Recoil: How does it feel to be able to open up for Green Day this spring right before going out on the Vans Warped Tour this summer?
Frank Iero: I think the two are just not even connected for us. Actually, they are, in the way that they’re both childhood dreams. But the tours are just so different. Green Day is an inside arena tour. We actually just got off a scaled-down one of those for Taste of Chaos, and that was a real good test for us to get ready for those rooms. And when Green Day called us, since that happened, we still don’t believe it. We think we’re going to show up and they’re going to be like, ‘No, no, no. That was a joke.’ [Laughs] So we’re waiting for that. Ever since I was fifteen years old I wanted to play a show with Green Day. So I don’t even know how to describe that tour. But Warped Tour, we’ve done before, but this is the first time as a main stage band, and that’s flattering. We got asked very early on to do it. Last year was our first Warped Tour and [founder] Kevin [Lyman] was super nice to us and he put us on Taste of Chaos as well, and I’ve just loved his tours because they’re put together so well and it’s just a great time. All your friends on the same tour. And if they’re not your friends, you become friends. It’s like punk rock summer camp.

R: You’ve been on the road pretty much nonstop, coming off the Taste of Chaos tour and last year’s Warped Tour and everything else surrounding the record’s release. How do you find the energy to play the kind of live show you play every night?
FI: Umm, Flintstones Vitamins. [Laughs] No, I don’t know. You’ll get off a tour and you’ll be like, ‘Oh my God, I’m so done. I can’t even deal with this anymore. I need time off.’ And they’ll be like, Green Day says lets go out [on tour]. So you’re like, ‘Oh shit! Maybe I’ll have time off later.’ [Laughs] So then you’re like, ‘I’m done now,’ but then Kevin Lyman says he wants you to be on the main stage of Warped Tour this year and that’s really flattering. So you’re like, ‘Oh all right, goddammit.’ [Laughs] I guess I’ll rest when I’m thirty. I don’t know how you keep up the energy sometimes, you hope that the shows don’t suffer, but definitely when you have a couple of days off, the shows are much better the next day.

R: Another band My Chemical Romance seems to have a real affinity with is your Taste of Chaos tour mates The Used. How long have you known those guys and how have you connected so well with them?
FI: We haven’t really known each other for that long, in terms of the friendship aspect of it. Maybe a year and a half to two years. Honestly, they were one of the bands that, early on when we were first started, maybe about a year into what we were doing, we had our first indie record and they heard our record and liked it and asked us to come out for a couple of shows. So we did that, they liked us live, we really hit it off as friends and they were like, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if we just tour together?’ And we’re like, ‘Yeah, sure.’ So we went to Europe on their first European tour and ours. Then we went on tour again. It was just great. They were just one of those bands that they didn’t know us, but they took us under their wing just because they saw something in us and to us that meant so much. I love their band. I think they’re a great live band. I really do. I think they’re great people and I think they really have something to say so to tour with them it’s always a pleasure because we all have such a great time.

R: Now since both bands are so close, it seems like both of your fan bases are growing together.
FI: Yeah, it’s kind of weird, huh? It’s a great feeling. I was just talking to [The Used vocalist] Bert [McCraken] about this, actually. It feels so weird that us and a couple of our friends can get together and play arenas. That’s a really scary time for music when real, regular bands can do that. I think that’s a really good thing and I think people should be scared.

R: You’ve played Queen and David Bowie’s “Under Pressure” together on stage with The Used and you’ve got a studio version coming out. What was that experience like?
FI: That was really cool. What’s weird about the collaboration was that we did it together when we were both in different countries. We chose who was going to play what and where and we went and did it and they were sent and matched together. It was really weird and done in such a strange way because our schedules are just so packed. Both of our bands. It’s one of those things where everything goes to charity. I think it turned out really good. It was so much fun to share the stage with them and play it every night. We played it every night of Taste of Chaos. Kids seemed to like it and I hope they go out and purchase the mp3 [available now via iTunes], or I think they might actually sell a hard copy of it, but whatever it is I hope they go out and buy it because every single cent is going to go to a charity [Linkin Park’s Music For Relief] for Tsunami relief.

R: Have you all thought about ever doing a larger collaborative project together sometime in the future?
FI: Maybe. It was fun. We definitely showed that we wanted to work with each other and that it worked. I think Gerard and Bert’s vocals go so well together and I think that’s the best part of it. I don’t know. We haven’t really talked about it. But if asked, that’d be really cool.

R: The new video for “Helena” has a really unique concept because it presents a pretty sad and angry song in a very unusual way by incorporating dancing to a funeral scene. Where did the concept for the video come from and what was it like to shoot?
FI: The song is in essence about Gerard’s grandmother, Helena, who passed away. So we kind of gave him all the art direction. I guess you can say it’s a celebration of her. And that’s exactly what we wanted to have was a celebration of her memory. He wanted a funeral, but he didn’t want it to be very bleak. So we had to decide if we wanted to go with a new director or if we should just go and do it with Mark Webb [director of video for the single “I’m Not Okay (I Promise)”] again because we know he’s the best one out there. We always like to try new people with creative outlets, because it definitely keeps things fresh, nothing stale, when you do that, but with this song and with the premise of it and just the way we wanted it to come out, we didn’t want any mistakes. Mark Webb is just amazing. I don’t know a better video director. So we went to him and explained it and he was like, ‘I got it. We’re going to do a funeral in a church. We’re going to have some choreographed dancing, very musical style, and it’s a celebration, not depression.’ And we were like, ‘Man, run with it.’ We dropped in and made a few suggestions here and there, but it was really hard for Gerard and Mikey, because when we showed up, the coffin just happened to be exactly the same. Just really weird coincidences. But it proved for a better performance and now it’s a timeless thing so she’ll always be remembered.

R: What will be your next single/video?
FI: The video is going to be for ‘The Ghost of You,’ and we’re going to go back with Mark I think. We have a few ideas. I don’t know how much I want to give away. I will say that it’s something that I haven’t seen. And also that there’s dancing in every single one of our videos.

R: You mentioned how Gerard does all of the band’s artwork. How do you think visual imagery, not just in videos, but in other ways, plays a part in the way you present your music and the way fans approach your music?
FI: I like the fact that the art direction of the band is done in house. There’s never that whole, ‘We want something like this,’ and they tell it to some third party and they kind of get it right but then you have to keep going back for revisions. It’s us, so we know what we want. It just so happens that Gerard can draw his ass off. [Laughs] And I think kids are attracted to that imagery that we use. It’s art that represents what we’re trying to do and what the band is about. If you’re interested in good art, that’s great, because he’s a great artist. If you see this imagery, and you feel the same way, that’s great because you relate to it more.

R: Lastly, how much new material have you had the chance to write and what can you tell fans at this point about what to expect in the future?
FI: We’ve definitely got a bunch of skeletons of songs coming. It’s hard to write full songs on the road because you don’t have a chance to solidify anything or isolate different parts. But we have been writing in the back of all of our transportation vehicles and we have a bunch of things set up. So I personally would say we have six skeletons [of songs] but Gerard seems to have been telling people that we have nine. [Laughs] So we have between six and nine new songs.

May 2005