My Chemical Romance (often shortened to MCR or My Chem) is an American Music Award-nominated, Grammy Award-nominated, American rock quintet that formed in 2001. The current members of the band are Gerard Way, Mikey Way, Frank Iero, Ray Toro and Bob Bryar. Shortly after forming, the band signed to Eyeball Records and released their debut album I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love in 2002. They signed with Reprise Records the next year and released their major label debut Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge in 2004. The album was a major commercial success, selling over one million copies due in part to the success of the singles "Helena", "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)", and "The Ghost of You". The band followed this success with 2006's The Black Parade, featuring their hit singles, "Welcome to the Black Parade", "Famous Last Words", "I Don't Love You", "Teenagers" and upcoming single "Mama". While the band identifies their sound as simply "rock", the subgenre of the band's recordings has been a subject of debate among fans and the media[citation needed]. The band also recently filmed a live DVD in Mexico City, which is due for release in early 2008.
In a recent NME interview with Gerard, he said that the band's next record would be "a return to punk rock."
History
Early career (2001–2002)
The band was formed by frontman Gerard Way and ex-drummer Matt Pelissier around a week after the September 11, 2001 attacks. Witnessing the planes crash into the World Trade Center influenced Way's life to the extent that he decided to start a band. Way wrote the song "Skylines and Turnstiles" to express his feelings about September 11th. Shortly thereafter, Ray Toro was called up and asked to join the band because at the time Way couldn't sing and play the guitar at the same time. The first recording sessions were done in Pelissier's attic, where the songs "Our Lady of Sorrows" (formerly called "Bring More Knives") and "Cubicles" were recorded. Mikey Way, the younger brother of Gerard, loved the demo so much that he decided to join the band, dropping out of college and learning the bass guitar in order to do so.
My Chemical Romance was signed with Eyeball Records and played in the same room as Pencey Prep and Thursday. It was there that the band met Frank Iero, the lead vocalist and guitarist for Pencey Prep. After Pencey Prep broke up in 2001/2002, Frank became a guitarist for My Chemical Romance, just days before the band's debut album was recorded. Three months after the formation of the band they recorded their debut album, I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love, subsequently released in 2002 on Eyeball Records. Despite only joining the band a few days before the album recording sessions began, Iero played guitar on two of the tracks, one of them being "Early Sunsets Over Monroeville," and the other being "Demolition Lovers." During this time, the band was booked at the infamous venue, Big Daddy's, where they began to receive mainstream attention.
Mainstream breakthrough (2003–2006)
In 2003, the band signed a deal with Reprise Records. Following a tour with Avenged Sevenfold, the band began work on their second album, entitled Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge. Released in 2004, the album went platinum within a year. The band released three singles from the album: "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)", "Helena" and "The Ghost of You". It was during this time that the band replaced Matt Pelissier with Bob Bryar, after they went to Japan in July 2004.
At the start of 2005, the band was directly supported on the first ever Taste of Chaos tour, and was also the opening act for Green Day on the American Idiot tour. During the summer, they co-headlined the Warped Tour 2005 with Fall Out Boy. Later that year, My Chemical Romance co-headlined and headlined their tour with Alkaline Trio and Reggie and the Full Effect around the US. That same year, My Chemical Romance collaborated with The Used for a cover of the Queen and David Bowie classic, "Under Pressure" that was released as a benefit single on iTunes and other Internet outlets.
On March 21, 2006, a 2 DVD/1 CD set entitled Life on the Murder Scene was released. It included one DVD chronicling the band's history, and a second DVD with music videos, the making of their videos, and a couple of live performances. An unauthorized biography DVD Things That Make You Go MMM! was also released on June 27, 2006. The DVD does not actually feature any My Chemical Romance music clips or performances, but contains interviews with those who knew the band before much of their fame.
