'These days, everyone's kind of admitting to being a comic nerd,' frontman Gerard Way says.
By James Montgomery, with reporting by Matt Elias.
Last week, when MTV News sat down to talk with My Chemical Romance, we figured we'd get a bit of information about their Dylan cover in the upcoming "Watchmen" film and perhaps a few slivers of their still-being-written new album, and we'd call it a day. Turns out, we couldn't have been more wrong.
My Chem had so much to say that we were able to break the interview down into three pieces. In part one, the guys talked about putting The Black Parade to bed and getting back to basics on their new album. In part two, they got in-depth about their love of "Watchmen" and their decision to cover Bob Dylan. Now, in part three, they're talking about both.
Which is interesting, because whether they're aware of it or not, My Chemical Romance are now seen by many as not just as a rock band, but as a comic book rock band (having two comic-producing brothers in the band and a song in the biggest comic book film of all time tends to have that effect). So, will they be addressing that perception on their new album? Probably not.
"I'm glad you asked about that because these days, everyone's kind of admitting to being a comic nerd or something. Like 'nerdy' is kind of becoming 'cool' for some weird reason, so people will come out of the woodwork to admit that kind of thing," frontman Gerard Way said. "But a lot of people like comics, you know. But I don't think anybody sees us as, like, 'Oh that's a comic book band' ... even if we write or draw them. I never really worried too much about that."
But without comics, where will Way find his lyrical inspiration? He's already said he wants to drop the whole "conceptual" thing for MCR's next album, so where is he finding material these days? From his everyday life — which, if you've been following his updates on My Chem's official site, may not seem that interesting. But to hear Way explain it, being a husband and a father-to-be (Way's wife, Mindless Self Indulgence bassist Lyn-Z, is expecting their first child early this summer) makes him positively bursting with inspiration.
"I think any life experience [is inspiration]. And now that we've had seven or eight months off, and we've had a chance to do some living, I think any kind of experience ... like going to be a dad, for example," he explained, "that's going to be in my head. And I think there's no way that stuff won't affect what you're doing. I think if it doesn't, it's kind of lame."
So are fans prepared for a more, mature My Chemical Romance? Well, don't worry, because whatever Way's going to be singing about, the music is still going to be young, snotty and punky. And — somewhat strangely, given this is MCR we're talking about — fun.
"We want it to be a snapshot, we want it to be visceral. And it's not angry at all, which is fun too," Way said. "It just has this youthful energy to it, and the experience has this youthful energy to it too. And I want to capture that, and be done. You know, 'Let's play.' "
