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1 | Publication | Month | Year | People, Interviewed | Interviewer | Link | Key Topics | Transcript | |||||||||
2 | Belleville Times | 8 | 2002 | Ray Toro, Gerard Way | George Koroneos | x (transcript) | I have no proof that this was the first ever My Chemical Romance interview, but it sure was an old one. Originally printed in the August 15, 2002 edition of the Belleville Times, the band had just released their debut record and was gearing up for a huge show opening up for some unkown local band at Maxwells. Belleville Punk Rock Reborn by George Koroneos – The pain was brutal. No, not the sound of My Chemical Romance’s music, or the dark lyrical masterpieces the band spins. The pain that pounded in vocalist and Belleville resident Gerard Way’s mouth, which incapacitated the singer, just two days into the group’s two-week marathon recording session. “I got seriously sick just two days before I was supposed to do my vocals,” Way said. “The doctors didn’t know what was wrong with me. The thought I had facial nerve paralysis, they thought that I had TMG. I was on all these different drugs, and luckily I was able to sing for two days.” The pain turned out to be just a tooth infection, but the distress in Way’s vocals only improved the intensity of the band’s new record, “I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love.” My Chemical Romance formed last November, after Way met up with guitarist Ray Toro and jammed out to some strange new material. Together with Gerard’s brother Mikey Way, guitarist Frank Iero, and drummer Matt Pelissier, the group began a whirlwind career that has brought the Bellville area locals from the garage to the hardcore big leagues. “Everything just went right from the get-go,” Toro said. “To me, it sounded great right away, and we really liked what we were doing, and it just snowballed.” Their sound is a refined version of New Jersey-area hardcore bands like Thursday and Ensign with the brooding lyrics of Glen Danzig or The Damned’s Dave Vanian. “We have a very good work ethic,” Toro said. “We want to get out and tour and just play in front of as many people as possible.” Two weeks ago the band released, “I Brought You My Bullets,” on Eyeball Records, offering the world a look inside the strange minds of a bunch of fairly normal comic book fans. Songs about vampires, corpses and death might scare off the average Michael Bolton fan, but My Chemical Romance hopes that its blend of melodic riffage and aggressive beats will appeal to music lovers looking for a break from the redundant mainstream. “Our decision was to be honest and genuine and sincere about music, rather than just doing a gimmick, because everybody has gone through that stage in bands where they start a sea chantey band and dress like pirates or something,” Gerard Way said. “We just want to write what we feel and be ourselves.” Their morbid topics are just a tribute to the group’s love for metal-gods Iron Maiden and B-rated horror flicks. “It was definitely something really dark that we wanted to express,” Way said. “We wanted to tell stories and communicate with people in a more abstract way. People get way more out of that than what you hear on the radio today.” Another throwback to 1980s metal bands is My Chemical Romance’s fondness for epic-length songs, something missing from todays short-attention span music rotation. “I feel that we are luck to be able to pull off writing a six minute song, and still make a song that is listenable,” Gerard Way said. “Kids have told me that they have put our songs on repeat and listened to them all day. Some of those songs are long songs, you have to invest some time in them.” The goal now is for the band to latch onto a tour and open up a string of dates across the United States. “It doesn’t have to be a great tour,” Way said. “But that first tour is going to be very important to us.” In the meantime, MCR will continue to play weekends until it can earn a steady income through music, and hopefully its album will begin to climb up the alternative album charts. “Right now we have a lot of major label interest, a lot of management company interest,” Way said. “But they are not ready to jump at us, because we are something different.” And My Chemical Romance does not mind keeping it that way. | ||||||||||
3 | ? | 8 | 2002 | x | Allentown Fair 2002 | Opening act changed for Jimmy Eat World Northern New Jersey rock band My Chemical Romance will replace Coheed and Cambria as an opener for Jimmy Eat World tonight at the Allentown Fair grandstand. According to a fair news release. Coheed and Cambria “could not make the date.” My Chemical Romance released its debut disc, ”1 Brought You My Bullets You Brought Me Your Love ” in late July on Eyeball Records. The concert, which will begin at 7:30, also will include the Juliana Theory. Tor information, call 610*437-7541 or go to www.allcntownfairpa.org. | |||||||||||
4 | Alternative Press | 4 | 2003 | Gerard Way | Lycia Shrum | x (alt) | LOW PROFILE MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE In some circles, hardcore is the healing power of the universe. After Gerard Way, singer for the post-everything quintet My Chemical Romance, branded his art onto t-shirts for Thursday, it would seem only appropriate for Thursday mouthpiece Geoff Rickly to produce MCR’s debut album, right? Okay, so it’s not like Rickly owed them a favor or anything-he was actually eager to work with the band. “Basically Alex Saavedra over at Eyeball Records was backing us, and he was cool for putting [our record] out,” Way explains. “Then we played for Geoff, and he was really excited about it and wanted to work on the project.” As for the time spent in the studio, it ended up being a substitute for the time the singer could have spent horizontally on some couch discussing his feelings. Way recalls a year that pretty much took him through the emotional wringer (consult “Headfirst For Halos” for a year-in-review), leaving the band’s music as refuge not only for him, but also for the rest of MCR-Matt Pelissier, Ray Toro, Way’s brother Mikey and Frank Iero. “For me it was the whole nine-feeling suicidal, being in therapy, being on antidepressants, a healthy dose of relationship problems, mixed with some family illness-that just made for a really bad year,” Way recalls. “I feel like [the band] was a way for us to really fulfill our destiny and deal with all the bad shit that happens.” As a public display of his appreciation, Way will occasionally-and unapologetically-sport an MCR shirt on stage. And we all know the rules: 1) Don’t wear a band’s t-shirt to the band’s show, and 2) don’t wear your band’s t-shirt to your show. Way throws out rule No. 2 with a simple explanation: “Iron Maiden used to wear their own t-shirts because they believed in their band that much, and I’m the same way. We’re all the same way.” - Lycia Shrum --- SOUND BITES NOW PLAYING > I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love (EYEBALL; eyeballrecords.com) HEADQUARTERS > Belleville, NJ SOUNDS LIKE > Melodic hardcore injected with a healthy dose of punk-driven energy. KINDRED SPIRITS > The Used, Keepsake. Grade | ||||||||||
5 | Rock Sound | 5 | 2003 | Gabe Saporta | x | MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE The proitem with trying to please everyone is that you inevitably end up pleasing no one. A band whose style fluctuates along the great genre landscape, and borrows from a varíen* of different influences, is usually left with a sound that is not cohesive and is difficult to comprehend. The art of eclecticism Is a challenging one, especially today when there are so many different bands and so many divisions upon divisions of scenes, but It is one that My Chemical Romance masters skilfully. J guess the first thing that people are going to want to talk about is the Thursday connection. Yes, Geoff Rickly produced their album; yes, MCR are on Eyeball Records, Thursdays first label; yes. MCR singer. Gerard Way designed several Thursday T-shirts. Cool. Can we move on? My Chemical Romance walk the fine Une that many others can only dream about treading. Their sound is an amalgamation of emo. goth, hardcore, and even a little pop. They blend all these elements tastefully, due in large part to Gerardi vocals. His voice is round, powerful and skilled, but at the same time coarse and raw. Live It comes across better than anything capable of being captured on tape, and the dark subject matter (gothic themes of vampires, churches, mirrors, bullets, hospitals and blood) are what make My Chemical Romance so appealing to kids. They’ express clichéd emotions through dark metaphors, allowing the listener to experience these feelings without being cheesy about IL 1 Brought You My Bulle», You Brought Me Your Love’, begins with an instrumental guitar piece, 'Romance’, that sounds like it belongs in a Spanish Mariachi vampire movie. Then the metal opening riff of 'Honey, This Mirror Isn't Big Enough For The TWo Of Us', bias’s the album open. The kids' favounte, ’Vampires Will Never Hurt You’, comes next Nice titles, huh? My Chemical Romance’s unique style has earned them a strong fanbase in a short amount of time, and has thus afforded them the opportunity to tour with established bands like The Used, Taking Back Sunday; and Finch. Those of you who had the chance to catch MCR with The Used In the UK last month can attest to the power and uniqueness of this band. Those of you who have yet to hear them, don't worry - It won't be long before you won't be able to avoid them. | |||||||||||
6 | SPIN | 7 | 2003 | Gerard Way | x | - | |||||||||||
7 | Revolver | 11 | 2003 | x | MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE ALBUM / BROUGHT YOU MY BULLETS, YOU BBOUGHT ME YOUR LOVE SOUNDS LIKE This hyperactive dose of melodic aggression delivers more off-the-cuff emotion than a lovelorn teenager, while at the same time providing the perfect soundtrack to work it all out m the pitFUN FACT My Chemical Romance s CO was produced by none other than Thursday’s Geoff Richly. | ||||||||||||
8 | NME | 12 | 2003 | Gerard Way | April Long | x | RADAR: SEEKING OUT THE BEST IN NEW MUSIC Edited by Imran Ahmed PIETER M VAN HATTEN ESCAPE FROM PLANET EXTREMO! My Chemical Romance are not just another bunch of US emo punks: this schlock-obsessed five-piece think they’re like The Darkness and really dig Britpop Gerard Way - My Chemical Romance’s baby-faced singer, not a suburban cul-de-sac - is sitting on a Times Square bar stool. He’s wearing a festive woolly jumper, the “exact opposite” of everything else he owns. He thought it might be fun to masquerade as a normal person for a day. Gerard’s onstage demeanour is that of a man possessed: he thrashes like a drunken stuntman and sings like he’s being eviscerated. Thanks to his oddness, My Chemical Romance are a hybrid of punk and pulp, as inspired by The Smiths as The Misfits. He’s been dubbed “the punk rock Morrissey”. Their debut album over here, ‘I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love’, is about vampires and going to Hell. In ‘Headfirst For Halos’ (which Way considers “very similar to Blur”), he sings, “I think I’ll blow my brains against the ceiling/And as the fragments of my skull begin to fall^all on your tongue like pixie dust/Just think happy thoughts”. Fred Durst he ain’t. Gerard used to draw comics at his mother’s in New Jersey, about a flying monkey with “magic breakfast powers”. TV execs were interested in making them into a show, but after 9/11 Gerard decided he’d rather do something “significant”. So he started My Chemical Romance with his brother Mikey (bass), pals Ray Toro (guitar), Frank lero (also guitar) and Matt Pelissier (drums). Their vision was to pull together their love of horror, classical music, Iron Maiden and Britpop-and make something beautiful in the aftermath of something horrific. “The supernatural horrors in our songs are just metaphors for real horrors,” Gerard shrugs. “Our shows are therapy for me, and I think we tend to attract people who relate to that. “I heard The Darkness yesterday,” he continues. “I’ve been waiting for something like that for a long time. It’s silly, obviously, but the songs are so incredibly good. I think we’re like them in that respect - you either get it or you don’t.” But that, and the fact they intend to “resurrect the guitar solo”, is where comparisons to The Darkness end. After all, Gerard reckons their next record will be “a concept album about a guy who comes back from the dead to get revenge”. April Long Single ‘Honey, This Mirror Isn’t Big Enough For The Two Of Us' is out on December 8 on 20:20 Recordings | ||||||||||
9 | Alternative Press | 1 | 2004 | Gerard Way | x | Bullets, Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, concept, films, Phantom of the Paradise, The Race | MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE TITLE: Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge (WARNER BROS.) EXPECT IT: SPRING 2004 During 10 months of touring with the Used and Finch, My Chemical Romance managed to pen over half the tracks for their major-label debut. "The last record was very dark, very autobiographical," explains frontman Gerard Way, "and I'm moving away from that because I'm basically happy." But song titles like "It's Not A Fashion Statement, It's A Deathwish," "Bury Me In Black" and "Give 'Em Hell, Kid" sure fooled us. Recording is slated to begin in January, and, although a producer has yet to be named (the band's wish list includes Rick Rubin, Ross Robinson and Trent Reznor), expect Revenge to hit sometime next spring. "It's going to be a concept record [about] a man who gets killed and comes back from the dead to get revenge on every- body who had something to do with killing him," says Way. "It's loosely based on Brian De Palma's Phantom Of The Paradise and The Race with Charlie Sheen." [LS] | ||||||||||
10 | Rock Sound | 1 | 2004 | Frank Iero, Gerard Way | Trevor Baker | x | MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE Love Is The Drug For My Chemical Romance, music has been the catalyst for many things from overcoming depression to learning to love New Jersey. rock sound meets Tony Soprano's neighbours. WORDS: Trevor Baker / PHOTO: Justin Borucki Gerard Way says that he wants to die quiet y in bed when he's very old. We should get this out of the way first because bands like My Chemical Romance and frontmen Ike Gerard send to attract fans who identify very closely with their lyrics and attitude. Never med that they say they want to be the kind of band who save people's lives, a cursory listen to the lyrics of their debut album, "I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love, reveals a 4 band obsessed with sex, love and death and, unusually, not in that order. "I am obsessed with death." Gerard admits. "I constantly feel Eke I don't know how long Fre got. Everyone finds out about death for the first time when they're a kid. Well I was totally terried for years and years. It's a weird vibe, and I don't want it to be a self-fulfilling prophecy, but over the course of this band I've really started to respect death and to think it's beautiful. I couldn't Imagine myself old." The band grew up in New Jersey where Gerard made a name for himself as an artist and animator when he was very young. By mid 01 he was I in discussions with the Cartoon Network about selling his own animation. "It was about this monkey that didn't even look like a monkey," Gerard sort of explains. "He had this power cal- led The Breakfast Magic and he could make giant waffles appear. I couldn't really explain it." Then the Twin Towers attack crys tallised a feeling he'd had that he was wasting his life. "I just didn't like it when people started talking about how they could sell my work and sell toys off of it," he continues. "I had a couple of meetings and then decided not to pursue it. I wanted to do something that would make a difference. I felt like something was missing." Before My Chemical Romance came along therapy and anti-depressants filled that gap in his life. Hence the band name, borrowed from a quote on the cover of an Irvine Welsh book, but referring to his own tryst with prescription drugs. At the same time he took solace in bands like The Smiths, especially the lyrics of sengs like "How Soon Is Now". "The lyrics on that song are really great, he enthuses. "Everyone's had that point in their life when they're so alone that they think 'Maybe tonight go to a bar and Π meet that person'. I did that for at least three years, going out virtually every night to try and meet someone and I never did. And when I did it wasn't at a bar!" But when Gerard started rehearsing with Matt, Ray and then his brother Mikey, other shared influences came into play as well. Bands like Misfits and Iron Maiden. The result was a mixture of emo attitude, punk aggression and metal energy that proved the rapeutic for all of them. "I couldn't play, I wouldn't be alive," Frank asserts. "That one half hour is when nothing else matters at all, and to do that every day y is the most amazing feeling in the world. Is It good for your physical health? Not for us, because we're sickly and retarded, but for your mental health it's beautiful thing." So one part of the plan has already worked. They made it out of New Jersey. "In New Jersey everyone lives with their parents and very few people have the desire to get out, Gerard says. "Where we grew up the Mafia was a very big thing and we were surrounded by 1 crime because it was a very shitty area but you just get used to it. The Sopranos portrayed that pret ty accurately. Very few people have aspirations of crawling out of whatever hate they end up in. That's why the band is so special to all of us because it's our way of climbing out of all that." The therapy-through-rock cliché is obviously working, though, because these days My Chemical Romance have learned to love their hometown. "Wherever we go we say, 'This is great but nothing's better than Jersey,'" Frank grins. "It's a dirty, stinking place but we love it." --- NEED TO KNOW LINE-UP: Ray Toro (guitar), Frank Iero (guitar), Matt Pelissier (drums), Mikey Way (bass), Gerard Way (vocals) FROM: New Jersey, USA SOUNDS LIKE: Bright Eyes morphing into Iron Maiden via At The Drive-In CURRENT RELEASE: "I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love" (album, 20:20, March 01) WEBSITE: www.mychemicalromance.com | ||||||||||
11 | Kerrang! | 3 | 2004 | Ray Toro, Gerard Way, John "Hambone" McGuire | Daniel Lukes | x | THE MISFITS NEW YORK’S UGLY DECAYING NEIGHBOUR, NEW JERSEY IS DUBBED ‘THE ARMPIT OF AMERICA. ITS NO SURPRISE THAT VAMPIRE-OBSESSED EXTREMO HEROES MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE ARE CONSIDERED THE LOCAL FREAKS... DANIEL LUKES PHOTOS: JUSTIN BORUCKI I USED to stalk Christina Ricci; sho lived right here in Upper Montclair," grins My Chemical Romance singer Gerard Way, peering out of our speeding car. Right now, we're being given a 10-mile guided tour of the band's native New Jersey with guitarist Ray Toro at the wheel. At the moment we're flashing through one of the state's classier neighbourhoods, a good four miles or so from the rougher area where Way grew up. As a teenager, perched atop the 10-speed bike he'd specifically bought for his stalking, he'd pedal up and down these roads searching for a glimpse of his precocious movie star heartthrob. In vain, alas, it would turn out. "Picture a fat kid - I fucking plumped up pretty good, working at a tcomic store and eating cheeseburgers all the time - really far from my house and stranded in the middle of nowhere." At least, though. Way considers, it was good to get out in the open, and due to all that biking up and down, he also started to lose some weight. "I was realty into this creepy little girl,' he recalls. "This girl looks like an alien but there's something really beautiful about her. It's sexy. Everyone who was cool had a thing for Christina Ricci." What made him bring all this up today, though, are not so much our surroundings - also formerly home to Telly 'Kojak' Savalas - but a recent article comparing Way to a 'cross-dressing Christina Ricci'. Examine his baby faced features, cheeky smile, thick black hair and personal penchant for the gothic, and you can see something there. 'My passport photo looks like Christina Ricci," he admits. 'I always want to meet her. And she's a Jersey Girl.* "You know what that means?' chips inToro from behind his Colin Doran-esque fright wig of frizzy red hair. 'First date.' Jersey girls put out on the first date? *1 think so,' smirks Toro. 'Butyou don't date Jersey girts; you just meet them. At the diner, after the club...' A MERE half-hour drive from the glittering lights of New York City, New Jersey is a world apart. Barring the odd classy residential area, it's largely an ungainly mess of building sites, empty warehouses, train tracks and factories. An ugly, grey, bold manifestation of everything that's wrong with modern urbanisation. It's Sopranos' territory, a place where the Mafia really do run local businesses - Iike the garbage disposal which they have a monopoly on here. And in some parts it's the kind of environment where it's perfectly normal to see people overdosing in the street and being carted away by ambulances, as Toro did on a weekly basis growing up here. A place where young people have nowhere to go but diners and shopping malls. It's no wonder that young, creative minds like Way and Toro have been itching to got away from here their entire lives. 'I'm sure there are little pockets and places all over the country that just suck you In and won't let you leave.' conjectures Way. 'And this is one of those places." Named after Irvine 'Trainspotting'Welsh's 'Ecstasy; Three Tales Of Chemical Romance' book, My Chemical Romance's is the story of many a rock band.Toro and Way never had girlfriends at school ('We were birth control.' guffaws Way), and would typically spend their free time alone in their bedrooms.Toro, who like the rest of hs bandmates still lives at home with his parents, aged 26 (like Way), and still keeps his 'He-Man' and Transformers' figures in full view - 'I’m a dork,* he professes with a giggle - would while away his teenage hours playing 'Street Fighter 2' and learning Guns N'Roses songs on his guitar. Way. meanwhile, had discovered at a young age that he had a knack for drawing, and would pore over his creations in-between painting Citadel Miniatures and devouring comic books. His artistic talent also led him to a chance meeting with Thursday frontman Gooff Rickty, who was at the time looking for someone to design a T-shirt for hs fledgling band. 