The band started recording their third studio album on April 10, 2006 with Rob Cavallo, producer of many of Green Day's albums. It was originally thought to be titled The Rise and Fall of My Chemical Romance, but in an interview with Kerrang! magazine, Gerard Way suggested this was just the album's working title, stating "It was never the title of the album, more a spoof, or joke." On August 3, 2006, the band finished shooting the videos for their first two singles from the album, "Welcome to the Black Parade" and "Famous Last Words", which was released on January 22, 2007. The video was directed by Sam Bayer, director of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and Green Day's American Idiot videos. During the shoot for "Famous Last Words", band members Gerard Way and Bob Bryar were injured. Way suffered torn ligaments in his ankle, and Bryar a burn to the leg which caused a severe staph infection that needed constant monitoring in hospital. Consequently, the band was forced to cancel a few tour dates. While these injuries were reported by several news agencies to have been the result of a car accident, a statement released by the band on their website and MySpace page has confirmed that these injuries occurred on the set of the video.
In a recent NME interview with Gerard, he said that the band's next record would be "a return to punk rock."
History
Early career (2001–2002)
The band was formed by frontman Gerard Way and ex-drummer Matt Pelissier around a week after the September 11, 2001 attacks. Witnessing the planes crash into the World Trade Center influenced Way's life to the extent that he decided to start a band. Way wrote the song "Skylines and Turnstiles" to express his feelings about September 11th. Shortly thereafter, Ray Toro was called up and asked to join the band because at the time Way couldn't sing and play the guitar at the same time. The first recording sessions were done in Pelissier's attic, where the songs "Our Lady of Sorrows" (formerly called "Bring More Knives") and "Cubicles" were recorded. Mikey Way, the younger brother of Gerard, loved the demo so much that he decided to join the band, dropping out of college and learning the bass guitar in order to do so.
My Chemical Romance was signed with Eyeball Records and played in the same room as Pencey Prep and Thursday. It was there that the band met Frank Iero, the lead vocalist and guitarist for Pencey Prep. After Pencey Prep broke up in 2001/2002, Frank became a guitarist for My Chemical Romance, just days before the band's debut album was recorded. Three months after the formation of the band they recorded their debut album, I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love, subsequently released in 2002 on Eyeball Records. Despite only joining the band a few days before the album recording sessions began, Iero played guitar on two of the tracks, one of them being "Early Sunsets Over Monroeville," and the other being "Demolition Lovers." During this time, the band was booked at the infamous venue, Big Daddy's, where they began to receive mainstream attention.
Mainstream breakthrough (2003–2006)
In 2003, the band signed a deal with Reprise Records. Following a tour with Avenged Sevenfold, the band began work on their second album, entitled Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge. Released in 2004, the album went platinum within a year. The band released three singles from the album: "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)", "Helena" and "The Ghost of You". It was during this time that the band replaced Matt Pelissier with Bob Bryar, after they went to Japan in July 2004.
At the start of 2005, the band was directly supported on the first ever Taste of Chaos tour, and was also the opening act for Green Day on the American Idiot tour. During the summer, they co-headlined the Warped Tour 2005 with Fall Out Boy. Later that year, My Chemical Romance co-headlined and headlined their tour with Alkaline Trio and Reggie and the Full Effect around the US. That same year, My Chemical Romance collaborated with The Used for a cover of the Queen and David Bowie classic, "Under Pressure" that was released as a benefit single on iTunes and other Internet outlets.
On March 21, 2006, a 2 DVD/1 CD set entitled Life on the Murder Scene was released. It included one DVD chronicling the band's history, and a second DVD with music videos, the making of their videos, and a couple of live performances. An unauthorized biography DVD Things That Make You Go MMM! was also released on June 27, 2006. The DVD does not actually feature any My Chemical Romance music clips or performances, but contains interviews with those who knew the band before much of their fame.
The band started recording their third studio album on April 10, 2006 with Rob Cavallo, producer of many of Green Day's albums. It was originally thought to be titled The Rise and Fall of My Chemical Romance, but in an interview with Kerrang! magazine, Gerard Way suggested this was just the album's working title, stating "It was never the title of the album, more a spoof, or joke." On August 3, 2006, the band finished shooting the videos for their first two singles from the album, "Welcome to the Black Parade" and "Famous Last Words", which was released on January 22, 2007. The video was directed by Sam Bayer, director of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and Green Day's American Idiot videos. During the shoot for "Famous Last Words", band members Gerard Way and Bob Bryar were injured. Way suffered torn ligaments in his ankle, and Bryar a burn to the leg which caused a severe staph infection that needed constant monitoring in hospital. Consequently, the band was forced to cancel a few tour dates. While these injuries were reported by several news agencies to have been the result of a car accident, a statement released by the band on their website and MySpace page has confirmed that these injuries occurred on the set of the video.
