While interviewing about his new comic series, "The Umbrella Academy" [due next month], Gerard said the band was not working on new material, nor would they be any time soon. Also, new photos of the band surfaced today -- without Mikey.
As for the photos, though -- the origins are somewhat unknown at this point and they don't appear to be press photos for the band. However, they do fuel the fires of rumors that Mikey, who is on hiatus to spend time with his new wife, will not be returning to the band.
As for new music, Gerard said:
We're not working on a record. We're touring and getting some distance from writing music. We'll finish out touring, take a break and then come back and write. It will be quite awhile before there's another My Chemical Romance album. We said a lot of what we wanted to say with The Black Parade, so we're going to have to find something completely new to say, and that could take some living, some touring, some hardships. It's all about finding what the next thing is for yourself, for your band, and we're still searching for that. We'll be searching for a while, I think.
I don't blame them for needing some time to relax and find that creative "spot," and I'm pretty sure I will be able to get quite a bit more mileage out of The Black Parade before I'm dying for new songs.
Gerard also commented on the Marilyn Manson situation [which I also reported about earlier today -- with audio of a boastful Manson claiming he could have kicked their asses]:
There's really nothing going on there," he said. "We played a festival in Norway with them, and Frank just went up to them, said hi and asked if there was anything wrong. They said no, and that was the end of it.
Sounds about right.
Here is the other set of pictures making their way around fan communities today:
