A quick word with MCR's Mikey Way

My Chemical Romance go from grandiose to unbridled, often within one song. Photo / Supplied

You set out to make something more straightforward than [previous album] The Black Parade. But it's not, it's often quite mad, with a concept about a gang called the Fabulous Killjoys ...
We went in [initially] with a bunch of rules. We thought it was going to be a stripped-down rock album, with no concept or costumes, and be really raw and visceral. But when we got to the finish line we realised it wasn't what we wanted. Something was missing. We learned from this whole process [that] you have to go with your gut.

So you started again?
We met up with an old friend of ours Rob Cavallo [who produced The Black Parade] and he said, "Just come by and we'll see what happens". And some fantastic material started pouring out of us, like Na Na Na. That was where the Danger Days universe was born. Na Na Na and Sing especially, they were really big art projects. We'd start something and it would grow by the day, with different tunings, multiple takes, different tempos. But they're accessible at the same time. That was liberating and it allowed us to tap into places we had never been before on songs like Sing, S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W, and Planetary (Go).

Tell us about the Fabulous Killjoys and the character you play, the Kobra Kid.
The Killjoys are like this renegade group in post-apocalyptic California who are on the run and pitted against a corporation called B.L.I. who is very much about controlling how people think, a big brother organisation. In the real world the Killjoys [represent] all our friends and family. We're the Killjoys. Kobra Kid knows kung fu, has a short temper, he's a hothead, but ultimately he means well.

-TimeOut