The Black Parade (August 2006–current)
Announcement of The Black Parade at London Hammersmith PalaisA biography titled Something Incredible This Way Comes was released, written by Paul Stenning (Published in 2006). It features their beginnings, right through to The Black Parade. On August 22, 2006, the band played a special one-off show at the 1800-capacity London Hammersmith Palais. The show sold out in 15 minutes prompting tickets being sold on eBay well over the tickets' face value. The name of the album they promoted was announced and 20 people dressed in black capes with their faces obscured paraded around Hammersmith, followed by a large group of fans and street team members with signs saying "The Black Parade". Later during the show the album title and the UK release date were confirmed. Prior to the band taking the stage it was announced that My Chemical Romance were unable to play, but they would be replaced by "The Black Parade". After initial crowd hostility it became clear the band were simply performing under a pseudonym in keeping with the theme of the album. When the set began, the backdrop art displayed the words "The Black Parade".
On September 2, 2006, My Chemical Romance posted "Welcome to the Black Parade" on their MySpace page and their PureVolume page. "Welcome to the Black Parade" had its first radio airing on September 11, 2006. On September 26, 2006 the "Welcome to the Black Parade" music video was released in the UK, and on September 27 in the US.
On October 12, 2006, My Chemical Romance made a rare in-store performance to 500 fans at Virgin Megastores on London's Oxford Street. In order to get wristbands for the event, many fans slept outside the shop the previous night. British band Towers of London caused trouble at the event when the Towers guitarist, Dirk Tourette, allegedly flicked a cigarette butt at Bob Bryar while he was performing. "Welcome to the Black Parade" reached number one on October 15, 2006, on the UK Singles Chart, giving them their first number one. The Black Parade was released on October 23, 2006 in the United Kingdom and on October 24, 2006 in the United States.
The Black Parade World Tour started on February 22, 2007, with Rise Against, Thursday and Muse as support acts. At the first concert of the tour in Manchester, New Hampshire, My Chemical Romance announced the addition of Reggie and the Full Effect frontman James Dewees, who will play keyboards/synth on the tour. On March 12, 2007, the band appeared on the The Tonight Show with Jay Leno as the host. They played their single, "Famous Last Words" at the ending of the show as flames were bursting behind them.
My Chemical Romance received many positive and negative accolades. In Kerrang! magazine, issue 1138, My Chemical Romance won the following categories in the 2006 poll: Best Band, Worst Band, Best Album (The Black Parade), Worst Album (The Black Parade), Best Track ("Welcome to the Black Parade"), Best Video ("Welcome to the Black Parade"), Best Live Show, Best Thing about 2006, Worst Thing about 2006, Hero of 2006 (Gerard Way), Villain of 2006 (Gerard Way), and Sexiest Male (Gerard Way). Also, in issue 1139, Kerrang! rated The Black Parade as the 4th Greatest Album of 2006. In Rolling Stone magazine's ranking of the top 50 albums of 2006, The Black Parade was voted the 20th best album of the year. My Chemical Romance won the award for "Best International Band" at the 2007 NME Awards. Gerard also won the "Hero of the Year" award.
My Chemical Romance on tour, wearing the clothes of The Black ParadeOn April 19, 2007, it was announced that Mikey Way would temporarily leave My Chemical Romance's 2007 tour to spend time with his new wife, Alicia Simmons-Way. Mikey's temporary replacement was Matt Cortez, a tech, and friend of the band. On August 29, 2007 during a concert in Holmdel, New Jersey, Mikey returned for the performance of the group's song "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)".
During the third leg of The Black Parade World Tour with support act Muse, members of My Chemical Romance band and crew and members of Muse’s crew were struck by food poisoning, thus canceling six shows. My Chemical Romance was a part of Linkin Park's Projekt Revolution tour in 2007, along with, Placebo, Mindless Self Indulgence, Saosin, Taking Back Sunday, HIM, and Linkin Park.
