Gerard Way Meets Iggy Pop

With his wild onstage antics and upcoming "sleazy Detroit rock" album, My Chemical Romance's frontman is a true disciple of The Stooges. "I didn't want the girls to want to f--k me, I wanted the straight guys to want to f--k me," Way says. "I got that from Iggy."

SPIN: Gerard, when did you first hear Iggy's music?

GERARD WAY: This is kind of a crazy story. There was a cartoon I saw as a child called Rock & Rule.

IGGY POP: Oh my God! Somebody saw it!

WAY: Yeah! It had a huge impact on me. It was set in the future and starred [the music of] Iggy, Lou Reed, Debbie Harry, Cheap Trick, and Earth, Wind & Fire.

POP: I remember my song was called "Pain & Suffering." [Sings] "Red wine turns to blood / A cow floats upside down in a river of mud!"

WAY: It scared me, but I was drawn to it. I rediscovered it in middle school, right when [Iggy's pop hit] "Candy" came out. I'd been a metalhead, but then I got into punk and the Ramones, and through that I got into Iggy.

POP: They were good to me that way, the Ramones. I just saw a picture of a night at CBGB's in 1975 when they held a party for me. We all had that same bowl haircut! Five of us with a bowl. Mine was platinum and theirs were dark.

SPIN: The Ramones were from Queens; Iggy, you're from Michigan, and Gerard, you're from Jersey -- three of the most disrespected places in America. Do you feel a connection because of that?

POP: Yeah, real knucklehead places. Allen Ginsberg is from New Jersey, from Paterson, and it's a pretty ugly town as he paints it.

WAY: I'm from Newark, which is pretty much Paterson. Paterson is a fucked-up place.

POP: I always liked Newark because it was so embattled. I like semi-torn-down places where I could get nestled in and get something done without anyone bothering me.

WAY: Definitely. We practiced in this factory there where there had been murders. It's in the deconstructed, destroyed cities where people will leave you alone so you can create yourself.

SPIN: Do you both carry your hometowns with you in the art you make?

POP: I certainly do. If I'm in Paris and the people get very French, I find my drawl thickening, like [adopts heavy Detroit accent] "You know what there, Froggy…"

WAY: I wouldn't have been able to move to L.A. if I felt I was going to lose my identity as a New Jerseyian. My accent has gotten thicker since I've lived here. L.A. people might hate me for saying this, but when [my wife] Lindsey and I moved, we thought, "Everyone here is so polite. If a bunch of people moved out from the East Coast, they could fucking run this place." Like the person I'm getting coffee from, he's definitely motherfucking me and is going to say something when I'm gone. Not like in New York, where they'll just motherfuck you to your face.

POP:"Heyyyy, man, great to see you! You're a beautiful cat!" But seriously, there's some highly capable assassins out there. So hats off to 'em.

SPIN: I wanted to talk to you both about influential concerts in your life. Iggy, you've spoken about seeing Jim Morrison and the Doors in 1967.

POP: It was the homecoming dance at the University of Michigan, and it was an intimate setting, sort of like the prom scene in Carrie. When the dude appeared, Morrison, he lurched onto the stage, and people probably thought he was drunk. But I knew that cat had had three or four hits of acid. His pupils were totally dilated, and he had on a sort of Hedy Lamarr–as-Delilah outfit, and when he opened his mouth, he sang only in falsetto baby talk. There was no applause. No approval. No comprehension. It was a visibly unsuccessful evening, and that's what I loved about it in retrospect. Afterwards, I was vibrating with this feeling that I have no excuse not to get our miserable, good-for-nothin' band out on the stage.

WAY: All of the performances that mattered to me were the shows I couldn't go to because they'd already happened and I was just a kid. In a lot of ways, my band has always been in response to stuff. Seeing bands like Thursday and At the Drive-In, they were plugged into what I like to call "Motor City motherfuckin' rock," channeling the Stooges, channeling the MC5. During this one performance, ATDI were wearing catsuits, crawling under the stage. It was sexy and challenged your sexuality. I guess all I added to that was eyeliner. I wanted to challenge gender, abuse the audience. I didn't want the girls to want to fuck me, I wanted the straight guys to want to fuck me. I think I got that from Iggy.

