GERARD Way of My Chemical Romance says he's a showman, a nerd and an underdog.

Before your new album The Black Parade came out, Chris Carrabba of Dashboard Confessional told Hit you're the only real rock star - that you know no other way. Is he right?

(Laughs) I had a really funny meeting with him. They'd just played a gig in Chicago and because they knew we were in the hotel, they invited us to go bowling with them. He said some very kind words to me, he was very sweet. I'm a fan, so it was a pretty big deal. Yeah, he said something similar to me (laughs), something about me being a performer or a rock star, in a good way -- because you could mean it in a bad way, too. But I'm a showman, everybody in the band is a showman. I love what I do that much, I get such a big kick out of it. I laugh the whole time, I'm having so much fun. I'm even a little self-deprecating up there, and to me that's funny. The words and the songs are so extremely serious, that, live, it's exciting to give it a little black humour.

Have you always been a showman?

That's been me from day one. I obviously had to get better at it, and then I had to learn how to do it sober. When I first started playing sober I was like, "Oh, I can't do this". I said "I was this way because of the booze". Then I realised that in fact it did not come from that place, it came from somewhere else.

In My Chemical Romance, you've often defined yourselves by your outcast status. What happens when the outcasts have a No.1 single in Britain, a No.2 album in the States...?

No matter what happens to you, I don't think anything could ever take that underdog-ness away, because we're still in this big gene pool, and we're the one chromosome that doesn't fit. If you look at videos being played, you have our video up against hip hop, pop, boy bands, girl bands, divas... and then there's this little rock band. We're never gonna fit in.

You tell your bandmates: "This album is going to be about death." What kind of reaction do you get?

(Laughs) Not a very surprised one! There's a degree of trust that we all have, and even when I say "Hey, there's these uniforms I'm designing and they kinda look like this . . ." They say, "OK, well why do you want to do this?" And I'll say, "OK, well because of this". There's not a whole lot of talking, just a lot of excitement.

You've said The Black Parade is inspired by Queen and Pink Floyd. What about the music that was huge in your teens - the Nirvana era. Will some of that influence a My Chem album one day?

Well the (Smashing) Pumpkins are the biggest contemporary influence for this band. Even the aesthetic on the new record, the look of everything, was inspired by Mellon Collie and The Infinite Sadness. That's why we chose Sam Bayer to direct the two videos, because he had done Bullet off Mellon Collie.

Have you bumped into any of the Pumpkins?

I met Billy (Corgan) about five months ago. I kinda nerd out around him, I can't really say a lot to the guy (laughs).

How did the limited conversation go, then?

 

He saw that I spotted him and he came and introduced himself 'cos he saw that I was too nervous to do it. I just said, "You're basically my hero, and you're one of the biggest influences to me and my kid brother, it's the reason we have this band". So he said "Thanks".

Were you busy freaking out inside because he knew who you were?

Yeah. Just the fact that he acknowledged me and knew who I was, was a very big deal to me.

You're still the geeky fan-boy deep inside, aren't you?

Oh yeah, of course. It would be super-arrogant to lose that. I still have heroes, you know. Lots of people inspired me, and I put them all into a stew and distilled it and what I am on stage is a lot of these people.

What did you talk about with Liza Minnelli when she sang on Mama?

We didn't actually get to talk too much about personal stuff, which is a drag. But we are gonna go out to dinner, so that's gonna be fun - I have a lot of questions for her. But it was just great to watch her perform. She was just winging stuff.

Did it take much elaboration about who My Chem is and what you're about to get her to do it?

I don't think so. Her publicist explained to her, "There's this young rock band that's a big fan of you, and they would love you to cut this one line off their record, because they need you to do it". Then she heard (Three Cheers for Sweet) Revenge, and she said she was in.

Are you still planning to take a big break after this album?

I definitely want to. It would be good for everybody to reset and find out what that next thing is. Because we are going to dismantle The Black Parade at that point, and really re-evaluate what and who we are.

What do you dream of doing with that break?

Well I do comics, and I got to do one this year for Dark Horse, called The Umbrella Academy. Then down the line I would like to write books.

Will you feel more vulnerable putting a comic book out than you do with the music?

I think so (laughs). Whether I like it or not, I'm gonna really take it to heart if it's not received well, 'cos it's kinda like a secret dream.

Does the secret dream lead from a comic book to cartoons, a movie, merchandising...?

I dunno. That stuff doesn't appeal to me. But to be honest with you, if there were action figures made of it, that's exciting for me to have them on my shelf.

The Black Parade (Warner) out now. My Chemical Romance, Big Day Out, Jan 28, sold out; Festival Hall, Jan 29, $56.50, Ticketmaster.