My Chemical Romance had pretty much just gotten back together when 2020 decided that it was not okay (I promise) and killed off even the Black Parade—because it’s a terrible time for big public gatherings, even if a lot of those goth kids were wearing gas masks in the video—but MCR’s Gerard Way isn’t letting the derailment of his band’s touring plans get him down. Well, he is a little bit, because he’s the guy from My Chemical Romance, but he’s at least doing something productive with his time. As reported by Rolling Stone, Way has released a four-song EP of sorts on Soundcloud that he’s calling Distraction Or Despair (“Since that seems to be the two things I keep shifting between, he explains on Instagram), though he admits that only a couple of the songs really fit that title. “I’m just winging it, keeping it casual,” he adds.
One of the songs, “Phoning It In,” was supposed to be some kind of solo single (or maybe still could be), while another, “Welcome To The Hotel,” was planned as a tie-in for his Umbrella Academy comics. The other two are a 14-second experiment and a recording of Way “messing around” with a cheap amp he bought.