POP: Maybe you should give John Mayer a call. [Laughs] I think whatever it is you're doing, if you're gonna get up and do it in front of the public, it's going to blow unless you give free rein to your emotional truths. Otherwise you're going to look like you're pandering.

WAY: I've always loved Lust for Life—the whole record for me is perfect. You're not pandering at all. I started to feel on the last [My Chemical Romance] record like I was pandering, and that the money had put me in stasis. It's like a trap: Stasis is death, and I started to make safe decisions. But then on [2007's Projekt Revolution] tour, our last one for [The Black Parade], a journalist told me we were like the fucking Stooges up there. That's what we're trying to get back to on this new record, what we had on that one tour.

POP: A lot of young musicians get the money at the wrong time. They get it for something they don't feel great about, and it'll make you feel so bad it'll destroy you and kill you. Musical types tend to combine the burden of the author with the burden of the actor.

WAY: I never thought about that, being author and actor. We were going to these cities where there were hate crimes directed at the kids listening to us, the kids wearing all black. I retreated and stopped being on the crusade. I didn't want anyone to get hurt. The light at the end of the tunnel was a friend reminding me I didn't wear a Public Image Ltd. pin on my jacket in high school because I wanted to get spit on, I wore it because I wanted to wear it. Our kids are the same way: It's their fucking choice. I can't protect them. I need to give them what they want.

POP: If you give a good performance, something that gets some feeling across to people, that's such a rare gift. It's underestimated at this point in history, when the music biz is inevitably turning into a kind of politics. It's good to withdraw at certain times. A steady diet of it is rough on a person.

URL to video interview with Gerard Way:

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1811456849?bctid=73670137001

OF UMBRELLAS AND KILLJOYS

RUSSELL: Of course, there's still some great stuff that comes out of left field every once in a while. "The Umbrella Academy" is a great example of that, I think.

ALLIE: Thanks. I love that book, because there's a quality to it that has nothing to do with the fact that the guy sings in a band, you know? That definitely helped us find an audience for it, but yeah -- that comic really, really works.

RUSSELL: What's the next "Umbrella Academy" miniseries?

ALLIE: "Hotel Oblivion." What's next for Gerard is that we've got to get "Killjoys" written. "Killjoys" is this non-"Umbrella" miniseries that we're doing; Becky Cloonan's the artist. Shaun Simon's the co-writer on it. And we've got to get working on that. Gerard's been very busy with his record -- his day job...

RUSSELL: His rock-star day job....

ALLIE: His hugely successful rock-band day job. Yeah. They're still recording this darn album that's going on and on. It's been a while that they've been focused on that. He had a kid last year. He's just been really busy, and so we haven't made any headway on "Killjoys," and "Killjoys" is in line in front of "Hotel Oblivion" -- "Hotel Oblivion" being "Umbrella Academy" Series 3. I'm going down there at the end of March to kick-start the "Killjoys" process. Hopefully we'll be getting that rolling fast enough that we can get on to "Umbrella."

I spoke to Gabriel Ba the other day. He's super-busy, really overbooked, but always wishing that "Umbrella" would happen faster. Ba's career has exploded since "Umbrella Academy" started -- and he's such a remarkable creative force, he really needs to be doing his own thing. Have you seen "Daytripper"?

RUSSELL: No, I haven't.

ALLIE: It's one of the best comics ever. Gabriel writes it and his brother draws it. One of the best comics in the world. [Scott shows me a copy he has lying around the house. It's gorgeous.] These twins are the most inspiring people to work with. So he really needs to be doing more of his own stuff -- but he really wants to get back to "Umbrella."

RUSSELL: Can you tell me anything about the stories for the new Gerard Way stuff?

ALLIE: "Killjoys" is like a post-punk psychedelic road-trip comic. Reality is the MacGuffin of "Killjoys."

RUSSELL: That sounds sort of in keeping with the "Umbrella Academy" vibe. Nothing in that comic is at it seems. Ever.