'The first time I met him was outside this record store.' Way recalls, now munching on a grilled cheese sandwich in the Tick Tock Diner, an eatery so bright, shiny and gaudy it looks Ike a set for a modern-day update of Pleasantville. 'He was this skinny, pale kid with this moppy black hair, loaning against the wall, and I was like. "Who is this dude?T It wasn't long before the two social misfits were the best of friends, and since then, Rickly has become something of a mentor to Way and co, not only releasing My Chemical Romance's stunning debut album, 'I BroughtYou My Bullets,You Brought Me Your Love', a giddy mix of Afghan Whigs-esque heartache and metallic post-hardcore zest, on his Eyeball Records label in 2002, but also tutoring the band on the dark and murky ways of the music industry, It's been a sudden, exhilarating ride for My Chem, as they are known to their devotedly loyal fans, from paying dingy VFW halls (which are spaces allocated for veterans of foreign wars to get drunk in) to touring with The Used and Finch. BUT ALL of this nearly didn't happen, in 2001. Way was living in his mother's basement, hell-bent on making it as an animator and desperately trying to sell a Dada-ist series called "The Breakfast Monkey" to Cartoon Network. He was hooked on a drug called Wellbutrin for his depression and seeing a shrink (who he still visits). His life had more than a little of the vampiric about it: his days were spent hunched over his drawings and his nights slouched in The Loop Bar in Passaic Park, the closest New Jersey has to a historic rock venue, which is our next Stop on this Chilly winter's day. Then 9/11 struck, and Way had a moment of clarity. "I was in Hoboken, which is right across the Hudson River," he recalls sombrely, leaning on the steel oval bar, and gazing up and around at the shiny, retro interior. "There was 400 people and me, and I was at the railing. Right in front of us, it just went down," he recalls. "It was the biggest fucking neutron bomb of mental anguish you've ever felt. I knew I didn't have anybody in that building, but these were all co-workers and stuff and they were just freaking the fuck out. Crying and screaming and cursing and yelling about the Devil." 9/11, as it was for many, was the wake-up call he needed to realise he'd rather make something worthwhile out of his life than lounging in drunken apathy like many of the people around him. So he turned once again to music to wrench himself out of it and MCR was born. "I've met a lot of great people here,* he says, looking around the bar, which also provided a stage to some of his band's early shows. "But it's very Jersey: that whole mentality of 'I work, I drink, I stay up all night, I try to meet a girl'. It's a waste of time." We are then introduced to one Hambone, self-appointed 'King Of Rock 'N' Roll', a local character with more than a touch of Elvis about him, who the band describe as very influential in kicking their arses into gear at the beginning and giving Mikey Way, Gerard's younger bassist brother (tall and burly drummer Matt Pelissier, and heavily tattooed guitarist Frank lero round out the line-up) a well-needed pep talk before their first gig. "I think you can either fade into obscurity making great music," Hambone observes now, with a hint of pride for his mates, "or you end up reaching a lot of people. And I think they chose Plan B, or Plan B chose them." TO APPRECIATE where Gerard Way and his somewhat morbid worldview originates from however, you must enter his family home, in the working class suburb of Belleville. We are invited over there to shoot photos after briefly being shown the band's grotty rehearsal space, set in the midst of a dilapidated industrial estate where the security guards invite local hookers up at night, and the Mountainside Hospital where Way ends up all too frequently after damaging himself onstage. On our way to the frontman's home, Way andToro take time out to enlighten us about Jersey girls, America's answer to Essex girls, and literally fall over themselves with laughter and glee at the opportunity, in their typical chatty, familiar manner. "They got fake boobs and these long fake nails and tans, and this gross shit, dude," shudders Way. "So: big hair, went to high school in the '80s, listened to Bon Jovi, still listens to Bon Jovi -which I like too, by the way - wants to become a secretary or a hairdresser and find a 'Jersey Joey' to marry.They hang out with their girlfriends in the club to find some guy to take home, and they're all wasted. And it's a big, gross, sexual VD swamp and cesspool. With a lot of violence and alcohol mixed in, and definitely some coke." Once in the family abode, we are informed that Way's grandmother passed away a month ago today, so it's no surprise that inside - all vintage dolls on display and interiors straight out of a David Lynch film - an air of forbidding stillness and sobriety reigns supreme. His elderly, Italian grandfather and uncle sit chain-smoking, glued to theTV, and his mother, visibly proud of her son's achievements dons a bandT-shirt and willingly participates in proceedings, with Way jokingly dubbing her 'Mother Of Darkness' all evening. "I feel like a kid again," she says, somewhat poignantly. His bedroom is even more telling, a darkened, angst-ridden teenager's hideaway chock full of comics, miniatures, CDs,Tim Burton figurines, 'Dungeons & Dragons' books and dozens of 'Breakfast Monkey' sketches and storyboards, a 'Powerpuff Girls'-style idea that's actually pretty good. Hopefully, the series might be made one day. FOR ALL their mockery of Jersey's inherent awfulness though, it's clear that this is home for My Chemical Romance and they love it to bits as well.THe band will be going global touring 'I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love', but when Gerard Way's charming, pretty Gothic girlfriend turns up and affectionately links hands with the frontman at the end of the night, you know he wouldn't want to be anywhere else but here right now. "I love Jersey: there's pretty parts too," he concludes with a cheery, fullfaced grin, after showing off a short sword he keeps in his cabinet. "We just don't live in them." ■ My CHEMICAL ROMANCE'S NEW SINGLE 'HEADFIRST FOR HALOS' IS OUT ON APRIL 5. THE ALBUM, 'I BROUGHT YOU MY BULLETS, YOU BROUGHT ME YOUR LOVE', FOLLOWS ON APRIL 12 THROUGH 20/20 RECORDS. | ||||||||||
12 | Kerrang! | 4 | 2004 | Gerard Way | x (alt) | 9/11, mental health | INTRODUCING... MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE TOXIC SHOCK BEFORE SEPTEMBER 11, 2001, My Chemical Romance frontman Gerard Way was in talks with Cartoon Network about getting his own series. After the tragedy, the art school graduate had a change of heart. "It was a total catalyst for me," the 26-year-old explains. "People had started referring to my art as property and I really felt like I had to make a difference elsewhere." He-along with his bassist brother Mikey, and old friends; drummer Matt Pelissier and guitarists Ray Toro and Frank lero-started writing their vitriolic debut full-length, 1 Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love' (produced by Thursday's Geoff Rickly) immediately. A striking combination of post-hardcore outpourings, metal riffs, punk melodies and horror imagery has inspired an enamoured American press to dub the New Jersey quintet 'Post-Everything'. The key to their sound, however, is Gerard's unhinged vocal style. "The band did start as therapy for me," he admits. "It was a way to vent, but helping people through stuff makes me feel better too. Surrounding myself with fans makes me feel like I'm not going through it alone." When Gerard isn't on tour he has to see a therapist. Good job then as My Chemical Romance are going to be one of the bands to watch in 2004. HEAR: Single "Honey, This Mirror Isn't Big Enough For The Two Of Us' out December 8 on 20:20 Recordings. MORE INFO: www.mychemicalromance.com | ||||||||||
13 | Sucker | 4 | 2004 | Gerard Way | x (alt) | My Chemical Romance Eyeball Does It Again Gerard, if you had to pinpoint something that makes your band special what would that be? I would have to say our relationship with each other. As musicians, everyone writes the music, we all feel it out together. We all care about each other like brothers and constantly communicate. We place our bodies on the altar of rock and roll every time we get up there and we couldn't be that way if we didn't trust each other. The scary thing is, the more dangerous the performances get, the more we like it. You got Geoff of Thursday to produce your record. How did you hook up with him? Mikey and I met the talented Mr. Rickly when Thursday first signed to Eyeball Records. We played him the rough of "Vampires Will Never Hurt You" which he liked so much we asked him to produce the record. He accepted. What did he bring to the table other than his name? Tight pants, boyish good looks, charm, and a love for marmalade. Other than that he had a ton of ideas and a healthy amount of experience recording and tracking. It was the first time he was ever a producer and we wanted someone that could just dive right in without too much technical nonsense clouding their brain. He taught us all a lot about making certain parts of the songs stand out. Are you happy with his work as a producer? We love what he did with us. He really got great performances out of us. I also heard about an incident where you got pulled over by the cops and they thought you were a Satan worshipper. Tell me about that. Pulled over isn't exactly what I would call it. Frankie and I we're "raided and molested" by four unmarked SUV's carrying special task force agents for going "a little too fast down an off-ramp. They pulled us out of the car and Immediately asked Frankie, "Where's the weed, nappy?" and then began to frisk us up. One cop in particular was spooked by me for no reason at all and would not come near me. He was yelling, "Yo, that guy looks dangerous. He's a vampire!" When they let us go the same guy came up to us and asked us if wer were Satan worshippers. I was wearing blue jeans and a black t-shirt and I believe Frankie was wearing sweat- pants, so we didn't exactly have a fucking goat head in the trunk. So I hear Ray visits a lot of Geisha Houses. Is that true? We are terrified to tour Japan because we are positive we'll lose Ray and he'll never come home. The boy has a passion for Asian women that is only rivaled by his love for He-man action figures. So I hear you're a comic book artist. What have you done? Little indie things here and there and a bunch of toy designs that I still do for Spiderman action figures and Superheroes. I did a page in DC comic's Big Book Of The Weird Wild West, and some Footsoldiers work for Image comics which was written by my buddy Jim Krueger | |||||||||||
14 | Hustler | 5 | 2004 | Gerard Way, Mikey Way | x (alt) | TV appearances, gravesite, touring | MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE ROCK'S BRIGHTEST NEW DARK STAR When hot new hard-rock act My Chemical Romance find a few free moments in its ultrabusy schedule, we know that a typical sit-down interview just won't cut it. Since the group is in Los An- geles anyway, the members wholeheartedly agree to take a breather and chat with HUSTLER Entertainment Editor Tom Farrell where not a soul will dare disturb them. But first a little background: With their Reprise Records release Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, the emo rockers based in New Jersey are doing a fast break out of their hometown clubs and into the global spotlight. My Chemical Romance recently graced the covers of British metal bible Kerrang! and the respected U.S. music mag Alternative Press, while Rolling Stone, Blender and Spin all cited the fledgling group as a potential breakout band for 2005. In town for a handful of promo- tional gigs, the group is able to spend some time with us amid the tombstones rising from the well-manicured grounds of the Westwood Memorial Park cemetery- where many Hollywood luminaries have been laid to rest. As his fellow band members wander around the small graveyard, snapping pictures, lead singer Gerard Way (attired in his trademark goth face makeup and dusty, ripped black suit) reflects on My Chemical Romance's meteoric success. "We've got a lot of touring coming up, and a lot of TV stuff," Gerard remarks in slight Joisey accent. "We're going to be touring all over the United States, then we hit Japan and Asia." Taking another long drag off his cigarette, he blows a plume of smoke into the air, while pausing to read Marilyn Monroe's crypt marker. His sidekicks gather around, and Gerard's brother Mikey (MCR's bass guitarist) pulls out his camera phone and snaps shots of the legendary actress's final resting place. "We'll be on David Letterman and The Late Show With Conan O'Brien," Gerard adds with a smile, looking at the ground and shaking his head. "I can't believe all this is happening." The rest of the group mutter similar assessments, while Mikey chimes in, "We've never been on TV like this before. This is going to be really big-and right in our neighborhood." Next, the guys move on to where Dean Martin reposes and pose for (continued on page 71) (continued from page 69) a few more pictures. "I always knew that if we just stuck with it, every- thing would come around," Gerard murmurs, reflecting on the band's upcoming world tour. "We were really persistent and stayed true to the vision of what we wanted to do and the things that interest us." Those things turn up in the band's lyrics in spades: vampires, shootouts, promises of eternal love, which reflect My Chemical Romance's ado- ration of all things goth and creepy. "Hence the graveyard," Gerard quips as he kneels down be- side the grave of slain Playboy centerfold Dorothy Stratten. He is soon joined by his bandmates, who gather around-again armed with mini-cameras. With success beckoning, Gerard and company find out that their time is limited and no longer their own. "That's part of turning the dream into the reality, I guess," laments the musician. Flicking ashes off his cigarette, careful that none land on the Playmate's headstone, he slowly gets up at the urging of the band's publicist, who reminds every- one of an impending sound check. "There's a lot of time spent in motels, airports and rental cars," the East Coast rocker recollects, "but occasionally we get to hit a cool place like this." The members of My Chemical Romance shuffle off to their van, muttering final agreements of "cool" while departing the hallowed grounds. "Next time, we hit Morrissey's house," Gerard proclaims with a parting smile. | ||||||||||
15 | Rock Sound | 5 | 2004 | Frank Iero | x | Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, concept, UK, touring | UNLEASH THE BATS! MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE: SPOOKY TOUR AND 'VENOM'OUS NEW ALBUM! Bat-loving post-emo rockers My Chemical Romance are set to return to the UK for a rock sound-sponsored tour, and guitarist Frank Iero is hoping it won't be in a Transit. "The vans I've seen are awful and they're so uncomfortable! Bands from the UK have it so hard, to do an eight-hour drive would be hell." Having said that, he admits he wouldn't change the experience for the world especially because England is full of spooky places! "There's so much history, I'm going to try and go on a little horror tour," he reveals. "Last time I was here, I wanted to go to the Spire House, it's supposedly the most haunted church in London but they've turned it into apartments now." The New Jersey quintet have recently completed their sophomore album with Howard Benson (Motörhead, Blindside), Following their love for all things morbid, the tentatively-titled 'Thank You For The Venom' follows a disturbing concept. "It's about a guy coming back from the dead to avenge the death of himself and his lady friend. We set out to make a very specific album which connects with our first record, picking up where that left off. We like to take chances and explore different places in our psyche. It's definitely something we haven't done before - it feels like you're in a prison around the 1920s!" Expect the album to hit the streets through Reprise later this year. The band hit the UK at the end of May. See gig guide for dates. | ||||||||||
16 | Metal Hammer | 6 | 2004 | Frank Iero, Ray Toro, Gerard Way, Matt Pelissier | John Doran | x | UK, touring, injuries, moshing, violence, fans, New Jersey, pop culture, DnD, pre-band, mental health, addiction | ARTISTE MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE VENUE UK TOUR DATE JUNE 2004 ACCESS ALL AREA LOVE IS THE DRUG Screamo punk hopefuls My Chemical Romance are standing on the verge of catching a massive wave that's going to carry thom all the way into the big timo. John Doran enjoys catching up with them on their recont UK tour of intimato vonues while he's still got chance to do so. Atomic numbers: John McMurtrie. Gerard had been having premonitions that he win going to get blinded for months. The lead singer of My Chemical Romance kept on seeing it happen in dreams and each time he would wake up in a cold sweat, shaking So he was almost prepared for the accident that was happen tonight at London's premier sauna-cum-venue, The Carage During an eviscerating performance Gerard throws himself toward the crowd just as one particularly last crazed young woman thrusts her arms up to touch him Gerard, now wearing onyx-black shades, takes up the story head banged into her finger and it went right in my eye.It was the weirdest feeling t was painful but the worst thing was how weird it was I could feel her finger in my eye and all this really warm fluid running down my face, I thought my eyeball had burst and last kept on thinking about the dreams I'd been having about going bind I was like Dude, I've lost this left eye But the finger was right back into my socket around the eyeball where all the tendons and shit are. It made a really weird slurping noise when she took it out Metal Hammer has very strict rules about what girls can and cannot stick into as various offices and this should definitely be a no-no. Geraid and the rest of the band are sitting around sharing coffee, beers and soft drinks waiting for their Manchester Hop And Grape show soundcheck this evening and telling us all about how they are beginning to take off in this country whilst swapping gig injury stones Getard reckons it would have been cool in a way to have lost his eye saying "Can you imagine how cool it would be to wear an eye patch on stage?" "You'd be the screamo Blue Beard adds tacitum drummer Matt All of the band have horror stones to tell when it comes to playing live and watching the powerhouse performance that they put on, you can't help but feel they should take out a hell of a lot more personal injury insurance. Ray, the afro-haired guitarist says "Frank (guitar and vocals) hit me in the face with the head of his guitar one night and it was bleeding so much that my entire face was covered in blood. It was ke a mask of blood"Gerard adds "We're a really physical band on stage I slipped a couple of discs in my back on tour Frank has broken his wrist. We've all been hun" It was the gig the night before when we first met up with the five piece (Gerard's brother Mikey plays bask in the outfit from Newark, NJ), in the states who, despite only having a couple of single releases in this country are starting to cause a huge stir over here And if they don't care much for their own safety then they do about their fans. They walk out on stage to hand out bottles of water to the people at the front and regularly douse the ones who look like they need it. They also try to protect their fans from the carnage on stage if they get up there it is Metal Hammer's view that moshing is a good thing because it gives people the chance to have catharsis and get the violence out that is in us all without hurting anyone else (usually) in fact we'd go as far as to say, if everyone in this country under the age of so was made to go to some punk or screamu yig week then football violence would probably die out over night, But Gerard still thinks there is a negative element to it some times, saying "Some of it is macho bullshit. Some of the nu-metal acts were int encouraging violence for violence's sake, it gives punk rock a bad name and it makes it harder for the kids Their parents aren't going to let them go and watch bands if they go and get the shit kicked out of them." The Garage is heaving hours before the gig even starts and people keep on coming up to Gerard in the pub before the gig: he is nearly mobbed at one point by two dents coming out of McDonald's Oh My God!" says one with ner mouth full of Curly Wurly McFlurry "My Chemical Romancel" And you can see why they're starting to attract this kind of attention when the gig kicks off within seconds of the first song Gerard is in the crowd dreaming and thrashing wildly like a younges better looking Casey Chaos Their music is reminiscent of other empy post hardcore bands such as Funeral and Hundred Reasons but they have a scruffier punkier edge which comes from the fact that they are all massive fans of Black Rag Later, on the tour bus were introduced to the tour manager, a weasely Adam Sandler lookalike who shouts to the hand "Hey fellas fresh meat! Whool Sean We're gonna rape the ass off these English boys ight Yeah! Whoat o you aren't replies Metal Hammer politely "You stupid fucking cant and he slopes off with his tail between his legs The band, it has to be said, as nice as they are, don't aparta be very rock'n'roll Hammer groans inwardly when it gets on the tour hus, the two DVDs that are auton show are Dungeons And Dragons the cartoon and a stop start animation of Wind in The Willows Nearly all the band go straight to bed leaving Hammer Lp with just Matt and the drummers from Hondo Maclean and The Bled drinking Stella, Istening to Refused and talking about hi-hats Cec call the cops The next day, when Hammer has stuck as tongue from the floor and tried to