Frank Iero Opens Up About How He Felt When My Chemical Romance Split

Frank Iero has revealed that the end of My Chemical Romance brought on a sense of panic about what to do next. In a new interview with guitar string company Ernie Ball for their String Theory series, Frank explained how he felt when the New Jersey titans came to an end in 2013.

“When My Chem ended, it was a feeling a closure on that but also, at the same time, this panic sets in because you have done something for so long and it almost defined you,” he says. “There’s comfort in that, but there’s also this feeling of, ‘Oh my god, well now what do you do? Who are you?’ If that didn’t actually define you, what do you do now? It’s a scary, scary time.”

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The guitarist also ruminated on the band’s influences, where they fit, and how they took steps to finding themselves in the early days.

“My Chem was a lot of different influences that, on paper, didn’t necessarily work together, but somehow, in real life, did,” he explains. “We were writing these songs based on what we wanted to hear and the things that we grew up listening to. There’s Maiden in there, Misfits, Bowie and Queen. That shit wasn’t happening in hardcore and punk rock at the time, it just wasn’t. That’s how it started and that was the jump-off point. Then, we ended up doing our own thing that was even more batshit crazy.

“Getting in that band in those early days of shows, it was hard for us because we were so different from every other band that was playing at the time,” he adds. “We weren’t really accepted or championed in that way say like a straight-up hardcore band would be.”

My Chemical Romance have just rescheduled their UK and Ireland reunion shows for next summer. Catch them at the dates below.

My Chemical Romance tour

June 2021

15 St. Austell Eden Project
17 Milton Keynes Stadium MK
19 Milton Keynes Stadium MK
20 Milton Keynes Stadium MK
22 Dublin Royal Hospital Kilmainham

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