My Chemical Romance

0:03What's Elena does my first song in the record? Thank you Why don't you tell us a bit about the song? I know you wrote a book you grandma not but people know that Yeah, me and Mikey's grandma passed away Actually after the initial writing period for revenge and it had a very definite concept at that point But after she died it all kind of changed and became about really missing her That's really what a lot of the records about you still think about that when you sing the song live. Yeah that song in particular Among a few of us like cemetery and your I've Always yeah, let's play that start the show off your list in the backstage path You guys are on your first head landing to a Rolling Stone and spin magazine both put out stories on you this summer and get paired you to superheroes Yeah, how do you guys feel about that? It's I think it's great. I can't think of many rock superheroes

0:53We're big fans superheroes and comic books. So to us. It's it's very fitting We also have a different approach towards rock and I think that's maybe why we don't fall into a lot of rock conventions They're not a rock cliche. We don't fuck around with drugs or groupies and We we do this because we feel we have to we do it because it's like a mission to us. We don't do it because We're seeking fame or money or or Chicks or anything like that. There's you know Well Well, it at first it was like a therapy you know like it was like a calling to us and and it's like we're all born to be together in this band and do this and We really just sought to change people's lives a great deal and to change what was happening in music to change the way people

1:42Thought about certain things to change how people treated each other so many things, you know Yeah, I never really thought I was actually at a mall and I went into the hot topper to see if they had them yet And they weren't there yet, but you heard any day now. Oh really? Yeah, it's a weird thing I mean, you know we we debated about action figures I mean there's a lot of items that come your way where you're like I don't know if this is right You don't want to you don't want to exploit what you're doing, you know But then that came along and we were like well, you know, it's actions of ourselves like, you know, why wouldn't we want that? That's awesome Let's play another song your choice either hang him high or the Jetset life is gonna kill you hang him high Okay, um, I think it's a much

2:29More meaningful song actually no, that's actually weird to say um Jetset is pretty meaningful. It's about drug addiction Almost entirely hang him highs just a lot more fun. I think let's play that I was reading much interviews You know getting preparation for this interview and said you guys wanted to do a big elaborate tour big theatrical thing But it kind of got scaled down in time. Can we expect on the next tour maybe? Well, you know, it's weird I think what got scaled down was the addition of extra members as far as like having dancers I think that's the only thing I really got scaled down. I mean, it's a pretty big production I mean there's no pyro, but there's these giant screens lots of lights stuff built on stage I wouldn't exactly call it a set but in some ways it is It's like a functional set if you will have like a cathedral, you know, it's like two cathedral windows

3:18So we didn't really mess around we wanted to give the fans something But we also wanted to keep it in a certain realm whereas next time we do it we can go bigger You know, we didn't want to go to over the top Yeah, never so first time very excited very excited playing the Green Day again Really? They asked us to come out and play these stadium shows with them. Yeah I heard it's work every day It's really hard work. I mean what's work is not making music not performing music. That's that's why you're in a band That's that's what a band is All the other stuff is work like sitting there for 23 hours waiting to play his work

4:07Doing these things this work a lot of the time. It's not always you know a lot of times I mean sometimes it's a really good way to get across your message. So ultimately that's benefiting you on But yeah, I mean there's a lot of stuff Something off the first record either cubicles or headfirst for hos on you. Just head first definitely. I'll go I select song better Cubicles we never will never play again. It's the it makes no sense Musical Lee and lyrically. It's it's probably my most embarrassing lyrics It does mean something I was working in a lot of offices and I was like a perpetual intern for like four years So, you know, I thought the sterility of the office of something I want to write about but ultimately did not fit into the vibe

4:56of the band Covered under pressure with with the youth I was bird's idea to do that one we're all we're both big fans of of Queen and David Bowie and He knew that we kind of take more of the queen side and he'd do more of the Bowie side And you know, he was he was he'd been looking for a duet for a long time and he just came up with that one Now he said lately I found some news then there's a falling out between you guys. Yeah, he's a big Joker Yeah, sure two verses the non-ok video. Yes, I'll come We wanted to give our fans something initially like a visual representation of maybe kind of what we're going through at the time as a band

5:48In a lot of ways having nothing to do with the song So, you know our label so well, let's just make this video just for the web and that's all was intended for and then it started getting a lot of TV play and Which we'd never really intended and we always wanted to make a real video for it So we were always kind of waiting to do that though. We were no rush to make a real video But the video is still playing so It prompted us to make a real video. That's cool Yeah, a lot of people don't know give him give him hell was the first single. Is I right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was supposed it well at the time Well, here's the thing we don't write singles. So we just write the songs But at the time the only thing the label And Howard had heard as a single was given Howard Benson our producer

