer that it’s a when, not an if, I just don’t know when.

Gerard Way Opens Up a Little More About My Chemical Romance

My Chemical Romance

Gerard Way recently talked with iNews:

“It’s a tricky thing, because you have four guys that really get along, and I think we all fully understand each other now and love each other,” he says.

“We all got together recently and it was wonderful – we didn’t even talk about the band or playing shows again. I don’t know if anything will happen in the future, but what I do know is everyone has a really great life right now.”

Gerard Way Talks With PopBuzz

Gerard Way

Gerard Way recently talked with PopBuzz:

Well I now have a studio. I have this, like, compound type situation where I have a place to record live music and I have a place to record music in a control room and then a place to work on my art projects and my comics. I just kind of, right now, have so many comics due and so many comics to write that I’ve just been doing that. I’ve been trying to fit music in but I’ve just started to kind of write music. So that’s starting, it’s at a very early stage.

Gerard Way Talks with Billboard

Gerard Way

Gerard Way talked to Billboard about his upcoming work with comics, and mentioned in passing a little about My Chemical Romance:

“I wouldn’t count (a reunion) out, but at the same time everybody’s doing stuff in their lives now that they’re really enjoying,” Way says. “In some ways I don’t really miss it; It had gotten so big it was very unwieldy. It took a toll on my mental life and personal life. The thing I’m happiest about right now is everybody’s relationships with each other are really strong. That’s more important than anything else to me.”

And a second solo album:

Way is also starting to eyeball a second solo album, with “a bunch of stuff I’ve written over the past couple of years” already in motion. “I’m just about to seriously figure out my schedule in terms of how many weeks I’m writing comics and how many weeks I’m writing music,” Way explains. “There’s a plan to put something out; I don’t know when that’ll come, but the process is starting.”

Mikey Way Talks New Project and the End of My Chemical Romance

My Chemical Romance

Mikey Way sat down with Billboard:

The band ended, and I was going through a divorce at the same time. I do the most stressful things in clumps. The way I knew how to deal with that, through life, was to self-medicate so that’s what I did. The tail end of My Chem was so dark for me — I was in a fog. Life caught up with me at that point, and I was getting by. I was in the ocean with the water by my lips. I was trying to stay up and I was failing. I had always self-soothed through narcotics from an early age.