Here is a backhanded compliment: the first time I heard "Millions," the fifth song on Gerard Way's debut solo album Hesitant Alien, I thought it was a rip-off.
I thought this because Way, the former lead singer and songwriter for My Chemical Romance, has infused the song's 3:28 runtime with an unmistakably Britpop tone, where the drums provide a basic, stomp-your-foot back beat, and the guitar plays a neat lick before fuzz-layered, distorted vocals finally enter. Even if you are only marginally acquainted with Britpop, you might think you've heard something like it in an Oasis or Blur song. You probably have.
Released in September, Hesitant Alien is Way's first musical endeavor since he posted the breakup letter for his old band in March 2013. The breakup wasn't predicated by internal strife or scandal, and although Way never made it entirely clear why he ended the band, he told his fans "when it's time, we stop." It seemed for Way that ending MCR was always inevitable, but something that would happen naturally. He pointed no figures in his essay, reassuring fans, "this was no one’s fault, and it had been quietly in the works, whether we knew it or not." I think Way always knew it, even if the other members of the band never did. MCR really was Way's musical vehicle, and if the vehicle was running on fumes, Way would be the first to call it quits.
Towards the end of his essay, Way provides an anecdote about his desire to start a band back in 2001. Sitting in his parent's basement, he picked up his old 90's Stratocaster and started playing the chords to the first MCR song he would write, "Skylines and Turnstiles." Thinking about that guitar now, Way writes: "He has a voice, and I would like to hear what it has to say."
What it has to say, it seems, is Hesitant Alien, the stripped-down, restrained, nostalgic-as-hell, yet very satisfying first release from his solo career.
In the buildup to the release of Hesitant Alien, Way often referenced his desire to return to the music he listened to in his youth, before he formed My Chemical Romance. Most notably, he waxed poetic about his old Britpop records and his desire to make those types of songs again. Never mind the fact that his audience, his old MCRmy, probably never listened to Britpop and neither have today’s teenagers. But listen to “Millions” or “No Shows,” the album’s first two singles, and it sounds like Way’s imitation-as-inspiration technique worked: both songs make you bob your head and jump, without asking you to start a mosh pit or scream until you are blue in the mouth. Catchy, but not stadium-sized, which seems pretty important to Way this time around. He's lowered the stakes without lowering the quality of his songwriting.
Towards the end of his essay, Way provides an anecdote about his desire to start a band back in 2001. Sitting in his parent's basement, he picked up his old 90's Stratocaster and started playing the chords to the first MCR song he would write, "Skylines and Turnstiles." Thinking about that guitar now, Way writes: "He has a voice, and I would like to hear what it has to say."
What it has to say, it seems, is Hesitant Alien, the stripped-down, restrained, nostalgic-as-hell, yet very satisfying first release from his solo career.
In the buildup to the release of Hesitant Alien, Way often referenced his desire to return to the music he listened to in his youth, before he formed My Chemical Romance. Most notably, he waxed poetic about his old Britpop records and his desire to make those types of songs again. Never mind the fact that his audience, his old MCRmy, probably never listened to Britpop and neither have today’s teenagers. But listen to “Millions” or “No Shows,” the album’s first two singles, and it sounds like Way’s imitation-as-inspiration technique worked: both songs make you bob your head and jump, without asking you to start a mosh pit or scream until you are blue in the mouth. Catchy, but not stadium-sized, which seems pretty important to Way this time around. He's lowered the stakes without lowering the quality of his songwriting.
Way called “No Shows” the most important song on the album. Above all the others, this song is Way showcasing his new artistic direction. It does not have the manic pace of MCR's singles, and he incorporates horns into the song's instrumentation, showing his willingness to experiment. His confidence has not drained - after all, he had enough bravado to promote his solo album as a goddamn Britpop homage - but he’s reeled it in, from both the theatrical The Black Parade and the underrated, but still explosive Danger Days, MCR’s final studio album.
Let’s talk about that final album for a quick minute. Danger Days saw the band moving away from the need for a complete “narrative.” The Black Parade had cancer patients and skeleton costumes, and all the rigmarole was a means of connecting with MCR’s fans and making the album and band feel larger than life. Danger Days doesn't abandon the idea of narrative, but it's not all encompassing. Sure, the album was loosely built around a group of characters, the Killjoys, but two of them “die” by the middle of the album. Poof. Gone, without consequence. And the songs we get on that album were unlike anything the band had made before. “Planetary (GO!)” is the band’s addicting take on dance-rock, “Sing” was, as you can guess, a sing-along anthem, but it traded speed for a crushing mid-tempo rhythm section. “Vampire Money” is fast and punky and not that far removed from the band’s earlier material except it is not even the least bit dark. In fact, it's tongue-in-cheek and fun. Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge didn't let you come up for air for 40 minutes. On Danger Days you can breath a little, and also hear the joy Way and the rest of the band felt when recording these songs. You can hear it on Hesitant Alien, too.
