Interview with My Chemical Romance: “It’s Not Someone Else’s Fest. It’s Ours.”

Plucked from the midst of recording their next album, New Jersey’s own My Chemical Romance were announced last week as being the last-minute replacement for pop-punk forebears Blink-182 at this year’s Bamboozle. The two bands toured together last year, and as Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker was reportedly admitted for an emergency tonsillectomy (he’ll get ice cream!), My Chem seemed the most natural fit. In the 10 years that this fest has been happening, they’ve played 30 times. We don’t even know how it happened, but that’s 100 percent true.

When we sent guitarist Frank Iero the questions for this email interview, he and the rest of the band were holed up in the studio in Los Angeles, working once more with Doug McKean on a new batch of songs. Iero was tight-lipped on the particulars of the material—as you’ll see—but managed to reveal that it’ll be drummer Jarrod Alexander playing on the album and that the band is looking forward to being back in what they (no doubt lovingly) refer to as “the NJ.”

First thing’s first: Who’s playing drums? Will it be Jarrod for Bamboozle, and will he play on the next album?

Haha, oh my. First thing off the bat, huh? Jarrod is a rad guy and a fantastic player. It’s been really fun making music with him these past few months. He loves coffee and hitting drums super-hard… and the fact that he’s not a thieving piece of garbage is a breath of fresh air. But since we only had a week’s notice to prepare for this show and with scheduling conflicts and all we decided that instead of using a real-live human drummer we are going to use the super computer from War Games instead. However, we have nicknamed the computer Jarrod.

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My Chemical Romance will be playing at Bamboozle 2012 on May 19th.

Visit the official Bamboozle site for more information.

Gerard Way will be a special guest at MorrisonCon in Las Vegas September 28 - 30 at the Hard Rock Hotel. Other guests are Jonathan Hickman, Frank Quitely, Chris Burnham and J.H. Williams III, with more to be announced.

Involving fans in a way unlike any other comics event has, MorrisonCon aims to change the way comics conventions are experienced.

Take part in innovative conversations with some of the most brilliant minds in sequential arts, informative comic workshops, personalized signing sessions, original art gallery showings, intimate mixers for fans and special guests alike, after hours parties with DJ Grant Morrison and featured guests in the Hard Rock Nightclub, and surprises around every corner.

Full mad details to be revealed.

"Expect maximum rock 'n' roll, chaos magic, mind-bending esoterica, sharp suits, surprise guests, and once-in-a-lifetime performances, all wrapped up in the glory that is comics, comics, and more comics." - Grant Morrison

[Ticket and more Information]