rub its aching pancreas better we look for the band but apparently they all got up to go sight seeing around Manchester at 5.30 this morning 5 30am? That was only half an hour after Hammer went to bed! (They are later seen coming out of the Harry Potter film. on tour someone, we feel, should have a word with these toys) After a lot of fannying about with gaffa tape and hair spray the band heally say they are ready to go out for a quick pin Now Gerard's got over the fear nearly becoming a rocknroll Cyclops he can explain the genesis of their strange name: "The name is taken from an Irvine Welsh book. Me and Mikey were oing at a copy of Ecstasy, and on the inside it said Three tales of chemical romance" Gerard, the de facto leader of the group, adds "Well, the words Chemical Romance mean so much on so many different levels, it seemed to be the only way describe the music. And in another way Tompottings generally set in this area with people getting caught up in a scene and a vibe where there ot of drugs about and that resonated with us because of all the stuff we had to fight through to ecome a hand. The strange thing is that when you watch the movie with the drug addiction and murder reven looks like Newark, where we come from Matt, who looks like he would sooner be pulling his un teeth out with phers than being interviewed perks up slightly and says, "Newark is in the State of New Jersey a few hours outside of New York it's a complete goddamn wasteland. It's been shut down for about 20 years. It smells godawful." What does it smell of we ask. "Dead bodies, he replies nonchalantly Also at the time I was drinking severely, Gerard says tucking into his second Kronenberg of the day. and during that period was using substances to overcome other substances "I'd had a really bad year before the band and that reped me get out of it. My art career had gone down the shitter (he used to be a comic book graphic artist), 9/11 had just happened, I was quite close to that at the time and it affected me in a very bad way became like a hermit and just started drinking all the Site and I didn't want to do anything with my life And thinking and not doing anything else is the worst thing that you can do in terms of depression. I had to go and see a therapist for the first time ver and she put me on anti depressants But it wasn't the counselling or the drugs it was the band that gut me out of my depression had a purpose again All of the band have had smar experiences Frank think you'll firid none of us was the cool kid at school or considered M Popular felt like I never fitted in when I was younger and I think depression is a normal thing that happens in that situation. Seca lot of those emotions go into our songs He adds "We keep it in check now Sometimes go a little bit off the rails but wn keep each other in check now. There is always beer around when you're on tour You are more kely to get beer tickets than meal tickets The reason that bands drink so much on tour is because of all of the down time there is to kil Matt, who doesn't drink that often, says "you'll get kids who are desperate to come back stage and when they run in to the dressing room there will be like one guy asleep, two having a chat, one watching the TV and another smoking a cigarette, they always look so depressed, like they've walked into the wrong room. Why? You feel Me saying look, you'd be having a better time if you were out at the bar Frank agrees The hour you re on stage and meeting the kids afterwards is what it's all about. It is the 22.5 hours of the day which is boring when you're But if last nightg was incendiary tonight's was even cooler Ray looks like a 1960s urban guerrilla with his MCS/Mars Volta fro, the rake thin Mikey looks like he could have stepped straight out of Flack Of Seagulls pinsane haired BDs synth pop group) Gerard is a goth mock marauder with raven black hair torn black clothing and aviator shades who contrah the entire stage and Matt looks like he's ready to walk on stage filling in for Metallica with his backwards cap and goatee beard Franks the most modern looking guy in the band with his punctured face, amazing gun and heart tattoos and asymmetrical haircut Suddenly all their disparate looks gel and they look like a band should a band of brothers. Not even the moment Hammer suddenly realises that the song Deathwish sounds exactly e Slades Cum On Feel The Noize if it was played by Minor Threat, can spoil the evening in this life you gotta do what you gotta do!" yells Gerard before pausing and adding. "And if that means doing a line of coke and getting a blow job then that's what you gotta do!" Hammer ain't gonna argue with that logic and by the end of the show there have been more members of the audience running across the stage and diving off than those who haven't After dragging Frank off for a quick curry in nearby Husholme, just to prove that all English food isn't shit we rejoin the others in Manchester's premiere rock bar Big Hands where a dizzying array of beers are drunk by MCR and the swelling ranks of girls who want to drink with them. We leave them at about 3am cavorting on the streets of Manchester singing note and accent perfect impressions of English bands whilst dreaming about world domination | |||||||||
17 | Rock Sound | 6 | 2004 | Gerard Way | x | ON THE ROAD: MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE How are you going to seduce UK audi- ences this time around then? Says vocalist Gerard Way: "Costume changes and Vegas dancers. Explosions." We've heard you don't enjoy the Transit van touring experience, how are you going to make it more comfortable? "UK vans are like rolling coffins, no offence: We were just very Ill the first time around and the van didn't help. Last time with Gav and Johnny t wasn't bad at all. Headphones and pillows make the ride ace." Are you hoping for a little UK on the road romance? "Only with the stage monitors." What kind of chemicals are going to be consumed? "Caffeine for survival. For flying, a mixture of Allegra, Xanax, and alcohol (I hate planes). Water vapour and Red Bull." We know you're fond of spirits, what kinds do you hope to encounter? "The ghost of Benny He can chase the van." What town are you most looking forward to playing and why? "Glasgow-I just saw Ratcatcher which is about the Glasgow garbage strikes. Mikey and Iare Scottish and have never been (there), Our band name also comes from a Scottish author." What kind of souvenirs are you hoping to take back home with you? "Those little miniature statues of Big Ben- these are FANTASTIC And Iron Maiden flags:" What cool merch are you bringing over? "A bunch of stuff dealing with the new record. A new 'Headfirst' shirt I belleve, and belts." What tunes will you be cranking out on the tour bus stereo? "Last time, Gav from Hondo Maciean played DJ. We'll probably let him do the same this time he was good." What food are you most looking forward to eating while you're over here? "Trashy, post-pub hooligan fare." What will you miss the most? "New York fucking City." Which member is gay enough to bring either their teddy bear or comforter or something belonging to their girlfriend with them on tour, and why? "Here's a hint his name starts with an F and ends with a K. Ask him about his ringtone. He loves that." Website: www.mychemicalromance.com Catch My Chemical Romance on the road at the end of May with support from The Bled: PORTSMOUTH Wedgewood Rooms (31) JUNE: LONDON Garage (01), MANCHESTER Uni (02), LEEDS Cockpit (03), GLASGOW King Tut's (04) | |||||||||||
18 | Alternative Press | 7 | 2004 | Brian Schechter | Aaron Burgess | x (alt) | HOW IT REALLY WORKS The Inside Dirt On MUSIC-INDUSTRY SECRETS THIS MONTH>>> Copyright law in a nutshell. "Copyright law can seem like a confusing world to folks in bands," says Brian Schecter of Riot Squad: A Management Company. "It's actually a very simple law to figure out." Schecter should know: After years of working with bands like the Used and My Chemical Romance, he's learned the ins and outs of keeping his artists' music protected. Here, Schecter offers a quick guide on how you can do the same. MAKE THE SONG YOURS: "There are two things that are required in order for you as an artist to obtain the copyright to a song," Schecter explains. "One: You have to create the song. This means it must be an original. Two: The song must be 'fixed in a tangible medium of expression."" In English, this means the song has to be recorded in some physical medium, whether on a play- back medium like a CD or cassette tape, etc., or on a lead sheet (i.e., sheet music) as musical transcription. Adds Schecter, "This means, whether you record [the song] in a studio or on a $20 boom box in your base- ment, you're halfway there." KNOW THE LAW: Let's say you do record your genius new song on that $20 boom box, and your best friend happens to be in the room. A month later, you find out your friend is recording essentially the same song for his major-label debut. Can you sue for copyright infringement? "By 'halfway there,' I mean that you have the song. copyrighted at [the time of recording]," says Schecter "This does not mean you can take someone to court with your basement tape. In order to do this, you would need. to have registered the work-or works-with the U.S. Copyright Office." To do this, you'll need two forms-Form PA (for published or unpublished performing-arts works) and Form SR-(for sound recordings), which you can download free from copyright.gov/forms. FILE RIGHT: The instructions on those forms are tedious, but you'll need to follow them to the letter-which includes. submitting up to two copies of each song you're register- ing in CD, cassette or lead-sheet format-to get the job done. Schecter recommends submitting each song sepa- rately and not as an album. "This saves you the headache of having to pull any songs out of the collection later for individual use," he explains. As for mailing, Schecter rec- ommends sending your submissions via certified mail with return receipt requested. "This way, the date stamped on your certified-mail receipt will be your proof of your effec- tive date of registration," he says, "so no matter how slow the copyright office is, you're safe." THE LITTLE THINGS: "There are many variations to this copyright stuff," notes Schecter, "so if it ever comes down to a legal battle, get a lawyer." And before you go dream- ing of endless royalty checks for your copywritten soon- to-be-classics, remember: "Copyright is not the same as publishing," Schecter says. (For more on that, see this column next month.) "Music publishing is a very valuable source of income for musicians-however, you should always make sure your songs are copyrighted before worrying about publishing." - Aaron Burgess | ||||||||||
19 | Blender | 8 | 2004 | Gerard Way | Nick Duerden | x (alt) | The Next Big Thing! MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE Five emo fast-rockers from New Jersey insist they are not OK. OK? BY NICK DUERDEN PHOTOGRAPHY BY SEAN MURPHY IT TAKES FRONTMAN Gerard Way less than two minutes to mention his therapist. We're talking about My Chemical Romance's new album, Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, and the fact that, within four days of its completion, the band (Way, his brother Mikey, Ray Toro, Matt Pelissier and Frank lero) went on tour because Way is terrified of staying at home. "It's important to keep up momentum," he says, as the album. tour bus approaches Seattle "When I'm home I get stagnant, I go crazy and have to see my therapist. Being on the road keeps me busy! Having traveled the breadth of the country these past six weeks, he looks exhausted but happy. "I'm OK when I'm busy." Way formed MCR three years ago in his native New Jersey after his previous job as an animation artist was proving ruinous to his mental health: "The animation business is even more cutthroat and corrupt than the music industry. I felt like I was throwing my life away." The quintet's debut, I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love came out in 2002, but it is this month's successor that promises to elevate them into genuine Next Big Things. Three Cheers is equal parts Nine Inch Nails and the Misfits, a hard, fast, impressively ravaged rock album that, says Way, earned its Parental Guidance sticker not for bad language ("there's only one-word on the whole fucking thing") but for "very fucked up, very dark" content. "Morrissey is a huge influence on me, says the 27-year-old, "and I hope our songs are uplifting like his, even though the lyrics are pretty fucked up. The most telling song, I guess, is 'I'm Not Okay (I Promise)! There's nothing wrong with me specifically, but I do get depressed a lot. My therapist says I have a fear of success, but that's the beauty of this band. This is the first thing I've done that I haven't tried to sabotage. It has helped me overcome so many problems?" He flashes his tired grin once more. "I will overcome my fear of success: he insists. "All this self-doubt bullshit is a thing of the past, trust me." [BLENDER] >>>OUT NOW THREE CHEERS FOR SWEET REVENGERSE --- ALL ABOUT US! FAVORITE DVD ON THE TOUR? "The first season of The Office BEST THING ABOUT NEW JERSEY? "The malis and diner coffee" FAVORITE SONG RIGHT NOW BY ANY ARTIST? "Stockholm Syndrome: by Muse LYRIC MOST PROUD OF HAVING WRITTEN? "Oh how wrong we were to think that immortality meant never dying" ("Our Lady of Sorrows") EXACTLY HOW EMO IS MCR? "So emo we shit nautical stars | ||||||||||
20 | Grind House (Japan) | 8 | 2004 | Hiro Arishima (text), Sam Katsuta (translator) | x | Japanese | |||||||||||
21 | Rockin' On (Japan) | 8 | 2004 | x | Japanese | ||||||||||||
22 | Big Cheese | 9 | 2004 | Gerard Way | Jim Sharples | x | Walking the dark, winding path to success with MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE, 2004's fastest-rising band... All Hell's N-Comin' "When the time comes boy... you better fight like hell" Garth Ennis 'Preacher' THERES NO WAY ON EARTH it should have worked. But it has. A group of Britpop, classic metal, comic book and honer tick-obsessed miss who stuck out at school with at the subtely of jaunted nails in coffin lids are on the Verge of becoming the most vital rock band of 2004. With their second album "Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge vocalist Gerard, baasist and brother Mikey guitarists Ray and Frank and drummer Matt are about to hit the big "It's been a really big influence on the new record. I read it when it came out back when I was a teenager and I kind of rediscovered it this year because I loved reading on the road Siting in the soaring heat backstage a Highbury Garage surrounded by an entanglement of equipment and a melee of bottled water and cre butts, My Chemical Romance frontman Gerard Way is espousing the joys of cut graphic novel Preacher, al of friendship, Betrayal, love, sex, death and region packed with more twiste and turns than a crippled rattlesnake as a preacher a hitwoman and a vampir embark o on a life-altering quest. "I think the one message it has in there is that it really says a lot about tristep says the singer from beneath a jet-black tringe. That's ine most important message: friendship and what really takes to be a man I'd navar picked that up as a kid-just not taking the time to road further into IL Way's escapism ces rality didn't only come from the pages of comic books however. It also martested itse though the sounds emanating from the cut grooves of vinyl imports from the UK: "We're big fans of British pop and I think some of the other guys now have a bigger appreciation because that's all me and Mikey laten to When we started the band I wanted there to be a definite strong element of both Morissey and The Seits lo it his lyrics and style, and the kind of tongue-in-cheek song ities that are way too long but very direct and to the point Even the sound to a degree just really dark pop. I'm a fan of Brisch pop like The Cup, but then I like the other extreme pop stuff like Blur end Pulp-1 thought they were amazing. We've been getting to the Sone Roses and Manic Street Preachers lately. We love all that stint." Agrowing that the current tam amongst US hardcore bands for vintage English pop in "odd" to say the last Way adde: "The first band I can think of that really did that was American Nightmere Give Up The Ghost. They'd draw really weird crowds because of that-you'd see hardcore kids and then you'd see skinny pants-wearing kids in Joy Division shirts at their shows think it's a g a generational thing. A lot of the singers today have been influenced by those bands and they just so happen to be in hardcore bands for some reason, I don't know I guess it has become the new punk in a way it's taken the place of a les of punk rock as far as underground shows The jaunty melodicem, cutting wit and sense of the grandiose of Morrissey immediately evident on Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge, as in the urgency of New Order, the chaotic guitar interplay of The Wedding Present and the gritty sheen and catharsis of Joy Division. Indeed, It's My Chemical Romance were born in the wrong country and the wrong decade. However, the songe of naked aggression and bare enthusiasm that ifted the sal of debut 1 Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love into a genre beater is still prevalent infecting the blood of Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge with a pounding sense of desire and virulent petancy, effectively raising pop-focked anthera for outsiders from the borren earth of what's now doomed 'post hardcore' According to Gerard, it's all about balance. "The stuff that was especially poppy? I made sure the lyrics were that much more fucked up. For as much as everyone could hear I'm Not OK (1 Promise) and think we wrote it for a single, if that song gets on the radio it'd be incredible because of the message and the fact that it's so direct and full of weird shit. The record on the whole has a lot of balance. There's a lot of pop but a lot of aggression at the same time. It's like really violent pop music, which I think is pretty unique." Lyrically, Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge builds upon and explores the theme put forth on the last track of 'I Brought You My Bullets.... "Demolition Lovers', an epic tale of fated lovers going under in a spray of bullets. Says Way: "It involves the girl still being alive while the guy is in hell. The devil tells him if he wants to go back to her on earth he has to kill a thousand evil men and then he'll find her. So he makes a deal with the devil and goes back to earth and starts shooting the shit out of all these places, killing all these evil men to bring the devil their souls. It sounds a little like 'Preacher'! That was the story before I read that when I was a teenager." Steadying the balance of the record from straying into Pink Floyd-like full-blown concept territory, Way also deals with recent events that have greatly restructured his world since the debut album, most prominently and most personally, the aftermath of the brothers" grandmother. "The interesting thing about the record is that you get lost in the plot-things happen in your life. We lost our grandma in November and she was the most influential woman to me as far as my abilities," says the singer: "She taught me how to sing and how to paint. The elements that I bring to the band she encouraged me to do since I was a little kid. My parents have always been really supportive, but she had the ability and showed me how to do it...It changes things. It's half and half-real life stuff and concept stuff." In keeping with his anglophile tendencies, most of his favourite writers of fiction that the frontman has drawn inspiration from (the quintet even took their name from Irvine Welsh's chemical- influenced writings) have spat forth their vicious and poignant prose from within the isles of Great Britain. "I like Alan Moore stuff like 'The Watchmen" and "V For Vendetta, The Invisibles. anything that Grant Morrison does" says Way: "I do read a lot of comics. Me and Mikey like to read 'The Ultimates', which is a great comic like 'The Avengers' but set in the real world." As well as expanding into the deeper and darker territories usually inhabited by the likes of Nick Cave, Tom Waits and Trent Reznor, Three Cheers... saw Way locking himself away in isolation to write lyrics and record vocal parts, a method that became something of a double- edged sword. "I sang most of my vocals in an attic. When I was singing I couldn't see any people from where I was. All I could hear was Howard (Benson, producer) on my headphones. It was how I was able to deliver some of those performances. At first I wasn't sure if that would work, as I'm kind of a show off. I like singing behind glass in front of people. I like to perform. It was definitely more focussed, I hit shit more often and it allowed me to really freak out and get very personal on something as opposed to the live feel on the first record." With the aim of "reaching the people who need it the most", Way adds that it's "for people who need help and something to turn to. I think that's the kind of person, for better or worse, who we appeal to. I don't know the amount of people who need help or are suicidal, but I think it's more than people let on. That's what it is for us so it makes sense that that's what it is for somebody else. However, the bleak outlook put forth on 'I Brought You My Bullets... and the songs previewed on the internet from "Three Cheers..." had a number of people worried about the intense frontman, a worry that was compounded when, in the middle of work on the album, the singer disappeared, leaving behind only an enigmatic note. Fans feared the worst as message boards lit up over the next few days with concerned postings, something that, today, Way is contrite about: "It made me feel really good and really loved, but it also made me feel really bummed on myself for being so irresponsible and not realising that there's people who give a shit about me and the fact that you can actually scare the shit out of people by doing something like that. The guys in the band weren't as worried because they know me, and they obviously sensed a bit of humour with the note and they knew I wasn't going to go off and do anything stupid. "They also knew