7 Questions With . . . Frank Iero of My Chemical Romance

Stranded in L.A. with a sinus infection while his band tours Australia, My Chemical Romance guitarist Frank Iero spoke to The Muse via conference call about his band’s upcoming U.S. arena tour. The tour, which kicks off in New Hampshire next Thursday, is to promote The Black Parade – an album Iero calls “an epic battle between life and death set to music.” Muse: How has your approach to performing live changed with the new concept?

The hardest thing about playing shows now is that it is totally different connecting with 1,000 people versus 100 people. Going into an arena, with people in the rafters, it’s a different mindset. It has taken a long time to perfect, and it’s something we’ve been able to try a bunch of times. It’s an incredible feeling seeing these people and looking in their eyes and having them walk away thinking not that it was a great show but an experience. We’re MCR but on a larger scale.

Muse: What makes a great audience?

An audience that you can feel their passion coming back to you. There’s so much emotion and energy coming from the band. But when there’s a great audience there’s a mirror effect. They make you feel like you’re a part of something larger. Muse: How have your fans changed over the past year? There are a lot of new faces in the crowd, which is cool. We got into music and punk rock because we didn’t fit in. We weren’t the cool kids at parties. We were searching for acceptance, and I found that in going to shows. Starting this band was kind of that idea –this band that didn’t fit in anywhere else. The old fans have been really great at letting these new people in.

Muse: How does it feel to be called the biggest band in the world?

Bizarre. Growing up and playing music and playing songs in your basement, you always dream that people will say things about your music and embrace it so that it changes the world. I’m warm and fuzzy inside. And awkward. We’re pretty much the same awkward people as when we started, but we’ve grown up. It’s caused us to think about what we say and how we act.

Muse: There is still a lot of darkness in this album, but many people find it hopeful. How do you respond?

Some of the topics that we deal with are dark, but we try to find the beauty in the tragedy. There’s a silver lining in everything. Dealing with things that are dark is our way of coping. This is the first time that we have a latent message of hope, and it comes out in “Famous Last Words.” We’ve always been hopeful, but we began realizing while touring for Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge that maybe the hope isn’t translating in the records.

Muse: A lot of fans have contacted the band with personal troubles like depression and suicidal thoughts. How do you keep this division between musician and therapist in check?

You have to realize that you’re not a shrink. [These people] need to go talk to someone who is qualified, but the good thing is that’s it’s the first step to getting help. As far as being there for someone, that’s an incredible feeling. When the band first started, it was our therapy. It was what we put our hearts into because nothing else seemed worth it and that it can be that for someone else just shows the power of music. It’s the only art form that can really do that.

Muse: Some critics and audiences have praised you and others have criticized you. How do you feel about this contradicting reaction to the band?

That’s what art is. It fuels people in a certain way. One person’s genius is another person’s trash. The mix doesn’t matter — the hating and the loving. Whatever. As long as people are discussing and opening their minds. You still feel like you’re not the cool kids. A lot of people don’t want this band to succeed because we are the voice for the kids that don’t fit in. We empower them. They’re the ones that will rule the world, and people don’t want them to succeed.