Machine Gun Kelly has said that rock music “needed a defibrillator” and claims that he played a part in reviving the genre.
In a new interview with Billboard, MGK also took the opportunity to defend himself against recent claims that he’s nothing but cosplay, with absolutely no substance whatsoever, stating, “if I have to be a scapegoat for people’s own insecurities, whatever. I’m more punk rock than you are because at least I’m willing to put my ass on the line.”
“I know it kills certain bands in that community that I got the success that I got,” he tells Billboard. But I earned that shit. Dude, I was fucking loading up the van with our drums and amps in 2010, driving to Indiana and Chicago, playing Warped Tour. I can tell you the fucking Wi-Fi codes to venues in Blackfoot, Idaho. Can you say that shit as a band?”
Machine Gun Kelly’s last album, 2020’s “Tickets to My Downfall”, debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart, marking it as the first rock album in over a year to hit the mark.
“It opened the lane back up for people to make money,” says Kelly. “It opened up these festivals. [Rock] needed a defibrillator. Who cares who gives it, just as long as that motherfucker doesn’t die?”
“The 2010s was great for singers and rappers, and I was part of that. But I think we needed something else: We needed an instrument. Kids come up to me like, ‘Dude, the first time I ever saw someone play guitar in concert was at your concert — and now I take guitar lessons.’ ”
MGK has announced a worldwide arena tour along with numerous special guests that will run from June through to mid-October.
The trek is in support of MGK’s new album, “Mainstream Sellout”, which drops on March 25.