I had to finish two more songs and do the artwork for the record. I went for a walk. I was trying to find somewhere to draw and I had a notebook and a credit card so I thought I'd just charge a room and get some liquor and just finish that shit. It was really just a few people making it seem like it was a suicide attempt. All it takes is a couple of people to really blow something out of proportion." Musical risks were another prominent factor in the recording of the album according to Way: "We really gambled heavily with this album. L think a lot of people were afraid that the record was going to be one of two things: either commercial and cookie cutter and radio friendly, or the same record as the first. We made a record that did the opposite of both. I think we've developed more into a rock band. I think that was the general idea when we started but being a young band and loving playing live and having that kind of energy. "We never fitted into a scene and that probably helped us. We're definitely labelled as part of a scene-I think it's just because of where we're from, when we came up, where we played and who we played with that it's very easy to take us and say we're a 'scene band'-but we're not. You can't copy sincerity. Kids can tell. They can smell it right on you. "We've really pushed ourselves. You listen to Ray's guitar playing on the record and some of the solos he goes for are completely ridiculous. He completely tops anything he's done on that first record. I know for a fact that some of it was extremely hard and he would sit up all night in the apartment doing it until he got it right. There was even one song where one of the solos involved tuning. He had to tune to get to where the solo would go to, which was incredible. He's a guy who constantly challenges himself and I am and the guys in the band are which is why we work well together." As well as the macabre melancholy of lead single I'm Not OK (I Promise)", 'Three Cheers' throws up other highlights such as the nihilistic country-ish vibe of You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Prison". "I don't know where the title comes from-it may even be a line from a movie. It definitely sounds familiar to me. As soon as Ray wrote the riff I got the idea for the title. We were on tour with Reggie And The Full Effect, Senses Fail and Midtown and we were backstage-actually outside in the rain as there was no backstage-we were on this porch outside of the venue when he came up with it." And strange occurrences on tour are now de rigour for MCR: "We were in San Francisco, staying at The Phoenix, and I got attacked by a bird. Like full on attacked by a blackbird. The fucker was pecking my head! The next morning Slipknot showed up as we were leaving and some of their dudes got attacked by a blackbird, so I guess it's just the birds at The Phoenix that attack! As Way heads off to soundcheck, a telling chink in the singer's armour of musical cool is revealed. "I don't know why!" he yelps: "I can't help it!" You see, he's a fan of Tatu Yes. That Ta.t.u. "The Used's sound guy had the CD on his iPod. I'm someone who knows shit about T.a.tu and I was way into it because it's so fucking hooky. I know people think they're awful and I can tell why: manufactured pop stuff. But so is Britney Spears and I know a lot of guys who like her that shouldn't. Guys in hardcore bands. Hardcore bands!" With that he flees to the stage, intent on bringing his own brand of dark rock 'n' roll to the masses. I'm Not OK (I Promise) is out now on Reprise Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge is out now on Reprise --- DARK ART In addition to fronting My Chemical Romance, vocalist Gerard Way also designs all of the band's artwork, taking his cue from his creative art days as a graphic designer and splashing paint and sketching pencil across the surface of debut album "I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love" and new record "Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge". | ||||||||||
23 | Inrock (Japan) | 9 | 2004 | Ai Anazawa | x | Japanese | |||||||||||
24 | Nylon Guys | 9 | 2004 | Gerard Way | Jonathan Mahalak | x (alt) | CRUSH & BURN MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE PLAY DEATH-OBSESSED DOOM-RIDDEN PUNK ROCK YOU CAN SING ALONG TO. JONATHAN MAHALAK TAKES A TRIP TO THE DARK SIDE. PHOTOGRAPHED BY DAVID REICH "We're realists. We're surrounded by death. Death is part of the band and it's such a part of life, that, at a certain point, you start to actually find beauty in it," says Gerard Way, the glowering lead singer of My Chemical Romance. That's pretty twisted stuff for a band frequently compared to straight-up emo band Thursday. Songs about getting dumped as autumn turns into winter, or something like that, I could understand. But beauty in death? That's just grim. If they were from Manchester, maybe it would make sense. But they're from New Jersey. Way formed My Chemical Romance two years ago, with his high-school buddy, drummer Matt Pelissier. They lifted the name from the Irvine Welsh book Ecstasy (though Way swears they're not big dopers-they just liked the phrase). The band's 2002 debut, I Brought You My Bullets You Brought Me Your Love, got them noticed immedi- ately; not just because it was produced by Geoff Rickley of (surprise) Thursday, but because My Chemical Romance's music is a lot more melodi- cally varied-and a little more grown-up-than most of their peers' aggressive angst-rock. They quickly left behind basements for big stages ("We're talking playing in front of five kids one week, and playing in front of five thousand the next," says Way); and they even hitched onto the Warp Tour last summer. If you're the kind of person who hears "Warp Tour and envisions a sea of kids in T-shirts and backpacks just home from a semester in Europe, you're right. But My Chemical Romance doesn't fit the mold of the bands usually associated with that event. They wear black; they're into doom and gloom. They're goth: in a cute, you-could-still- bring-them-home-to-mom kind of way. They're as inspired by bands like the Cure and the Smiths zas they are by their contemporaries, even going so far as to reference the latter's "Cemetery Gates on "Cemetery Drive." "That stuff is on pur- pose," Way says. "It's a nod to that era in music. They were pop bands, but also extremely bleak, and they showed how at a certain point your band can become social commentary." Like Morrissey and Robert Smith, Way isn't afraid to spill his guts: The band's stridently noisy new album Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge is rife with images of corpses, crime, and existential confusion. "I wanted it to be bleak, lyrically, because the music we had written was this great, dark music-violent pop music," he says. And he's serious. Serious as a bloody X-Acto in the bath- room trashcan. Hell, My Chemical Romance even have a song called "It's Not a Fashion Statement, It's a Deathwish." Thursday could never come up with something like that, even if they wanted to. | ||||||||||
25 | Revolver | 9 | 2004 | Gerard Way | Mikael Wood | x (alt) | NEW BLOOD - BANDS TO WATCH MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE Proving that Newark, New Jersey, can produce more than good riots. WHO - Screamo's next big thing. My Chemical Romance are five passionate young dudes from Newark, New Jersey, who "want to save people's lives," singer Gerard Way states plainly. With his brother Mikey on bass, Ray Toro and Frank Iero on guitars, and high school pal Matt Pelissier on drums, Gerard might soon get his chance: After creating an underground buzz by extensively touring in support of their 2002 debut, I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love, MCR signed to major label Warner Bros. last year.They're also on this summer's Warped Tour SOUNDS LIKE - The Chemical sound is custom-engineered for music fans looking for drama. While Toro and lero pull torrents of distortion from their amps, Gerard layers soaring melodies over the noise; the result sizzles with emotion, but there's an instrumental heft to the music that won't alienate unreconstructed metalheads. On Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, its second album, the band achieves a sound akin to Foo Fighters-if Dave Grohl had spent his teenage years as a poetry- writing, candle-burning goth kid. HELL A - Gerard and his bandmates traveled to Los Angeles to make Revenge with producer Howard Benson, who's given records by P.O.D. and Blindside a muscular, radio-ready sheen. "I wanted to make the record there because we cannot identify with Los Angeles, and I wanted to see what that would do to my band," the singer says. "It's beautiful and sunny and glitzy, but it's like this rotting carcass at the same time." HAPPY JACK - MCR have cultivated a devoted following in England, where the influential music paper NME dubbed Gerard "Extremorrissey." "We're very influenced by British bands like the Smiths and Pulp and Blur," he explains. "The way I see it, England's a really small country, and they're just connecting with that over there." - MIKAEL WOOD | ||||||||||
26 | Rock Sound | 9 | 2004 | Gerard Way | x | Elena Rush, Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us in Prison, concept, films | STRANGER THAN FICTION MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE PLOT 'REVENGE' "'Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge' is the title of the fictional movie in my head," reveals Gerard Way, frontman of bat-loving post-emo rockers My Chemical Romance. The album, already out in the States and set for a UK release on September 6, follows the "concept of a guy who comes back from the dead to find the woman he loves. The only way he's going to find her is by killing 1,000 evil men so he makes a deal with the devil," explains the singer. "There's a kind of a pseudo-concept where a lot of it ended up being about our lives. Me and Mikey lost our grandma in November right before the final stretch of writing and it changed everything. It wasn't until the record was out that I realised how much was about loss and losing somebody. The rest is a metaphor for being in a band like 'You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Prison', though it's more like a buddy movie than being in jail." There seems to be a lot of movies running through the frontman's head, which he puts down to being "really cinematic. I've thought like that since I was a little kid. I've always drawn and made up little stories with fictional people and I find I'm still doing that being 27. When you live in your head so much, your life starts to mimic fiction. It starts to bleed together and it's a really strange little trip you go on." | ||||||||||
27 | SPIN | 9 | 2004 | Gerard Way | Andy Greenwald | x (alt) (transcript) | Leather jackets | Bands to Watch - My Chemical Romance My Chemical Romance frontman Gerard Way–with his ghostly pallor, longunwashed hair, and goth boots–would probably always look out of placesipping iced coffee at a café in a yuppified section of Brooklyn. Buthe looks downright alien in his trademark ripped and stitched blackleather jacket on an 80-degree spring day. “Oh, I’m perfectlycomfortable,” he says. “I got used to leather early on. Wearing it mademe feel like the person I was supposed to be onstage.” That person is a shrieking, charismatic screamo star who leads his bandthrough relentless, cinematic stormers with titles like “You Know WhatThey Do to Guys Like Us in Prison.” “People stopped telling storieswith their music,” says Way, 27. “They just wrote about theirgirlfriends.” In response, he plotted the New Jersey quintet’sblistering second album and major-label debut, Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge,like a movie, with a twisted backstory about a doomed murdererpromising the Devil 1,000 evil souls in exchange for a reunion with hislover. Though friendly and somewhat soft in person (he cops to wearing asweater with “little snowflakes on it” in winter), Way tries to inhabithis hell-scarred protagonist onstage–going so far as to command anangry crowd to hock loogies at him. “I got 600 kids to spit on me,” hesays with pride. “The audience hated us, and they still did what I said!” | |||||||||
28 | Volume | 9 | 2004 | Ray Toro, Gerard Way | x | Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, touring, UK, therapy, addiction, Warped tour 2004, politics, Video games, Doom 3 | MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE Black-clad frontman Gerard Way and his fellow purveyors of metal-tinged screamo rock are gearing up to show British audiences what US fans have been raving about this past summer... Although tight-lipped about the circumstance surrounding the sudden departure of drummer Matt Pelissier, Gerard Way radiates enthusiam for everything from London's 'creepy vibe', to, er, Billy Idol... How's the new album going down? "Better than we possibly could have ever imagined. We noticed early on, before the record had even come out or anything had been released, that these songs were really connecting with people live, sometimes more than our old songs. It's kinda interesting, cause though we have a lot of die-hard fans from the first record. It seems like more people, brand new, found out about us from this one." What are your thoughts about coming to England? "We really can't wait. It's always exciting to go to another country, especially one that's received you so well. I love London just because it's a city with a lot of history. The vibe there's just really exciting, kind of like mysterious or creepy with all this old architecture. The fans are completely incredible over there. When we got to England for our first time headlining, we didn't expect there to be more than 50 kids, but every show was sold-out. That made us go 'Wow', we almost felt like we were bigger there than in the States." The new album has a noticeable '80s vibe to it... "Yeah, definitely. We've always admired this power metal of the '80s. Not the cornier stuff, but stuff like Iron Maiden and Halloween, stuff like that, and also at the same time, 'I'm Not Okay' is almost Billy Idol-ish. It's got a power rock feel to it..." How do you cope without your therapist on tour? "It's hard. My therapist is always available for me, I can always call him up. It's really hard. When you're on the road, especially when you're having a great time, it's easy to forget a lot of what's going on, and focus on the things that are very important to you in the band sense, like playing live, writing new songs. I draw a lot now, I read a lot now, and I just try to adapt better." What's the touring vibe like? Is there a lot of boose? "No, that's pretty much come to a halt, very recently, as of about two weeks ago. I'd basically gotten out of control with drinking and made the decision to completely quit, and the band was so supportive of that decision that they really don't drink either. The shows are so fun for us that we've gotten to a point where we're very positive and very in touch with each other, and the shows are like our drug. It's very different now. The sets are very different too. There's definitely that lack of liquor present in us, and it's extremely, definitely for the better." A lot of US bands are doing political studd at the moment: are you guys doing anything? "No, we're not a political band. We don't feel that we're informed enough to be a political band. We have a desire to be informed and we've been getting more informed just from hanging out with people like Matt Skiba and Alkaline Tria and Anti-Flag and just meeting people on the Warped Toyr has raised our awareness of the importance of young people voting, but we don't take a political stance, we're more of a human nature-type band. We deal more with how people treat each other and human rights, and a code-of-ethics about the way you treat people. That became a big deal on the Warped Tour because there was definetly some homophobia going around and racism and sexism, and we've seen it and we took a stance against that thing while everyone else was taking a stance against Bush, and no knock to them, that's just what we felt more in tune to." --- GET THIS! RAY TORO, MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE RECOMMENDS... DOOM 3 PC; ACTIVISION "I'm a big fan of first-person shooters and this is pretty much the best one you can get. I love the atmosphere, and the graphics are great, too. The key is to play it at home [?] with the lights off. It's so scary. I've never played a game that's literally had me at the edge of my seat like that. It's astonishing [?]." | ||||||||||
29 | Kerrang! | 9.4 | 2004 | Gerard Way | (1) (2) (alt) | Post-show | THREE CHEERS FOR MCR THE GOTH-PUNK HEROES SURPRISE FANS WITH TWO TINY SHOWS MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE gave lucky fans a special treat on August 23 and 24, when they played two very intimate gigs in London. The band only announced that they would be playing the shows at the tiny 500-capacity Underworld in Camden the week before the gigs and tickets went on sale from the venue for one day only, with a restriction of one ticket per person. Tickets for both nights sold out in two hours. The goth-punkers took to the venue's tiny stage in front of a near-hysterical crowd on the first of their two-night residency. "This is fucking amazing," frontman Gerard Way beamed after opener 'Headfirst For Halos'. "High fives all round!" My Chemical Romance played an electrifying set, which included fan favourites 'I'm Not Okay (I Promise)', 'Helena', 'You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Prison', 'Thank You For The Venom' and 'The Jetset Life Is Gonna Kill You', which Way revealed the band had never played live before. They also slipped in a quick rendition of the chorus of Oasis' 'Don't Look Back In Anger', after which the singer confessed, "I've always wanted to do that!", in a mock English accent. "We did the one ticket per person rule because we wanted to make sure our fans got the tickets," Way explained to K! backstage after the show. "This gig was for them and it was fucking great! We really enjoyed it. We didn't have to work the crowd at all. I really felt, 'Wow, look at what we've got', when I was up there, looking at them. "We wanted to play these two small shows because we need this kind of thing to keep us going," he added. "So that we don't get bored, we don't get disillusioned and so the shows don't get stale. We need to be up there and we need no barricades and when you play smaller places the whole performance is a lot more spontaneous and that's really exciting. I'm sure you'll see us in a venue this size again, I just can't tell you when..." My Chemical Romance's single 'The Ghost Of You' is out now. The band will be back in the UK for a headline tour in November. See Volume page 72 for details. --- WIN! THE VERY TRAINERS GERARD WORE AT THIS GIG! BE WARNED, THEY SMELL... WE JUST can't help ourselves when it comes to relieving your favourite rock stars of items of their clothing... When K! hooked up with My Chemical Romance after their first gig at the Underworld, we persuaded Gerard to give up the stinky trainers that he performed in. "These are my favourite sneakers," sighed the frontman. But he dutifully handed them over, happy to return to his hotel that night in just his socks because he likes you lot. "These shoes got me through the Warped Tour dates we did this summer and our shows with Green Day, so that's a lot of shows. They've been on a rock 'n' roll journey with me," he grinned. "I'm giving these to a K! reader because I've never given away anything I've worn onstage before and that's cool." Fancy winning a bit of rock history in the shape of Gerard's shoes, complete with his insoles and stale sweat stink, then? The lucky winner will also get a nice glossy print of this photograph of Gerard holding his trainers. To be in with a chance, tell us, in no more than 50 words, why you deserve to own 'em. E-mail your answer, name and address to kerrang@emap.com by September 13, 2005. Only one entry per person please and put 'My feet stink worse than Gerard's!' in the subject header. The most creative and funny answer will win. Good luck! --- FRONTLINE HOW WAS IT FOR YOU! GERARD WAY, MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE "Incredible, totally incredible! The record's barely out and the kids are already singing along. I just wish we could have played for longer - the sets have been shorter this time because we have a new drummer, but next time we'll make up for it. How is the sobriety going? Awesome, although a fucking can of Stella got thrown onstage tonight! It hit me and I caught the scent of beer - I was like 'Ahhh! Somebody knows and they're not being supportive.'" --- BAR ROOM BLITZMY CHEMICAL ROMANCE FRONTMAN PAYS HOMAGE TO METAL GODS IN LONDON BOOZER MY CHEMICAL Romance frontman Gerard Way teamed up with Canadian riff- rock duo Death From Above 1979 at an intimate secret gig at London's Crobar on September 14. The vocalist hot-footed it to the bar moments after the New Jersey mob's sold-out show at the Mean Fiddler, joining the Toronto twosome onstage for a spirited cover version of Danzig's 1988 classic 'Mother'. "Someone said it would be a good idea to do two shows in one night," explains Death From Above 1979 bassist Jesse F Keeler, who opened for My Chemical Romance on their recent headlining UK tour. "We've been hanging out with them for the last four days and thought it would be cool to do a cover with Gerard." "We were all talking about how fucking good the jukebox is at the Crobar," Way tells Kerrang!. "They've got Danzig's first album on there, so it made sense to do one of his songs. It's been my dream to sing a Danzig song onstage and I loved it." As well as bonding over a mutual love of the diminutive former Misfits/Samhain frontman, Way, Keeler and DFA drummer Sebastien Grainger have connected, somewhat unusually, over hairdressing. "The hairstyle Gerard sports is my doing," laughs Keeler. "I'm not a hairdresser by trade, but hairdressing is a bullshit art. Once you know how to do it, it's not difficult. I've dated hairdressers and have cut hair for a decade." "I love it," says Way, the satisfied customer. "It was a drag to care for. Split ends and everything! It's one of the best haircuts I've ever had. I offered them some beer, but they had plenty." Death From Above 1979's new single 'Romantic Rights' will be released on November 1 through 679. My Chemical Romance's new single 'I'm Not Okay (I Promise)' is out now. | ||||||||||
