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mikeywayarchive · 2 years ago

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Interview transcript under the cut:

WALK THIS WAY!

WHEN MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE SPLIT UP LAST YEAR, MILLIONS OF FANS MOURNED. BUT NONE MORE SO THAN MIKEY WAY. HE TELLS MARK SUTHERLAND HOW, AFTER 12 MONTHS OF SOUL-SEARCHING, HE'S FINALLY READY TO MOVE ON WITH HIS NEW BAND, ELECTRIC CENTURY....

PHOTOS: ANDREW LIPOVSKY

March 2013. As the world reeled from My Chemical Romance's split, one man sat in his house, remembering the good times.

He thought of the great gigs MCR played at places such as Madison Square Garden and Reading Festival, and sought out Youtube footage of those shows. He recalled their trips to exotic locations such as Vietnam, and scoured the internet for photographs. And he listened to their music, marvelling at the anthems that shaped a generation of outsiders into an all-conquering movement.

All around the world, fans were doing much the same. But this man was no distraught MRmy foot soldier: he was the band's bass player, Mikey Way. And he was finding the split as hard to cope with as anyone.

"I was going through it," admits Mikey, a year on. "It was sad, like the passing of a family member. But, over time, I got great joy and pleasure from reflecting. I was able to truly put on some songs and be like, 'Wow, we really did something. We cracked the heavens.'" Thankfully, the Mikey we meet today is no battered and bitter ex-band member. He has a new musical project - Electric Century, formed with his old friend, David Debiak - that he can't wait for the world to hear. But, more importantly, he has a new attitude.

"With MCR, we were so busy," he says, a dry cough the only hint of nerves. "I was never able to stop and smell the roses, or evaluate myself completely. That's what this past year was all about. I was able to dig deep inside myself and become the man I always wanted to be. I'm not that pissed-off kid in nerd glasses standing at the back anymore. I'm confident in myself; I'm confident in my ability. Things are different."

Things could have been even more different if Mikey and David had formed a band on the first day they met. They nearly did; Mikey had become a fan of David's band, Sleep Station, after being introduced to their music via David's brother, Marc, who worked in the office of local indie record label Eyeball Records.

"I fell in love," says Mikey. "I was like, This dude has a voice of gold, melodies you wish you wrote and songs that speak to your soul.'" When the pair eventually met at a barbecue, they instantly bonded over their love of 1980s British synthpop miserablism. At the time, David was looking for a bass player, so he asked Mikey if he'd be interested.

"He said, Well, I can't right now 'cause I just started this band with my brother...'" laughs David. "Needless to say, it was a good choice!" Nonetheless, the idea that they should work together refused to go away. Both bands shared a rehearsal space and signed to Eyeball, playing local shows together. And, even as Mikey's "band with his brother" turned into the biggest thing to come out of New Jersey since Bon Jovi's hair, Mikey was determined that, one day, the pair would collaborate.

The Electric Century concept was formulated one drunken night in a bar on David's birthday. New Order's Bizarre Love Triangle came on the jukebox, and Mikey told him: "We have to do this; we have to make this music that we both share so much interest in."

Even at the peak of MCR mania, the idea persisted. When Mikey was working on what turned out to be MCR's swan song, 2010's Danger Days: The True Lives Of The Fabulous Killjoys, the pair got as far as bouncing ideas around during Mikey's downtime. But, as soon as the MCR machine cranked back into gear; Mikey didn't have any downtime.

So, in the end, it took the demise of My Chem to make Electric Century happen, 12-odd years after they first discussed forming a band. Mikey says he came up with the name even earlier, in his seventh grade science class, when the phrase was used to illustrate the impact electricity had on 20th century life. "The name is about new beginnings and change in general," says Mikey. And change is what Mikey needed in the aftermath of MCR's split. He was determined to keep making music, so he wrote songs and practiced bass and guitar every day. All he needed was an outlet. So he decided to give David a call.

