The Life And Lies Of Gerard Way

Chapter six: Starting over

That phone call was the beginning of a new era for My Chemical Romance; Frank gathered his wife, children and dogs and moved down permanently to Los Angeles to make it easier to keep the band together. A sort of truce was manifested between Gerard and Frank, a silent agreement to not let their past get in between them, and over all the old feeling of brotherhood slowly came back into the band. And while Gerard was absolutely thrilled that Frank was back in his life, he still found it difficult not to let what had happened between them get to him.

“I was so attracted to him,” he sighs, “and while I hoped and wished that some day that feeling would be gone it was so hard to ignore the fact that every day he was there, right in front of me. It was just the knowing that everything I wanted, I could have, if it weren’t for all these issues and obstacles. I just really wanted to get close to him, but we had to stay civil and it was the hardest thing I’ve ever done.”

Rediscovering their old sound and having fun at jam sessions, the band went into the studio in late 2015 to record for the first time since their falling out, in lack of a better word. Their seventh full-length was going to be all about conquering the world, coming out on top of every hardship, and staying afloat when a storm rages the sea around you. Gerard’s lyrics regarded mostly the feeling of losing something and then getting it back again, and the songs were melodic, dark, progressive and deep; a direction that My Chem had never really taken before with their songwriting.

“It felt good to be back together, to be playing again,” Gerard smiles. “We were all really excited about this record, and I was so glad to have Frankie back. The recording process went by smoothly, we all produced the record together and Ray mixed it, so it was really just a collaborative effort between all of us.”

On March 22nd, 2016, ‘My Chemical Romance: The Odyssey’ was released, and the first single ‘We March to Our Own Beat’ instantly hit the top of the charts both in the States and the United Kingdom. The band took their wives and children and loaded them all onto a bus, and toured through North America together for eight months.

“It was like a fucking travelling circus,” Gerard laughs. “We all really grew together, as a family, and the kids really became sisters and brothers. It was so great to see them play and laugh together, and on the rare occasions when we brought them out on stage you could just see their eyes glistening with amazement, and it was the best thing ever.”

As the tour went over seas after a short break in December, they left their families at home in the States and went on to tour Europe, Asia and Australia by themselves. Now their sense of brotherhood was completely returned, and according to Gerard it almost felt like they had never been apart at all.

“We were back where we had started and that felt amazing,” he says and takes a sip of his coffee. “There was no tension whatsoever, and I had sort of learned to control my feelings for Frankie. It just wasn’t difficult to be around him anymore, because everything just felt natural.”

It couldn’t be ignored that they had all grown old during these months apart, and when Gerard turned forty in April 2017 it became a milestone. They were no longer the new, young band, fighting their way through the music scene; they had become the experienced veterans, the still living legends.

“I felt so fucking old,” Gerard groans, “and when I turned forty there was, like, no turning back. I just couldn’t call myself young anymore, I was grown up for real and that scared me. A part of me I think has always just wanted to be sixteen again, because when you’re young you can be angry and defiant and punk rock and it’s cool. When you’re old, you just look like a wannabe.”

In celebration of their new role in rock as no-longer-the-young-and-pretty-things My Chem shot a video for one of their old b-sides, ‘Kill All Your Friends’. The video featured the band working at McDonalds, with grease stained clothes looking old and tired and generally giving the impression that they all were failures. This sparked a riot amongst some of the fans, who took to great measures to assure the band that they were still young and pretty and not failures at all.

“There was an uproar,” Gerard laughs, “and it got so far that we actually had to repel the video, because the reactions were from out of this world. It was creepy and strange and everywhere we went there were kids wearing Ronald McDonald suits in protest, and I have no idea where they all got the costumes from.”

The band’s world tour took a long time this time around, because of their constant trips back home and out on tour again, and as 2017 came to a close the band were exhausted. They decided to take a break again, but with everyone living in the same city getting together to play was a lot easier and a lot more fun than before.

2018 was a mellow year for the band; they had jam sessions and videogame weekends, and Gerard spent his free time making art. He got involved again in his art gallery, and wrote a third installment to his old classic ‘The Umbrella Academy’, published in October.

“I think we really needed to take some time off,” he explains, “but we didn’t need to take time off from each other. We spent day and night together, all four of us, and we weren’t really planning for whatever was next, you know? We didn’t think about what the next record was going to be like, we didn’t pressure each other to come up with sheer greatness; we just played together because it was fun and because that was what we needed. It felt very organic, making music that way, because there was no pressure from us, no pressure from the record label, no pressure from the fans. It was just four kind of old guys playing together because it was all we wanted to do.”