Categories > Celebrities > My Chemical Romance > Love Knows No Age
Gerard took a seat and smiled. He had to get is mind off the problems at home and concentrate on this interview. He owed it to the band and the fans. The younger man who took a seat across from him smiled and introduced himself as Dave. “I’d like to do an interview about your second CD if that’s okay with you. Honestly I love THREE CHEERS and have some questions about it. Of course I love THE BLACK PARADE too. It’s just that since I got this opportunity to interview you I thought maybe it would be okay to talk about the previous album.“
Gerard was surprised but readily agreed. He had grown tired of the same questions that were asked about THE BLACK PARADE. Dave asked his first question.
“Who did the artwork for the record?”
Gerard smiled, "I did. You like it? ”
Dave nodded, “Yes, very much.”
“Actually, I did a bunch of artwork, a whole bunch of stuff that didn't make it on the record. I just didn't want it on and we used that stuff on the hoodies. I'll tell you a funny story about it. I went in to the head of the art department at Warner. He's a guy with a lot of history. He's worked on Beatles stuff. He's been in the business. Did you see the VH1 thing with Fleetwood Mac? That band had a big special all Sunday and it was the making of their last record. He's there. He's in it. I'm sitting there and watching it like, "Holy shit." Anyway, I go in with this book, this sketchbook of all this watercolor stuff, because I was going to use that as a basis for what the photographer was going to do. We have a photographer I really love, Justin Barooki. He ended up doing all the photos of the band for the record. But he was supposed to do this set up of a man and a woman. It was supposed to be a photo of them covered in blood. So, I pass all my sketches over and he's sitting there looking at them and he's like, "What do you want me to do with these?" I was like, "I'm just going to give them to the photographer and he's going to recreate the situation." He goes, "How come you're not using these?" I'm like, "I don't know. I haven't done art in years." So, I didn't think of myself that way. I didn't think they were good enough. He loved them. He was like, "This is your cover, dude." I was really surprised. It's very gory, but I guess because it's watercolor, it's very tasteful. Which is why he actually preferred all of them. Because if we put people there, it would look like a hardcore record. It would look like a movie poster for some weird movie. So, I was like, "Alright. Ok, let's do it." So, that's how that came about. We have two versions of it too. There's another gorier version that I actually didn't like because the guy came out bad. The girl came out great. It didn't look right. The other one is more tasteful.“
Dave had his next question ready, “So, the whole vampires, bats, bloody stuff. Where did that all come from? ”
Gerard rolled his eyes. “I probably actually haven't even ever said this in an interview, but the whole "unleash the bats" thing came from a Birthday Party song called "Release The Bats." Ian MacKaye used to be in the Birthday Party, and I love the Birthday Party. I just thought it was the wackiest, craziest little phrase. That's where it came from. I'd always been obsessed with death and dark stuff and horror movie stuff, but I don't consider myself Goth. I think there's a distinct difference. The whole vampire thing [came up when I thought] "Man, nobody writes songs about vampires. How cool would it be?" I thought it was kind of risky or ballsy to play a rock song or a hardcore song that was about vampires. Like Ink and Dagger. I love that band, but nobody does shit like that anymore. It was a really big metaphor for what I wanted to write about, then it got carried away, obviously. I go to shows and kids ask me to bite them and I'm not a gothy guy really. I just happen to be very obsessed with death and dying and the beauty and tragedy of it all. That's really where it came from.”
“What song on "Three Cheers" means the most to you and why?”
"Helena." That's my grandmother's name and it's about her. Originally, I wanted the lyrics to be more directly about her. It ended up being more of a song about her writing to me. The lyrics are very aggressive. It's more about me ragging on myself for being away so much. After we had toured for about a year and a half straight, she died the day after I got home. She had been in the hospital, so I couldn't see her because I was sick too. I got home and the next morning I woke up and she was dead. I was very angry with myself for that. I didn't regret it, obviously, because she would have wanted me on the road. The song's very aggressive towards myself. That's kind of what I do. That song definitely means the most. It's awesome. It's one of my favorite songs on the record.”
“What inspired you to be in a band?”