Their early sessions together may not have been particularly productive - one weeklong stint in Los Angeles resulted in precisely zero songs being written, while Mikey jokes they "ate pancakes for three months straight" - but still proved invaluable in building their understanding. Mikey goes so far as to compare their songwriting relationship to the one he had with his brother, Gerard, in MCR. "I lucked out on both occasions," he says, with his slightly goofy laugh.

But the music they were producing was very different to the music he made with Gerard. Mikey ditched bass in favour of playing guitar (ex-Stars In Stereo man Justin Siegel plays bass on the album), but says Electric Century's music is as much inspired by Depeche Mode, New Order and the Britpop of Suede and Pulp as it is by punk rock.

"My mantra's always been, 'Never go backwards, always go forwards,'" explains Mikey. "This is something I've always wanted to do. I mean, I wanted to do MCR, but it was like my brain being split in half. I wanted to do MCR, I want to do Electric Century, but they should never live at the same time."

And so the album's been taking shape at a studio in upstate New York, with producer D. James Goodwin. It's still a work-in-progress, but songs are coming thick and fast, written in partnership by Mikey and David, with the former perhaps shaping more of the music and the latter coming up with the lion's share of the lyrics. Again, Mikey likens the songwriting process to MCR, where "we were all in front of a woodpile throwing matches and whoever got the biggest flame, the best idea stuck". For now, David is handling vocals, although Mikey may realise his ambition to sing lead on some songs.

What's notable is how Mikey talks with unbridled enthusiasm about the possibilities opening up before him. So the album doesn't have a title yet, nor do they have a label, but Mikey hopes to get it out for late summer. Live gigs should come before then, and the UK is high on their list of priority destinations.

For now, all we have to go on is I Lied, which debuted online in February. It's not clear yet how typical of EC's album it might be ("It's part of the kaleidoscope," says Mikey, obliquely), but what is certain is that, behind its uplifting electronica, David's lyrics deal with addiction and loss - something Mikey can't help but relate to.

"It screams to me," he says. "For more than half my life, I was addicted to substances. It's very much a song about the struggle to come out the other end. It's something I always struggle with and, even in recovery, you never forget. It's an important part of you, but it's all about losing yourself and then finding yourself again.”And, whatever's happening elsewhere in Mikey's life, creatively he believes he's found himself again in Electric Century.

"The only rules are, there are no rules," he grins. "It's liberating. When MCR was really exploding, I wasn't mentally in the place I wanted to be. I was always dealing with inner demons, uncomfortable in my own skin and unsure of myself. I don't feel like that person anymore. I've grown volumes and I'm ready to take on the world again."

Back in March 2013, however, Mikey felt like the world was taking him on. And, frankly, the world was winning. In January of that year, it had been said - via the modern methods of a shit-stirring, rapidly-deleted Tumbir account and a (possibly hacked) Instagram account - that Mikey had started a relationship with a model and MCR fan called Sarah Cantergiani, while still married to his wife, Alicia. Those weighing in amid the online furore included Gerard Way's wife, Lindsey, a close friend of Alicia's.

So, when the MCR split was announced mere weeks later, anyone looking for a convenient scapegoat found it in Mikey. He eventually issued a statement insisting that both his marriage and the band were over before his new relationship started, and that the Tumbir account was set up by "a friend of my ex" to make him and his new girlfriend "look like horrible people.”

He's still with Sarah and doesn't want to rake over the specifics of what went on, but does stress their relationship "was blamed for the break-up of the band, which was the farthest thing from the truth.”

"They jumped the gun," he says today of his detractors. "It was a timing thing - it all coincided. It made [the end of MCR] extremely difficult, but what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. It made me realise a lot of things about myself and other people. And it made me value love and friendship."

And the friendships he values the most remain those with his former bandmates. He still talks to them regularly and declares himself "super-pumped" about their various new ventures. In return, Gerard, Ray Toro and Frank lero have been "really supportive and excited" about Electric Century, with Gerard offering tips on coping with the limelight to his more fragile brother.

