The singer says he feared his daughter might have ended up without a father
Gerard Way has revealed he relapsed into alcoholism after his former band My Chemical Romance released what would be their final album.
The singer, who will release his debut solo album ‘Hesitant Alien’ on September 29, opens up in this week’s NME about how he fell into the self-destructive habits of his 20s shortly after the release of My Chemical Romance’s 2010 LP ‘Danger Days’. He broke up the band, he says, to save himself.
“I relapsed, not into drugs but booze,” he says. “I was self-medicating again to get through, and I’d forgotten how miserable that made me. It took me to the dark place again, but there was more at stake this time. I started to face the hypothetical reality of [daughter] Bandit not having a father. I started taking that seriously, thinking, ‘I want her to have a dad. A guy that’s present. Because one way or another – either by death or by asylum, she’s gonna be fatherless if I keep this up.’”
The choice, he says, was an easy one: “Break the band or break me.”
Earlier this week, Way announced that he will play his first ever solo gig to just 400 fans at Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms on Wednesday night (August 20). He will also perform at Reading & Leeds Festivals this coming weekend (August 22-24).
Watch the video for Way’s new song ‘No Shows’ below now.
The ‘Hesitant Alien’ tracklist:‘Bureau’
‘Action Cat’
‘No Shows’
‘Brother’
‘Millions’
‘Zero Zero’
‘Juarez’
‘Drugstore Perfume’
‘Get The Gang Together’
‘How’s It Going To Be’
‘Maya The Psychic’
After releasing his debut solo track, “Action Cat,” and recently speaking about life after My Chemical Romance, Gerard Way has revealed a little more insight into the demise of the band. Speaking in a new interview with Kerrang!, Way revealed that 2006’s The Black Parade was supposed to be the end of MCR. “That was Black Parade, and when the tour basically ended with us conquering the world, we were supposed to ride off into the sunset,” he says.
When asked why the band didn’t end, Way explains how it’s not that simple because of “careers, mortgages, families, crews, people, the machine itself.” Read an excerpt from the interview below, and read the full article on Kerrang!’s website.
“I got sick physically and mentally because I didn’t listen to what my inner self said…” Which was? “Which was when Parade was over, that’s the end. I always said that to myself and I had been relatively vocal about saying that around the rest of the band. I plan things out pretty far in advance. I sat down with a piece of paper before Bullets came out and I wrote. I wrote down titles of records, what they were going to be like and what they were going to accomplish for the band.” So you’d strayed from the plan? Gerard nods. “I never went past the third record because to me the third record was the pinnacle – it was the combination of everything we had learned on one and two but really taken to some crazy extreme. That was Black Parade, and when the tour basically ended with us conquering the world, we were supposed to ride off into the sunset. I can’t think of a better ending than that. And that’s what I internally planned for myself as a human being the whole time – this is it, that’s the end.” The question is, why wasn’t it? “Because it’s a lot more complicated than that. Because you get into careers, mortgages, families, crews, people, the machine itself – not to mention expectations of a record label that invested quite a bit in you, that would like more out of you, a fanbase that wants more out of you. So I kept going, against every fibre in my being, I kept going. I went against myself and I lost…”
G Way will release his debut solo album, Hesitant Alien, sometime this year. While we’re on the topic of The Black Parade, watch MCR perform “Welcome To The Black Parade” at the 2006 VMAs.
My Chemical Romance just debuted “Fake Your Death,” the final song they recorded together, via BBC Radio 1 and are now streaming it on their website.
Fans who pre-ordered the band’s greatest hits CD/DVD May Death Never Stop You through the band’s website will receive a download code for the song, and it will also be available to download on iTunes with the purchase of the full digital album.
Watch the video for “Fake Your Death” below:
Yesterday, guitarist Frank Iero said of the song, “It’s one of my favorites we ever did,” and in arecent statement, former MCR frontman Gerard Way called “Fake Your Death” a “eulogy for the band:”
“…I consider “Fake Your Death” to be the “last MCR song”, and to me, it is absolutely the final fully realized collaboration between the members of the band. Oddly, or fittingly, it was written while the Los Angeles Kings beat the New Jersey Devils and won the Stanley Cup, though this did not inform or inspire the song as I was unaware (along with James and Doug) that this was happening and have only a small interest in sports. After the game, the rest of the band had arrived at the studio where we added elements to its existing structure, fleshing it out some more, and it started to form. What was not so obvious at the time was that the song was, and would serve as, a eulogy for the band, though I should have known it from the lyrics. I think internally I did, as I felt an odd sense of sadness and loss after hearing back the words on top of the music. I also felt a strange sense of pride in how honest it was, and could not remember a band recording a song of this nature, being so self-aware. Ending felt like something honest, and honest always feels like something new.
