Gerard Way performs during the 2015 Voodoo Music + Arts Experience at City Park on October 30, 2015 in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images
It’s been nearly six years since world-renowned pop-punk outfit My Chemical Romance (or MCR), parted ways.
Over the weekend, ex-frontman and lyrical mastermind Gerard Way, opened up about the band’s split for the first time during an interview with The Guardian.
The 41-year-old was detailing his brand new Netflix show The UmbrellaAcademy, before being asked about MCR’s whereabouts. He revealed that pressure to create a worthy follow-up to the band’s most popular record The Black Parade (2006), had a lot to do with their collective decision.
“It wasn’t fun to make stuff anymore,” he admitted. “I think breaking up the band broke us out of that machine.”
Mikey Way (L) and Gerard Way (R) of My Chemical Romance perform as part of the ‘Honda Civic Tour’ at Shoreline Amphitheatre on Oct. 5, 2011 in Mountain View, Calif.
Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images
During the studio sessions of MCR’s fourth and final record Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys, is reportedly when the pressure significantly weighed down on the band. Way said they had felt it as soon as they dropped The Black Parade.
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“When things start to succeed and go really well…” he said, “that’s when a lot of people start to have an opinion and that’s when you run into struggle. You get caught up in this trap of ‘Is it ever gonna be good enough?’
“Everybody had a f**king opinion about what MCR should be,” he continued, “so it made it difficult to figure out what direction to take next.”
According to The Guardian, Way credited the band’s split partly to the changing of the world — most notably with their opinions that former president Barack Obama’s America was changing things for the better, meaning that their job was done.
Upon reflection, however, the frontman admitted with Donald Trump in power he’s pondered their return.
“I thought about [it] when the world started to get super f**ked-up again,” he said.
“It definitely came into my head, but I’ve changed so much as a person. I don’t know how I’d fit into it any more. But the world is definitely in need of something positive.
March 22, 2013, marked the official end of MCR. The band posted an official statement on its website explaining their decision:
“Being in this band for the past 12 years has been a true blessing. We’ve gotten to go places we never knew we would. We’ve been able to see and experience things we never imagined possible.
We’ve shared the stage with people we admire, people we look up to, and best of all, our friends. And now, like all great things, it has come time for it to end. Thanks for all of your support, and for being part of the adventure.”
In disbelief, many fans reached out to the band questioning the authenticity of the statement. In a since-deleted tweet, Way confirmed the breakup on his personal Twitter account, adding that there was no tension or altercations between the band members.
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Way followed up his brief post with an even longer post — on a still active TwitLonger blog. “Since I am bad with goodbyes,” he wrote. “I refuse to let this be one. But I will leave you with one last thing.
“My Chemical Romance is done. But it can never die. It is alive in me, in the guys, and it is alive inside all of you. I always knew that, and I think you did too. Because it is not a band. It is an idea.”
Since MCR’s disbandment, loyal fans have been biting their nails in anticipation of any kind of reunion — especially after the group teased a special announcement back in 2016 for the tenth anniversary of The Black Parade.
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To many of their fans’ disappointment, MCR was not reuniting but releasing a special anniversary edition of the iconic emo-anthem record.
“We’ve been really touched and blown away by the response to the teaser trailer,” they wrote on Twitter. “We are not touring and there is no reunion planned.”
Since then, the band has remained relatively inactive on social media.
“I think if we ever did MCR again, we wouldn’t be in that machine anymore,” Way told The Guardian. “It would literally just be like,’Here’s a new piece of music, we’re putting this out and that’s it, this is not up for debate.'”
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Fortunately for MCR followers, each of the five former members has kept themselves busy with their own personal musical projects. Way is currently working on the follow-up to his debut solo record, Hesitant Alien (2014).
WATCH: The official trailer for Gerard Way’s brand new Netflix show, ‘The Umbrella Academy
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