30 | Inrock (Japan) | 10 | 2004 | Frank Iero | Ai Anazawa | x | Japanese | ||||||||||
31 | Kerrang! | 10 | 2004 | Gerard Way | Morat | x (alt) | Macabre, paranormal, serial killers, fans | SPOOKY KID MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE ARE SET TO BE ROCK'S NEW SUPER- STARS. BUT FRONTMAN GERARD WAY HAS NEVER BEEN LIKE THE OTHER BOYS. HE TOOK US ON A JOURNEY INTO THE DARKEST CORNERS OF HIS MIND... RIGHT NOW My Chemical Romance are the most talked about rock band on the planet. The "Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge" albam himinching slice of American gothic, filled with sofling images of death, despair and desolation, has drawn rapturous critical acclaim. Their live show-eggy drine and intanse are fast becoming the stuff of lega And then there' Gerard Way rock's newest dysfunc onal poster be Kooky and spooky, he's the kind of charismatic frontmen whe impires hightening levels of devotion, the king of jopole figure whose lyrics ily save lives, hand-written lettem to his New Jersey home regidly tost. Put simply, the guy is a stur Raised og har films, Wey, It's hour to say, is ubesed with theupematural. He he therefore the perfect host for our Hallowe'er ise And so, Infoce be begins sinking his teeth into a cute, sensi-naked and tileod-drenched medal called Maris, we comered him to find out all about his exgoriances of the Dark Side and his previous perempts to raise the dead. YOUR MUSIC DEALS WITH DARK SUBJECTS: WHAT'S BEEN YOUR OWN EXPERIENCE OF THE DARK ARTS? Tve been part of a Cuija couple of times. Once, some- body there told me I would die by drowning. I usually meet belligiment spirits on the Ouija board." AREN'T YOU WORRIED ABOUT GETTING STUCK WITH NASTY SPIRITS "No Fee never been too worried about them being able to get off the bount, although I've seen books that say that's the biggest danger. A long as you stay in control you should be fine a piece of plastic. I'd love to go te asean too, that would be awesome. I've actual just written a new song about Houdini exposing all since because he was so upset when his moth ind butalen when he died his wife would go to séances to gryte comet him I just thought it was so romantic I'd lilee to dna they wage real, but I feel like if somebody from beyond the gave wants to contact gonna on their farms. It's easier not to beli in it when youre not in front of a Ouija board, then when it starts moving you start to believed like to think M's phots and stuff, supernatural elements." HAVE YOU EVER SEEN A GHOST? "No ba tell you a story thats probably the craziest thing that ever happened to me. Me and Mikey's [Way, hsel grandma red, which is largely what the record's about. I'm with my gifend in the grocery store picking some stuff for Thanksgiving which was the next day. was really difficult to have Thanksgiving because she'd jus died god she's always cooked for Thanksgiving we dedn't even know if we were gonna have a holiday, but we figured we might as well go ahead. I go to get a chicken pot pie for that night and I geen the freezer door and for a moment I'm looking at the fragen dinner and it's almost empty because a lot of people don't have families- and it made me really sad; that's the king of shit that really depresses me. But I thought about it for a second and because I'd paused, all this frost got on the glass. I shut the door and I noticed that my name was spelled out. Now, I don't have a very common name, I don't know any Gerards, and it was spekt, right-side out. It was just the weirdest thing! I was freaked out at first and then really kinda moved. After that I was convinced it was a ghost because you wouldn't even see any fingerprints. A ghost in the food isle! But felt a lot better after that." WHAT SPARKED ALL YOUR INTEREST IN ALL THAT? "Probably my mom who w always a big horror movie fan, especially this with dolls. She had hundreds of creepy dolls this who collected and there was a room in my house with nothing but creepy fucking dolls. I would have to walk through this room to get to my room and at night hold my breath and run through the room bessun was so terrified of the dolls. She showed and Mikey horror film from a really young age, and we just loved them. ARE THERE AND LEGENDS OR MYTHS SPECIFIC TO NEW JERSEY? There a magazine called "Weird New Jersey, which is a big deal there. There's a joy of any fucking crazy shit, all inds of ghosts. Igo looking all the time whenever I'm home I look in the book and then go and find something poor to check out. The last time, I checked out this thing called the Devil's Tree, which apparently the Ku Klux Klan had used in the 1940s to hang people on so the tree was curd Apparently no matter what you did to the tree you cot's cut it down, so they put this big fence around it because people kept trying to cut it down. It's one of the scariest trees ever WHERE'S THE SCARIEST PLACE YOU'VE EVER BEEN? "Well, there's another place called Evil Valley and this was my favourite place to go. My friend Sean took me there and I'll never forget it. I've been numerous times and every time I've almost shit myself. It's a cul-de-sac up in the mountains off the highway in the middle of nowhere, pitch black and there's these houses that are all abandoned, but they all have lampshades painted the windows. The story goes that there's a guy who lived in one of the houses who was a crazy cultist guy and we invited all his neighbours over to his house one night and the cultists killed everybody in the entire neighbourhood. Nobody knows why, but two years later somebody came back and painted all these lampshades on the windows." WHAT'S THE ATTRACTION WITH CONFRONTING YOUR FEARS? "Well, it's a thrill. I'm terrified of haunted houses because don't like being jumped at or touches by somebody I don't know. I'm really jumpy. I mean if you were to turn out the lights in this room right now and I knew you were in the room, you could still scare the shit out of me. d be terrified the whole time wanting for you to jump out; it's the anticipation of it. So I guess it's the thrill, it's kind of dangerous and there a sexy quality to horror. I guess confronting fears is a major thing, because you have to constantly do it in order to evolve." WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF YOU SAW A GHOST? "It depends. If it was see-through like the ones you see in movies, I think I'd be a lot easier with it, but if it was a ghost that was sold and real and then disappeared I'd shit my pants. My neighbour who was really Christian used to tell me that nobody could come back from the dead except Jesus, so there's no such thing as ghosts... and therefore you see a ghost it's really a demon. That scared the hell out of me for about 10 years! He said, 'People think they see dead relatives all the time and it's not their relatives, it's demons'!" DO YOU BELIEVE IN FORCES OF EVIL? "Yeah absolutely. Because I believe in a good force, so I definitely believe in an evil force too. There's definitely some kind of greater supernatural evil. I like to feel that sometimes we oppose that force." YOU'RE SECRET GOTHS AREN'T YOU? "Yeah! We're definitely closet Goths... some of us not so closet! We like all the macabre creepy stuff that Goths. usually like, but we're more the variety that grew up reading comic books and watching horror movies as opposed to going to a club and dancing to Depeche Mode wearing fishnets. That's terrifying! We're not that kind of Goth, we're just kids who are obsessed with death." WHAT CAUSED THAT OBSESSION? "When was a kid, Was fperitied of death. T to wake up in the middle of the night having nightmares about my family and rd be freaking out do they'd have to calm me down. It took me - a good five years to get over that was afraid to 9010 school because I thought I would lose. somebody. I don't know where that fear came omguess I was just overly sensitive. I'm still Hyper-sensitive, not ESP or anything, but g semely empathetic to the point where if there's a bad vibe in a room I'll pick up on it and embellish it. It really gets to me. That's why the shows alerghe way they are. A lot of the guys are yper-empathetic and they feel every moment so when those people are out there nothing can stop us." WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST FEAR "That I'll be nothing and Fil have done nothing good, made no difference at all. We all die alone. Even if you've got people with you when you de you're alone. That and plane crashes! They scare the crap out of me! I hate turbulence. I mean, we're getting really used to it - especially since were not taking pills or booze anymore." HOW ARE YOU SPENDING HALLOWE'EN? Ever since we've been a band we've played a show on Hallowe'en and it's also Frank's [Lero, guitar] birthday and he would like nothing better than to play a show on his birthday. This year I think we're in danger of not playing one, which I think, would be a jinx so we'll have to stop and play in some bar or something. We're really superstitious too! I don't walk under ladders and if a black cat crosses my path I freak out! Broken mirrors...I have this mirror on the bus that is cracked but not yet broken, and I guard it with my life. In fact, when we get off this tour I'm gonna put it safely away where no one will ever touch it. So yeah, I'm very superstitious, but I don't know why because I'm so cynical and a lot of it doesn't make any sense. I always throw salt over my shoulder if I spill it too; I've done it in interviews and no one's ever picked up on it. And nowadays I won't go onstage unless I have all my make-up on too and that's not an image thing, that's a superstition." DID YOU GO TRICK-OR-TREATING AS A KID? "Yeah, any time we could. It was the coolest thing, but then there was a time when it became really unsafe to do. Hallowe'en is just the shit!" HAVE YOU TRIED ANY OTHER SUPERNATURAL STUFF? "Levitation at a party. You basically put two fin- gers under someone and try to levitate someone and eventually they're supposed to become light as a feather. It didn't work. But growing up it was Ouija boards, drinking in cemeteries... There were always places you'd go as a kid and graffiti ceme teries with really stupid shit like 'Clockwork Orange' and movie titles and there was a pack of cults who used to hang out there doing all this crazy satanic shit. And this was when I was getting into Iron Maiden so I was really interested y'know? But I never got involved in that kind of thing." THAT SEEMS TO BE WHY MOST KIDS GET INTO HORROR MOVIES... Yeah. When you're a kid it was so taboo and if you wanted to see some naked girls, the only way to do it 99 per cent of the time wasn't in some (on mavie, it was a Borror movie You'd be woured the whole me waiting for that shower se, but you'd end up watching the whole thing and Betty scared shitless, HAVE YOU EVER STAYED IN A HAUNTED HOTEL? "Yeah, there were two we stayed in. One was in Ariege, I think pri Dillinger [1920s outlaw] stayed there and it was one of the places they chased him out of and there was a fire. The other one was in Detroit - I'd heard about it before and there was a floor that was completely closed off, but if you took the stairs you could break into this floor. So the first time we went to Detroit we stayed there and my friend said they'd been there late at night and discovered this cult who'd chased them out. We went there during the day and it was still teilying: Thege was doors broken, crazy graffiti... and we're talking an entire floor of a Sheraton hotel with about 40 rooms. We saw this pit there with a ladder leading down but we didn't go down there!" WHAT WOULD YOU ASK THE DEVIL IF HE SHOWED UP NOW? "I think the Devil would be way more interesting to talk to than God. I think I'd ask him how he got to be the Devil. Y'know, that's gotta be a cool job! You get the best music-heavy metal and rock 'n' roll! And I don't think the Devil's necessarily a bad guy. Actually I think he just got landed with a shitty job He has to deal with all these asshole all day long and find a place for them to make them suffer. He's probably bored as hell! I'd have a lot of questions about hell and who's down there." DO YOU THINK YOU COULD KILL SOMEONE? "Me? Yeah. I'm totally obsessed with the con- cept of revenge so if somebody killed one of my loved ones there would be no question. I could kill them easily! But that would be the only way I could kill somebody. But I do think there's a very fine line between me and you and a serial killer. It doesn't take a lot to be a serial killer, but you've gotta have some issues! I've met a lot of guys who I have no doubt are serial killers in truck stops all throughout America. I'm pretty sure that about five per cent of truckers in America have to have killed somebody. There's nobody to find out! You could kill anyone you want and no one would find out, so you'd get away with it because you're constantly on the road. And if you think about it, bands could totally get away with it!" EVER FANCIED WRITING TO A SERIAL KILLER? Absolutely! In fact, when we started the record I took my band toasit somebody who had committed crime of passion. The next record is not so much supernatural, but more about heaven and hell and damnation and sal vation, so I think it would be totally fitting. I'd definitely it to a serial killer. I think they're extremely interesting. I mean, I think they're pieces of shit, but extremely interesting pieces lk of shit. The ones that I know of are John Wayne Gacy and I heard he likes to talk to young dudes. You guys have a lot of serial killers in England But Richard Ramirez is the obvious one; he's into heavy metal, AC/DC, loves to wear black, loves Satan, got a pentagram on his hand... he's got it all! He's almost too clichéd! But I'm very inter- ested in people who think there's some kind of higher power possessing-them because I feel. that way about this band. Not the same force, but the same type of thing compels us." DO YOU THINK YOU COULD DEAL WITH SITTING IN THE SAME ROOM AS A SERIAL KILLER? "Yeah, if he had fucking handcuffs on and he was far enough away from me. It would be very interesting because I've never been argarid someone like that, but we gotten vibes off people who have scared the shit out of me I think I'd feel a lot of hostility. I'd probably get a headache!" NOT TO SCARE YOU, BUT YOU DO REALISE YOU'RE GOING TO END UP WITH A LOAD OF PSYCHO FANS AFTER PEOPLE READ THIS INTERVIEW, DON'T YOU? "Yeah. It does worry me, but there's a difference between weird and dangerous Popple have given me live ammunition, which is weird and a little scary. I mean, we like the dark stuff for us, but there are moments when we've been really scared." MY CHEMICAL ROMANCES ALBUM, 'THREE CHEERS FOR SWEET REVENGE IS OUT NOW ON REPRISE. --- TOO GHOUL FOR SCHOOL: A ROUGH GUIDE TO MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE AFI + THURSDAY x THEATRE + CHUCKY FROM 'CHILD'S PLAY' = MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE | |||||||||
32 | Kerrang! | 10 | 2004 | Frank Iero, Ray Toro, Gerard Way | Tom Bryant | x | Mental health, addiction, Matt Pelissier | MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE WILL BE MASSIVE, IF ONLY GERARD WAY CAN KEEP IT TOGETHER LONG ENOUGH IT WAS in Kansas City that Gerard Way cracked. My Chemical Romance's frontman woke up and wanted to end it all. He'd forgotten how many times he'd woken up depressed in the weeks leading up to that moment, he'd forgotten how many times he'd gone to sleep on a cocktail of alcohol and pills and he'd had enough. Soon after he was in Japan, backstage at Tokyo's Summer Sonic festival. He'd been vomiting in a bin for 10 solid minutes, the result of a sake binge. His band were standing around him not knowing what to do, not know how to get through the show, not knowing how their best friend had got himself into this state without them noticing. Then, three days later back in their hometown of new jersey, the band sacked their drummer, Matt Pelissier. From the outside it had looked as if nothing could stop My Chemical Romance's rise. Their sensational new album, 'Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge', was a culmination of everything they had worked for, a desperate gamble that was paying off phenomenally. Then, suddenly, it all came apart and unravelled dramatically right in front of them. TODAY, IN New York, Gerard Way is sober and has been for 12 days. He's dressed head to toe in black and smells bad. It's a potent mixture of the cigarettes that permanently hand from the corner of his moth and the sweat from yesterday's show. He knows it too. "You know when it's really bad," he says with a smile. "It's really bad when you disgust even yourself." He cuts a strange figure, almost as though he doesn't belong inside his own body. His cherubic, baby face is framed by lank, black hair. His shoulders are hunched over - a result of a slipped disc and a problematic spine condition - giving him the appearance of a brooding, camp history professor. He looks both too young for his 27 years and too old for them also. His face puts him at roughly 15 years old, his body and strange charisma give him the air of someone who has lived a long life full of weirdness. It's hard to put a finger on him - at times he's stunningly honest, at other he can clam up. He is, though, enormously likeable and natually intelligent. He also likes to be in control. "Control is important to me because musically we're so out of control," he says. "This band is so on tedge that I want everything else in my life to be controlled. I need it to stay sane." He also worries a lot – “it’s the curse of the Ways,” he says. Right now he’s worrying about that day in Kansas City and what lead him to that state. “I have the potential to be a fantastic alcoholic,” he states bluntly. “I could be really, really good at it. You have to be careful in a band – you can become an alcoholic really quickly, then the booze leads to the pills, the pills lead to the coke and so on. It’s all interconnected.” This is a Gerard Way who’s turning over a new leaf. For months he’d been hiding his depression and drinking from his band. Today, in front of them, he’s happy to talk about it openly to anyone who asks him, it’s almost as if just speaking about it is making him feel stronger, making him feel in control of it. It seems a strange condition to have got himself into though, given the potential of his band. “I hope this doesn’t come across as an excuse,” he says. “But I think at times people want you to play the part of the fucked-up drunk singer. So you start playing it for a while and then suddenly you realise you’re not acting anymore – you are that horrible person. That’s what I realised in Kansas. “I’d been drinking heavily before shows to get myself up and I’d drink more to stay high after the set. Then I’d move onto pills to bring myself down again. I was constantly trying to artificially control my brain – I thought I could get a real handle on it. Then occasionally I’d start dabbling in other garbage – nothing major but just enough so that I’d got to that point where I was standing on the edge. That’s where I was that morning in Kansas.” All the while he is saying this he is looking at each band member. They occasionally look up at him but mostly gaze at the floor – this is painful for them too. But this is not a shameful admission, instead it’s one that Way feels is setting him free, is helping him identify where he went wrong. “I woke up that morning and I felt completely desperate, I wanted everything to stop, I wanted it all to be over. I wanted to freak out, I wanted to smash things and I wanted to hurt myself while I was doing it. I was entirely depressed, suicidal and all that garbage. I wanted it all over, all of it… everything.” He phoned a friend who talked him through it, who said that if he could just make it through to Japan then he could come home, he could go back to the therapist he’s been seeing for years and could think about rehab. Then he went to each member of the band individually and told them everything. “We knew he drank too much,” says guitarist Ray Toro. “I don’t think we realised the full extent of the problem though. We felt like, ‘What did we miss? Could we have done something sooner?’ I don’t think we could have done though. I don’t think Gerard would have listened if we had, I think he had to do it for himself.” “I needed that support,” says Way, who did go back into therapy but chose to go Cold Turkey rather than head into rehab. “I’m still scared though, I worry it could happen again and I could end up dead. When this band started, it saved my life. I got saved, then I went off the rails again and the band came to my rescue a second time. I hope it’s now an excuse to keep stable because it’s everything that I have now.” THE SPIRIT within in My Chemical Romance is perhaps stronger now than it’s ever been. Perhaps it has something to do with Way’s honesty towards them, a feeling that they know he can confide his deepest problems to them and that they can be there for him. Perhaps it’s because they know that they have written one of the albums of the year. Either way, this is band full of confidence, who have no fear of making statements like Gerard Ways’: “This album gives us a shot. This gives us a chance to stand up against some really big bands and ask them if they can compete, if they can push the envelope and bring some new ideas.” That assurance oozes from all of them. Their self-belief is phenomenal but, for now, doesn’t step over the line into arrogance. “I don’t think we could ever be arrogant,” says Toro. “Our backgrounds will keep us grounded. We’re all working class and I don’t think it’s in our nature to go that way. I still live at home, my mom still yells at me for playing my guitar too loud – that will tend to keep you grounded.” “But that doesn’t mean we don’t think we can achieve anything,” says fellow guitarist Frank Iero. “To get to this point means we must be doing something special. I’ve had a feeling recently. It feels like this dream – the dream if being in a great band – has come true through luck, hard work and persistence. If that’s possible, then all my other dreams are possible too. It feels like nothing is in my way at the moment.” “Without sounding completely out of my mind,” adds Way, “I believe that anything is possible.” IT’S PERHAPS this confidence, this belief in their own ability and their ambition to take things further that spelled the end for ex-drummer Matt Pelissier. The band are tight-lipped about what exactly happened. “I don’t want to make things public,” says Toro. “We know why we made the decision and we hope he does too. But, from our end, it will stay between Matt and us.” It’s not the route Pelissier chose to take. He instantly went on to the band’s message boards. Parts of his post give some reasons as to his departure but, you sense, they don’t tell the whole story: “They told me I’m out of the band because they are uncomfortable with me onstage and they’re afraid I’ll mess up,” he wrote. “I’ve had some whoppers on a few occasions – I’ll never deny I’m human but we all make mistakes… Do I think I’ve been shafted? Yeah. What happened to the five brothers that loved each other more than anything else on earth? I gave up everything for each one of them.” My Chemical Romance don’t want to get into a slanging match with their ex-bandmate but what Toro will say is that, “Musically we know we are stronger now.” Then, perhaps more tellingly, “We can look each other in the other in the eye and feel love between us. That’s definitely true now.” “If I’m going to say anything about anyone being fired,” adds Gerard Way, “Then it’s that this band is about giving a shit about each other, about looking people in the fucking eye and knowing you care about them, that they care about you and knowing that’s the truth. That’s not directed at Matt, that’s directed at the whole band.” WHAT IT has meant is that the band are on even more of a high, that they finally feel as if all the cogs have fallen into place. Watching them play at Irving Plaza later that night is a revelation. Iero whirls around the stage manically, spinning into amps, mic stands and collapsing on the floor. New drummer Bob Bryar who looked nervous and perhaps felt out of place during the interview – is all smiles. Gerard’s younger brother Mikey – the youngest member (“He needs a bit of looking after,” laughed Iero earlier. “I once caught him going into a shower with an electric heater!”) – beams at the crowd. The real chemistry live is between Toro’s brutally eloquent guitar lines and Way’s all encompassing charisma. He stalks the stage like a Southern preacher, goading the crowd, firing them up and getting in their faces as if he’s about to call down a hail of fire and brimstone. All the while Toro is behind him, reinforcing his sermon with shards of alternating violence and calm. Watching them here, in their natural habitat and in front of what is virtually a hometown crowd, is to watch a band who will soon be too big for venues like this. It’s to watch a band who can now mix it with the big boys and, providing Gerard Way can keep his head together, it’s to watch a band who can only get better and better. | |||||||||