Why am I bringing up Danger Days other than to say I really, really like it? Well, if you are trying to find inspiration for Hesitant Alien in Way’s old band, you won’t get very far, except maybe you can you quitter, look with more than your eyes for God’s sake. If you've never heard “S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W” or “Summertime,” start there. Neither song sounds like typical MCR. Certainly not “S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W,” with it’s walking pace and arena rock solo. And “Summertime” just sounds… happy. This is not to say that Dangers Day was devoid of over the top moments - it goes over the top, it goes over the top quite often - but the album is also notable for the moments of restraint coming from a band that seemingly had none. Danger Days was MCR's last studio album release, but they did put out a series of double A-sides that form Conventional Weapons, a compilation album made up of material that didn't make it onto that final album. It's all very Detroit garage-rock. Between the two releases, you can hear the band moving away from the pomp and circumstance of The Black Parade. Lyrically and musically (and promotionally), the band trade darkness for light, and Hesitant Alien completes the transition.
Way’s recent releases are, in his own words, heavily influenced by older music. For The Black Parade and Danger Days it was small parts 70’s psychedelia and large parts 80’s glam rock; Hesitant Alien references not only Britpop, but dips its toe in the waters of other 90s heavyweights. “Zero Zero” is Way practically writing his way onto The Smashing Pumpkins’ Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, what with its repeated chorus and sludgy bassline. “Juarez,” too, sounds like something Billy Corgan might have written before he kicked everyone out of his solo project band and somehow became even more delusional than anyone ever thought he could be.
The lyrics are reminiscent of other 90's acts. We'll use Blur and Pulp for this example, because of how well Way conveys the same mundaneness of everyday life those bands wrote about. Lines like “It’s not your disappointed sigh / It’s not you traded this for pride / Not that we really even mind / We’re just bored you’re still alive” in “How It’s Going to Be” or “Remember when you and I would make things up? / So many nights, just take me down to the place we would hear them play / I miss that sound” in “Brother” don’t depict very complicated lives, they depict everyday problems in the lives of everyday people. The grandiose themes from the MCR oeuvre these are not. Instead, Way’s songs might be about people making mistakes, being bored, or missing the simpler times. For an American, Way sure can make his problems sound British.
Way doesn't go for "BIG MOMENTS" here like MCR did. It seemed like everything his former band did had to be some sort of emotional catharsis or climax. They created emotion via massive sounding compositions, sometimes forgoing lyrics in favor of pummeling you with guitar and drums. When the music wasn't saying anything specific, it wanted you to feel something. And if you didn't feel the music, you sure as hell could hear it. Loud, and proud, MCR swung for the fences; they pulled out the driver on the long, dog-leg Par 5 with narrow fairways, in gale force winds and pouring rain, and they damn near always pulled it off. Maybe Way thought he'd gotten lucky one too many times, or, more likely, he glimpsed the other side, a calmer side, and went for something less bombastic.
I like to believe that Way is still capable of conjuring huge, sweeping, affecting moments in his songs, and that for Hesitant Alien he simply chose not to. This is not a criticism. Times passes, musical direction change. Ten years is a long time to be in a band. . Heck, ten years is a long time to do anything when you think about it. The beginning and end can look like a completely disparate thing, but sometimes it is nice to look back to remember how things were.
Which brings me to “The Kids from Yesterday,” my favorite MCR song, and one that should be read as an early farewell from the band to their fans. The song is all nostalgia, its message about reflecting on past times of youth while simultaneously acknowledging how you've grown up and moved on. When Way sings, “Well this could be the last of all the rides we take / So hold on tight and don’t look back,” he's referring to his own band, and how their time is coming to an end. It is pretty damn tough to hear those lyrics now and not think we should have seen the band's split coming. Way founded MCR in 2001, shortly after watching the World Trade Center collapse. The band helped him find a direction in his life that was previously lacking. Twelve years later, he didn't need the band, he'd found his direction. "The Kids from Yesterday" was Way's meta moment, his admittance that he was no longer the same kid who founded the band a decade prior. He had taken his ride. His time was up.
The lyrics of "The Kids from Yesterday" have been on my mind a lot since graduation, especially before I moved from Boston to DC. I thought about how one chapter of my life had come to an end, not by choice but out of necessity: graduation is a celebration of completion, and completion in this case means that it is time to take the next step. The problem is, you don't know if your next step will hold your weight, or give out from under you like the fake stones of MXC's Sinkers and Floaters. But you have to take that step regardless.
All of this makes Way’s proving of his old self wrong perhaps the best part of Hesitant Alien, and makes it one of my favorite albums of 2014. Way decided that MCR was not the last ride he would take. He has decided to have another go at making music, but not by repeating what he had done before. This time, instead of choosing the wildest ride, he’s opted one that’s more restrained yet still undeniably fun. And it's been successful, and he seems happy doing it. May he ride it over and over. May I join him soon.