"We've been giving each other advice since we were in the womb," laughs Mikey. "We try to keep things unbusinesslike when we talk, but we'll give each other pointers all the time. When MCR really exploded, l'd applaud him every day. I don't know how he did it. He had everything coming at him and he handled it perfectly." Mikey, by his own admission, has not always dealt with the stresses of 21st century rock stardom so calmly (he had a breakdown during the recording of 2006's The Black Parade). But he hopes the fans that followed MCR's every move will also be interested in Electric Century. He expected "a backlash" when I Lied was unveiled, but says he hasn't "seen anything negative, which is insane in the era of the hater.”

"That pissed-off, hurt kid that's inside of all of us that we were singing to," he says. "They're all coming out the other end, so it's cool to continue the ride with them." But can Electric Century compete with the "milestone-driven" MCR in success terms?

"That's up to the world to decide," says Mikey. "It'll be successful internally and creatively to me. [Whether] it's successful in the other respect is up to the fates. I know we're going to connect with people." And, for those still hung up on his former band, Mikey has a clear message.

"We reached the end of the road," he shrugs. "You never want to overstay your welcome and overextend yourself, and we put the perfect amount into the world. We even put a nice bow on it with Fake Your Death. We said everything we needed to say, and it's a beautiful way to end it." And though he'll never forget those days - even if he may need the odd reminder ("There's some stuff where I'm like, 'Did that even happen, or did I dream that?' he laughs) - he's finally shutting down his computer, coming out of the bedroom and embracing the future, and he hopes the MCRmy will do the same.

The Black Parade is dead. Long live the Electric Century.

ELECTRIC CENTURY'S DEBUT SINGLE, I LIED, IS AVAILABLE NOW, SEE FACEBOOK.COM/ELECTRICCENTURY

SONGS OF THE CENTURY

TAKE A TOUR AROUND

ELECTRIC CENTURY'S

FORTHCOMING MATERIAL...

• RIGHT THERE

Mikey: "It has a brooding, Joy Division intro - really drudging and dismal - that leads into a cascading, optimistic chorus."

David: "Mikey started playing and I was like, 'Don't stop - just keep playing it over and over again.' I wrote the lyrics and the chorus and we recorded it the next day."

• HEY LACEY

Mikey: "It sounds completely massive to me in every which way. It’s got a lot of heart.”

David: "It's a song about a guy who has another woman involved in his life other than the person he's with. I guess he's speaking to her in the song."

• LET YOU GET AWAY

Mikey: "The chorus goes: ‘Baby I was crazy to let you get away’."

David: "There's a cool underlying Phil Spector aspect to the song - that's what we're aiming for. I said to Mikey, 'If you listen to this and I Lied, it doesn't sound like they belong together.'"

Mikey: "We'll make it fit. Longing, loss, love... anything that falls into those brackets, we'll fit in."

• ALIVE

Mikey: "This is a really incredible song. It's the one I listen to on repeat and sing in my head all day. It has this vocal melody - one of those real inner tear-jerkers."

Meet the

OTHER GUY...

DON'T KNOW DAVID DEBIAK?

HERE'S A CRASH COURSE IN MIKEY'S NEW BANDMATE

HE'S ALREADY IN TWO BANDS: SLEEP STATION AND NEW LONDON FIRE

David says: "I'm focusing my attention on Electric Century right now. For us to make the record we want to make, we've got to give this 100 per cent."

EVERY RECORD HE MAKES IS DIFFERENT

David says: "The last album I made had a very folk-driven, political influence. The one before that was completely different. Everything I've done is just how I'm feeling at the moment. I just go with my gut and whatever comes out, comes out."

HE CAN BE A BIT MISERABLE

David says: "I've always made music that comes from the heart. If I could describe the body of work at all, I'd say it was bipolar: it's never always going to be up and it's never always going to be down."

HE AND MIKEY HAVE A GREAT RELATIONSHIP

David says: "When two people happen to be as close as we are as friends, but are also on the same page musically, it's just so much easier. The lines of communication don't get blurred."

HE'S VERY PROLIFIC, RELEASING EIGHT ALBUMS SINCE 2000

David says: "Music isn't something I want to do. I have to do this. It's like breathing to me."