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tothetune2010-10-29 08:24 pm
ofyourdeath.livejournal.com) wrote in tothetune2010-10-29 08:24 pm
Part IV - VIII of the Coup De Main Interview
GERARD WAY: One of the cool things right now is we've been away so long that it's really, I think, the first group of shows will be about reconnecting with the audience and less about costuming and things like that - and I think that's great. 'Cause the songs, when we've been rehearsing them in a live sense, they sound way more aggressive than anything else we played. It actually sounds like Rob Cavallo had described, like this is [a] party, that's what it sounds like. And so that's what I would expect live. And then later on, we could think about - we have plenty of time - we could think about how we can make this fun, a fun live experience. I mean, we're talking about bringing the car out on the road and just having it [in] whatever city we're playing, having it drive[n] around all day, and just do fun stuff like that. It was awesome.
FRANK IERO: Yeah. It was like we're committing with an old friend, you know?
MIKEY WAY: And it felt like when we had... [with Rob Cavallo] it was kind of like a homecoming, and it felt really great.
GERARD: He's a friend and he's an artist. And that was really important, and he's like a fifth member. It felt like he, it felt like we're all kind of like in this pit of fire, reaching our hands out, and he kind of helped us all get out of it. It really did feel that way. And he believes in the band so much. We had really amazing conversation when we got there. It was a very emotional conversation, where he had told us how he had felt like the situation we were in was a shame because he believed we're one of the greatest rock bands in the world. And he couldn't believe that it gotten to this point where we were in stasis creatively, and it made him upset. And he, I think just seeing somebody be so honest about how much they love your band on an artistic level, was enough to make us redo this entire album.
RAY TORO: He's like a partner. And he's ready to go put himself through that journey too, with you. And it's hard on everybody, but we're all there for each other, getting through it.
GERARD: His quality control too, is just as severe as ours, which is awesome, which makes him a great match. He's always pushing us. Even up to the end, I think the last couple of days of tracking was me going back and re-tracking lyrics that he had felt were up to par with the rest of the album. And out of the whole process, luckily, it only happened like on two lines, but it was the hardest two lines to write because of that. I think, well, I think what we realize is, albums and the ambition of the band is much different than its ambition [in] life. I think they're two separate things entirely. And I think writing great songs first, then you can translate them however you want in life. Yeah, I mean, we're just talking about this in the break, like when you listen to that first attempt, it literally does sound like a band - and just strip everything away. I know lyrically, I just stripped everything away. I don't even know what to sing about anymore and 'cause there was nothing left. And that's kind of what it sounds like. And we love a lot of the songs, they're really special to us, but that's all you hear is so much nakedness that there's nothing to the band at that point.
---
GERARD WAY: One of the cool things right now is we've been away so long that it's really, I think, the first group of shows will be about reconnecting with the audience and less about costuming and things like that - and I think that's great. 'Cause the songs, when we've been rehearsing them in a live sense, they sound way more aggressive than anything else we played. It actually sounds like Rob Cavallo had described, like this is [a] party, that's what it sounds like. And so that's what I would expect live. And then later on, we could think about - we have plenty of time - we could think about how we can make this fun, a fun live experience. I mean, we're talking about bringing the car out on the road and just having it [in] whatever city we're playing, having it drive[n] around all day, and just do fun stuff like that. It was awesome.
FRANK IERO: Yeah. It was like we're committing with an old friend, you know?
MIKEY WAY: And it felt like when we had... [with Rob Cavallo] it was kind of like a homecoming, and it felt really great.
GERARD: He's a friend and he's an artist. And that was really important, and he's like a fifth member. It felt like he, it felt like we're all kind of like in this pit of fire, reaching our hands out, and he kind of helped us all get out of it. It really did feel that way. And he believes in the band so much. We had really amazing conversation when we got there. It was a very emotional conversation, where he had told us how he had felt like the situation we were in was a shame because he believed we're one of the greatest rock bands in the world. And he couldn't believe that it gotten to this point where we were in stasis creatively, and it made him upset. And he, I think just seeing somebody be so honest about how much they love your band on an artistic level, was enough to make us redo this entire album.
RAY TORO: He's like a partner. And he's ready to go put himself through that journey too, with you. And it's hard on everybody, but we're all there for each other, getting through it.
GERARD: His quality control too, is just as severe as ours, which is awesome, which makes him a great match. He's always pushing us. Even up to the end, I think the last couple of days of tracking was me going back and re-tracking lyrics that he had felt were up to par with the rest of the album. And out of the whole process, luckily, it only happened like on two lines, but it was the hardest two lines to write because of that. I think, well, I think what we realize is, albums and the ambition of the band is much different than its ambition [in] life. I think they're two separate things entirely. And I think writing great songs first, then you can translate them however you want in life. Yeah, I mean, we're just talking about this in the break, like when you listen to that first attempt, it literally does sound like a band - and just strip everything away. I know lyrically, I just stripped everything away. I don't even know what to sing about anymore and 'cause there was nothing left. And that's kind of what it sounds like. And we love a lot of the songs, they're really special to us, but that's all you hear is so much nakedness that there's nothing to the band at that point.
---
GERARD WAY: You know, we have finished something like 20-something songs. And they were almost, like more than half of them were mixed. I think it was during the mixing process with Rich Costey. We were sitting there and...
FRANK IERO: Experimenting.
GERARD: Yeah. We still are experimenting. It was nuts, 'cause we couldn't get it, the sound, how we wanted to, you know? And then I think one day, Rich brought over a...
MIKEY WAY: And we started just picking stuff up and just trying things that we've never tried before. And then we started to - it's like the spark started happening and we started to see this other thing, and that was kind of where it started the whole, like, I guess the idea of what it will become.
RAY TORO: You know, it's funny, too, to his credit, too, remember the first time he came to the practice studio... He said: you guys got to get yourself some pedals. It's got to get some different... like new things you never tried before. And...
GERARD: He was dead right.
RAY: ...the spark of creativity is dead right.
GERARD: Rich set a lot of truth in that very first, he was the first person we met up with, and it's like...
RAY: Yeah, to produce...
GERARD WAY: He'd asked really hard questions, kind of like: where are you rebelling against, what's going on here? And everything he said was actually completely accurate. He wanted us to just do crazy things and try new stuff. And we wanted to strip away experimentation. So, then, the mixing process was really difficult. And I think that's when maybe on a subconscious level, it started to creep into our bones that, like: oh, God, maybe this isn't right. And then we got a little bit of a break. We're gearing up to release this thing, taking photos and everything...
---
GERARD WAY: I had gone in the desert with Lindsey [Ann Way nee Ballato], because we've been working so much we didn't even get to take our anniversary. So we had, like, two days in the desert is all we could do. And then, and it's like [an] epiphany, you know? And I always knew I wanted the record to be set in the desert and I have this kind of - like this fucking vision. I heard the song in my head, it was like a chant, it was "Na Na Na", it was the dumbest thing in the world. And, but I saw laser guns and I saw muscle cars and dirt and masks, and Draculoids and everything. And then, we went and just met up with Rob as a friend and talk[ed] about the situation we were in. And I kind of have this, I have this thing in my back pocket, 'cause I kind of... I kept mentioning it. I was like: I wrote a song. I think it's really amazing - but I didn't talk about it too much. And then I think when I felt safe and I felt that everybody in the band felt safe for the first time to be free with Rob, that's when I was like: let's just go do this really quick. And so, we did it and it was so obvious. We heard Na Na and we're like, to me it was like: all right, we have a track one now. Now, we have to start over. And it took a minute. We were four songs in before I think we all were fully like, that's, even I was afraid of doing that. It took... I think we then did 'Vampire Money' and then I think we did 'Planetary [Go!]'... all very different songs. So...
FRANK IERO: Yeah. But that was the thing. I mean, once we met with Rob, you had that idea, and it was like: all right, well, what is this? Do we, is it a new record? Is this [the] start, like step one, again...[?]
GERARD: Right.
FRANK: ...or are we just inspired to write a couple of songs? And we just kept saying: all right, well, if the inspiration is there, why would you shut it off? Like, even if it's not on the record, whatever, if we have an idea and it can be great, you have to chase it.
GERARD: And these crazy things started to happen, where you'd get one song, and then the next day you were so inspired, you'd have another. And then by the end of the evening, you're working on another. And that's really what happened on this record. Now, it was hard, but the band was truly alive and we took, there was no rules. 'Cause that last attempt had so many rules on it that the rules were gone. And that, to me, felt like: wait, we're really making a rock and roll album now 'cause there's no rules. Before, it [was] like, rock album[s] don't have rules. And that's what that last recording was. But it was just crazy momentum. It just kept going. And we didn't have like an agreement right, for a while. Like Rob and us, we were just recording... but we didn't know what we were doing.
FRANK: We don't know what it was.
GERARD: Yeah. We didn't, we weren't calling it an album yet. He didn't know, he had other stuff on the books for him to go work on, but we just kept doing it 'cause it was so exciting.
---
RAY TORO: We make sure to take weekends off now, which is like a new thing. I think when we first started the band, I think Howard had mentioned that...
FRANK IERO: Oh, the weekend. That thing, yeah.
RAY: ...like Howard Benson or, maybe he and we were like: why, bands don't take weekends? You don't, you know, screw your family. You don't need any of that.
GERARD WAY: Right.
RAY: But you know, definitely, now that's changed. But it still doesn't change, that we go in, usually like around noon or 1:00 or 2:00 and don't leave until like 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning. It really depends on what's going on that day. Family definitely though, I think helps you through. You have people to play the stuff for and get honest opinions [from], like little bullshit opinion about what you're doing. And it's like, that helps guide you, through what you're doing in making sure you're on the right path and doing your best work.
FRANK: And in addition to recording a major record like in a studio, we did some other stuff, too, just on our laptops. And that's gonna be like something that goes along with it.
RAY: Oh, yeah. That was funny.
FRANK: You never lose that attic recording mentality, you know? It's fun to do that kind of stuff.
GERARD: There's a 'California 2019' edition of the record. It's awesome. And it's filled with all the art and then this replica of one of the guns and it's got all this really cool stuff in it. But one of the things that's in it is, we have all these great songs that didn't make the record but we still thought that they're amazing songs and they scratched a real good itch for us. I think a lot of the reasons, 'cause the last track 'Vampire Money', didn't sell well, that there was gonna be no other song really, on the record like that. 'Black Dragon' had a go because, but only because 'Vampire Money' was much better to us, you know? So we said: what we're gonna do with this stuff 'cause it's so fun? So I've made up a band name called The Mad Gear And Missile Kid 'cause we've been playing 'Final Fight' a lot. There's a gang in that called Mad Gear.
MIKEY: The evil gang, yeah.
GERARD: And we just recorded these super trashy songs and so you're gonna get a little, it's a little EP that you get within the box-set from this band called The Mad Gear And Missile Kid, which if you look at the trailer, their show fliers are up on the diner and in Doctor G's lair. I think Rob loved The Mad Gear stuff so much he said: why don't you guys do a full-length next year? And then, I was really excited about that, because [it's] one of the things you don't get to do, you get disconnected sometimes if all you're doing is playing arenas. At a certain point, that's all that happens 'cause you're - your tour is big, but I would get bored. And we'd have days off and I'd be like: oh, it'd be great if we had a fake band or another band that we could just play clubs in or bars. And, so I think that'll happen.
---
GERARD WAY: I think the mandatory uniform for Mad Gear is short shorts.
RAY TORO: The shortest shorts.
GERARD: The shortest... they make people uncomfortable and then I eventually stopped wearing them. That's awesome. What would we sound like in 2019, 'cause I did think of that when we, we're gonna start saying that this was set in 2019. 'Cause I was definitely like, well, this isn't what we'd sound like in 2019. But, it's a guess. But, I don't know. It really...
FRANK IERO: I don't think, yeah, I think [after you] hear it, you just play it into your arm and you experience it.
GERARD: Yeah. It's hard to say, because we take a long time to make records. And I'm actually now really proud of that. I don't think that'll ever change. And I think, but because of that, I think [when] the fans of the band and other people listen to it, they get a high level of quality from that. So what year is it now?
FRANK: Maybe 2011.
GERARD: 2011? We might be on, we might be two records ahead at that point. We might be on our, well, if this is the fourth, fifth, maybe we'll be on the sixth. So I don't know. It's really hard to say. Going through such a creative slump together and turmoil, I think really brought us so close in such a way where you started to really realize how much you valued your friends that were in this band with you and the people around you and how much you realize they were all artists, and truly artist[s] first before musicians and geniuses. Like, I think that, and it's this child-like genius quality where we're also untrained, but yet, I would watch anybody in this band pick up a chord and just make a sound and then the sound, 20 minutes later, was on the song. And that's anybody at any given moment was doing that, or picking up weird drums that they'd never touch before and just doing it. And that was so important to me. I remember the night we were doing 'Vampire Money' and we're doing all this come-on's together and we're just yelling with such an intensity it was like a fight for our lives. And, you know, that was just what happened to me. I realized that not that I never doubted this, but we had toured so much and ['The] Black Parade' was so hard that you just, you lose clarity.
Sources
FRANK IERO: Yeah. It was like we're committing with an old friend, you know?
MIKEY WAY: And it felt like when we had... [with Rob Cavallo] it was kind of like a homecoming, and it felt really great.
GERARD: He's a friend and he's an artist. And that was really important, and he's like a fifth member. It felt like he, it felt like we're all kind of like in this pit of fire, reaching our hands out, and he kind of helped us all get out of it.
RAY TORO: He's like a partner. And he's ready to go put himself through that journey too, with you. And it's hard on everybody, but we're all there for each other, getting through it.
GERARD: His quality control too, is just as severe as ours, which is awesome, which makes him a great match. He's always pushing us. Even up to the end, I think the last couple of days of tracking was me going back and re-tracking lyrics that he had felt were up to par with the rest of the album. And out of the whole process, luckily, it only happened like on two lines, but it was the hardest two lines to write because of that. I think, well, I think what we realize is, albums and the ambition of the band is much different than its ambition [in] life. I think they're two separate things entirely. And I think writing great songs first, then you can translate them however you want in life. Yeah, I mean, we're just talking about this in the break, like when you listen to that first attempt, it literally does sound like a band - and just strip everything away. I know lyrically, I just stripped everything away. I don't even know what to sing about anymore and 'cause there was nothing left. And that's kind of what it sounds like. And we love a lot of the songs, they're really special to us, but that's all you hear is so much nakedness that there's nothing to the band at that point.
GERARD WAY: One of the cool things right now is we've been away so long that it's really, I think, the first group of shows will be about reconnecting with the audience and less about costuming and things like that - and I think that's great. 'Cause the songs, when we've been rehearsing them in a live sense, they sound way more aggressive than anything else we played. It actually sounds like Rob Cavallo had described, like this is [a] party, that's what it sounds like. And so that's what I would expect live. And then later on, we could think about - we have plenty of time - we could think about how we can make this fun, a fun live experience. I mean, we're talking about bringing the car out on the road and just having it [in] whatever city we're playing, having it drive[n] around all day, and just do fun stuff like that. It was awesome.
FRANK IERO: Yeah. It was like we're committing with an old friend, you know?
MIKEY WAY: And it felt like when we had... [with Rob Cavallo] it was kind of like a homecoming, and it felt really great.
GERARD: He's a friend and he's an artist. And that was really important, and he's like a fifth member. It felt like he, it felt like we're all kind of like in this pit of fire, reaching our hands out, and he kind of helped us all get out of it.
RAY TORO: He's like a partner. And he's ready to go put himself through that journey too, with you. And it's hard on everybody, but we're all there for each other, getting through it.
GERARD: His quality control too, is just as severe as ours, which is awesome, which makes him a great match. He's always pushing us. Even up to the end, I think the last couple of days of tracking was me going back and re-tracking lyrics that he had felt were up to par with the rest of the album. And out of the whole process, luckily, it only happened like on two lines, but it was the hardest two lines to write because of that. I think, well, I think what we realize is, albums and the ambition of the band is much different than its ambition [in] life. I think they're two separate things entirely. And I think writing great songs first, then you can translate them however you want in life. Yeah, I mean, we're just talking about this in the break, like when you listen to that first attempt, it literally does sound like a band - and just strip everything away. I know lyrically, I just stripped everything away. I don't even know what to sing about anymore and 'cause there was nothing left. And that's kind of what it sounds like. And we love a lot of the songs, they're really special to us, but that's all you hear is so much nakedness that there's nothing to the band at that point.
GERARD WAY: You know, we have finished something like 20-something songs. And they were almost, like more than half of them were mixed. I think it was during the mixing process with Rich Costey. We were sitting there and...
FRANK IERO: Experimenting.
GERARD: Yeah. We still are experimenting. It was nuts, 'cause we couldn't get it, the sound, how we wanted to, you know? And then I think one day, Rich brought over a...
MIKEY WAY: And we started just picking stuff up and just trying things that we've never tried before. And then we started to - it's like the spark started happening and we started to see this other thing, and that was kind of where it started the whole, like, I guess the idea of what it will become.
RAY TORO: You know, it's funny, too, to his credit, too, remember the first time he came to the practice studio... He said: you guys got to get yourself some pedals. It's got to get some different... like new things you never tried before. And...
GERARD: He was dead right.
RAY: ...the spark of creativity is dead right.
GERARD: Rich set a lot of truth in that very first, he was the first person we met up with, and it's like...
RAY: Yeah, to produce...
GERARD WAY: He'd asked really hard questions, kind of like: where are you rebelling against, what's going on here? And everything he said was actually completely accurate. He wanted us to just do crazy things and try new stuff. And we wanted to strip away experimentation. So, then, the mixing process was really difficult. And I think that's when maybe on a subconscious level, it started to creep into our bones that, like: oh, God, maybe this isn't right. And then we got a little bit of a break. We're gearing up to release this thing, taking photos and everything...
GERARD WAY: I had gone in the desert with Lindsey [Ann Way nee Ballato], because we've been working so much we didn't even get to take our anniversary. So we had, like, two days in the desert is all we could do. And then, and it's like [an] epiphany, you know? And I always knew I wanted the record to be set in the desert and I have this kind of - like this fucking vision. I heard the song in my head, it was like a chant, it was "Na Na Na", it was the dumbest thing in the world. And, but I saw laser guns and I saw muscle cars and dirt and masks, and Draculoids and everything. And then, we went and just met up with Rob as a friend and talk[ed] about the situation we were in. And I kind of have this, I have this thing in my back pocket, 'cause I kind of... I kept mentioning it. I was like: I wrote a song. I think it's really amazing - but I didn't talk about it too much. And then I think when I felt safe and I felt that everybody in the band felt safe for the first time to be free with Rob, that's when I was like: let's just go do this really quick. And so, we did it and it was so obvious. We heard Na Na and we're like, to me it was like: all right, we have a track one now. Now, we have to start over. And it took a minute. We were four songs in before I think we all were fully like, that's, even I was afraid of doing that. It took... I think we then did 'Vampire Money' and then I think we did 'Planetary [Go!]'... all very different songs. So...
FRANK IERO: Yeah. But that was the thing. I mean, once we met with Rob, you had that idea, and it was like: all right, well, what is this? Do we, is it a new record? Is this [the] start, like step one, again...[?]
GERARD: Right.
FRANK: ...or are we just inspired to write a couple of songs? And we just kept saying: all right, well, if the inspiration is there, why would you shut it off? Like, even if it's not on the record, whatever, if we have an idea and it can be great, you have to chase it.
GERARD: And these crazy things started to happen, where you'd get one song, and then the next day you were so inspired, you'd have another. And then by the end of the evening, you're working on another. And that's really what happened on this record. Now, it was hard, but the band was truly alive and we took, there was no rules. 'Cause that last attempt had so many rules on it that the rules were gone. And that, to me, felt like: wait, we're really making a rock and roll album now 'cause there's no rules. Before, it [was] like, rock album[s] don't have rules. And that's what that last recording was. But it was just crazy momentum. It just kept going. And we didn't have like an agreement right, for a while. Like Rob and us, we were just recording... but we didn't know what we were doing.
FRANK: We don't know what it was.
GERARD: Yeah. We didn't, we weren't calling it an album yet. He didn't know, he had other stuff on the books for him to go work on, but we just kept doing it 'cause it was so exciting.
RAY TORO: We make sure to take weekends off now, which is like a new thing. I think when we first started the band, I think Howard had mentioned that...
FRANK IERO: Oh, the weekend. That thing, yeah.
RAY: ...like Howard Benson or, maybe he and we were like: why, bands don't take weekends? You don't, you know, screw your family. You don't need any of that.
GERARD WAY: Right.
RAY: But you know, definitely, now that's changed. But it still doesn't change, that we go in, usually like around noon or 1:00 or 2:00 and don't leave until like 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning. It really depends on what's going on that day. Family definitely though, I think helps you through. You have people to play the stuff for and get honest opinions [from], like little bullshit opinion about what you're doing. And it's like, that helps guide you, through what you're doing in making sure you're on the right path and doing your best work.
FRANK: And in addition to recording a major record like in a studio, we did some other stuff, too, just on our laptops. And that's gonna be like something that goes along with it.
RAY: Oh, yeah. That was funny.
FRANK: You never lose that attic recording mentality, you know? It's fun to do that kind of stuff.
GERARD: There's a 'California 2019' edition of the record. It's awesome.
MIKEY: The evil gang, yeah.
GERARD: And we just recorded these super trashy songs and so you're gonna get a little, it's a little EP that you get within the box-set from this band called The Mad Gear And Missile Kid, which if you look at the trailer, their show fliers are up on the diner and in Doctor G's lair. I think Rob loved The Mad Gear stuff so much he said: why don't you guys do a full-length next year? And then, I was really excited about that, because [it's] one of the things you don't get to do, you get disconnected sometimes if all you're doing is playing arenas. At a certain point, that's all that happens 'cause you're - your tour is big, but I would get bored. And we'd have days off and I'd be like: oh, it'd be great if we had a fake band or another band that we could just play clubs in or bars. And, so I think that'll happen.
GERARD WAY: I think the mandatory uniform for Mad Gear is short shorts.
RAY TORO: The shortest shorts.
GERARD: The shortest... they make people uncomfortable and then I eventually stopped wearing them. That's awesome. What would we sound like in 2019, 'cause I did think of that when we, we're gonna start saying that this was set in 2019. 'Cause I was definitely like, well, this isn't what we'd sound like in 2019. But, it's a guess. But, I don't know. It really...
FRANK IERO: I don't think, yeah, I think [after you] hear it, you just play it into your arm and you experience it.
GERARD: Yeah. It's hard to say, because we take a long time to make records. And I'm actually now really proud of that. I don't think that'll ever change. And I think, but because of that, I think [when] the fans of the band and other people listen to it, they get a high level of quality from that. So what year is it now?
FRANK: Maybe 2011.
GERARD: 2011? We might be on, we might be two records ahead at that point. We might be on our, well, if this is the fourth, fifth, maybe we'll be on the sixth. So I don't know. It's really hard to say. Going through such a creative slump together and turmoil, I think really brought us so close in such a way where you started to really realize how much you valued your friends that were in this band with you and the people around you and how much you realize they were all artists, and truly artist[s] first before musicians and geniuses. Like, I think that, and it's this child-like genius quality where we're also untrained, but yet, I would watch anybody in this band pick up a chord and just make a sound and then the sound, 20 minutes later, was on the song. And that's anybody at any given moment was doing that, or picking up weird drums that they'd never touch before and just doing it. And that was so important to me. I remember the night we were doing 'Vampire Money' and we're doing all this come-on's together and we're just yelling with such an intensity it was like a fight for our lives. And, you know, that was just what happened to me. I realized that not that I never doubted this, but we had toured so much and ['The] Black Parade' was so hard that you just, you lose clarity.
Sources
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About this part..uh: "you just play it into your arm"? If Frank actually said that no idea what it meant. xD And how could there be nothing going through your ears while you play? So confusing!
And now it's maybe 2011? LMAO. Seriously, this interview is making me go WTF so often. Sometimes you have the doubt whether the band made no sense at all or the transcription, or both. I'd like the original audio/video (whatever the source is). they should have just posted that...
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Come on Gerard, pics or it didn't happen ;)
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Also:
FRANK: You never lose that attic recording mentality, you know?
YES. :'D