popYOUlarity: Do you think about the future or do you think for the here and now?
Frank: I think you have to think about the future, but if you dwell on it, then you ruin the here and now.
Gerard: The way the band operates is that we are very for the here and now, but we like to live as if we have come from the future. Then you kind of know stuff. If we would have lived in the times of Abraham Lincoln, we would have known that he would have been shot, and we like to live like that, to know that something is going to happen.

popYOUlarity: When was your life most out of control?
Frank: When this band started.
Gerard: Yeah, exactly around the same time.
Frank: This kind of brought us more….
Gerard: Its’ hard to say normal
Frank: Yeah, because we’re not at all. It’s also hard to say less depressed because at times it’s very depressing. We’re more driven, and it’s weird. You grow up and have certain ideals and ways you think things should be and people should think and now you actually have a soap box and people are actually listening and it’s like wow! Now I actually can make a difference and that is what has changed.

popYOUlarity: What is the scariest situation you’ve ever been in?
Gerard: I got held up with a 357 Magnum, held at the back of my head. That was the scariest. It was weird because I wasn’t really thinking about, like my life didn’t flash before my eyes. I was thinking more like, “Is this dude going to do it?” I was thinking the weirdest stuff. Before you die, or think you are going to, you think you’ll be like “Oh my god,” and start praying. I was just trying to figure out if this guy was going to blow my head off for some comic books, which is what it was over.
Frank: I had a loved one that was drugged and attempted rape on them. I didn’t know what had happened and they were in the hospital and I went down to kill somebody and that was scary, very scary.

popYOUlarity: Let’s say that you got to live the rest of your life in your idea of paradise. Maybe it is an island, on a mountain, in the country, wherever you like. Where would it be? What would it look like?
Gerard: I think I would be fifteen in an endless Dungeons of Dragons game, that went all night, and they had unlimited Dr. Pepper. I would have to be eternally 15, with other friends of mine that were 17 and 15 and so on, then that one weird guy who is like 28 hanging out with fifteen year olds, playing Dungeons of Dragons forever.
Frank: I would be in my 60’s with a huge family and some sort of family gathering or something like that.

popYOUlarity: Do you have any addictions? What are they and do you think that if you really wanted to, you could break yourself from these addictions?
Frank: Danger (laughing)
Frank: Does playing music count? I am totally 100 percent addicted to playing music. I don’t know what I would do if I could not play music, at all. Could I break that? Through shock therapy maybe, but probably not. I know my family would love for me to break that, or at least some would.
Gerard: I’m addicted to a few things. I’m addicted to cigarettes. I believe I could quit that, but that would be the hardest. I am also addicted to caffeine, and sometimes occasionally alcohol. I would break alcohol before coffee because if you took away alcohol, I would definitely need a lot of coffee and cigarettes.

popYOUlarity: Do you wish you had the ability to grant wishes for others (you wouldn’t be able to grant your own wishes, though)?
Gerard: I don’t know if I would want that ability.
Frank: You know, I would say yes, but then I think that you would get taken advantage of.

popYOUlarity: What kinds of wishes would you not be willing to grant?
Frank: For the people that needed it, I would like to. I would not grant wishes that was a trivial wish.
Gerard: If it was something like to cure cancer I would.
Yeah, stuff like that. I would cure diseases, but that is about it. And, a Robin Hood kind of thing.

popYOUlarity: If you ever had the opportunity to speak with the one individual who had been in charge of deciding your fate/mapped out your life, what would you say to her/him? What would you want to know?
Frank: I would find out what they had planned for me and do the exact opposite.
Gerard: I wouldn’t want to talk to them at all.

popYOUlarity: Would you try to get them to change something?
Gerard: No
Frank: No, I’d do it myself
Gerard: Yeah, I think we both believe that you can completely change your destiny. It is completely up to us.
Frank: I think the only thing you should believe in is yourself.
Gerard: Yeah, you can do amazing things when you believe, amazing stuff that people aren’t even capable of. If you believe it, then you could make other people believe it too.

popYOUlarity: Are there any songs – because they are so beautiful or because they remind you of a special time - that stop you dead in your tracks and make you stop doing whatever you’re doing whenever you hear them?
Frank: Yes. ‘What a Wonderful World.’ It is one of my favourite songs ever. It brings me back to two places actually. Once when I was seven, my grandfather played drums, and his band played it. It was the most amazing song I ever heard. I remember I danced with my grandmother. It also reminds me of a time last winter when I was with the person I am in love with currently, and we sat in a room and just watched the snow fall. We listened to that song and it felt like I was a little kid staying home from school. It was really cool.
Gerard: I think ‘I Will Survive’ by Gloria Gaynor because I was in the supermarket with my mom when I was like seven and it came on the PA and I sang the crap out of it. That was the first time I had sang and everyone started clapping in time with the song; other people buying produce. I knew I had a gift, it really did happen.

popYOUlarity: What is your favourite personal experience story to tell people?
Gerard: Going to see ‘The Return of the Jedi’ with my dad the day it came out. He took off from work. It’s the most vivid memory of my childhood because I didn’t’ see my dad a lot when I was a kid because he worked a lot. He took it off so he could take me because he knew I was a freak for Star wars and we waited in line until it was dark. That was how many times we had to wrap around the theatre. He got me popcorn and stuff and it was good. But, then at the end he made me get up and walk to the back of the theatre because he wanted to be the first ones out because he wanted to beat traffic. That is my favourite memory, and story.
Frank: If feel blessed that I can’t think of one. But, my grandfather came to see us play in Jersey at our record release. My dad overheard him telling his friends about it; about how there was 1700 people there and all the kids were singing along. I handed my guitar to our guitar tech and he goes “And that is when you know you’ve made it.” He was like crying when he told the story. It was so awesome.

popYOUlarity: Do you have any recurring dreams or nightmares? What are they?
Gerard: I have this one where I don’t have a face. It’s not blank, I just don’t have skin, it’s muscle. I’m meeting myself in a hospital; me with a face and me without. It is really messed up.
Frank: One dream that I had when I was younger was about this lady that lived in my mirror. She had a monkey face and she would open the mirror and chase me around the house. It was so creepy. Now I have a re-occurring dream that I am in a car accident almost every night. I don’t know why.

popYOUlarity: Do you have anything you would like to say to the readers of popYOUlarity.com?
Gerard: Being popular is not that important (laughs).
Frank: I say this a lot, but it is very important. We grew up in Jersey where there were a lot of shows and a great, thriving music scene. I wasn’t so much a punk rock scene, or a hardcore scene, but just a music scene. Everyone was really accepted and was into just being positive. You don’t see that much any more. Especially here on this coast. I don’t know so much about Toronto, but I know in California and stuff like that, kids aren’t able to put on shows anymore. It’s very important, so you should really do your best to start a band, put on a show, and write a ‘zine. Do whatever you really can to support this movement. Us being lackadaisical about it is what is killing it. If we don’t support it, no one else will. Please support it. Have fun and be positive.

Links:
Official Site