Gerard Way Interview...

My Chemical Romance lead singer Gerard Way has divulged to Spinner and to Spin online that the upcoming My Chem release has inspirational roots in everything from the movie Blade Runner to his Trans Am: things that he says stand for much more than what they are, and it all goes back to the original theme the band had announced: making their "love letter to Rock'n'Roll."

"It's working class rock versus Chanel fucking handbags and red carpets and all that bullshit," Way told Spin, going along with what he had recently said about the album's fighting fame-seeking musicians.

He revealed to Spinner that the song "Trans Am," in particular, was inspired by Judas Priest (and also by The Killers, who Way says were the inspiration for a female character named "Jenny" in the song).

"Judas Priest is considered metal, but it's great rock 'n' roll. It's having nothing to do with that era of metal, the hair rock, but then having everything to do with like the birth of power-anthem metal." Way said of the genre-rebellious influence.

MCR are no strangers to fighting a musical norm and label. Because of the time in which MCR rose as a band, they were lumped into the dreaded "emo" category, a classification they have fought for years.

Perhaps this album and the risks it takes will help set MCR farther apart from the crowd.

The fact there's a song now tentatively titled 'Trans Am' is a bold thing for this band to do as opposed to our previous material," he tells Spinner of one of the tracks on the band's eagerly anticipated 2010 album. "There's something in that phrase that's obviously more than the car. But to bring something like old '70s muscle car culture into the music, that's kind of different move."

In addition to the idea of the car's time being an influence on the album, Way also cites the movie Blade Runner and notes to Spin that there's a feeling of the 1980s and a captured time and place on the record.

"...[A]esthetically or fictionally, the album has these feelings of being like a 15-year-old kid at the Jersey Shore, trying to win a Motley Crue mirror or an Iron Maiden hat, from that era when heavy metal was yet to become hair rock," Way said.

What sort of themes can listeners expect these influences to bring about?

Way told Spin, "The album has many themes. That a band and an audience can be immortal through rock'n'roll, even if just for one night. The power of believing in something. Being a survivor, running away in a positive way, leaving home in order to come back."