Gerard smiled, “I've always liked music. I originally wanted to be in a band when I was in middle school. I sucked at guitar so bad that I got kicked out of the band. Then I was like, "You know what. Let me try something else." I had always liked art, so I went to art school. I had a hard time breaking in. It's a really hard field. I started to do really good in animation, then 9/11 happened. I was kind of like, "You know what. This is fucking pointless." I was working on cartoons and stuff and it was just dumb. I wanted to do something that makes more of a difference. That was the way I saw to do that and to deal with the whole 9/11 thing. I was like right there. I was on my way into the city, so I was right on the edge of what happened surrounded by all these people. We were all on our way to work. It was fucking crazy, you know. So, after that, I just said, "What the fuck am I doing with my life?" I was like this scrubby intern slash artist guy who's like 24, 25 years old [and] doing nothing. I decided to change my entire life.”
“Describe your first kiss. My girlfriend told me to ask this one.”
Gerard laughed, “Ok, I can do that pretty easily. I was 15 years old. I believe my best friend was in the front seat with a girl. I was in the back seat. I think we were waiting in a car for these two girls to get picked up. He was a little older than me, so he had a permit. I didn't know what to do. I hadn't kissed anybody, ever. Not even like playground type shit. She definitely initiated because I'm not an initiator. She just started sticking her tongue down my throat and I was like, "What the fuck is this?" At first, it was really gross, then I was like, "Alright. Well, I guess this is kind of cool." You never know what you're really like until you do it. Afterwards, I ended up obviously really being more into that sleazy, dirty type thing. Not a lot of people kiss like that. I was way into it. She wasn't the most attractive girl, but I wasn't really the most attractive guy.”
“What's the craziest thing you've ever done?”
“Probably jumping over a 6 foot barricade to a 10 foot drop to concrete in a bear costume. In a bear costume is probably what makes it a little crazier. That was on the Reggie tour and they have a bear come on stage with them. They didn't have their bear, so the first day James said, "Hey, bro. I got a job for you if you're interested. If you want to, start our set and say 'Let's get it on' then kind of do whatever you want." I was like, "Alright." So, I got in the bear suit, jumped, and nobody caught me. I'm thinking, "Dude, they're definitely going to catch a guy in a bear suit. Who wouldn't want to catch a guy in a bear suit?" I thought I was going home in a helicopter. That was the last time I did that. That was in Florida too, and Florida kids can't catch for shit anyway. That's been my experience.”
“If you had to watch only one movie for the rest of your life, which would it be?”
Gerard thought a moment, “Empire Strikes Back. There are movies that are obviously better films, but that has a lot to do with my childhood. I think it's probably one of the greatest movies ever. If I had to pick another, like a more cerebral film, [it would be] probably A Clockwork Orange. The Shining is good too, but I'm not a big Kubrick fan, so that's tough. Empire Strikes Back.”
“Tattoos and piercings: Great additions or would you rather not?”
“I don't have anything. I really like tattoos. I'm just a pussy about needles. I'm afraid of needles, even when they draw blood and shit. I have to lay down and I have to do special breathing with the doctor, or else I'll pass out. I think it's a nice addition on some people. On some people, it's a little carried away. But it's not for me really. I really always wanted a black widow on my neck. I'd be way into something like that.”
“What to do you do to get psyched up before a show?”
Gerard sat back in his chair and lit a cigarette, “I used to do all kinds of shit like punch mirrors, smash my head against walls, talk shit to myself and just kind of freak out. Now, I just really focus and I warm up vocally. I stay kind of calm. That way I save all that intensity. The minute I walk on stage, everything changes completely. I like that better. So, I just kind of chill out.”
The rest of the interview was pretty standard stuff. Gerard talked to Dave a few more minutes then started back to the hotel. He really wanted to get back so he could call Kelly. He just hoped she would open up and talk to him about what had happened.
On the way back he smiled thinking back to the interview. He hadn’t thought about the bear suit for a long time. He remembered how Liv had laughed at what he had done. He also remembered she hadn’t laughed until she had made sure he was all right. Memories of that day rushed back. The look of panic on her face when it had happened. She had been so afraid he’d been hurt. Once she had known he was okay then she had laughed at the idiotic thing he’d done. She’d helped him out of the bear suit and they snuck away and found a quiet place to make love. He could still remember the feel of her soft hands running over his body as she checked him for injuries. Gerard shook his head angrily. Why remember that now? For every one good memory he could think of ten bad ones. He leaned his head back against the seat and closed his eyes. He forced his thoughts back to the present. Suddenly he wanted to hear Monica’s voice more than he had in a long time.