ALLIE: That's true -- but in "Killjoys" that's so much more the case, without giving away too much. You can't even compare the two. With "Umbrella," Gerard wanted to do a comic, so he made up a superhero team that just happens to be unlike any other superhero team -- but it's a superhero team through his filter. "Killjoys" is just him through his filter. So rather than taking a genre that's external to him and doing it his way, "Killjoys" is more like the raw, unadulterated Gerard Way. And it might be the comic-book experience his fans would have wanted in the first place, so to speak.... It's got a real plastic feel to it, it's got a bit of a '70s vibe and a '90s-rock vibe, to some degree. But I can't give away too much.

RUSSELL: Is Gerard Way a character in this? Is this the "Hard Day's Night" of comics?

ALLIE: No, no. It's not about a rock band at all. It's about a group of anarchist heroes, in a way. It's personal, not autobiographical. It's a personal story unfiltered by genre.

RUSSELL: Will the next "Umbrella" be in keeping with the all-bets-off vibe of the previous books? Gerard Way seems like he could kill or fatten up anybody in those books at any time.

ALLIE: [laughs] Yeah, man. He'll fatten up anybody. "Umbrella"'s so weird. The next one will reveal a bit more about the secrets that we've been keeping, the backgrounds of the characters. It'll be unraveling characters in the ways we've been unraveling characters thus far -- changing who they are and taking apart preconceptions about them.

------

ACIN interviews Scott Allie, The Umbrella Academy and Killjoys Editor

Gerard Way Photoshoot

NME Pictures

The return of My Chemical Romance

More than three years since they released their last studio album, 'The Black Parade', My Chemical Romance return in the spring with their currently untitled fourth album. This week's NME magazine to read the story of the album from frontman Gerard Way himself.

The Grammy-nominated rockers claim the new album presents My Chemical Romance as “the purest, most distilled version of itself”. Guitarist Ray Toro says, “I can say, hands down, this is our best record yet. It’s all of the best characteristics of the band finally on one record.”

Written and recorded in LA, the group say the new album was influenced by a number of bands including the Sex Pistols, MC5 and The Stooges. “It was a good test to play around with where we might potentially go,” recalls Gerard Way.

Track titles on the new record include 'Death Before Disco', 'Save Yourself', and 'The Only Hope For Me Is You'.

Singer Gerard Way says MCR's new release will be a back-to-basics rock album, after the theatrical grandstanding of 'The Black Parade'. “It will definitely be stripped down,” he explains. “I think the band misses being a rock band.”

Elaborating on this new-found drive for simplicity, Way said: “It's not going to be hiding behind a veil of fiction or uniforms and make-up anymore.”

The band’s fourth album is a rejoinder to critics who portray the band as dark or downbeat. New track, ‘Save Yourself’, contains the line: “This ain’t a room full of suicides”. Way explains, “This record’s about the truth and living and survival.”

The new album has been produced by Brendan O’Brien, whose previous clientele include AC/DC, Rage Against The Machine, Bruce Springsteen, and Pearl Jam.

The band’s fourth release is not a concept album, but is built around certain themes. “To make a truly great album that doesn't have the crutch of a narrative, that was so hard,” Gerard explains.

The frontman continues: ”Everything is more direct. If ‘Black Parade’ was about the sweeping gesture, this is about the bold statement.”

Way became a father during the recording of the new album. “Lindsey [Ann Way, née Ballato, bassist with the band Mindless Self-Indulgence] and I had the baby, and then two weeks after that I was in the studio,” he explains. “I would show up in a T-shirt covered in baby puke.”

One of the slower tracks on the album, ‘Light Behind Your Eyes’, was inspired by the birth of Way's daughter, Bandit Lee.

‘Bullet Poof Heart’ – originally named ‘Trans Am’ - is the likely first single from the new album. The track is a tribute to the band's hometown of New Jersey and features a character named Jenny, inspired in part by The Killers’ ‘Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine’.

Another key influence on the new album? Ridley Scott's 1982 sci-fi film, Blade Runner, which the band watched while making the record.

For far more on the new My Chemical Romance album, pick up the new issue of NME

-------------

Since finishing promotional duties for their last album 'The Black Parade', My Chemical Romance have kept themselves busy. For example, they covered Bob Dylan’s ‘Desolation Row’ for the soundtrack of the 2009 blockbuster

The band are being strongly tipped to headline a major UK festival this summer. Could it be Reading and Leeds?