6:38Okay, you know everybody was kind of like oh give him help give him hell is the one But they at the time they hadn't heard what we were currently working on and it was so many great songs like Whereas in the end give him hell ended up being like this kind of song where it was an awesome song But they're like wow, there's so many other songs that are way better as single We'd like to use and we have an art contract where we don't you know We didn't a lot of bands fight for like singles rights They get to pick the singles and we didn't want to do that because then that means we're writing songs and be singles and You're fighting over something that you have no idea about you're not a record company you signed with a record company So they could do their job. So we let them just pick the signals. Is there gonna be a four-sangle? Or I guess it was actually actually no

7:26We're done where unfortunately we're not gonna make another video as much as they're a lot of fun for us We're gonna we're gonna leave it with ghost and that'll be it cool. I'm gonna talk about ghosts in a second Let's play song either give them hell or not okay since we spoke What was that? Oh, let's do give them hell Just because I think it's a track that doesn't get played much on the radio downloading your music Do you think it's helped you or harmed you more the illegal stuff? I think It's something that this band fortunately has not seen a large effect from When we are starting as a band it helped, you know, so it's not something that you know We're gonna now turn on and be like oh, it's it's so evil But because I mean the only way people found out about our band in the beginning was the internet, you know But at the same time there comes a point where you know with any band like these people are trying to live

8:17Not even be rich just to live and and have somewhere to sleep and you know It's like if you bought a comic book you're supporting the artist or you bought a novel you're supporting the writer It's like you buy the record if you want to support the artist if you just want to steal it That's one thing but you know, I I've always said Downloaded if you want if you like it go buy it if you don't like it there's no reason you should buy it Yeah, at least you heard it. It's almost like you know you can hear it for free every record that I've loved I bought I remember It sometimes took a while I got I found at the gates on the internet. I downloaded the whole record I listened to it for about two months and then I bought it Yeah, I buy everything that I download You know if I'm not too sure about it. I'll download it to listen to it But I'm a geek I have to have like the cover and the Know what you mean either prison or to the end prison for sure

9:07Yeah, it's it's our favorite live song got a lot of really great homo erotic stuff Life on the murder scene the new DVD come now if you want to give people just an idea look at me on that When it's a really ah well it should be coming out somewhere in in February We pushed it back as you want it to be perfect and it's really long. It's it's three discs Three discs well the documentary is one whole disc it takes up and then the rest is audio and Videos a live performance. It's very interesting to watch the band in The documentary and then to see a live performance Footage of that right after because you're just like wow like you totally you totally You start to really

9:54Realize how much the stage transforms all of us because it's not in there, you know It's really in depth. No punches were pulled We show really everything Transforms you guys notice that as a band to yeah Before the show that you guys start to get the characters of students that want to see just got the lights going off And those lights go off for in that mode, you know And now almost it kind of ebbs away out of you like on that walk from stage to backstage That's it's usually done by that Yeah We get a more arena rock for the next up you guys says gonna be more of an arena rock record How much how much have you written how much we've written 12 songs maybe like 14

10:39They're only skeletons, so we have to get together and really hammer them out, but if he's song for a long one Yeah, I mean if it's time with you know you guys right all together It's it's easier to write acoustically but Somebody has an idea brings it to the table and then everybody just puts their mark on it really and and actually for the great Agree to the song though Yeah, I feel it going in a more arena rock area for sure Yeah, yeah, we're gonna definitely push it next time I think we're gonna call it a production Designer for the first time and really Disgust the atrix cool what we can do you just heard the ghost of you from my chemical romance their new single the video very much like private Ryan Was the song written about the war no it was written about the fear of loss

11:27And the way we decided to show Yeah, there's nothing worse than losing somebody to war Because they're so distant from you anyway And it's kind of like you don't know what's going on and then you one day you just get a letter and that's the way you find out you know Our letter I mean our video is much Less of a political statement and more of a statement about humanity, you know and about how war is just truly horrible not about any specific political agenda though and You guys feel about the word War completely is terrible. You know, I mean there's times when it feels like you might need it You know obviously you have to defend yourself and protect things and you know World War two obviously a necessary evil

12:16I don't know about current wars being a necessary, you know, I mean So I mean but it ultimately it's all terrible How can you decide to go back to World War two for it and not use the current situation? I'm big to make less of a political statement to you know There's there's kind of a mystique about World War two now even though it's terrible war like I mean a lot of amazing things happen at that time Like you know, you still hear war stories and you still hear these crazy things To this day like people regard the people in that war as heroes. I mean truly everybody that goes to war as a hero But there's just something kind of is a mystique about that war We come a show called five questions five quick questions just one word answers from each of you the first one I plot our CDs Let him a cartonie

13:07But either Yeah My chemical romance awesome Insane one song to close us out any my chemical romance doing what do you guys want here? Early sunset over one row go a go early sunset over Cool. Thanks so much guys. Appreciate it