Interview: Gerard Way

Op zaterdag 24 januari stond Gerard Way op de planken van de Melkweg. Wij mochten hem voor het concert spreken. De video is ook al een tijdje op ons YouTube kanaal te bekijken. Helaas zijn er, door omstandigheden, vragen uit geknipt. Omdat wij deze vragen toch belangrijk vinden om er in te hebben, bieden we bij dezen een geschreven versie.

Hi, welcome. Thank you for doing this interview with us.

No problem.

So how are you doing so far?

I’m doing great.

That’s good. How’s the tour going so far?

Really good. We did Portugal, two dates in Spain, then we hit the UK, we just did Brixton last night, which went amazing and I’m really happy. It’s super fun.

I’m glad to hear that. I’ve read that you’ve been very enthusiastic about it all. So good to know. It’s definitely different from touring with MCR but how is it different from touring with MCR?

It’s actually, it’s just hard to say how it’s different, it just is different, you know? My stage presence and persona, or whatever it is, that’s going on up there, that feels slightly different, obviously the music’s different. I would say a little less chaotic and slightly more reserved. I mean, I feel like I’m kind of maturing as an artist so it feels a little more mature in terms of the sound and what we’re probably presenting up there.

Ok that’s brilliant. What’s your favourite thing about touring?

My favourite thing about touring is really the shows, because early on you can say it’s definitely things like travel and seeing the world and stuff like that, but over time you don’t really get to see the world. The most important thing in the day is the show. So that’s why I do it.

Anything particular you like about the Netherlands?

I can’t exactly say what I particularly like about the Netherlands. I mean I’ve only been to this city, you know? I’m just trying to think of where else I’ve been in the Netherlands. Where would I have been? I’d say I’d only know when I get there and then I’m like “oh, I love this city”. I mean this is a great city.

Fair enough. In that case, anything particular you like about Amsterdam?

I like the energy. There is always a really cool kind of, positive kind of atmosphere here. Lots of bicycles. It’s pretty.

About your album: Do have a favourite song of the new album? Because people were talking about songs that didn’t make the cut.

Right. My favourite song is still definitely “No Shows”. I felt like that is the song where I really decided that I was making a record. That song helped me decide that I was going to be a solo-artist. I love the chaos of it. I love that it’s kind of celebrating guitar noise at the end. It kind of all falls apart, I really love that.

In August you said in an interview with NME that it doesn’t feel right to play MCR songs at the moment. Do you still feel like that?

Yeah, it doesn’t really feel like the right time. If I did, I don’t even know which ones it would be. But yeah, it doesn’t feel right. If I really wanted to play those songs I would play those in MCR. Unless I thought of some kind of way to interpret them way differently. It’s not that I ever felt that the situation just involved me or that everything could be replaced and I could just get up there and play the songs  

A totally different subject: social issues. I’ve read on Twitter several things about you supporting people the most recent example: Leelah Alcorn. Is there anything you’d like to say to the Dutch Mogai community?

Uhh, could you explain to me what exactly that is?

Mogai is basically the shortened version of LGBTQ. It stands for Marginalized Orientations, Gender Alignments and Intersex.

Okay, I think an artist’s job is to, not only create art, but to give support to certain communities that really need it and ones that are kind of being held back or held down in any way. I think you can end up with a really sad situation like that. What we really need for our youth is this environment where they could speak freely, where they could share their feelings, where they don’t feel like they’re crazy, where they don’t feel like they’re so different, where they can find common ground with anybody. They should be able to find that human connection with anybody.

Do you have anything encouraging to say to the public at the moment?

Encouraging to say at the public at the moment? Yeah, make your life your art. It doesn’t have to be that you’re an artist. I know I talk about art a lot, but I mean a very broad thing with that. I think that you could be a veterinarian, that’s your art. Find your art; find your thing you love.

Ok, well, good to know. Thank you for doing this interview, again. Have fun tonight.

I will, thank you.

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