Frank Iero (My Chemical Romance) New Solo Album + Tour Dates
Former My Chemical Romance guitarist Frank Iero has always suffered from chronic and painful digestive issues, but it’s never kept him from pursuing music. He is about to release his debut solo album, titled Stomachaches. The record is set to drop August 25th and is said to face his ailments head-on. There was a time when Iero actually thought the record would never see the light of day. He is the second MCR member to do a solo album and he’s feeling the pressure from his debut full length.
Radio.com spoke to Iero in a phone interview about the record so check it out below.
Why add ‘andthe cellabration’ to the band name? Isn’t it a solo effort?
Frank Iero: I wanted to signify that at least this project wasn’t just me and an acoustic guitar. I’ve done some projects where it was just me and small instrumentation and I just had my name on that. But for this one I wanted to let the listener know that there was more to it than that and I drew inspiration from some of my favorites; Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Prince and the Revolution. When I was deciding what to name the accompanying musicians, I was like ‘What should it be?’ So I decided, well, I’m not the quintessential frontman so I need something self-fulfilling. I want people to maybe not realize that I’m not the most outgoing person so if I name the band something like the Celebration, maybe it’ll detract from me just kinda not being the best showman out there.
Did you already know the musicians or did you have a wish list?
I definitely had a wish list. I’ll meet people along the way and be like, “Oh wow, I’d really love to do something with him” or I’d love to start a project with this person and so that was in the back of my head. But when the record really came to fruition, and I knew it was going to come out and I’d have to tour on it, I started to go uh oh. I need to put together a band. I immediately went to that list. Our bass player Rob Hughes is a guy that I was in a project called Leathermouth with. He played guitar. He was someone that I always loved playing with and especially loved touring with. The next choice was my brother-in-law Evan Nester. He’s just so talented. Ever since I came into the family, I’ve been like, “awe man, I really want to start a band with him,” and this was the perfect opportunity.
Who came first, Evan or your wife?
The wife came first. I met my wife and fell in love and then I fell in love with her family as well.
Is Matt the same singer-songwriter from New Jersey that has a few solo albums out?
Yes! That’s him. He’s fantastic. I met him through a mutual friend earlier this year. That’s the thing about New Jersey. Everybody has been in everybody else’s band. When talking to him I was like, “That’s so weird that we haven’t played together.” But we played with people we knew. I went to one of his rehearsals for the many bands that he plays with at the time and we just hit it off. We’ve been playing together ever since.
You played drums on only one track, “Joyriding.” Your father and grandfather were both drummers. What stops you from playing more?
That’s probably the same question my dad asked me. I started out in this household of drummers, my father, my grandfather and just around it constantly. That was the first instrument I was shown. I love the instrument, I really do. I’ve been in bands where I played drums. My first band, I was the drummer, but I’ve never felt the confidence or proficient enough to carry a band like that. Maybe it’s also it’s engrained me… the people that I knew that were drummers, my dad, my grandfather, these bigger-than-life people. I truly feel like a drummer is possibly the most important part of a band because they are such the backbone. All the other things can be kind of hidden in a live show. If the drums down feel right than nothing feels right. Do I feel that I would have pursued that more? Yes. But I did want to write songs. That was a big thing for me. Maybe I felt that it was harder to write songs with just being a drummer.
Have you ever considered having your father or grandfather sit in on drums during a gig?
Actually, my father and I, we talked recently about doing some recordings. It’s funny, when I was fifteen, I was in a punk rock band and I had a show at a local legion hall something happened with the drummer so I had my dad, who lives about a two-hour drive from where I was living at the time, he would come up to my mom’s house, we would practice in my basement for about a week then he played a show with me. And, I have this picture of me and him playing together and it was one of the greatest shows I ever played in my entire life.
Were you nervous?
I was s–tting bricks.
And it seems like you’re passing this career to your kids. Your daughters star in one of your videos. How was it shooting a video with your twins?
It was insane. It was great. They were three at the time. My daughter my daughter came up with the song.. it was the second melody that she had written. But this one just stuck and she kept singing it over and over again. At the time I was recording some tracks in my basement studio and she would always ask “what’s daddy doing down there?” So one day I was like, “Let me show you. You wrote this song so let’s do it together.” I sat down with the guitar, figured out what the rest of the song would be, the melody, etc. I went down to the studio, recorded the chord tracks and had them come in and sing along.
Now when you say that she wrote the song…
Oh yeah! The song is hers. That “best friends forever but not now,” that’s all her. She came up with out of her own strange head.
And she was three?
