My Chemical Romance's charismatic frontman singer Gerard Way explains why the Black Parade is finally over and he's planning a real Christmas this year.

You've just touched down for your Australian tour. Have you brought the full shebang with you?



We have, but we've brought a different shebang. We didn't bring Black Parade 'cos we stopped playing as Black Parade in Mexico (last month); we wanted to end it there. But we've brought a production, lights and pyro.



Was it a case of, if you put on the Black Parade suit one more time you'd scream?



That's pretty much what happened. The whole idea behind it was to make that record really come alive, really play as the band, put our money where our mouth was. To be quite honest with you, 10 shows of that would have proved our point. After a while it was like, we really don't wanna play as another band, we just wanna play as our band. And we don't necessarily wanna play this record front to back, we wanna play other stuff as well.



Without the Black Parade element, how will your Aussie shows work?



We play more of a mixed set. We play a couple of old songs too, and I'm pretty sure we'll be playing a song we've never really played live -- Desert Song -- which is an unreleased song off Revenge. We never had a chance at the time to record it.



My Chem have also had a few personnel problems recently. Who is missing from this tour?



Bob (Bryar, drums) is missing. Frank (Iero, guitar) is back. He went through some personal things at home, had a family emergency, so we lost him for four shows. Bob tried to come out, but his wrists hurt too bad. He flew all the way to LA from home. We met up at the airport before coming over here, and he said, "I'm gonna go home and go to the doctor again''. So we lost Bob. But Tucker, from our friends' band Thursday, is coming out.



You joined Linkin Park on the Projekt Revolution tour. Chester from Linkin Park says he sees a lot of similarities between his band and yours, particularly in the way people are finally coming to realise My Chem are the real deal.



That's an interesting thing to point out, because when a band comes out -- especially a band that has a large cultural impact, especially youth culture-wise -- people assume it's some weird new kind of niche music. But in actuality, kids have consistently throughout the history of music liked rock 'n' roll, and that's ultimately what it is. It takes a few years once a certain band has been out and had that impact for older fans to realise, "Hey, this is really no different from the bands I liked. It has different influences, it looks and sounds different, but it's rock 'n' roll''. There's almost like a hazing period.



Did you go into your shell at first, playing to Linkin Park's fans?



If anything it made us push harder, see how far we could really take 'em, especially with notions of sexuality. We're like, "Cool, they like us; now let's see if we push these sexual boundaries a little more how they're gonna react''. There was an extremely macho vibe in that crowd, and we were practically the biggest cupcakes on that tour, but they seemed to love it. I think they just needed a little razzle dazzle in their lives.



Why are you so big on pushing those boundaries of sexuality? You're a married man now.



Well, that's more of a recent thing (laughs). My wife totally backs the way I am on stage, that's one of the amazing things about her. I have 120 per cent respect for her when I'm on stage, so there are definitely certain things I would never do. But she knows my sexuality, and I know mine, so there's no reason not to push those boundaries. It's with the most noble intentions -- it's to make certain people realise just because somebody is a performer or slightly effeminate, -- even that guy at work or that kid at school -- there's no reason to shove 'em around. So much testosterone has been in rock for so long -- that's why I'm so interested in pushing it. All it boils down to is treating women like second-class citizens, calling people faggots, being borderline racist, if not totally racist. A lot of things are ingrained in the stupidest rock 'n' roll we completely oppose. So one way we can push it is through our sexuality.



Your marriage to Lyn-Z was a bit of a shock. When you spoke to Hit in July, you had just broken off an engagement to another girl. Come September, you were married.



I know! It's one of those situations where you don't know how your life's gonna go, and the minute you actually stop looking for something is when you find it. When I met my wife I was at a point where I was completely OK with being alone for a very long time, free of lousy people. I was very content to spend time with my friends, to work on music, to work on my comics. I was about to pack everything up and move to Portland, Oregon. And literally out of nowhere someone who I'd met four years ago when the band was a baby band, opening for her band, comes back into my life. We just picked up where we left off. It's always when you're not looking for it -- I was totally fine, and then I get hit over the head! It was like getting hit by a truck.



Does marriage mean you're actually able to make a home now?



Completely. I turned basically into a functioning grown-up overnight. I came off tour and started to set up a life. I'm very excited about that -- I actually have a life now when I go home, and it's an amazing life. I love that I have a best friend I can share it with, who I can work with and hang out with.



You spent last December in a hotel working on your comic book. It sounds as though you might have a real Christmas this year.



Yeah, I holed up in a hotel. I flew home for New Year's . . . God, I don't even remember what I did at Christmas, I don't even remember where I was. I definitely wasn't doing anything Christmas-like.



My Chemical Romance, Rod Laver Arena, Sat, $62.10, Ticketek.

