My Chemical Romance were never massive pop stars. They held their own in a sub genre ’emo/goth/alt/whatever and they were damn good at it. I loved Black Parade so much I was able to appreciate their other more mediocre releases. But the stress of being a middle management star so to speak, hit leader Gerard Way pretty hard.
Seems the case with many- imagine if the band had gotten as big as One Direction, they’d be overdosed in an alley. You either have what it takes to survive in the racket or you don’t- apparently Way does not. The cool thing is he is totally OK with it. Jumping out of My Chem threw him in to a pretty bleak place but throwing away a career can do that to a person.
“Doing the right think is usually the hardest thing. I was the most depressed I’ve been in my whole life,” Gerard recalled to British magazine Q.
Luckily Doug McKean, the band’s producer, convinced the 37-year-old to get a grip and get writing new material.
So hurrah there is a solo offering due in September. Apparently Way was inspired by David Bowie. “[Bowie] was trying to escape the stress of his career trajectory. I was trying to get out of the stress of being [part of] a machine,” he explained. Think they may have been on two totally different levels but OK, it helped him through it all.
The new stuff is lighter and happier and therapy sanctioned, all good things for sure. Speaking to his fellow 30 somethings, although his fans are twenty somethings perhaps this will bring in a new group.. maybe.