Four original recordings from The Black Parade were featured on the Xbox 360 release of Guitar Hero II. "Dead!" was added to the song list in-game, and as of August 14, 2007 three more tracks were made available via bulk download from the Xbox Live Marketplace: "This is How I Disappear", "Teenagers", and "Famous Last Words". The My Chemical Romance Track Pack is available for 500 Microsoft Points.
It was announced that My Chemical Romance will be on a headlining tour in Europe with Mindless Self Indulgence opening, starting in October 2007.
In September 2007, My Chemical Romance confirmed they have no plans to record a new album until at least mid-2008, though there are conflicting reports that the group will record late in 2007 for an early-2008 release.
On September 24, 2007, the group's lead vocalist Gerard Way has stated the group plans to release two more singles from The Black Parade, both of which will feature music videos directed by Way himself. Way also stated that bassist, and brother, Mikey Way will rejoin the group on tour, following his break from touring after his March 2007 marriage.
Despite the group saying they would not write songs until 2008, they played a new song recently, although technically untitled it has garnered the fan given name "Stay" as it was the only discernible word at the song's first performance.. On November 15th it was reported that Frank Iero and Bob Bryar would be sitting out the UK tour dates, with Bob having wrist problems and Frank having to return home to be with his family, guitar tec Matt Cortez will replace Frank, and Pete will replace Bob.
My Chemical Romance was nominated for "Best Alternative Group" at the 2007 American Music Awards, along with Linkin Park and The White Stripes, but Linkin Park won the award. This award was not aired on television.
On December 19, 2007 EP Live and Rare was released in Japan. The EP features tracks from singles from The Black Parade.
In the recent Australian shows, the song "Desert Song" was played as an encore, something that Gerard stated as something "they've really never got to play live".
At the end of 2007, James Dewees announced that he would be joining My Chemical Romance as an official keyboardist for the next album. The date of the release is not yet announced, but the band says plans won't let schedule before 2009.
Musical style and influences
My Chemical Romance's music has been described by the media as "pop punk", "alternative rock", "post-hardcore" and "punk revival". The band themselves described their music as simply "rock" or "violent, dangerous pop" on their official website, as well as rejecting the term "emo" to describe their style, though another source quotes frontman Way stating that they are "What-else-ya-got-emo". Frontman Gerard Way has recently stated in an interview that they were never Emo, as he says emo is "a pile of shit."
My Chemical Romance cite their main influences as Queen, Thursday, Iron Maiden, The Misfits, Morrissey/The Smiths and the Beastie Boys. Gerard Way has said, "We love bands like Queen, where it's huge and majestic, but also bands like Black Flag and the Misfits, who would go absolutely crazy." Way has also said that his band patterns their career after that of The Smashing Pumpkins, another band they admire. Geoff Rickly, the lead singer of Thursday, has compared My Chemical Romance to Ink & Dagger. Growing up, they were also very influenced by horror films and comic books, and therefore their music, lyrics, and image all have overt elements of fantasy, storytelling, horror, and theatricality. Gerard Way has recently stated that some of the newer material they are writing for their new album is more of a throwback to their punk rock roots.
Criticism
My Chemical Romance was among the first bands to achieve prominence by offering free downloads through PureVolume and the social networking site MySpace, where MCR gathered its first few thousand fans. The band has clearly grown well beyond those initial numbers, expanding their fan base beyond the typical fans of their musical style and direction, partially helped by the more mainstream sound of their 2004 album, Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge. MCR are sometimes maligned by the "grassroots" fans, for the expanded fan base, after the release of Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge. Due to the increased amount of new fans, some of the old fanbase considers the band a "sellout" and the new MCR fans "posers". The fans are particularly vocal on online forums.