33 | Rock Sound | 10 | 2004 | Gerard Way | J. Bennett | x | Warped tour 2004, homophobia | Tinley Park. Illinois: There’s blood everywhere. On «he steps, on the cheerleaders, and most definitely on rock sound. 'I've got some in my eye!" one girl screams as My Chemical Romance vocalist Cerard Way leans Into the camera lens. A kneeling undead cheerleader grabs Way’s pewter bat-wing belt buckle and peers up at the frontman with a blank stare. A third cheer- leader (there's one "regular” cheerleader, two zombiftedl. in the prone position, has forgotten to cross her legs, affording MCR guitarist Frankie lero - who's off to the side having a smoke - a nearly unobstructed view up her extremely short skirt. The kneeling one already has a bloody handprint smeared on the Inside of her right thigh. 'Brilliant, girls!" rock sound photo-wizard Nigel Crane enthuses as he snaps off another quick series of stills. Crane signals for the rest of MCR - lero. devil-locked bassist Mikey Way (Gerard's younger brother), drummer Matt Pelissier, and afro’d guitarist Ray Toro - to join Gerard and the girls for a last round of group shots. Crane is ostensibly shooting the band, but you can tell by the way the dirty fucker is positioning the girls he’s prob ably angling for some camel toe as well. Not that we can blame him. Meanwhile, Mikey is nervous about getting blood on his favourite coat, lero loves it. though, and lets his tour manager pour the stuff down the front of the guitarist’s white shirt. It's fake blood, obviously (zesty mint flavour, no less, and at $35 per quart, a right bargain as well) - most of it. anyway. The krowy dripping from Gerard's mouth is painfully real. Earlier this afternoon, during the band's 4:25pm set on the Warped Tour second stage (the venue's main stage), he accidentally smashed himself in the face with the microphone. THERAPY ROCK At first glance. Gerard Way resembles notorious black-metal imp Dani Filth - only better looking and. like, taller. Way and the rest of MCR espouse the kind of neogoth ’n' roll that requires a generous application of mascara. Iron Malden guitar acrobatics, and an unusual affinity for things like bats, blood, and. um. zombie cheerleaders. Their major label debut. 'Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge', is a lyrically ambitious emorock fanusy headache detailing the presumably complex relationship between two dead lovers and "the corpses of a thousand evil men" left in their wake. Shit, there's even a song about playing tonsil hockey with The Used's Bert McCracken (the aptly-titled 'You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Prison'). "I probably shouldn't even say that," Way laughs. "I've never even told my girlfriend about it It happened when Bert and I were playing Truth Or Dare - when you’re kissing a guy with a beard, it’s different." Today's injury is nothing new for Way. MCR's website even has mock New Jersey Medical Center County Hospital "Lab Reports’ detailing the members' various injuries and ailments. *1 had the top of my lip tom off," Way tells us. "I don't even have that little piece of flesh that connects to my gums anymore. At a show, my head connected with another kid's head and now • that little piece) is gone. 1 was gushing blood, but the only thing I was concerned about was whether people could actually understand what I was saving while we finished the song." Such triumphs of the will are what constitute MCR's daily existence. Way's ongoing battle with depression and now. apparently, excessive drinking - go a long way toward explaining why he thanks not one but two headshrinkers in the 'Three Cheers...’ liner notes. "One was my therapist before the band, and the other is still my therapist," he explains. "I didn't thank them to get cool points, but to show In a way that it's okay to have a therapist. They ask a lot of questions about the band and my music because it's my whole life. By figuring out how my band works, they figure out how my brain works." Way's current therapist has even managed to convince him that the trials and tribulations of a certain vintage folk-pop duo are not unlike those currently being encountered by MCR. •My therapist right now. Bruce, is a big fan of Simon 4 Garfunkel, and he relates the menu! stuff they went through to my band. He does It in this hippie way, which is kind of alien to me. but we talk a lot about alcoholism. (Bruce) was very adamant about getting me to stop drinking, but I haven't. I think I'm gonna take action soon, though. It gets to the point where the after-show dnnk becomes getting up at 10 or 11 and thinking you need a drink lust to function. And sometimes it's more readily available than water. We're usually playing at a bar. so they've already got the beer." HOME SWEET HOME Before MCR formed. Way and the rest of his future bandmates were toiling away at crappy |obs In their native New Jersey, a place Way maintains a love/hate relationship with. "The worst thing about Jersey is that it's a microcosm that sucks you in. Everything's within an hour of your grasp - malls, jobs, drugs, liquor, trashy women. You never have to leave a SO mile radius. You’ll never see anything beautiful, but you're satisfied as a standard American consumer." On the other hand, 'the best thing about Jersey is that It’s honest. It’s got a vibe very much like New York City, only more family - it's got this camaraderie to it that a lot of states don't have." In Jersey. Way ach.evtd moderate success drawing comics and illustrations before turning to musk as a creative outlet. He did, however, draw the album cover and tray-card art foe 'Three Cheers...'. “I've been drawing since I was a little kid. but I didn't really rake it seriously until high school." the singer explains. "That's when I realized I wouldn't be able to hold a normal job. I was a cart boy at a supermarket, so I had my taste of manual labour, and I hated it." So, naturally, Way went to an school. ‘I’m kind of what you'd call a failed starving artist, in the sense that I found a different art that I can live off of - which is all I ever wanted from comics and illustration. ( had a lot of fans, but it's a terrible industry, with not a lot to go around. Most comic artists 1 know are in their 30s, because that’s how long it took them to break in. I'm 27 now, and I needed something more immediate. I hated drawing something and having a couple people took at it and go. 'Oh, this is cool...' 1 needed immediate gratification, and some kind of therapy. The band is both those things rolled Into one." WARPED MENTALITY Despite the fact that MCR are consistently greeted onstage with the emo sieg hell (extend both arms over head, wave back and forth, repeat), playing the Warped Tour has been eye opening, to say the least. “We’re not a festival band," Way contends, "playing during the day was something we had to get over. I was like, ’Uh, this sun stuff kinda sucks'. Luckily, we played a few other festivals this year ar like 11:30 in the morning, so that kind of broke us in." Playing outdoors In the summer heat (and full black regalia and make up) isn't the only thing MCR struggled with. Two or three days Into the tour, Way overheard the singer of another band call an audience member a “faggot* over the microphone. “I won’t say the name of the band, but they've been around for a while," Way hedges. “He wasn't using it to make a point or anything - he was trying to make the kid feel uncomfortable for wearing make-up, or whatever the kid did. I was like. ‘This is fucked up - we're on Warped Tour - how did this band even gel on here?' Everyone I talked ro about it made excuses for the (singer), like, 'Oh, he's been doing that shit for 10 years.’ So 1 made it a point to address homophobia onstage every day.* “Some of the bands playing this tour think homosexuality is funny," Way adds. “They're still living in 1092, and that's the kind of shit that made high school unbearable for some of my friends. I had a hard time in high school because of shit like that, and I'm straight. It’s this Jock mentality that should have nothing to do with punk rock -or rock n’ roll, for that matter.'' The problem, of course, is that when punk rock becomes the Warped Tour, It’s no longer punk rock. And the jocks are everywhere, especially onstage. "When you're drawing tens of thousands of kids every day, it's not punk rock - it's mainstream," Way agrees. According to Way, when Warped founder Kevin Lyman caught wind of the animosity between the two bands, he scheduled them to play back to back on the same stage. “We played and then they played," Way says. “But instead of playing, they just talked shit on us, called us faggots and said I took a dick in the ass. But at least he v/asn't picking on some 16 year old kid who's gonna go home and feel like he was unwelcome at the show." Ultimately, Warped Tour ended up being a positive experience for Way and MCR. “The tour was amazing, because It gave us a voice - it gave us something to fight for besides 'Fuck Bush’. I really respect (he bands that use (Warped) as a political platform -like Anti-Flag. NOFX, and Alkaline Trio - but there was nobody telling you how to treat your neighbour. That became kind of taboo on this tour, but it’s what garnered us so much support from our idols, who’d come and watch us every day, and it gave us a voice. When you’re in the studio recording albums, you lose your voice; you forget what it’s like to play live or be called a faggot,” Way laughs. “Until you get called one by a 40-year-old loser in a punk band that’s going nowhere.” ‘Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge’ is out now on Reprise. Website: www.mychemicalromance.com -- rock sound makes My Chemical Romance mainman Gerard Way pick sides Maiden or Priest? “Maiden, definitely. Something about how high Halford’s voice was, I didn’t like it. I loved the fact that Iron Maiden sang about dragons and World War II; I couldn’t tell you what Judas Priest was singing about. I actually saw Bruce Dickinson on a crowded street in New York City once, and ran after him and told him that he was the reason I’m doing what I’m doing. He was wearing shorts and a purple T-shirt.” Zeppelin or Sabbath? “Sabbath. (Laughs) I like Zeppelin okay, but they were a little too hippie-ish. Sabbath’s just got a dirtiness to it. They didn’t mind pissing people off, whereas Zeppelin only pissed people off with their abuse of substances.” Madonna or Kylie? “Madonna, only because 1 grew up on her. I love Kylie, too, though - she’s not as trendy as Madonna. But Madonna is so sexy and intelligent. Can we pinpoint when she went from dumb blonde to, like, genius?” j | |||||||||
34 | Rolling Stone | 10 | 2004 | Gerard Way | Jenny Eluscu | x | The most miserable, catchiest new band of the year WHO The New Jersey scrcamo band got together in 2001. after singer Gerard Way suffered a nervous breakdown. “! was a failed comic-book artist.” he says. “I’d had a shitty year, and I was like. ‘1 need to do something more meaningful.’ ” SOUND Scary-sad punk that lives up to emo’s unspoken promise: that sometimes the most miserable songs are also the easiest ones to sing along with. Though My Chemical Romance have built a following touring with fellow scrcamo bands such as the Used, their music is a weirdly catchy hybrid of goth. glam, metal and punk. "A big inspiration for us goes back to the glam era, where there was an element of theater involved in rock of roll,” says Way. “We love bands like Queen, where it’s huge and majestic, but also bands like Black Hag and the Misfits, who would go absolutely crazy." CLEAN LIVING Way recently decided to stop getting wasted as a method of coping with his problems. Though he says the first few performances were rough, he’s starting to dig playing shows sober. He says he realized that “I’m really this nuts on my own.” LOOK FOR Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, the band’s second disc, out now. “It’s about two Bonnie and Clyde-type lovers who die in the desert in a gunfight." Way says. “The guy goes to hell and meets the devil. But the woman isn’t there, and the devil says they can only be reunited if the guy brings him the souls of 1.000 evil men.” jenny eliscu | ||||||||||
35 | Threat | 10 | 2004 | Gerard Way | Mikael Wood | x | Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, touring, Smashing Pumpkins, Green Day, addiction, Warped tour 2004, The Black Parade | PROFILE: MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE FALLEN BAND MEMBERS, GRUELING TOURS, AND RAMPANT ALCOHOLISM AREN’T ENOUGH TO MAKE THIS BAND NOT OKAY. In the event that your 75-year-old grandmother pulls you aside at Thanksgiving dinner this year and tells you she doesn’t know what on earth your little brother was talking about when he requested a screamo CD for Christmas, tei her to buy Three Cheers tor Sweet Revenge. the second album by New Jersey s My Chemical Romance. The follow-up to the band's 2002 md*o debut, i Brought Ybu My Bullets. You Brought Me Your Love-wh»ch won them a devoted underground foilowing and major-label love from Repose Records-features glass-shattenng gutar toaf. wmd-benaath-youf-wings choruses, tyncs about corvung back from tno dead. and. m frontman Gerard Way. one of the scene's most compelling personalities (Imagine Johnny Depp crossed with Glenn Daring in his pre-meathead, Misfils-fronting days : Now major players m the screamo scene they inherited from bands Wee fellow Jersey denizens Thursday (whose Geoff Rickty produced Brought Me Your Love], MCR formed wtien Way and h<s bass playrig knottier Mikey invoked up with gurtan$ts Ray Toro and Frank lero and drummer Matt Pefcssier, a pal o! Way's from hgh school Before the band released its debut. Way was working as an animator in New York (a background Way credits with facilitating MCR's cartoon-goth magefy). but touring soon got m the way; the currently road-bound snger hasn't held down a day job since 2002. After comng oft Warped Tour this past summer, the band unotfiCiaty replaced Petasier with new dnjmmer Bob Bryar, for reasons Way ts none too enthusiastic to discuss "There's definitely some bad blood about it." he says with some coaxing. 'There's a lot of gossip and txisM for no reason." We called Way on hrs cellphone as he shopped for art books at a Barnes & Noble in Sait Lake Qty and asked Nm about graduating from emo day school Ever since you guys released Throe Cheers for Sweet Revenge, more people have been buying your CDs, more people have been going to your shows, more people know about your band. Three Cheers merits that new level of attention — there's something grand or epic about it. Gerard Way: I absolutely agree with you. Wtien we set out to make this record, that's exactly wiial we strove for. First and foremost, we wanted to make a record that we really cared about, a record of which we could say that we really liked every song. We an kind of agreed that we wouldn't put a song on this record if we (Mn'i like it. The other tfwng was—and this is not to knock anybody or prxnt fingers or anything—there’s a lot of bands that may be our peers that, for the sake of keeping artistic integnty or maybe caring a little too much what the fans think, don't really take a tot ol risks. We left that we had to take absolutely every nsk we could. What kind of risks? Writing a song as drect as "I'm Not Okay.’ which is basically a cry for help set to pop muse Putting a cabaret song like "You Know What They Do to Guys Like Us in Prison" on the record They’re not run-ot-themi for a band like ours, and they’re kind of what we had butt up to. We kind ol leapt almost two records ahead But that's the way it's always felt with this band. We've always had a very accelerated growth. We wanted to make something like [Smashing Pumpkins'] Samese Dream Obviously, the record doesn't sound like Siamese Dream, but what we wanted to do was take what we did on our first record and make it very refined. Have you guys ever felt hemmed in by what people want? There was a very brief moment, but we addressed it. I don’t think we ever gave anybody illusions that we weren’t ever gonna do whatever the fuck we wanted. I think if people ever had any other concept of that, or if they ever thought that they had ownership over what we do, I think they were just really mistaken and read us wrong. Have you ever done that to a band you loved? Growing up I was a huge Green Day tan. and I saw what kind of went down with them In high school, my tnends and I all got Kerplunk together—we loved the band. Then Dootae came out it was by far ther best record—it was amazing. But when it got popular all of a sudden, a lot of my friends were like, “Oh. I don't like Green Day anymore." Now. granted, in high school. I wouldn't go around wearing a Dookte T-shirt. But I st* played the shit out of that record, and I would never, ever not support them just because somebody next to me likes them. Which seemed more absurd to you back then: rejecting a band because they were popular or not rejecting them? I think the fact that people would reject a band because they're popular is the absurd idea. The lines get blurred because, unfortunately, a lot of very popular bands aren't necossanty the best bands in the world and aren’t necessarily the most genuine acts in the world. What's an insincere reason for being a band? Fame. Money. Sustaining yourself and being a mdhonture are two different things. I don’t think there's anybody in the world that would say, "Oh. you can take all this money back I don't want it * We’ve got families we all wanna take care of: we have parents, and a lot of them are gettog older But it's not why we do it. Fame and victory and glory are afl different things. People often confuse fame for glory. We re not a band that does things for glory. It's more about making a mark and makmg a deference than makmg yourself this kind of idol. What bands have served as role models for you in that respect? Iron Maiden They wanted victory. You can toil just by the way they play onstage when they're playing live-they're not showrig off They're not an elrtist band You go to a parking lot ot an Iron Maiden show and you see everyone from eight-year-old kids with the* older parents to teenagers to guys who work as mechanics to truckers to housewives Tell me about the touring life. Do you enjoy it? Does it get exhausting? There was a point where the band was like. "We’re touting because we feel that wo have to." There was definitely a moment of unhappiness, of being overwhelmed. And there was a lineup change, and it changed everything about how we looked at what we were dong And there are other thngs. too. Tm an alcoholic and I quit dnnkmg I’ve been sober for almost a month, and I've played 12 shows sober The first 12 shows I've over been sober tor. How's that been? It’s been excellent. I love it 1he first week. I didn't know if I was gonna make it. I thought I was gonna have to have a drink to go on. Because you got so used to something and you feel like you're portrayng this character, and eventually the character becomes you Then that character starts to run your health and you ble and your relationships with your loved ones and your band You're bke. "Well. I could be crazy. I could be drunk and I could try to keep ths up for the next year, and then I'm probably gonna end up dead." So you say to yourself, "This has to stop ’ When did things get out of control? Aroimd Warped Tour Because it's ths very friendly kind of summer-camp atmosphere, but everybody's old enough to get luckrig destroyed I woJd be drunk usualy by the time wo played, which sometimes could have been noon. After that I woUd con true dnnking until about four in the mommy and just get anrMMated And I wtxid take pis to go to sleep. I was dnnking a depressant and combatrig it with an antidepressant to finaty make my bran ahU off Has music played a different role in your life since you've stopped drinking? We have a lot more ton onstage. It's less about hurting ourselves; it's more about, let’s have a fuckng good bme and get these demons ou of our bocies The new material we're writing is very much about salvation, redemption. I feel like this band saved my He. and for me that's worth at leas: another three years with these guys, in a way the band is becoming my rehgron. it's becoming what I bebeve tn and what I care about. Mikael Wood | |||||||||
