Source: WSOU (Part Two)
Date: Summer 2003
Transcribed By:  Sally C.

[Read Part One]

—-

WSOU: Yeah, we’re back here on 89.5 FM WSOU, and uh, you’re listening to Under the Stars

G: Yo.

WSOU: I remember a long time ago when you were recording this record that you had a problem while you were singing this song.

G: Yeah, I had uh, I had a hole in my tooth, and an abscess in the hole, and it was pushing against all the nerves in my face, and it looked like I had Parkinson’s [Disease], and it was a drag.  

WSOU: And your face was droopy.

G: And it was droopy, and I went hospitals the whole time we were recording and they thought I had facial nerve paralysis, facial nerve damage, so I had to do that song basically with yeah, like, the most intense pain, and half a face. Half a FAAAAACE.  

WSOU: So, alright, everyone listening, now you know he did that song with half a face.

G: Half a face.

[everyone laughing]

WSOU: How do you feel about that song after you played it, I know you must have been like, this, you know like, this can’t be the best I could do because you’re all messed up and stuff.  

G: It felt like that when I was doing it, but now, everyone was so psyched on it when I did it, like—

R: Psyched?  People were crying!  

G: They were crying, man.

R: It was amazing, man.

O: Yeah, we were definitely a bunch of wusses. 
F: Correction, not “bunch of wusses”, Ray and Otter crying.  That’s what happened.

R: I will definitely say—

M: The Red Sea might have been parted when my brother did that part.  

R: I cried, I think Alex [Saavedra, of Eyeball Records, in the middle with the hat and glasses] may have shed a singular tear

WSOU: A singular tear.

R: There was definitely some crying going on.  

G: I got a hug after that one.

R: It was bad, dude.

G: I got a hug.  I lotsa hugs after that.

WSOU: Alright, so, how’d you feel about the hugs afterwards?

G: The hugs were sweet.  The record was sweeter.   It was a good time, it was the salad days, you know what I mean?

M: You know, Roy Rogers  Fixins Bar.

G: Roy Rogers Fixin Bar.

WSOU: What is Mikey talking about?

G: I have no idea.

[laughing]

G: No, it was uh, those were sweet days.  Sweet times for My Chemical Romance.  

WSOU: So, are you guys happy, are you guys happy with the record, the way it came out?  Now, like, in retrospect, after touring the record and after playing the record out in front of like, 50 to 7000 people.  How do you feel, like, the consumer reaction has been?

G: You know what, it’s all worth it when you play a show like you play at Bloomfield Ave [Montclair, NJ] or at Knitting [Factory, NYC], where there’s like, I don’t even have to sing that much, and it’s like, awesome, you know what I mean, like, they’re just singing every word, it’s so worth it, it’s like, oh, well, we know we may have gotten pneumonia for like, nine months and had no clean clothes or anything like that, you know?  But it was all worth it, you know?

WSOU: So, I mean, that was your first show back since November [NOTE: They played a show at Bloomfield Ave on 6/8/2003— they did actually play shows in other parts of NJ (Old Bridge, Boonton, South Amboy, Asbury Park), that was their first ~North Jersey show back.].  How did you feel coming home to such a welcome back?  And playing in like, 100-something degree weather?  
G: I’ll tell you like, well, Bloomfield [Ave], yeah, it was like, a health hazard, but it was awesome.  And it was just like, it felt so good, it felt like especially— Knitting [Factory] really was, really— Knitting solidified it for me because it was just kinda like— it made us feel, it made me feel prepared for what’s coming, you know what I mean, and it was just like, “wow, okay, like, we have our home support”.  And I feel really strong from playing in front of these people, these people are making me feel really strong, like all the fans and all the street-teamers and all the supporters in the industry and whatever that came out.  It made me feel really strong about what’s going to happen and that’s— and so to me, that was awesome.  

WSOU: Unfortunately I couldn’t make it to the Knitting Factory show ‘cause it was on a Thursday, we all know where I am on a Thursday, so, let’s hear about what made you feel this way since —

G: Uhhhmmm—

WSOU: Since you had such a powerful reaction?

G: It was seriously like, it wasn’t like, cheering and crap like that, it was just seriously like, I genuinely felt support and like, every time we said something to them, they responded and they understood  and cause like, we have a lot of stuff to say and not just about— not just what’s on the record, like stuff about music and the industry, and recording and being a band and risking your life and like, being in the van for like, nine months and never seeing your family and never seeing your loved ones and having relationships fall apart because of it, and you know, it just all made it worthwhile.  It made us say, “wow, these are our kids, these are our people.”  You know?  Not just kids, they’re people.  They’re our people.  And like, they’re there for us.  And we’re able to give something back to them and we’re able to play like, as amazingly as we can because they’re putting out the energy and we’re giving it right back to them.  And seriously, it made me ready to do whatever we needed to do for the next ten months.  

WSOU: I know a lot of people who have been following your band [Note: My audio starts skipping here, again— roughly, he’s talking about fans and the early days when they played to like, 20 kids and “Oh, who is this band, they’re pretty good”]

G: Yeah

WSOU: And now they’re like, “Oh, what’s next, what’s next up in My Chemical Romance?