Numerous artists in other bands have criticized the band openly in the media, Marilyn Manson among them; rumors circulated for some time that he wrote the song "Mutilation is the Most Sincere Form of Flattery" as an attack on the band for his Eat Me, Drink Me release (which he later denied, saying that it was aimed at bands in general seeking to imitate him). In another interview Manson stated that "I'm embarrassed to be me because these people are doing a really sad, pitiful, shallow version of what I've done". In response to this, Gerard Way claimed nothing Manson could say would bring the band down.
Gerard Way struck out against fans and bands that classify My Chemical Romance as "Emo", saying that; “I think emo is fucking garbage, it's bullshit. I think there's bands that unfortunately we get lumped in with that are considered emo and by default that starts to make us emo.” and, "I think emo's a pile of shit.” This caused much outcry from fans and critics alike.
Tours
My Chemical Romance has been on many tours, touring non-stop for years, and has a reputation for sold-out shows. Including the Vans Warped tour in their earlier career, amongst others. Touring with many well-known bands, earlier, with Fall Out Boy, The Used, Thursday, Green Day and others.
Warped Tour '05
The 11th Annual Vans Warped tour featured My Chemical Romance on the Main Stage, along with The Offspring, Fall Out Boy, and 85 other bands including the likes of Atreyu, The All American Rejects, Good Charlotte, Saosin and many more. "For a lot of kids, it's the one thing they look forward to all year," said Gerard Way. "They save up for it. They get to see all the bands they like in one shot." Which is apparent due to the large number of mainstream, cult-favorite, or old school bands who play annually at the Warped Tours. My Chemical Romance's setlist included mostly songs from Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge.
My Chemical Romance Tour
Following the 2005's summer Warped Tour, the band opened their first headlining tour. The tour launched September 15th in Ohio, stopping at 30 locations in the U.S., to promote their album, Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge. Supporting were Alkaline Trio, and Reggie & The Full Effect. The band really took advantage of headlining a tour, as they incorporated major theatrics, like gothic dancers, to songs like Helena. The tour was the beginnings of the heavy theatrics My Chemical Romance have played around with in their concerts, Gerard Way expressed his plans for the tour in an interview with MTV, ""We'd talked about bringing out dancers for our headlining tour in the fall, but it's a big undertaking; you have to have a bus full of dancers. We've always wanted to do a big theatrical tour. But you have to do it in steps,"The use of theatrics was extremely evident in their future headlining tour, The Black Parade World Tour.
The Black Parade World Tour
The Black Parade World Tour was a world-concert tour the band embarked on in 2006, stretching into 2007, to promote their newly released album, the Black Parade.
Projekt Revolution '07
The band joined headliners Linkin Park on Projekt Revolution 2007, starting on July 25th and ending on September 3rd in Colorado. The band played a one-hour set on center stage, opening with This Is How I Disappear, as flames burst behind the band. The set ended with Cancer, occasionally with falling confetti, and fireworks.
Frontman Gerard Way has stated that it had been the best tour the band has ever been on. This tour is worth mentioning, as a stream of controversial events occurred, including the infamous kiss Gerard Way and Frank Iero shared during a performance of You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Prison in San Bernardino on the 28th of July. Another such event was Gerard's performance of Rihanna's single "Umbrella" in Hartford, Connecticut on the 26th of August. Both spread quickly over YouTube[citation needed].My Chemical Romance has announced that following the Projekt Revolution tour they will be opening for Bon Jovi in October, and depart for a European Tour, with Mindless Self Indulgence supporting.
Band members
Current members
Gerard Way - lead vocals
Ray Toro - lead guitars, backing vocals
Frank Iero - rhythm guitars, backing vocals (2002 - present)
Mikey Way - bass
Bob Bryar - drums, percussion (2004 - present)
Former members
Matt Pelissier - drums (2001 - 2004)
Live members
James Dewees - keyboards (2007)
Matt Cortez - bass (stand in for Mikey Way, 2007), guitars (stand in for Frank Iero, 2007)
"Pete" - drums (stand in for Bob Bryar, November 2007 - 2008, full name was asked to be kept confidential)[42].
Tucker Rule - drums (stand in for Bob Bryar, November 2007 - 2008)[43]
Discography
2002: I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love
2004: Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge
2006: The Black Parade
Awards and Nominations
Nominations
Grammy Award 2008 Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package - The Black Parade