36 | Grind House (Japan) | 11 | 2004 | x | Japanese | ||||||||||||
37 | Kerrang! | 11 | 2004 | Gerard Way | x | The Sims, video games | GET THIS! GERARD WAY, MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE RECOMMENDS... THE SIMS 2 (PC EA. £29.99) ’What I like about The Sims’ is that I don’t have a normal life at all. so I play this game where these people have these really boring, mundane lives. It's fun. My Sims family is called the Cholly family. I don't know why I picked that name: it's kind of random. The teenage daughter is my favourite, because I just had her go through this Goth phase. She’s really kind of nerdy and she just became a concert violinist, which is pretty huge for the family. And she got into private school. But she started wearing black lipstick and she died her hair purple. It's pretty huge." HEAT SEEKER! ESSENTIAL TRACKS TO BUY OR BURN THIS WEEK... TRACK OF THE WEEK MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE YOU KNOW WHAT THEY DO TO GUYS LIKE US IN PRISON They started the year as just another screamo act they end it poised on the brink of mainstream stardom. MCR are an extraordinary band, and 'You Know What They Do...' captures their unique appeal perfectly. Passionate and visceral - yet weirdly theatrical - it packs more drama into three minutes than most bands manage in a whole career. Essential. FIND IT: www.purevolumc.com | ||||||||||
38 | Metal Hammer | 11 | 2004 | Frank Iero, Ray Toro, Gerard Way, Mikey Way, Bob Bryar | x | Fan questions | They run away from moose like girls, they think a sheet of glass is adequate protection from being shot in the face by gang bangers and their recipes include fresh urine. ‘What the hell is up with Hew Jersey’s hnest punk mctallcrs?' roars Cardinal Doran. Snapping hngers: Brother Daki THE SPANISH INQUISITION MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE Why are you guys soooooo cool?? Thomas, via email Gerard: We can answer this question. (Massive pause.) Er, shit, let me answer this with a question. Why is Brody Dalle from The Distillers so hot?" (Another massive pause.) I guess we're cool because we're just like Thomas. Unless he's a serial killer or something. We're just the kids who didn't fit in at school and that's how we found each other. We were always on the outside looking in and it depends on whether you think that's cool or not.' Hammer. Off stage though and outside of musk, who is the coolest, the most goddamn suave when chatting to the ladies? All bar Mikey in unison: 'Mikey.' Hammer. Is it your uncanny Jarvis Cocker impersonation? Mikey: "Yeah dude, it gets them every time. No it s 8ob; the ladies are suckers for his beard.' Hammer. They suck his beard? He must have some good lines. Gerard, have you any plans to do any more artwork for future albums and how much would it cost to get you to play in my front room? Name taken, via Hammer message board Gerard:'Yes and 20 bucks.' Hammer. I suppose there may be people who don’t know that you do all the artwork. Gerard: 'I did the art for both of the records. The first one - 'I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love' - because I didn't want photographic artwork, so we got the picture, photocopied it, put some Ajax on it and put some cellophane on that. It’s not actually a digital image like most people think. Then the second album - 'Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge -was all done in watercolours and paint. And, yes, I want to do all of our album covers. I don't get chance to do half as much artwork as I’d like." Hammer: Talking of front rooms, what's the smallest gig you've ever played since you've been releasing records? Ray: "We played a basement in Philly in front of five people, a major record label rep and a homeless person.' Frank: The homeless guy had a tape recorder tied on a string 62 MCTALMAMMERCO.UK round his neck; he bootlegged the gig and then tried to sell it back to us afterwards. It was very enterprising of him." nave you ever thought of doing a cover? The Drifter, via Hammer message board Gerard: 'Well we did. We played 'Jack The Ripper', a Morrissey b-side, at the same time the first record was out because we just didn't have enough songs. We did that for years cos we only had five songs and our sets would have been over too quickly.* Hammer. We tend to hate it when bands do either exact copies of songs or when they do really obvious songs; what rules do you think apply to cover versions? Ray: 'The band you cover have got to be over and done with or at least on their 10th album or whatever.' Frank: 'Yeah, so like it doesn't matter if it's Aerosmith - not that you should try to do an Aerosmith cover anyway - but how are you going to improve that?' Mikey: "Johnny And Mary' by Placebo (originally by now deceased suave ladies man, Robert Palmer - OAP Ed) is an interesting cover.' Ray: "Just don't do anything obvious. Not covering a hit should be another rule. Placebo also covered ■Where Is My Mind' by The Pixies (American rock heroes that influenced Nirvana) and you can'1 do that. How many bands do that song? Too many.' Gerard, how do you feel about the comment that you look like Drew Barrymore in ET1 Ant, Birmingham Gerard: 'Where does this come from?" Hammer. I think it was originally from a Hammer live review ages ago. Gerard: 'I always get compared to some Hollywood starlet or other. Especially Christina Ricci.' Hammer. I'm never going to be able to watch the bit where she does that really sexy tap dance, wearing that amazingly short skirt m Buffalo 66 ever again. I hat do you feel about the claim that you 11’ are goths? AH, from Reading Gerard (who is dressed entirely in black, has long black hair and loads of make up on to appear like he has the three day dead eyes of a ghoul): 'It doesn't really bother us. I think it comes from our song ’Vampires Will Never Hurt You'. I mean, I always dress in black; the whole of the band always dress in Mack but that isn’t really goth to me. Bauhaus were goth; the Srsters of Mercy are goth. I think it has more to do with the sound of the music and our sound is more punk rock. All that goth music is good stuff though; I just don't think we sound like that." U"hy not play a show in Iceland? Its not a bad idea. Icelondk name, Ireland Gerard:'I would love to." Frank: Tve heard it's fucking beautiful." Gerard: 'We're always up for doing stuff like that in different countries and what I always say is‘If you can find a promoter who is willing to bring us over then well doit.” ney guys, sorry to ask the obvious but what happened to Matt (the band's dour and slightly older ex drummer)? Alexandra Rose, via Hammer messageboard Gerard: 'We’d rather not talk about this because we re notashit-talkingband* MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE 41 just rolled the window up. _1 couldn’t think of anything else to do. ‘Phew. I’m safe from j he .375 gun now that I’ve rolled! " the fucking window up.’r Frank: 'It's just not anyone's business. We don't feel we need to talk about stuff like this.* Hammer. Well. I ll turn the question around: (an you tell us about the background of your new member Bob. who's replaced him? (The entire band turn round to Bob. who is dozing in the corner with his hoody pulled up, and laugh.) All: 'Bob, what's your background?’ Bob (groggily): *1 started playing drums when I was three and then after school, I worked my way into the music business, working in musk stores and record shops. I started doing drum tech stuff and I always ended up hanging around with My (hemical Romance whenever I worked with them.’ U’hat are MCR's favourite sandwich fillings? Your biggest fan, Northern Ireland Rae: ’Turkey and Gruyere.' Frank: Eggplant (Aubergine American Ed) and parmesan.’ Mikey: 'Grilled cheese and tomato.' Hammer Ah, poor man’s pizza. Bob: ’Tuna mayonnaise.' Hammer. While we're on the subject, who is the best cook in the band? Ray: Well, I know that Bob can actually cook. Bob. how do you cook them steaks?' Bob: 'I get some steak and some vinegar and some other shit. I could tell you but I'd have to kill you. Shit, I don't know. I can cook really good if I've got a book in front of me.’ Gerard: Hext time l‘m over I'm going to cook all of Metal Hammett readers a chick pea curry. It tastes really good." Frank: 'If you are making a chicken (aesar salad you should put powdered onions into the dressing and it tastes really nice.' Hammer. Onions? In powder form? Really? What kind of insanity is that? Frank: 'You guys don't have powdered onions? You are so B(' Hammer. Goddamnit. You can't speak to a member of Her Majesty's Metal Press like that. 8ut let me know where we can get this shit, we’re thinking of launching a sister title Metal And Modern (oakery Hammer. All:'Awesome!' To the guy with the big hair (Ray), do you actually like Iron Maiden or are you just being cool? Insane Angel, via Hammer message board Ray: .. Gerard: 'Woah!' Bob: Ha! Ha1 Ha1’ Ray: . (starts shaking) Frank:'Oh my God1’ Ray: .. (smoke starts pouring from hrs ears) Mikey: “What a fucking question!' Ray (with barely controlled anger, through gritted teeth): 'No. I hate them. They're fucking shit. That's a fucked up question you shit head!’ Gerard: Io be fair it's a valid question. You do see a lot of young chickswearing Maiden t-shirts who are just doing it because it is a fashion thing to do.' Hammer. So we can safely assume you are all Maiden fans? All:'Dude! Of course!' Hammer. In that case can you all give me a surprising Bruce Dickinson fact? Mikey: 'He was an Olympic fencer.' Ray: 'He wrote books on how to get on in the music biz.' Gerard: "He is a trained pilot dude!’ Frank: 'Do you know how in the 70s Bowie started thinking he was Ziggy Stardust? Well, I think Bruce Dickinson is the same with lord Iffy Boat Rate (Main character from Dicko's 'comedy' novels).' now do you feel about the criticism you receive from the metal community? Chris, via email Gerard: 'I’m not sure what he's talking about. If he means about the people who remember us from being in a hardcore band who call us faggots on the internet then we're not really bothered. We get called faggots a lot but, you know, so what? Generally we tend not to read about ourselves. Live reviews are handy because you can learn stuff from them but generally not.” Do you consider yourselves a metal band? Grate, London Gerard: 'Metal is a big influence. If you think about the i power, the screaming, the guitars etc then it is quite metal 1 but it sounds like punk to me ’ Mikey: 'We re also metal in the sense that we've a lot of metal on our instruments and I have quite a lot on my belt buckle as well." Gerard: If we're metal then were very traditionally metal. Iron Maiden are an influence as are Helloween, don't ever forget Helloween!" Hammer, in that case, is your song 'Thank You For The Venom' an ABBA style tribute to the large haired black metal poodle rockers from Newcastle. England? Gerard:'Eh?" Hammer, it doesn't matter. Gerard: 'That song ts a sarcastic statement, a bit like saying Thanks for turning my fife’. It was something I had written on my t-shirt the first ever gig we played." Uf hat would you do if you ever encountered a moose? Would you run like a girl or stand and face it like a man? Goldfinger, via Hammer menage board Frank: Has Goldfinger ever seen any mooses’" Mikey: 'That isn't the plural of moose. It's moosi.* Gerard: "Fuck off. it's meese." Frank: Has Goldfinger ever seen a flock of meese advancing on him? It’s a terrifying sight. They aren't small creatures. You would just run off like a girl or a boy. What does running like a girl mean anyway?' Mikey: 'I've seen one. I d run like a girl for sure. They're massive. If you run over one you're fucked. They come in through your windscreen kicking.' 8ob: 'People think that moose are really gentle and goofy but they aren't; they're fucking animals.' Hammer. What is the most exotic piece of wildlife you’ve ever encountered on tour? Gerard: *1 saw some grizzly beats in Canada.* Ray: "I saw a coyote.* Bob: 'Ray saw this girl in Chicago. She was fucking exotic' Ray: Oh shit. She pelted me with chicken-flavoured crackers. Do you remember the homeless lady as well? She was this really old lady with this faint voice that I found when I was getting on the tour bus one night. She said. Can I sleep here tonight?' and I was like, No way lady, get the hell off the bus.' And then I realised that she had wrenched the window off the side of the bus to get in.* Hammer. You have more stories about homeless people than any other band that we've met. Gerard: 'That's because they are out core audience. Mikey: 'We re very attractive to them because we dress like homeless people.* Hammer. I saw a moose once. It was bearing down on me with a semi-on and a heart full of hatred Gerard: 'You're making this up aren't your Hammer. Er. yes. Do you like the French? Paul, Kingston Upon Thames Gerard: Oh. That is such a loaded question Frank: Well. I'm going to say no because when we've toured there they’ve never been anything but mean to us." Hammer. Well, you’re in good company. I know Andrew Eldritch, from the Sisters Of Mercy, said if he had one wish be would make France sink into the sea except for all of the pretty girls aged between 18 and 26, who he would levitate to safety.' All, cracking up: 'Awesome!' Hammer. Yeah, they are an easy target. Wasn't it Donald Rumsfeld who said that going to war in Iraq without the French was like going hunting without an accordion? Frank: 'Brilliant.' Can you clear this up for us once and for all; which one of the Village People was actually gay? Iron Monkey, via Hammer menage board Gerard (without pause): "The Construction Worker.' You guys rule live. What British band would you like to play with in the future? Hollow Man, via Hammer message board Frank: "Muse." Mikey: "Muse." Ray: "Funeral For A Friend." Gerard: "Yeah. Funeral For A Friend again." Have any of you ever been shot and/or stabbed? Andy, Bristol Ray: We nearly got shot recently. We were stuck in a traffic jam and our manager got into this argument with these Puerto Rican guys and told them to go fuck themselves. They pulled up next to us and got a gun out. Our manager was trying to grab the gun. I thought we were fucked for sure." Bob: "I just rolled the window up. I couldn't think of anything else to do. Phew. I'm safe from the 375 gun now that I've rolled the fucking window up." Hammer. Were you scared ? Bob: 'Nah. I'm full of piss and vinegar.’ Hammer. Ah ha! So that’s what's in your secret steak marinade1 Bob: 'Shit yeah! I piss on my steak. Now I’m gonna have to kill you.' ■ Rock journalists suck big dogs' cocks. And they smell. Really bad. Like burning ammonia. Take over by asking the questions that matter to you. See www.metalhammer.co.uk/ Spanish for who the Inquisition are gonna be quizzing in the coming months and how to ask your questions. Arrivetderch. | ||||||||||
39 | Rock Sound | 11 | 2004 | Andrew Kelham | x (alt) | Show review | ISSUE 66, NOVEMBER 2004 MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE ACADEMY III. MANCHESTER What is black, blue and Atticus all over? Tonight’s crowd for one thing, as a cursory glance around the venue shows that the emo urchins of Manchester all worship at the altar of denim, studded belts and distressed font merchandising with a strict devotion only matched by the Amish. The other object of their worship is My Chemical Romance, and as the band take to the stage the homogenised lump of mass that is this evening’s audience erupts with a fervour so desperate to see the band that it would frighten even the most ardent extremist. Rather than being intimidated, frontman Gerard Way embraces the passion and conducts the crowd like a gothic Greg Grafftn, enacting and emoting every word that leaves his mouth, exhorting the crowd with the cathartic choruses of old classics like ‘Our Lady Of Sorrows’ and the hopeless hymns of newer favourites ‘Helena’ and 'You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Prison’. Playing only his 15th sober show, Way is alive onstage; kicking, spitting, screaming and throwing twisted rock shapes only before seen by rock mentalist Andrew W.K. The rest of the band are awesome too, but you get the all too distinct and unfortunate impression that no one really came here to see them. As the anxiety anthem ‘I’m Not Okay (I Promise)’ brings the night to a raucous close it punctuates a night of precise and personal anthems of the times and lives of those in attendance, soundtracks so powerful they’ll ring like tinnitus long into the night on the lonely ride home. Way and company leave the stage heroes, and the identical individuals all leave the venue making plans to go buy some black make-up and grow their hair long. ANDREW KELHAM | ||||||||||
40 | Guitar Breakers (Japan) | 12 | 2004 | Frank Iero, Ray Toro | Kenta Sugawara (interviewer & text), Yuriko Banno (interpreter), Yuko Kubota (translator), Yougo Yokoyama (commentary) | x | Japanese | ||||||||||
41 | Guitar World | 12 | 2004 | Frank Iero, Ray Toro | Jeff Inman | x | Gear | Blood in the Tracks Punk rockers My Chemical Romance weave a tangled web of love and vengeance on Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge. By JEFF INMAN Photograph by BRIAN GABERMAN When My Chemical Romance started working on their sophomore record. Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge (Reprise), guitarist Ray Toto wasn’t aware he and his band mates were making emo’s answer to Romeo and Juliet. The New Jersey quintet had the entire album recorded before frontman Gerard Way revealed die lyrics, which draw upon Shakespeare’s tragic tale of love and revenge. Toto and the rest of the band were in shock. ‘The first rime we heard the record after Gerard did the vocals, we knew we had something special,” he says. “We were all blown away.” With good reason. While the band races through a barrage of punk incorporating eventhing from the Cure to Iron Maiden, Way crafts an epic gang-riddled tale—“the story of a man, a woman, and the corpses of a thousand evil men," according to the statement on the album’s inside sleeve. True to its claim, the disc has blockbuster shootouts (“Thank You for rhe Venom”), bullet-coated declarations of love (“Hang ’Em High”) and prison-bitch scenes (“You Know What They Do to Guys Like Us in Prison”), all of it coated in hyperactive riffs and elephant-sized hooks. And at the album’s climax, when tragedy strikes. Way’s lead character makes his dying request to his girlfriend with classic vengeance: “Promise me when I’m gone you’ll kill my enemies,” he asks on “It’s Not a Fashion Statement, It’s a Fucking Deathwish.” Shakespeare couldn’t have devised a more appropriate ending. “We cover such an unreal amount of ground on this record, you should probably be exhausted after listening to it,” says lero. “I know sometimes I am.” “But this is our stuff. This is our music,” adds Toto. “I don’t think we’d settle for something small.” ■ AXOLOGY GUITARS (both) Epiphone Les Paul Elite Series AMPS (Toto) Marshall JCM2000; (lero) Marshall JCM900 STRINGS (Toto) GHS Boomers (medium); (lero) D'Addario XL EJ22 | |||||||||