Another MCR fact: Gerard Way's wedding in 2007 was a low-key affair. He and his girlfriend tied the knot following the final date of Linkin Park's Projekt Revolution tour backstage, with a member of a live music agency - who was working on the tour - performing the ceremony.

Gerard Way and fellow artists Shaun Simon and Becky Cloonan are currently in the process of developing and creating a new comic-book series titled The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys, which Way announced at Comic Con 2009.

Top 20 comics Of The year (according to Randy Lander's blog )

Top 20 Comics of the Year:
1. Chew
2. Incognito/Criminal: The Sinners
3. The Umbrella Academy Dallas
4. BPRD Black Goddess
5. Hellboy The Wild Hunt
6. Beasts of Burden
7. Usagi Yojimbo
8. Incredible Hercules
9. Batman and Robin
10. The Unwritten
11. Sweet Tooth
12. The Muppet Show
13. GI Joe Cobra
14. BPRD 1947
15. The Unknown
16. Nova
17. Guardians of the Galaxy
18. Seaguy: Slaves of Mickey Eye
19. Agents of Atlas
20. Marvel Adventures Spider-Man

Top 20 Graphic Novels of the Year:
1. Parker: The Hunter (IDW)
2. Rocketeer Deluxe Edition (IDW)
3. Bloom County Complete Library Volume 1 (IDW)
4. Naoki Urasawa's 20th Century Boys, Volume 1-5 (Viz)
5. Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka, Volume 1-6 (Viz)
6. Amulet Book 2 (Scholastic)
7. Scott Pilgrim Vol 5 (Oni)
8. Johnny Hiro (Adhouse)
9. Mouse Guard Winter 1152 HC (Archaia)
10. The Perry Bible Fellowship Almanack (Dark Horse)
11. Hellboy Library Edition Volume 2-3 HC (Dark Horse)
12. Immortal Iron Fist Omnibus (Marvel)
13. Criminal Deluxe Edition (Marvel)
14. Starman Omnibus Vol 2-3 (DC)
15. Empowered, Vol. 5 (Dark Horse)
16. A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge (Pantheon)
17. RASL Vol 1: The Drift (Cartoon Books)
18. Pixu: The Mark of Evil (Dark Horse)
19. TMNT Collected Book Vol. 1 (Mirage)
20. Tiny Titans Vol. 1-2 (DC)

Favorite New Comic Of The Year: Chew
At the moment, my "buzz book" is Andy Diggle's run on Daredevil, which at three full issues into its run, is looking like a further evolution of the good work done on the book by Brian Michael Bendis and Ed Brubaker. And while I've lost interest in the past few months, early on this year I was quite into Mike Carey's work on X-Men Legacy. In similar "not new number one but new creative team" books there's Marvel Adventures Spider-Man by Paul Tobin and several different artists, which synthesizes some of the best aspects of the Spectacular Spider-Man TV show, Ultimate Spider-Man and Tobin's own touches to become easily the best Spider-Man book on the shelves. Then there's the new Morrison Batman & Robin, which hasn't been perfect but has been damn good, and the Vertigo resurgence with the two must-read books, The Unwritten and Sweet Tooth. Those two in particular were real front-runners for this category. And Stumptown had a great debut, but with only two issues released in 2009, it's too early to call it the best new book of the year.

But the book with the most novel premise, not to mention providing a consistently excellent read with each issue, is Chew. John Layman's been toiling in the trenches for some time now, turning out quirky gems like Army of Darkness vs. Marvel Zombies and Puffed, but his new creator-owned Image series is far and away the best thing he's written. It's funny and strange on the surface, but there's plenty of world-building, plot detail and character development to go with it's "That is such a strange concept, I've got to read it" hook. And artist Rob Guillory has a fresh look that instantly grabs the eye, not to mention storytelling chops rarely seen in a debut. Together, these two put together the best new comic of the year.