AUTHORS NOTE: This interview comes from a very hard-to-find magazine from 2004. I couldn’t resist putting part of it in the story. Thanks for asking about my weekend …it was lovely but I’m glad to be back. Love you all. SanDee XOXO
Gerard was surprised but readily agreed. He had grown tired of the same questions that were asked about THE BLACK PARADE. Dave asked his first question.
“Who did the artwork for the record?”
Gerard smiled, "I did. You like it? ”
Dave nodded, “Yes, very much.”
“Actually, I did a bunch of artwork, a whole bunch of stuff that didn't make it on the record. I just didn't want it on and we used that stuff on the hoodies. I'll tell you a funny story about it. I went in to the head of the art department at Warner. He's a guy with a lot of history. He's worked on Beatles stuff. He's been in the business. Did you see the VH1 thing with Fleetwood Mac? That band had a big special all Sunday and it was the making of their last record. He's there. He's in it. I'm sitting there and watching it like, "Holy shit." Anyway, I go in with this book, this sketchbook of all this watercolor stuff, because I was going to use that as a basis for what the photographer was going to do. We have a photographer I really love, Justin Barooki. He ended up doing all the photos of the band for the record. But he was supposed to do this set up of a man and a woman. It was supposed to be a photo of them covered in blood. So, I pass all my sketches over and he's sitting there looking at them and he's like, "What do you want me to do with these?" I was like, "I'm just going to give them to the photographer and he's going to recreate the situation." He goes, "How come you're not using these?" I'm like, "I don't know. I haven't done art in years." So, I didn't think of myself that way. I didn't think they were good enough. He loved them. He was like, "This is your cover, dude." I was really surprised. It's very gory, but I guess because it's watercolor, it's very tasteful. Which is why he actually preferred all of them. Because if we put people there, it would look like a hardcore record. It would look like a movie poster for some weird movie. So, I was like, "Alright. Ok, let's do it." So, that's how that came about. We have two versions of it too. There's another gorier version that I actually didn't like because the guy came out bad. The girl came out great. It didn't look right. The other one is more tasteful.“
Dave had his next question ready, “So, the whole vampires, bats, bloody stuff. Where did that all come from? ”
Gerard rolled his eyes. “I probably actually haven't even ever said this in an interview, but the whole "unleash the bats" thing came from a Birthday Party song called "Release The Bats." Ian MacKaye used to be in the Birthday Party, and I love the Birthday Party. I just thought it was the wackiest, craziest little phrase. That's where it came from. I'd always been obsessed with death and dark stuff and horror movie stuff, but I don't consider myself Goth. I think there's a distinct difference. The whole vampire thing [came up when I thought] "Man, nobody writes songs about vampires. How cool would it be?" I thought it was kind of risky or ballsy to play a rock song or a hardcore song that was about vampires. Like Ink and Dagger. I love that band, but nobody does shit like that anymore. It was a really big metaphor for what I wanted to write about, then it got carried away, obviously. I go to shows and kids ask me to bite them and I'm not a gothy guy really. I just happen to be very obsessed with death and dying and the beauty and tragedy of it all. That's really where it came from.”
“What song on "Three Cheers" means the most to you and why?”
"Helena." That's my grandmother's name and it's about her. Originally, I wanted the lyrics to be more directly about her. It ended up being more of a song about her writing to me. The lyrics are very aggressive. It's more about me ragging on myself for being away so much. After we had toured for about a year and a half straight, she died the day after I got home. She had been in the hospital, so I couldn't see her because I was sick too. I got home and the next morning I woke up and she was dead. I was very angry with myself for that. I didn't regret it, obviously, because she would have wanted me on the road. The song's very aggressive towards myself. That's kind of what I do. That song definitely means the most. It's awesome. It's one of my favorite songs on the record.”
“What inspired you to be in a band?”
Gerard smiled, “I've always liked music. I originally wanted to be in a band when I was in middle school. I sucked at guitar so bad that I got kicked out of the band. Then I was like, "You know what. Let me try something else." I had always liked art, so I went to art school. I had a hard time breaking in. It's a really hard field. I started to do really good in animation, then 9/11 happened. I was kind of like, "You know what. This is fucking pointless." I was working on cartoons and stuff and it was just dumb. I wanted to do something that makes more of a difference. That was the way I saw to do that and to deal with the whole 9/11 thing. I was like right there. I was on my way into the city, so I was right on the edge of what happened surrounded by all these people. We were all on our way to work. It was fucking crazy, you know. So, after that, I just said, "What the fuck am I doing with my life?" I was like this scrubby intern slash artist guy who's like 24, 25 years old [and] doing nothing. I decided to change my entire life.”