G: Well, I remember back when we started out, you were the first person to break us on the radio, and I think that’s amazing to have like uh, somebody that actually like, that’s a friend of yours, you care about, and has a good show, has something to say to people, bringing them new music, the person who breaks you on the radio, but what’s about to happen is like, we just want the record to get out there as much as possible, and that’s still gonna happen, and people are going to be able to find that record.  Right now, we’re in the studio every day, seven days a week, writing new music, you know?  And we get in there at 1:30, we plug in—

R: 2 o’ clock, you guys are always late

G: 2 o’clock, we’re late sometimes…

[laughing]

WSOU: Let’s not talk about who’s late here, an hour and a half—

G: But we get in there, and we, we usually, we haven’t left the studio since we’ve gotten back from tour and not have something new, you know what I mean.  

WSOU: I know there’s a lot of people anxious out there, they wanna know how’s it going?

G: It’s going so good, and like—

WSOU: You have a lot of positive things to say on this record?

G: A lot of positive things, you know, we’ve got stuff on there that people are going to be able to identify with from our last record, as far as the fact that we’re still a punk-rock band, we’re still like, a punk-rock band that metal and likes dark things and stuff like that, but there’s so much growth, and there’s so much progress happening, that there’s songs that like, the only way you’re gonna recognize us is by you’re gonna hear us play them.  But that’s the only way, like, there’s such a difference.

WSOU: You think there’s like, a progression of music definitely, in writing…?

G: Exactly.  I think if we didn’t have a progression, then we wouldn’t survive, you know what I mean.  

WSOU: But you don’t think that you’re straying so far away from the original My Chemical Romance formula?

G: No, not at all.  

F: It’s always going to be My Chemical Romance, and like—

G: You can hear it in there, you know?

F: And it’s just us playing…like…more…I dunno, us exploring different things.  

WSOU: Where do you think you’re going, what direction do you think you’re going in, more of a metal or punk rock direction?

G: That, I can’t even say, because there’s stuff that’s metal and punk-rock in every song we’ve written, but I mean, there’s songs that, it’s… I can’t even say, like, really. It’s not more metal, it’s not more punk-rock, it’s just…

F: We’re not setting out to be like, “Oh, this is going to sound more like this.”

G: Yeah.  

F: Kinda like, whatever the fu—…heck comes out.  

[everyone laughing]

WSOU: Yeaaahhhh, good self-edit right there.  He gets a high-five later.  

G: Yeah, and that’s the beauty of like, what we’re doing right now.  Somebody gave me like… my friend Mike Iovino, he was in a band called Murder 1, and WSOU supported them very heavily— I saw him at a comics store like, a week ago and he gave me some very good advice, and he was like, “Gerard, no matter what happens, just remember that, just remember when you started it, it was fun, when you started writing your first album, it was a lot of fun, you did it for fun.  Just because you’re getting all this attention, just because great things are happening for you doesn’t mean it should stop being fun, it should start being work, and that there should be pressures attached to that. Like, forget about that, still write the songs for fun, still write the songs because you want to play them live”.  And like, that’s what we’re doing now.  We’re still writing the same stuff we would have written had we not even like, you know, had this record not even have a home, you know?  We would be writing the same record.  Like, whatever comes out, we just get in there and say, “Alright, this sound like…um, like a pirate shanty, or whatever— that’s it, that’s what we wrote that day.” And if it ends up on the record, whatever.  

WSOU: Do you see right now, with you writing new music, do you see any new themes developing?

G: Well, the next record is definitely going to be about revenge, ‘cause it’s a subject that we touched upon with Bullets, it’s a subject that um… Bullets was more like, wistful, more like about Romeo and Juliet type, um, star-crossed lovers and stuff like that, like “Demolition Lovers” captures like, the theme of the whole record, you know? Two people willing to die in a gun battle for each other and stuff like that.  The next record’s stepping a little away from that kind of romanticism about it, and it’s going into more of the like, coming back from the dead to get revenge.  And the next record is definitely going to be a concept album about coming back from the dead and getting revenge.  

WSOU: So the next record will be a concept record.

G: Yeah, just like the first, like, I don’t think any record we make will be not a concept record, I think—

WSOU: I think kids enjoy that though, kids enjoy a story to read.  

G: Totally, I mean like, you gotta tell a story, like, you know, if I wasn’t doing this I’d be telling stories.  So to me, it’s just another extension of telling stories.  But these are stories that have meanings, they have metaphors, and they have something to say to you.  

WSOU: Um, yeah, well, we’re gonna be uh, discussing the new record, I suppose in detail, soon.  We’re just gonna try to hopefully play more music now and for those of you who’ve never heard My Chemical Romance, you can hear some of their record right now, if you haven’t make sure you request them on regular rotation here on 89.5 FM WSOU .  If you have any questions for them, if you dig them, give us a call, 973-***-****  

[NOTE: My audio skips a little bit here]

WSOU: We’re gonna go ahead and play a song.  What’d’you got?

R: I don’t know if we have enough time…

WSOU: We have plenty of time.  

R: Should we hear Demos [Demotolition Lovers]?  

WSOU: “Demolition Lovers”, yeah, everyone hears “Demolition Lovers”.  

R: Alright, I feel bad though, I want to play some other bands, like, why do we have to listen to us?  

WSOU: We’re gonna play a “My Chemical Romance Takes Over Under the Stars” playlist in maybe, 10, 15, 20 minutes?  

R: Thank god.  I’m tired of hearing us.  I’m sure everybody else is too.  

WSOU: So we’re gonna hear “Demolition Lovers”, which is the final track on the My Chemical Romance CD I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love.  And um, we’ll be back, so if you enjoy this, give us a call 973-***-****.

[First and last notes of “Demolition Lovers”.  End Part 2]