Favorite Ongoing Series: Incredible Hercules
Pretty much everything in the ongoing series category is Marvel, with two exceptions. RASL, by Cartoon Books, is a notable exception. It ranks lowest on my list, however, not because of the quality but because of the frequency. Jeff Smith was putting out biggie-sized issues on a quarterly basis, and I was happy with that, it seemed to be a schedule he could meet. He announced this year that he was going to put out smaller issues, but bimonthly, and I knew that probably wasn't a great idea, and indeed, the flow of issues has pretty much stopped. This is a constant frustration for me as a fan and a retailer, as it makes it really hard to sell indie series, when so many of them disappear or become even more inconsistent in their scheduling, and it hurts the ability of new indies to sell as well. Folks fear getting burned again, and I can't really blame them.

Deep breath. That rant aside, the flipside of that is my other non-Marvel pick for ongoing series, Usagi Yojimbo by Stan Sakai. Consistently on schedule, consistently excellent.

My other favorite series contenders are Guardians of the Galaxy, Nova and Agents of Atlas, and of course my winner, Incredible Hercules. None of them register very high on the Top 100, sadly.

Favorite Mini-Series: Incognito
1. Incognito
2. Criminal: The Sinners
3. The Umbrella Academy Dallas
4. BPRD Black Goddess
5. Hellboy The Wild Hunt
6. Beasts of Burden
7. The Muppet Show
8. GI Joe Cobra
9. BPRD 1947
10. The Unknown
11. Seaguy: Slaves of Mickey Eye
12. New Avengers: Reunion (Marvel)
13. Beta Ray Bill: Godhunter (Marvel)
14. The Incredibles Family Matters (Boom!)
15. War of Kings (Marvel)
16. Atomic Robo Beyond the Shadow of Time (Red 5)

Dallas once again is in a list about Best Comics of 2009. This time the list from What Would Jesus Watch? is about the 10 Best Comics of 2009:

Let me start off by saying that I am not cool enough to read any indie comics. I love the mainstream. Sure it has its big events and gimmicks, but that doesn't detract from the quality. Especially these days. Now, I don't really expect many of you to have much context for names like Ed Brubaker, Brian Michael Bendis, or Geoff Johns, I would like to hope that my recommendation of and vouching for their writing would inspire you to go out and pick up their series. Or at least the ones that I point you in the direction of.
This thing is basically going to be a rundown of the story lines that have really grabbed and captivated me this year. Some of them may have started last year, but they had to have released issues in 2009 to qualify. The numberings are important, but largely inconsequential. That's mainly because some of these series are so good that it would be incredibly difficult to say that one is better than another.

Alright, enough rambling, let's get into it.

1. INVINCIBLE IRON MAN: "WORLD'S MOST WANTED" (#8-19) - This storyline helped kicked off the "Dark Reign" that shaped the direction of the Marvel Universe this year. Matt Fraction (writing) and Salvadore Larroca (art) continued their run with Iron Man in style. This story could have easily started to drag near the middle, but it only continued to pick up speed. The story dealt with Norman Osborne trying to track down Tony Stark to retrieve the database of registered superheroes (housed in Tony's brain thanks to EXTREMIS tech) while Tony raced to delete it. Yeah, he was trying to delete his own brain. This arc led directly to the current arc, and it has been one hell of a ride. The story is collected in 2 volumes, and should be fairly easy to find. If nothing else, this will help you get more in touch with Tony Stark before IRON MAN 2 comes out in May.

2. DARK AVENGERS: "ASSEMBLE" (#1-6) - The other major storyline that started "Dark Reign" focused on the first mission of a new team of Avengers in the Marvel U. (That would bring the total to 4, plus the Initiative.) The series is written by Brian Michael Bendis, with art by Mike Deodato. Having been painted as the savior of humanity in the end of the Skrull Invasion, Norman Osborne disbanded SHIELD, and founded HAMMER. The first issue humorously deals with the fact that HAMMER means nothing. It is just another way for Osborne to intimidate those who won't play by his rules. Keeping in line with this mentality, he puts together his own team of Avengers, that includes both heroes and villains alike. But mostly villains. Some faces are more familiar than others, but they make up an interesting team, to say the least.

3. UMBRELLA ACADEMY: "DALLAS" (#1-6) - This fantastic series comes from Gerard Way, lead singer of My Chemical Romance. This story follows the events of "Apocalypse Suite", the first arc in this series. Certainly a better story, it delves more into what makes these characters tick, and how broken they are. Also it features time travel, the Vietnam War, and the assassination of JFK (both preventing and ensuring it happen). The story has many twists and turns, but it all really boils down to the characters, as all great stories do. This series is one big reason why I believe that comic books should be seen as literary works.

