Gerard Way recently sat down to discuss the complexity of creating great albums like The Black Parade, writing The Umbrella Academy and more.
From revealing how Dungeons & Dragons taught him how to tell stories to build new worlds through My Chemical Romance, catch Way opening up with Dustin Kensrue on the Carry The Fire Podcast below.
A shift in paradox
Many love how Gerard Way wore his blackened heart on his sleeve – it was as if you were peering directly into his soul.
‘The Black Parade’: Gerard Way talks “safety” of playing a character
It was honest and earnest and, even if there were lyrical embellishments here and there, it felt very much like he was singing about things he’d experienced, and the struggles and traumas he himself had been through.
That obviously shifted when it came to 2006’s third full-length, The Black Parade, which was much more of a conceptual and character-driven album. That’s something that Gerard recently discussed on the Carry The Fire podcast.
On to new things
Gerard is no stranger to writing in character, of course, having written the comic book series The Umbrella Academy – which then became a hugely successful Netflix series.
In the podcast, he went on to talk about he enjoyed doing so when the band was making The Black Parade, as well as the impact that had on his relationship with their audience.
Your characters are always a part of you
Diving into his character during such an iconic moment in MCR’s history, Way opens up about the healthy disdain he got to portray during the album’s era. He says that the character he was during Black Parade was fun.
In an entertaining way, there was this level of disdain the audience would have for one’s audience playing as The Black Parade but it was, to him, a healthy kind because he got to just playing really.
The actor also added that he thought that was a fun aspect of that character. There’s a lot of him in the character and to Way, he always saw the characters that he played as some aspect of himself turned up to twelve.
