Big Day Out 2012: My Chemical Romance

NZ Herald

19 Jan, 2012 12:00 AM3 mins to read

My Chemical Romance rocks the Big Day Out 2007. Photo / NZ Herald

2012 will see My Chemical Romance celebrating 10 years together, 10 years of uniting the teen masses with their anti-establishment messages and powerful punk glam rock.

"We've been going over all the memories and different keepsakes that we've acquired over the years, walking down memory lane together" guitarist Frank Iero explains.

"It's kind of crazy when you lay everything out in front of you after 10 years, how much you've accomplished, how much you've been through together, it's an amazing thing."

They've gone from being a "bunch of kids getting together and making a racket" as Iero describes it, to a band of grown up men, with wives, kids and responsibilities. And Iero believes they're at their best yet.

"Even the worst moments being in this band are better than any moment not being in this band. But this past year, it's been a lot of good vibes. You spend your life thinking you're never going to grow up, or being scared of it, and then when you finally do, sometimes it's hard to just enjoy it, but I think we've found that secret."

They've spent much of 2011 on the road, but one of their highlights was having single Sing used in TV series Glee - a show the band didn't know too much about until they were approached.

"I think it really fit in with the kind of record we were making, in that you have to get into the mainstream, infiltrate it, and poison it, so to us it made perfect sense to do something like that."

Their reputation for fiery live shows precedes them, though they've got something to prove at this year's BDO, having not toured here since 2007. They released their fourth album Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys in 2010, and having toured that heavily, they're currently working on new material.

"We're in the middle of finding what the new record is going to be and what the new aesthetic is, so not only is the show going to be Danger Days heavy, which is not something that New Zealand has seen yet I guess, but also it's going to be a crossover of what the new shit."

He won't give away any hints as to what new directions they might be heading in, but he laughs: "I can tell you that I think about music in colour, and I see a lot of orange in the next record."

Having impressed with pyrotechnics and crazy costumes on their Black Parade tour, the Danger Days shows have been more about lighting and colourful balloons, but their BDO show is likely to bring new elements again. "Black Parade was very much about fire and feeling that heat, and I guess it was very fire and brimstone and anger-based, whereas Danger Days is more of a big party kind of thing, and it lends itself to a lot more colour, and confetti and balloons. But this isn't gonna be like a show we've done before, so there are some new elements that we'll bring with us."

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