4. SECRET WARRIORS: "NICK FURY: AGENT OF NOTHING" (#1-6) - This was one of the first series that i picked up, and continued to read regularly. Back in March, I was trying to find some series I could get in to, and this had a first issue recently out, so I decided to give it a try. I have not looked back since. Jonathan Hickman writes an extremely exciting series that follows a, you guessed it, secret team put together by Nick Fury, the bad ass to end all bad asses. Even having little to no clue who many of the characters were in the beginning, I was still able to get both excited and worried about the entrances of characters into the story. It is absolutely worth your reading, and is an extremely fun read.

5. INCOGNITO (#1-6) - Imagine the hero of your story was a horrible, horrible person, and it was not done in the charming and funny way that DR. HORRIBLE'S SING-ALONG BLOG. Imagine you were rooting for a mass murderer, who didn't have a past of just killing bad guys, the way that Dexter Morgan does. This is the general idea of INCOGNITO, ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips' super-"hero" story, from Marvel's Icon imprint. This story was so entertaining and captivating that it really cemented Ed Brubaker as one of my favorite comic writers. Basically, the story follows Zack Overkill, a former super villain, who was placed in witness protection when his twin brother was killed by their former employer. The series is a fun ride, that certainly highlights Brubaker's skill as a crime fiction writer. It is especially fun to see the emergence of a hero beccause the protagonist was just bored, and it wouldn't draw as much attention to him as villainy.

6. CAPTAIN AMERICA REBORN (CAPTAIN AMERICA #600, CAPTAIN AMERICA REBORN #1-6, WHO WILL WIELD THE SHIELD? #1) - If you are kind of person that can get around the scheduling snafus and the way that Marvel just full on spoiled the ending to this great story, then you can really enjoy the story presented by Ed Brubaker, firmly ending his "Death of Captain America" story. I'm the kind of person that can. The final issue of Reborn still hasn't come out, but "Who Will Wield the Shield?" has, but it don't matter. Once again, I love Ed Brubaker and what he is doing at Marvel. Captain America is the biggest title for the company that he is doing, and he definitely has a handle for the characters. The story began over the summer with Captain America # 600, one of the landmark issues that Marvel has been putting out this year, which have returned many series to their original numbering. It has been quite the ride, and I am excited to see how it turned out, or at least what allowed it to turn out the way it did.

7. BLACKEST NIGHT (BLACKEST NIGHT #1-8, GREEN LANTERN #43-51, GREEN LANTERN CORPS #38-45) - The big event running over at DC wass advertised with the tagline "The Dead Will Rise." And rise they did. This even got me to start reading Green Lantern, one of DC's most promising series. Geoff Johns is now 49 issues into his run on Green Lantern, and it is not even coming close to running out of steam. The core Blackest Night title only benefits from the stories told in Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps. If nothing else, this could serve as a great jumping on point for getting to know Hal Jordan, to prepare for summer 2011's film starring Ryan Reynolds.

8. BATMAN & ROBIN: "BATMAN REBORN" (#1-3) - Apparently Grant Morrison wanted shorter, punchier arcs to run through his Batman & Robin series. This first arc, following in the wake of "Batman RIP" and "Battle for the Cowl" which ultimately resulted in Dick Grayson taking up the mantle of the Dark Knight, and Bruce Wayne's son Damien becoming the new Robin. This first arc is extremely weird, but extremely entertaining. I had heard all sorts of bad things about what DC has been doing recently, but this series has given me the faith to start giving at least 3 bucks a month to the publisher. The dark and violent story perfectly sets up what is to come for Batman, and is essential reading, even over the solo Batman title.

9. SECRET WARRIORS: "GOD OF FEAR, GOD OF WAR" (#7-10) - Continuing from his promising initial arc, Jonathan Hickman continues chronicling Nick Fury's secret team, this time giving focus to God of Fear, Phobos, and the reaction of his God of War father, Ares, when he discovers that Fury has essentially kidnapped Phobos. The story goes more into the Dark Reign territory, making it less accessible than the former arc, but still an entertaining read. If nothing else, the reveal in issue 8 makes it well worth being on this list. It made me exclaim in surprise in a crowded area, which takes some doing.

