My Chemical Romance former frontman Gerard Way releases his first solo album "Hesitant Alien". Finding new pathways from his MCR roots, Hesitant Alien echoes Way's heroes like Bowie and Black. The video for "No Shows" here sounds like a space tin can and "Action Cat" is a sharp gritty greeting to his naysayer fans.
Producer Doug McKean drew new material from MCR's Gerard Way, while the musician was very drawn into a specific sound. "I wanted to make the small things sound big," Way says. "My intention was to make 100 percent uncompromised art, using the currently least radio-friendly instrument, the guitar. I knew there would be lots of fuzz pedals. I knew I would play Fender instruments."
Taking new direction within his musical career, Way looked to British influences and created his own sound incorporating their inspiration. "I drew a lot of influence from shoe-gaze and Britpop. I want the record to sonically galvanize people." Action Cat and No Shows reflect this sonic transformation on Hesitant Alien.
Hesitant Alien was written by Way to reflect his world, "which was struggle, beginnings, finding a newness in the mundane and the abstract," he says. "I looked to the Britpop poets like Jarvis Cocker and Damon Albarn, drawing upon everyday life. I also experimented with the abstract, and looked at Frank Black's work both with the Pixies, and as a solo artist." Unlike MCR's Black Parade, Way states "there are no anthem songs here".
Gerard Way performs his first solo shows live at the Reading and Leeds Festivals in England. He performs at Reading on August 22nd and at Leeds on August 23rd. My Chemical Romance is still on hiatus.