Is the optimistic tone of your new songs a way out of misery? So that your fans don’t get stupid thoughts again... I don’t think any parts of The Black Parade could have possibly lead someone to do those things.
Apparently, it did... Than the interpretation was wrong. Which is also the media’s fault. They were the ones characterizing the album as overly dark and despaired, when - in reality - it wants to express hope, most of all. It is hard to comment on this specific case - even if I would want to. I can only say that it was never my intention to give anyone ideas like that.
And the new album? Is not in any way a reaction to this case. If anything, it’s a reaction to how our band is seen.
You grew up in a vivid scene in New Jersey, played in basements, released your debut at the small label of a friend - and then you became successful with big steps, became the poster boys of an entire scene. Is it important to move away from that again? Yes, and thankfully there are enough people who were willing to take our position, who were intent to replace us. I am happy about that. A rock band should always stay a rock band. Magazines, directed at a young audience, have forced a certain image upon us and have put me - an alcohol addict - on their covers, next to the Jonas Brothers. It felt strange. No one bothered to ask for our consent. Most times, the cover wasn’t even followed by an interview - it was just random sentences they put together or quotes they put in our mouths. Everything got blown up to sell more magazines. It is bizarre to get marketed in a way that you haven’t agreed to, sometimes didn’t know about, even. We are relieved that this era is over now, and we didn’t even have to do anything about it. We just grew older.
You have just mentioned your alcohol addiction, that was highly thematised by the media. But it was already overcome when you got popular? Yeah, from the media’s point of view, the timing was not ideal. I became the poster boy for problems overcome.
Well, there are worse things than being known for overcoming an addiction. Yeah. I am some sort of warning example. I don’t need to tell people what’s bad for them, they can see what was bad for me...
Your career is marked by big and fast steps. You haven’t even been together as band for more than three months when your debut came out in 2002. You’ve matured a lot for your second album - even more for your third - all the concepts, the whole bombast. You’ve been on tour with big bands, got played up and down on the radio. Has life slowed down again for you in the meantime? Definitely, and that was very important. Something dramatic had to change, we had to change the run of things, slow them down. We needed a break, distance from each other. We took almost a year to come up with the new album. Before that, we were tended to hurry things up. We tried to make a three-months-album sound like a six-months-album, that was The Black Parade, for which we sat in the studio until 4 in the morning every day - even though we didn’t have any reason for it. This time, everything looked more like everyday work, we didn’t stay in the studio longer than 8pm and then went home. We all get older and we’ve done enough to our bodies already.
I don’t think any parts of The Black Parade could have possibly lead someone to do those things.
Apparently, it did...
Than the interpretation was wrong. Which is also the media’s fault. They were the ones characterizing the album as overly dark and despaired, when - in reality - it wants to express hope, most of all. It is hard to comment on this specific case - even if I would want to. I can only say that it was never my intention to give anyone ideas like that.
And the new album?
Is not in any way a reaction to this case. If anything, it’s a reaction to how our band is seen.
You grew up in a vivid scene in New Jersey, played in basements, released your debut at the small label of a friend - and then you became successful with big steps, became the poster boys of an entire scene. Is it important to move away from that again?
Yes, and thankfully there are enough people who were willing to take our position, who were intent to replace us. I am happy about that. A rock band should always stay a rock band. Magazines, directed at a young audience, have forced a certain image upon us and have put me - an alcohol addict - on their covers, next to the Jonas Brothers. It felt strange. No one bothered to ask for our consent. Most times, the cover wasn’t even followed by an interview - it was just random sentences they put together or quotes they put in our mouths. Everything got blown up to sell more magazines. It is bizarre to get marketed in a way that you haven’t agreed to, sometimes didn’t know about, even. We are relieved that this era is over now, and we didn’t even have to do anything about it. We just grew older.
You have just mentioned your alcohol addiction, that was highly thematised by the media. But it was already overcome when you got popular?
Yeah, from the media’s point of view, the timing was not ideal. I became the poster boy for problems overcome.
Well, there are worse things than being known for overcoming an addiction.
Yeah. I am some sort of warning example. I don’t need to tell people what’s bad for them, they can see what was bad for me...
Your career is marked by big and fast steps. You haven’t even been together as band for more than three months when your debut came out in 2002. You’ve matured a lot for your second album - even more for your third - all the concepts, the whole bombast. You’ve been on tour with big bands, got played up and down on the radio. Has life slowed down again for you in the meantime?
Definitely, and that was very important. Something dramatic had to change, we had to change the run of things, slow them down. We needed a break, distance from each other. We took almost a year to come up with the new album. Before that, we were tended to hurry things up. We tried to make a three-months-album sound like a six-months-album, that was The Black Parade, for which we sat in the studio until 4 in the morning every day - even though we didn’t have any reason for it. This time, everything looked more like everyday work, we didn’t stay in the studio longer than 8pm and then went home. We all get older and we’ve done enough to our bodies already.
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