10. FANTASTIC FOUR: "SOLVE EVERYTHING" (#570-572) - Oh look, another Jonathan Hickman arc. Fantastic 4 was another series I had some strong feelings against before starting. The premise could easily be seen as getting pretty lame, and covering the same ground over and over again. But somehow, Hickman made this series aa must read. In this first arc, he takes Reed Richards to a place where he has a decision to make between trying to solve all the world's problems, or losing his family. Richards is the smartest man on earth, or at least one of them, and this choice is difficult to make, but his decision will certainly resonate through the course of Hickman's run.

My Chemical Romance explain how Blade Runner, Judas Priest and a car inspired new album

Group have channelled 1980s for their next record

My Chemical Romance have revealed more details about their forthcoming fourth album.

Frontman Gerard Way said the follow-up to their 2006 concept album 'The Black Parade' has been influenced by muscle cars, the film Blade Runner and Judas Priest.

"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," Gerard Way told SpinnerMusic.co.uk. "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 a different move."

Earlier in the year Way used Twitter to purchase a Trans Am car explaining that it was research for the album.

As previously reported, My Chemical Romance had revealed that the record was being influenced by MC5 and The Stooges, but Way explained how the 1980s have also influenced the album.

Talking about one of their new songs, 'Death Before Disco', Way admitted that the music of Judas Priest had shaped the album.

"That song actually reminded me in an odd way of all the best stuff of '80s what is called cock rock, but not all of it was," Way explained. "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. After 'Trans Am' that started to really bleed into the record."

As well as music and wheels, the frontman added that the 1982 film Blade Runner had played a part in the recording sessions.

"I watched a lot of Blade Runner and I watched a lot of the Making Of Blade Runner, [director] Ridley Scott was really inspiring too, just kind of his unwillingness to put the camera down and really capture something special," he said. "People were upset by that, but he was very strong in his vision and I think the band was very strong in its vision this time. That's why the record took - instead of a month and a half to do - four months to track because our barometer for great was very high."

Their fourth LP, which was recorded in Los Angeles with Bruce Springsteen producer Brendan O'Brien, is due in spring 2010.

X-MESS DETRITUS

X-Mess Detritus

All We Are Is Bullets MCR Fanfics [2.2k] | MySpace Video

My Chemical Romance singer Gerard Way says becoming a father has made him write songs for his daughter's future. [tourdates.co.uk interview.]

Gerard Way's new album is being written for his daughter's teenage years.

The My Chemical Romance singer became a father for the first time when wife Lindsey gave birth to Bandit Lee earlier this year and says parenthood had an impact on his songwriting.

He explained: "It influenced me in an unconventional way. I wasn't really writing a record about becoming a dad.

"I was writing music for somebody when they grew up. It's like a time capsule for when this person turns 15 or 20."

The 32-year-old 'Teenagers' hitmaker also admitted he was glad the group hadn't decided to write about their own lives.

He added: "I'm glad it's not a bunch of guys searching for something that would make them cool again. That's a hollow pursuit that makes for horrible music."

Gerard Way and Rolling Stone Magazine

"We definitely want the album to come out next year so I think we are nearly done," he told us recently. "But there will have to be a point where we make the conscious decision to stop. One of my addictive things is that I always think there is another song around the corner, there is always one more song. After we get that song then I think there is one more after that, and another after that, I think if I ever stopped feeling that way we would be in trouble. I’m always chasing that next great song." - Gerard Way.

My Chemical Romance Slam Fame-Hungry Musicians on New Album

After going the concept route -- or at least making a linear work on 'The Black Parade' -- My Chemical Romance are going in another direction on their forthcoming album, due early next year. Spinner visited the group in their L.A. studio to get an early preview and we were left suitably blown away by the nine very disparate songs we got to hear. The tracks ranged from the atmospheric 'Light Before Your Eyes,' a song frontman Gerard Way describes as Pink Floyd-ish, to the '80s-flavored 'Trans Am' and the punk/dance party tune, 'Death Before Disco,' which starts off with a Judas Priest 'Living After Midnight' vibe and turns into a lyrical salute to the Stooges, Velvet Underground and MC5.