So it will exist, and it is no cowardly act to release something of this nature, but a service to those who believed in a band that did not compromise, and a wave goodbye to all. And yes, it is fucking heartbreaking.
And while I don’t believe the lyrics of the chorus today- I did at the time, which to me is a core ingredient to the music of MCR. And it is through that belief, and yours, that we were able to achieve many beautiful things.”
—
The song was originally recorded as a part of My Chemical Romance’s incomplete and unreleased fifth album, which the band said was moving in a very “dark” and “bleak” direction during the recording. The album was set to follow the concept of a support group for parents who had lost their children.
My Chemical Romance‘s greatest hits album, May Death Never Stop You, is set to feature a never-released track titled “Fake Your Death” as well as the attic demos of “Skylines And Turnstiles,” “Cubicles,” and “Knives” (“Our Lady Of Sorrows,” also known as “Bring More Knives.”)
Official pre-orders begin at the band’s official website at 7 a.m. PST/10 a.m. EST, according to Gerard Way. The website-exclusive package includes a CD, DVD, “Thank You For The Venom” T-shirt (as worn by Gerard at their first show) and a funeral brassard (armband).
CD Tracklisting: Fake Your Death (unreleased song) Honey, This Mirror Isn’t Big Enough For The Two Of Us Vampires Will Never Hurt You Helena You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Prison I’m Not OK (I Promise) The Ghost Of You Welcome To The Black Parade Cancer Mama Teenagers Famous Last Words Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na) SING Planetary (GO!) The Kids From Yesterday Skylines And Turnstiles (Demo) Knives/Sorrow (Demo) Cubicles (Demo)
DVD Tracklisting: “I’m Not OK (I Promise)” Version 1 “I’m Not OK (I Promise)” Version 2 “Helena” “The Ghost of You” “Welcome To The Black Parade” “Famous Last Words” “I Don’t Love You” “Teenagers” “Blood” (*Previously Unreleased) “Na Na Na” & “Art is A Weapon” (*Includes Previously Unreleased “Na Na Na” intro) “SING” “Planetary (GO!)”
The collection will include not only their greatest hits, but also the rare, fan-famous “Attic Demos” (pre-I Brought You My Bullets… recordings) as well as unheard material including one of the last songs the band worked on together from what would have been their fifth album.
Hello all,
On March 25, we will be releasing a greatest hits album entitled “May Death
Never Stop You.” The title is fitting, because as sad as it was to say
goodbye to the band, we look at this collection as a celebration of our best
songs, and hope the memory of them continues to bring joy to you all as they
have for us.
The album also includes some previously unreleased material, including the
infamous “Attic Demos,” and one of the last songs we worked on in the studio
together.
On January 21, we will be opening pre-orders for the album right here on our
site. We hope you take the journey with us into MCR’s past, and enjoy the
When Gerard Way confirmed Warner Brothers will be releasing a My Chemical RomanceGreatest Hitscompilation next year, he also noted that he would be designing the packaging.
Check out Way’s most recent tweet below with what appears to be the artwork for MCR’s Greatest Hits, subtitled May Death Never Stop You:
Recently, the former MCR frontman also teased that he was “working on something special” with the following photo, which you will recognize as a piece from the full image:
This morning, a listing was unearthed from the release calendar of Hits Daily Double claiming My Chemical Romance, who disbanded in March, would have a new release out in January, 2014.
Even with the caveat that this could most likely be nothing more than a singles compilation, fan hopes immediately ran wild. So, we reached out to the band’s camp for further information in hopes of diminishing the rumors stirred by the vague listing.
Midday, we received confirmation that the release, slated for January 21, 2014, would not be new MCR material and tweeted the clarification to fans.
Lots of rumors circulating throughout the #MCRmy today. We have received confirmation that #MCR's alleged Jan. release is NOT new material.
In a new episode of South Park titled Goth Kids 3: Dawn Of The Posers (which aired last night in the US) the cartoon has tackled the stereotyping of ’emos’.Parodied bands in the episode include Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance, Sunny Day Real Estate, Coheed And Cambria, Jimmy Eat World, Hawthorne Heights, Saosin and more. My Chemical Romance, for example, are referred to as My Medical Relationship… see clips from the show, below.
Nada Recording Studio, with whom My Chemical Romance recorded their debut album, I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love have released an instagram video with unseen footage from the recording session.
At the time of Bullets’ recording in early 2002, according to MCR in their 2006 documentary Life On The Murder Scene, Nada was merely “John Naclerio’s basement,” where they would often have to pause their work while Naclerio’s mother vacuumed upstairs.
Watch them work on “Drowning Lessons,” “Headfirst For Halos” and more in the brief video below:
July 23 is the fan-proclaimed International My Chemical Romance Day (better known as IMCRD), and though MCR announced their breakup in late March, the MCRmy is still holding strong to this holiday celebrated on the release anniversary of MCR’s first album, I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love.