“Describe your first kiss. My girlfriend told me to ask this one.”
Gerard laughed, “Ok, I can do that pretty easily. I was 15 years old. I believe my best friend was in the front seat with a girl. I was in the back seat. I think we were waiting in a car for these two girls to get picked up. He was a little older than me, so he had a permit. I didn't know what to do. I hadn't kissed anybody, ever. Not even like playground type shit. She definitely initiated because I'm not an initiator. She just started sticking her tongue down my throat and I was like, "What the fuck is this?" At first, it was really gross, then I was like, "Alright. Well, I guess this is kind of cool." You never know what you're really like until you do it. Afterwards, I ended up obviously really being more into that sleazy, dirty type thing. Not a lot of people kiss like that. I was way into it. She wasn't the most attractive girl, but I wasn't really the most attractive guy.”
“What's the craziest thing you've ever done?”
“Probably jumping over a 6 foot barricade to a 10 foot drop to concrete in a bear costume. In a bear costume is probably what makes it a little crazier. That was on the Reggie tour and they have a bear come on stage with them. They didn't have their bear, so the first day James said, "Hey, bro. I got a job for you if you're interested. If you want to, start our set and say 'Let's get it on' then kind of do whatever you want." I was like, "Alright." So, I got in the bear suit, jumped, and nobody caught me. I'm thinking, "Dude, they're definitely going to catch a guy in a bear suit. Who wouldn't want to catch a guy in a bear suit?" I thought I was going home in a helicopter. That was the last time I did that. That was in Florida too, and Florida kids can't catch for shit anyway. That's been my experience.”
“If you had to watch only one movie for the rest of your life, which would it be?”
Gerard thought a moment, “Empire Strikes Back. There are movies that are obviously better films, but that has a lot to do with my childhood. I think it's probably one of the greatest movies ever. If I had to pick another, like a more cerebral film, [it would be] probably A Clockwork Orange. The Shining is good too, but I'm not a big Kubrick fan, so that's tough. Empire Strikes Back.”
“Tattoos and piercings: Great additions or would you rather not?”
“I don't have anything. I really like tattoos. I'm just a pussy about needles. I'm afraid of needles, even when they draw blood and shit. I have to lay down and I have to do special breathing with the doctor, or else I'll pass out. I think it's a nice addition on some people. On some people, it's a little carried away. But it's not for me really. I really always wanted a black widow on my neck. I'd be way into something like that.”
“What to do you do to get psyched up before a show?”
Gerard sat back in his chair and lit a cigarette, “I used to do all kinds of shit like punch mirrors, smash my head against walls, talk shit to myself and just kind of freak out. Now, I just really focus and I warm up vocally. I stay kind of calm. That way I save all that intensity. The minute I walk on stage, everything changes completely. I like that better. So, I just kind of chill out.”
The rest of the interview was pretty standard stuff. Gerard talked to Dave a few more minutes then started back to the hotel. He really wanted to get back so he could call Kelly. He just hoped she would open up and talk to him about what had happened.
On the way back he smiled thinking back to the interview. He hadn’t thought about the bear suit for a long time. He remembered how Liv had laughed at what he had done. He also remembered she hadn’t laughed until she had made sure he was all right. Memories of that day rushed back. The look of panic on her face when it had happened. She had been so afraid he’d been hurt. Once she had known he was okay then she had laughed at the idiotic thing he’d done. She’d helped him out of the bear suit and they snuck away and found a quiet place to make love. He could still remember the feel of her soft hands running over his body as she checked him for injuries. Gerard shook his head angrily. Why remember that now? For every one good memory he could think of ten bad ones. He leaned his head back against the seat and closed his eyes. He forced his thoughts back to the present. Suddenly he wanted to hear Monica’s voice more than he had in a long time.
AUTHORS NOTE: This interview comes from a very hard-to-find magazine from 2004. I couldn’t resist putting part of it in the story. Thanks for asking about my weekend …it was lovely but I’m glad to be back. Love you all. SanDee XOXO
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