Way tells Spinner the as-yet-untitled album is a definite answer to 'The Black Parade.' "Every single record we make is a response to the last," he says. "But sometimes it's not only a response to the last record -- it's a response to the opinion of that record or a response to the world at the time of that record."

What he sees and documents on the new album is a lot of rockers who are in music for the wrong reason. "There's a definite undercurrent of fame versus working class, people having stuff handed to them with zero talent versus working class kids that start a band," he says. "Rock 'n' roll is not red carpets and MySpace friends -- rock 'n' roll is dangerous and rock 'n' roll should piss people off. Right now, there's not a lot of that happening. What it is is a lot of people trying to be famous. That seems to be the goal."

In Way's opinion, that desire to be famous is messing up the sanctity of rock ''n roll. "It's bled into rock. It came from other places, but it's bled into rock 'n' roll and kind of tainted it a bit," Way says. "This record is really a response to that as well."

MCR certainly have the resources and notoriety to bask in that fame as well, so how do they resist that temptation? "Instead of us panicking and trying to see where we can grab the money or grab the opportunity, we just wrote music instead," Way says. "We tried to write a great record; that was our response to things. I think that writing a great record will sell records these days, as opposed to doing every other f---ing thing that people seem to be doing to sell a record."

Gerard Way Talks New Comic "Fabulous Killjoys," Next My Chemical Romance Album

"I like the titles from The Umbrella Academy issues better than my song titles now," Gerard Way announced at his Saturday afternoon panel at Comic-Con International. "They've leveled up. There's nothing better than titling an issue of Umbrella Academy." The frontman of My Chemical Romance, Way is also a longtime comics fan — he mentioned that he'd freaked out about seeing Jeff (Bone) Smith the night before, and rhapsodized over Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard's The Walking Dead ("After The Walking Dead, I don't know that you can touch zombies. It'll be a good five or 10 years before somebody else can do a zombie comic").

Of course, Way has also become an award-winning comics writer himself in the last few years. At the overflowing panel that's now an annual Comic-Con tradition, he announced two new comic books he's working on: the third Umbrella Academy miniseries, subtitled Hotel Oblivion and drawn by the Brazilian artist Gabriel Bá, and a new series called The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys, drawn by Becky Cloonan (Demo). Way talked to Rolling Stone about the new comics, as well as the MCR record that's in progress right now.

What's the story with The Fabulous Killjoys?
It's written by myself and my co-creator Shaun Simon. He was the keyboard player in Frank [Iero]'s first band, he's our good friend, he was our merch guy. I think a lot of ideas we came up with back then in the band are what ended up in Killjoys.

Like what?
Like the notion of driving by a children's playground off to the side of the desert and realizing that it's a cemetery because it's where childhood dies — stuff that we'd say to each other, driving around. But it's from the perspective of a gang, because that's basically what a young band is. You stop being a gang at a certain point, but you always chase that feeling. You want to get that feeling back.

How has it been working with Becky Cloonan?
She's awesome. When I first talked to her about it, she sent me a sketch of Rachel, one of the characters, and I knew right away she had to be the artist for the book. The great thing about her is that she comes from that world. She went to SVA, and she got her start doing show fliers for CBGBs — she saw the bands and went to the shows. She's very punk rock in that way, and her art has that energy that a punk show has.

You've talked about your master plan for The Umbrella Academy; where does Hotel Oblivion fit into the big picture?
It's pulling further away from what people think a superhero comic, or even a comic, can be. It's going to trigger a major event that needs to happen in the comic. I'm very excited for it.

What's happening with the next My Chemical Romance album?
I'd say we're right in the middle of it. Brendan [O'Brien] is the kind of producer who really likes a lot of things going on at once, so we're tracking and he's going right across the hall and mixing. It's a process that always keeps everyone involved the whole time. The songs are all wildly different, but the one I'm really excited about is called "Death Before Disco." It's a completely different sound for the band — it's like an anti-party song that you can party to. I can't wait for people to hear it. It brings back, lyrically, some of that wonderful fiction from the first album. I think we wrote our "Born to Run," and I'm so amped about that. To me, it's the greatest song we've ever written — it's my favorite MCR song.