“The most common question I’ve been getting since the break up was whether IMCRD would go on at all,” says Devan Mickell, a long-time fan who is manning the @IMCRD Twitter account which helps direct fans on the big day, this year.
“I was actually really surprised by how many people thought that MCR’s break up would jeopardize IMCRD. Yes, it’s about celebrating our love and appreciation for a band, but it’s also about the experiences we’ve shared, the friends we’ve made the family we’ve gained, and how we’ve all grown and changed over the years with one another. To me, IMCRD is far more about the MCRmy than anything else”
For many of fans of the band, it was tough finding ways to connect with other members of the fanbase, especially in the early days when beyond spotting other kids in MCR shirts, going to shows and lurking the now defunct WBR Street Network message boards, there was no way to really connect.
The advances in technology since then opened very simple ways to find other fans and to stay in touch, both online and in real life. IMCRD celebrates the beauty of that, of fan unity and of a strong community built around mutual passion for the band.
Throughout the years, this grassroots holiday has spawned large-scale fan meetups, charity fund-raisers, effortless Twitter trending and many creative endeavors from the fan community.
20 Ways to celebrate IMCRD 2013
1. Attend A Meetup Head to the “Gangs” section of the MCRmy (which will continue to remain active) or to your local fan page to see if local fans are planning to meet.
2. Create Something (Anything!) Any Killjoy worth his or her weight in spraypaint and Zone dust knows that “art is the weapon.” Likewise, anyone who followsGerard Way on Twitterknows that “#ArtIsSmart.” So pick up your weapon of choice today and make something.
4. Listen to MCR in a new light A couple months ago,Gerard Waytook to Twitter to have listening parties for each of the band’s album’s offering his perspective and behind-the-scenes facts. Listening to the albums while perusing his Twitter commentary is one way to enrich your listening experience.
5. Get anMCR tattoo This is something that has been on my personal to-do list since I was 14. Why wait? Tomorrow doesn’t exist.
6. Spam your Twitter followers This year’s official IMCRD hashtag is#MCRmyForLife. Use it to celebrate the band’s career and tell others why you’re in it for life.
8.Bask in nostalgia If you’re like me, you have overflowing archives of endless MCR information. Here’s a quick directory of AP issues on which MCR have been on the cover or have been featured prominently:
10. Write a letter to Gerard Way Shortly after MCR broke up, Gerard Way published an addressand asked fans to write to him or send him anything that could fit in an envelope. When we spoke to the singer a month later, he told us it was tough, and he was surprised by the response, but he’s still going to try to get through all the letters he receives. Send yours to:
Warner Bros Records c/o Gerard Way 3300 Warner Blvd Burbank, CA 91505
Just don’t send any packages. And “don’t make it weird.”
11. Go on a scavenger hunt to find a new copy of Bullets on CD for a reasonable price
Seriously. We’re not sure what it is—Eyeball Records going out of business, opportunists scalping because of the breakup, or what—but for whatever reason, finding a copy of I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love on CD online is quite the task these days.
12. Catch up on issues one and two ofThe True Lives Of The Fabulous Killjoys The comic series (which began as a comic series that informed the album, then became informed by the album) follows the life of “The Girl” depicted in the band’s Danger Days videos several years later. For bonus fun: Go on a hunt with some fellow MCR fans for the issues’ alternate covers! (Current issues and preorders available.)
13.Watch Life On The Murder Scene You’ve probably seen it a million times, and you’re probably going to cry, but it never hurts. Plus sitting on your couch watching a DVD is “easy-peasy pumpkin-peasy. Pumpkin pie, motherfucker!” While you’re at it, you might as well whip outThe Black Parade Is Dead!and ¡Venganza!
14. Dress up
Be fearless. Go to work in full Killjoys garb! Well, depending on your job or school, that is. If you can’t go to that extreme, or if you don’t want to go with the full on unholy living dead look, wearing aT-shirt, badge or subtle writing on your arm to show your support works just fine.
16. Help out a fellow fan Whether you’re an older fan who wants to welcome a younger one to the MCRmy or if you simply notice someone who wants or needs help, extend a helping hand and feel better for having done something nice.
17. Read Frank Iero’s writing You can find the former MCR guitarist’s fiction-writing, poetry, rants, reviews, meme-generation and photography atfrank-iero.com.
18. Celebrate with cupcakes
19. Revisit the “Helena” and “Sweet Revenge” flash games from the old website.
20.Heed this advicefrom Frank Iero: “Your Imagination is the Ammunition. Stay Dirty, and Stay Dangerous. Create and Destroy as you see fit. Embrace your Originality. The Aftermath is Secondary. You can and should do Anything.”
Now, GET UP AND GO!
How will you celebrate today? Reply with your plans and share on Twitter using the #MCRmyForLife tag. You might see your photo here later!
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