Hi Frank, first things first: How are you guys doing? Are you doing fine after the accident?
Some days are better than others. I’ve realized there are some things I just can’t really do anymore and others I have to learn to do differently. It’s definitely going to be a long process and the recovery is nonlinear which can be extremely frustrating, but I’m taking each day as it comes. And being able to do that is way better than the alternative of what could have been.
„Running away from your true self can really make it hard to appreciate the now“
Your album „Stomachaches“ helped you to feel better while you were pretty sick, „Parachutes“ is about getting the patience to appreciate the now. The songs seem to be full of doubts and negative feelings you are dealing with. What makes it hard to appreciate the now and what makes it easier for you?
I think the songs on „Parachutes“ are more about coming to the realization that sometimes things happen for you instead of to you. We can choose to be victims and sit back and watch it all go by or we can use our experience as fuel and learn to be the best us we can be, even if that means being a little fucked up. Running away from your true self can really make it hard to appreciate the now. Some of us have a tendency to expect more when we should maybe use that energy to appreciate what we have.
In „I´m A Mess“ it seems like you settle up with everyone who can´t stop talking about what you should or what you should not do in your life. Is this what the song is about? What´s behind all this?
„I’m A Mess“ is about figuring out that sometimes the best part of us is what we originally see as a defect. Our defects make us unique. There are over seven billion people in the world but only one you, why waste what little time you have here trying to be someone else. Instead embrace your strange because it is yours and yours alone.
In your song „9/6/15“ you sing about a beloved person who died. The lyrics say “You made me feel like, I was more than enough”. Do you ever think that you will reach the point in life that you feel about yourself this way, too?
I truly don’t know.
I think everything happens for a reason
What´s your favourite song on the record and why?
Possibly „I’ll Let You Down“. I originally wrote that song as an acoustic song and never imagined doing it as a full band, it wasn’t supposed to be on the record. We were scheduled to leave for the studio to work with Ross and ended up getting delayed a week because the band before us needed more time and so in that week before we left I decided to just give it a try one day with Matt Olsson (drums) and it just started to flow and change into the song it became. I often wonder what if we didn’t have that unexpected extra time? What would have happened to that song? Would something else have made he expend and not fit as well? It’s interesting to me, I think everything happens for a reason, and that was a nice reminder.
You say that working with Ross Robinson scared you to death because you heard some stories about him. I once talked to Liam Cormier from Cancer Bats who worked with Robinson, too on their last album. He said: „Everything that you told me about this guy I never would have even understood unless I actually met him. It´s like the rumours and myths you are hearing about him: Non of it can compare to when you actually meet him.“ Can you tell us more details about working with Ross Robinson? What does it look like?
I think Liam described it so perfect that I wouldn’t change a thing. No matter how many stories you hear or how many records you study nothing can prepare you for the real life experience. I found out more things about myself and the songs I was writing in those 17 days with Ross than I have in 24 years of being in bands. It was the single greatest creative experience of my life.
Is it sometimes annoying for you that you are still often be introduced as „Frank Iero of My Chemical Romance“?
I kind of feel like the only people who still refer to me as that are lazy editors looking for click bait.
Aktuell sind FRANK IERO AND THE PATIENCE mit TAKING BACK SUNDAY auf Tour und auch für vier Shows in Deutschland.
Tourdates
20.02. Köln, Luxor
21.02. Berlin, Lido
23.02. München, Ampere
24.02. Köln, Club Cann