Her brother is two, and she and her twin sister are three, and they get into fights. And every time that would happen and they would have this disagreement, she would sing this song that they were best friends but not at that moment. But she would scream it at them. It was like this taunting thing but at the same time you couldn’t get mad at her because it was so Goddamn cute. Once it was recorded, I was like, oh man, we gotta do a video. Then a friend of mine was telling me about tune-core and I was like, I’ll put it out ourselves and whatever comes in goes directly into their college fund. Who could say at three they released a single and a video and put money away?
How are you feeling about the fan response so far to the record?
I gotta say it’s kinda overwhelming. I wrote the songs and recorded them kinda just for myself, for my own sanity, trying to forget about the way I felt physically and when it came about time for me to look back I saw this collection of songs, was like, oh wow, this is kind of a record. Maybe I should thing about putting this out into the world. And when I did… I’m proud of it but at the same time, while writing it and recording it, I never thought that anyone was going to hear it. You know I never edited myself. It’s a very intimate, revealing record. So putting it out, you have these second-guessing moments. To have the songs that have been heard so accepted so wonderfully is beyond what I could ever have imagined.
When assembling the record from tracks you’d amassed, did you purposely include certain types of songs?
Not at all. There’s a song on the record called “Stitches.” The way I wrote that song is what hear on the record. I didn’t change the arrangement, some of the guitars are demo guitars… you can kinda hear it being fleshed out. I went back in and was like, maybe I should change this or that and then I though to myself, no. That’s what it was. That’s what makes this song, so I just kept it.
How was it not having the pressure of a record label on your back?
Well, that’s a two-fold thing. When you don’t have anyone coming in and checking on your, you can be as crazy and ridiculous and do all the wrong things as much as you want which is so freeing. But at the same time you don’t have this outlet. So you’re making this stuff and you start to think to yourself, “why am I doing this? Who’s ever going to hear this? This is for nothing. And then you think to yourself, no, it’s for me. I’m doing this because I have to do it.”
What’s the story behind your logo?
I had created the logo in 2006. We were recording Black Parade at the time and I was working on some art and photography and I wanted something that was almost a signature of myself. I wanted something that was a connection between good and evil. I start manipulating a Byzantine cross and added these serpents at the bottom which kinds of turned into an anchor which for me symbolizes that push and pull but keeping yourself grounded. And, I started to brand all the things that I created with it. All that stuff I kept private, I kept to myself until I started to release photography around 2011 when I did some limited edition prints through MyChem. When people ask what it means, I say, me.
Was the “Weighted” video as much fun to make as it was to watch?
We got a team together that was incredible, people stayed at my house. People didn’t complain about money. We cooked for each other. We did whatever we had to do to make it because everyone believed in how fun and rad it could be if it worked out. And we made it happen. Brandon [LaGanke] is the one that actually came up with intestinal jump rope. We’re not sure, but we think it’s the first time that’s ever been done. [laughs]
08/25 – Fords, NJ @ Vintage Vinyl
09/06 – Howell, NJ @ GameChanger World ^
09/07 – Philadelphia, PA @ Boot & Saddle ^
09/08 – Columbus, OH @ The LC Pavilion
09/10 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Stage AE
09/11 – Cincinnati, OH @ Bogart’s *
09/12 – Grand Rapids, MI @ Orbit Room
09/13 – Chicago, IL @ Riot Fest #
09/14 – Indianapolis, IN @ Egyptian Room – Old National Centre
09/16 – St. Paul, MN @ Myth
09/17 – Sioux Falls, SD @ The District
09/19 – Kansas City, MO @ KC Live! At Kansas City Power & Light District
09/21 – Billings, MT @ Shrine Auditorium
09/23 – Idaho Falls, ID @ Idaho Falls Civic Auditorium
09/24 – Spokane, WA @ Knitting Factory *
09/25 – Seattle, WA @ Showbox SoDo
09/26 – Portland, OR @ Roseland Theater
09/29 – Calgary, AB @ MacEwan Hall
09/30 – Edmonton, AB @ Union Hall
10/02 – Winnipeg, MB @ Burton Cummings Theatre
10/03 – Fargo, ND @ The Venue
10/04 – Des Moines, IA @ 7 Flags Event Center
10/06 – St. Louis, MO @ The Pageant
10/07 – Nashville, TN @ Cannery Ballroom *
10/09 – Baltimore, MD @ Metro Gallery ^
All dates with Taking Back Sunday and The Used except:
# – festival date
* – with Taking Back Sunday only
^ – headline date
You can read the full article on Radio.com.
About the Author
Denise Borders 39, Los Angeles. Denise founded PWV in 2008 and remains the primary manager and photographer/videographer. She is not secretly obsessed with Joey Cape.
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