In “Brother” Gerard struggles with not using alcohol and drugs. Gerard has a history with alcohol, rarely playing a show sober in the early years of My Chemical Romance.

Gerard became sober during the Black Parade and Danger Days eras, but in the months leading up to My Chemical Romance’s breakup Gerard used booze to help him cope with his problems:

I relapsed, not into drugs but booze. I was self-medicating again to get through, and I’d forgotten how miserable that made me. It took me to the dark place again, but there was more at stake this time. I started to face the hypothetical reality of [my daughter] Bandit not having a father. I started taking that seriously, thinking, ‘I want her to have a dad. A guy that’s present. Because one way or another – either by death or by asylum, she’s gonna be fatherless if I keep this up.'

Since then, Gerard has become sober, but still struggles to not get into alcoholism again, so he asks his brother and ex-bandmate, Mikey Way, to help him gain control.