42 | Inrock (Japan) | 12 | 2004 | Frank Iero | Ai Anazawa | (translation) | Japanese | My Chemical Romance, whose performance at Summer Sonic their first time in Japan was sexy and laced with danger, will return to Japan this February. The truth is that My Chemical Romance went through a rough period right after Summer Sonic – their original drummer was kicked out, and the depression accompanying Gerard’s alcoholism took a turn for the worse. But now that they’ve gotten through that, the band comes to Japan bound by their strongest bond ever. Their tour just ended today, and I was able to catch up with Frank, who was hanging out at his girlfriend’s place. He’s the really cute guitarist who likes ‘Harry Potter’ and dogs. 2004 was a very full year for My Chemical Romance, you were accepted not only in the US, but other countries as well. Frank: It was a feeling like nothing we’d ever experienced before. We got to go to countries we never dreamed we’d get to see, meet people we never dreamed we’d get to meet, and even more than that, everyone accepted our band and sang along with us. We reached a goal we never though we would reach. So it looks like a lot happened after Summer Sonic. Matt left and you got a new drummer, Bob Bryer… Frank: And Gerard went sober too. Right. So, I heard that you said that when Bob joined, the way you looked at the band did a complete 180. Frank: That’s right. If Matt hadn’t left, I don’t think we would have had a future as a band. Even as a family things between us had became a burden, and it was really hard. But now we can enjoy touring from the bottom of our hearts. Whatever we’re doing now, we all do things together now, I mean, none of us wants to leave the others, and there are no fights or any bad tension between any of us. I guess you could say we’ve really become a family now. That’s how much this band has changed. We can finally work as a single unit. Did you grow up with Bob? Frank: About a year after we formed the band we toured with the Used, and Bob was their soundman, so we’ve known him since then. But at first we didn’t know he played the drums at all. And then just about the time that we stopped getting along with Matt, we learned that Bob could play the drums, and we had him help us out on a few shows, and it went really well. I see. Other than the member change, I’m sure that Gerard admitting that he was an alcoholic, and his going sober had a big impact on the band. Did you all know that he drank too much? Frank: Sort of. But it was just sort of like that’s how he always was, and no one thought that things had gotten that bad. But we understood that he had a problem and when Gerard realized it himself and got help we were really relieved. It’s good that he realized he had a problem and talked about it instead of hiding it too. Frank: That’s true. His theory is that if he talks about it openly instead of hiding it, then he can help people who have the same problem. That maybe his own experiences can help others. At Summer Sonic, Gerard said that this band saved him from the darkness of depression. And that with his alcoholism as well, this band is the only thing that can stabilize his unstable mental condition, and that it’s the most important thing in the world to him. Can you say the same? Frank: Not just me, we’ve all been saved in different ways by this band. Saved from a normal life in New Jersey, saved from everyday trials. And I think that a big thing has been that we have a sense of our goals now. Being around Gerald all the time, who is sweet, but so fragile, how do you keep your own mental state balanced? Frank: We don’t think of each other as fragile. Gerard and I get depressed the most easily, and are the most empathetic, and Mikey has the most carefree personality. It’s funny, because Mikey is Gerard’s younger brother… For example, if you were depressed, and you turned around and saw that Gerard was depressed too, what do you do? Frank: As much as we can, we try to say to each other, ‘Hey, I know you’re depressed. Try to talk about it.’ But you know, even though we always tell each other that, I don’t think we’ve ever actually talked to each other. (he laughs) Because both of us either just bottle it up inside, or call friends from home. Of course he’s like my brother, so I want to do everything I can. Even though I don’t know what ‘everything I can’ is yet. By the way, this may be a little too soon to ask, but have you started writing songs for your next album? Frank: We’re always writing songs. We’ve written about three or four songs. I can’t say for sure they’ll end up on our next album, but there are a lot of things we want to do. We want to try a lot of different styles, and we’re aiming for a bigger, more dynamic sound. More than showing a different side of ourselves on each album, we think it should be a kind of evolution. Um, I hear some dogs barking… Frank: That’s my dogs. I have two pugs and a boxer. (he laughs) They want me to feed them. Now that the tour is over, what are you doing on days like today when you’ve got free time? Frank: Just boring things. I read books – I think I read too much. I watch a lot of movies too, and play video games, write pointless stuff in notebooks. (he laughs) What are you favorite books? Frank: I’m a big Harry Potter fan. (he laughs) I can’t wait for the next book. Hee hee. I also like Chuck Palahniuk’s books, like Fight Club or Lullaby. I also like Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs, but the more I try to understand what geniuses like them are saying, the more confused I get. (he laughs) Your first Japan Tour starts in February, what would you like to do in Japan this time? Frank: Last time we didn’t get to go anywhere but the venue for the festival, so I’d like to see more of Japan. I want to go to different temples, and I just want to walk around and look at things, just get lost. It shouldn’t be too hard to get lost. (laughter) Frank: Yeah, I bet you’re right. (he laughs) | |||||||||
43 | Rock Sound | 12 | 2004 | Frank Iero, Gerard Way, Mikey Way | Ken McGrath | x | Seven deadly sins | My Chemical Romance have certainly had plenty of time for sinning. rock sound collared them recently to reveal their guilty confessions. VANITY Gerard Way (vocals): "Vanity is a big subject in our songs. I think without vanity - the band, to a degree, doesn't work. There's an arrogance and vanity to it, but it's almost like a commentary on human behaviour. The song 'Honey, This Mirror Isn't Big Enough For The Two Of Us' was strictly about vanity. It's about being vain enough to live your life and do what you want. Maybe I'm [unclear], maybe it's just confidence, but it's [unclear] dabble in vanity or arrogance. It kind of gives you the power that you have as a band but we're, at the same time, keeping level-headed." ENVY Gerard: "Someone told me something a long time ago, it was a professor I had in art school. He said, 'You shouldn't have any enemies, because if you have any enemies that means you're acknowledging the fact that someone is as good as you and is your nemesis'. I like to think that I have no enemies because I'm just in a different spot than the other pople. Other people might be better tan me but they're not my enemies." GLUTTONY Mikey Way (bass): "I can eat my body weight in sushi. Easily." Gerard: "You've got to watch gluttony on the road once you start becoming comfortable, in the sense of a band that's being taken care of. You have to also watch what you eat at truck-spots." Mikey: "And if you eat too much sushi, you don't have any money." LUST Gerard: "There's always sex in rock 'n' roll, but definitely with our ilk, or where we come from as far as the scene we're from, I think one of the things that set us apart was the fact that there was that lustful aspect to the music. And the love show's a little trashy. It's been trashier at times, back when I was pretty wasted. You lose complete inhibition and you start [unclear] and doing all kinds of ridiculous things. [Unclear] I've fucked a couple of monitors." Frank Iero (guitar): "There's some illegitimate monitors out there." SLOTH Gerard: "We would love to be sloths." Mikey: "Throwing shit at each other." Gerard: "We have no time to be lazy, even when we're home and we got time off, we're still not fucking lazy. We still call each other up and say, 'Let's go write something'. I think sloth is the biggest enemy of this band 'cas we're so opposed to it. I just think that we can't let ourselves succumb to that." WRATH Gerard: "There's something that happened on Warped Tour that was a clear kind of indication of wrath in full-force. I really feel that band's just... I don't care how big they are. They're just a bunch of tourists. I don't think they're a valid band. I think they're just a novelty act." GREED Mikey: "We're really greedy about the electricty in our iPods. We hoard it. We're like, 'Yo, I'm only on half a fucking battery and I have a plane ride!'" Gerard: "This band is greedy about pillows." Frank: "Comfort." Gerard: "Comfort and iPod power." | |||||||||
44 | Alternative Press | 12 | 2004 | Frank Iero, Ray Toro, Gerard Way, Mikey Way, Matt Pelissier, Geoff Rickly, Alex Saavedra, Donna Way, Matt Skiba, Bob Bryar | Leslie Simon | (1) (2) (3) (Gerard's Art) (Context Transcript) | WELCOME TO ODESSA, TEXAS. More specifically, welcome to Dos Amigos Cantina, an old horse stable turned restaurant/nightclub that boasts beef on the hoof, the longest continuous bull-riding contest in the United States, and tonight, surprisingly, the opening date of the Nintendo Fusion Tour starring Story Of The Year, Letter Kills and New Jersey's finest, My Chemical Romance. Sure, the venue's had its share of rock shows-like a confederate hootenanny with David Allan Coe and a thunderous set by the Fabulous Thunderbirds-but these big-city outsiders can’t help wondering whether this gig got booked by mistake. Despite the backyard-barbeque décor (complete with picnic tables and bare feet) and the pony-tailed, refrigerator-sized security guards packing heat, everyone can sit back in their folding chairs and appreciate seeing mullets and Wrangler Jeans frolic in their natural habitat. As the sun begins to set, MCR take the stage-er, barn. The audience throws up the requisite rock-show devil horns, starts jumping up and down as if their feet were bungeed to a trampoline, and hoots and hollers loud enough to make Willie Nelson proud. From the opening guitar riff of “Thank You For The Venom" to the bitch-slap ballad “The Ghost Of You," My Chemical Romance sound like they’re successfully penetrating middle America. And for frontman Gerard Way-dapperly clad in a black suit with a white and black horizontally striped tie smeared with spit, blood and sweat-who once was kicked out of a rock band because he refused to sing Lynyrd Skynyrd's “Sweet Home Alabama," this overwhelming roar of acceptance makes the moment all the more sweet. It’s truly a beautiful mess, much like the happy accidents and unforeseen obstacles that have aided and threatened the band's career. The members of My Chemical Romance-singer Way, guitarists Frank lero and Ray Toro, bassist Mikey Way and drummer Bob Bryar-formed out of necessity and lived out of urgency. They played basements, recorded in attics and rode to shows in the back of an AAA tow truck. They opened shitty shows for shittier bands, and somewhere along the way made enough allies and enemies to fill the Père-Lanchaise cemetery. Some drank away their sorrows until they almost drowned, and others choked under the pressure. They refused to play by the rules, so they invented their own game. In a scant three years’ time, the members of MCR lived fast and almost died young. There aren't any celebrities in the crowd at the Odessa gig. There aren’t any industry types piling into the green room, drinking the band’s beer. There are no after-parties. There aren't even any drink tickets-not that the band members need them anymore. (After a trip to Japan where Gerard got sloshed in translation, the energetic frontman kicked the bottle, and a couple of other bad habits, cold turkey.) Amid at least algunos cientos amigos at Dos Amigos, a member of the tour's crew steps out of the bathroom and into the makeshift backstage bar. Still buckling his pants, he shakes his head in amazement, muttering to no one in particular, “It’s like being trapped in a bad episode of Jerry Springer? One question: Was there ever a good episode of Springer? REWIND 72 HOURS. Before My Chemical Romance conquered the Lone Star State, they pillaged the City Of Angels. Thanks to their violent imagery and horror-movie theatrics, the band have been asked for years about their participation in the occult. “As much as we shy away from the vampire, we know where it’s coming from," rationalizes Gerard. “It's coming from a whole fashion-scene, genre-esque thing that they’re trying to find out about." But tonight, it looks like life is imitating art. After a 14-hour international flight from London to Los Angeles, MCR are practically walking zombies-and the fact that they've unintentionally stumbled into an '80s night at a sushi joint down the street isn't helping. A 20-something waitress, probably an aspiring actress/model/future American Idol contestant, shimmies up to the table wearing an almost nonexistent neon-green ruffled mini and an infinitely deep V-necked hot-pink tank top, and practically screams the specials to the band while Billy Joel’s “Uptown Girl" plays in the background. “You guys over 21 ?" she barks. “Y’all wanna do some sake bombs?" Everyone at the table looks at one another, giggles and politely declines. Gerard simply smiles, uncomfortably. The band have just returned from a triumphant trip to the U.K., where Gerard and his gang of modern-day Charming Men were practically treated like royalty. “British people really get black humor, and that’s one of the strongest elements [of our band],” he waxes. “I think they heard emo and wanted something different. We are kind of the what-else-you-got of emo." MCR have traveled the world, seen a million faces and rocked them all-but nothing compares to Jersey. “Really, I don't know anything other than Jersey," says lero, leaning over a plate of soggy steamed vegetables and white rice. “I like the congestion. I like the dirtiness of it. Now I’m getting to see the world, and it’s great, but it’s not better than Jersey.” With the exception of Bryar-who grew up just outside of Chicago-the members of MCR-including founding member and original drummer Matt “Otter" Pelissier, who was recently asked to leave the bandcall North New Jersey home. They still live with their parents, and when they’re home (which isn't very often), they still hang out with the same friends and frequent the same haunts that inspired them to write the songs on their Eyeball Records debut, / Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love. “Me and Mikey couldn’t really play where we grew up, which was pretty much the same story with everybody, because it was so fucking dangerous,” says Gerard, a withdrawn child who was more interested in drawing and making up stories than playing with other kids. “We had to construct our own world we lived in constantly." The rough-and-tumble streets in and around Essex County, New Jersey, shaped the band members, from childhood to young adulthood. “My parents split up when I was pretty young, [and] my mom was kind of left to take care of everything. There were times when we really couldn’t even afford milk," says lero, who spent most of his younger years in and out of hospitals because of bronchitis and severe ear infections. “I don't know if it’s because I don’t see home anymore or [because] I’ll never change my opinion on it. I wouldn’t change my upbringing for the world." Toro, a quiet kid who wasn’t interested in anything but guitar, lived on a dead-end street on the border of Kearny and Harrison, New Jersey. “There was definitely a funny collection of people who would hang around my block,” he remembers with an awkward grin. “There was this guy named Bertine who was a drug addict, who, every couple of months, would OD outside my house. I would see an ambulance come and take him away." “Our parents were kind of scared to let us outside of the house, because where we lived was pretty dangerous," remembers Mikey, Gerard’s little brother and partner in crime. Ask Donna Way, the boys' mother, about Mikey's first steps, and she’ll tell you he didn’t, start by walkings he'd watch his brother run, try to chase after him and end up falling on his face. “We didn't have anyone else to hang out with. We had friends from the neighborhood, but it was mostly me and Gerard." “The way that Jersey is, it’s very sheltering, and you don’t have to develop," adds Gerard, perhaps thankful that the Garden State is now a nice place to visit, but he wouldn't want to live there-anymore. “You don’t have to grow. It’s kind of like this adolescence that lasts forever. I know 34-year-olds that still live like they were in high school." If not for the band, lero and Mikey would probably be college graduates, Toro might still be delivering film, and Gerard would still be living in his mom’s basement, trying to break into comics. It was the drive to make a difference, the lust for a life less ordinary and a fateful day in September that would eventually motivate five guys from the wrong side of town to form what would become My Chemical Romance. WHEN THE TWIN TOWERS COLLAPSED ON SEPT. 11, 2001, it was a time of self-reflection and réévaluation for the entire United States. It was like a voice in everyone’s head perked up and said, What are you doing with your life? Are you happy? Are you where you want to be? At least, those were some of the inner conflicts Gerard Way was dealing with. He was trying to sell an animated television series to the Cartoon Network called The Breakfast Monkey. It was about a Scandinavian flying imp who talked like Björk and harnessed a special power called Breakfast Magic, which meant he could manipulate and create an assorted menu of breakfast food. Cartoon Network turned down the pitch because they already had another food-related show in production-Aqua Teen Hunger Force. Gerard was discouraged and wanted to move his life in a new direction. “9/11 happened, and, literally, a week later, the phone calls were made." One phone call and an impromptu meeting at Passaic’s rocker bar, the Loop Lounge, would eventually change Gerard's life forever. “I ran into Matt at a bar and said, 'You know what? I’ve been writing songs. You're not doing anything, and I'm not doing anything, so let's get together and give it a shot.’" With a no-pressure commitment, Gerard played Pelissier a rough version of “Skylines And Turnstiles," and he liked what he heard. At the time, Gerard couldn’t play guitar and sing at the same time, so the duo called on Toro, Pelissier’s old highschool friend and former bandmate. “I talked to him that night and said the same thing I had said to Matt: No strings attached; you don't have to say yes or no. Just come, check it out and bring your guitar." The trio recorded a demo in Pelissier’s attic. “My attic had no walls," he says, laughing. “It was a wooden, run-down piece of crap. I had a really cheap 16-track board, and we had a bunch of crappy mics. I basically had the drums and guitars playing upstairs and ran mics down the stairs and had Gerard sing in the bathroom." What came out of those sessions were the blueprints for “Our Lady Of Sorrows" (original title: “Bring More Knives"), “Cubicles" and “Turnstiles." “You could hear that it was something really new, and it was kind of a weird idea, but for some reason, as poorly as it was coming together, it really worked,” remembers Gerard. “And a lot of people loved the demo." Including Mikey, who was so impressed that he decided to learn bass-having never picked up the instrument-so he could play in the band with his brother. At the time, Mikey was a fixture on the New Jersey music scene. If there was a party, Mikey was there. And if there was an Eyeball Records party, everyone was there. The house of Eyeball’s owner, Alex Saavedra, was a funhouse decorated with horror-movie memorabilia, toys and comic book collectibles, and soon became a punkrock bed and breakfast of sorts, the meeting place for some of Jersey's most musically creative minds, including members of Saves The Day, Midtown and Thursday. “Sometimes the parties were totally impromptu. It was just a bunch of guys at the house getting drunk, having fun, getting arrested and having to go to jail," remembers Thursday's Geoff Rickly, who ended up working closely with My Chemical Romance. “Then there were these huge parties Alex would throw that would be a few hundred people at the house. Half the Jersey scene would be there. It would be everyone from the kids who'd go to the shows to a lot of the bands to everyone who ran the clubs." It was this all-created-equal attitude that inspired a sense of community within the scene. A band's singer was no better than the guy who was checking IDs at the door, who was no better than the 15-year-old fan waiting after the show to get picked up by his or her parents. Mikey was interning for Eyeball at the time, carrying equipment, putting up fliers and basically doing anything to help out the scene he loved. It was out of his relationship with Saavedra that Gerard was introduced to Rickly and asked to draw some designs for Thursday's T-shirts. “I was this hermit artist kid who was Mikey’s weird older brother," recalls Gerard, laughing. “I met Geoff outside of a record store called St. Marks in Kearny, and I remember this really strange-looking kid who looked like he was in Joy Division. He had a black mop; he looked emaciated and pale-as-shit sick. But he was so nice, and we hit it off immediately." Although they met under the pretense of having a working relationship, a deep friendship was bom. “I remember at these parties Gerard coming up to me and being really psyched on Thursday, having seen us and telling some amazing stories about the way it made him feel," recalls Rickly. “At the time, I think he was sort of at a low point in his life. He would disappear and not come out for a month and a half." Adds Saavedra, laughing, “(Gerard] would just smoke cigarettes and draw Spider-Man all night long." “When you’d see him, he’d look just terrible, just bummed out," Rickly continues. “He told me one night that Thursday gave him new hope and he was gonna start a band with his little brother. Not that it was a joke, but I thought, 'Yeah, they're thinking about starting a band, but how long does it take you before you actually start doing something good?' He would sit there and play me songs on one of Alex's guitars that was so hopelessly out of tune and broken with bad strings that I couldn’t even tell what he was doing. But I was like, ‘I love you and your brother, and sure, I’ll hang out. I'll come to practice.'" It was through a mutual friend that Gerard was introduced to lero who was in the midst of making a name for himself with his band Pencey Prep, who had already been signed to Eyeball. Pencey needed a band to share their practice space, and MCR gladly accepted. “Pencey Prep, Thursday and us would practice in the same room," says Mikey, “which was great, because you could just hang out and watch someone else’s practice, do your own, share ideas [and] show people what was going on. It was awesome." Pencey eventually disbanded, and MCR adopted lero as one of their own. Back at the Eyeball house, at one of Saavedra’s infamous ragers, Mikey played Alex the demo, and the label immediately added the band to its roster. In early 2002, the band, Rickly and Saavedra trekked up to Nada Studios in New Windsor, New York, to start recording Bullets. The sessions were plagued by torrential storms and Gerard's health problems, but somewhere amid the madness, the band managed to craft 11 songs that would bookmark the visual aesthetic and musical texture My Chemical Romance aspired to achieve. “As soon as it came time for Gerard to do vocals for ‘Vampires [Will Never Hurt You],’ this insane storm hit," Saavedra remembers. “Gerard was getting very frustrated because it was his first time recording, decently, in an actual studio. He was overwhelmed and he was over-thinking it... So I punched him in the face!" The blow loosened Gerard's jaw and somehow gave him the motivation to take the mic and rip a bite out of the track. Gerard laughs triumphantly. “I remember it hurting a lot, and going, 'All right, I hope I can do this.’ I remember singing, and something clicked. I remember Alex’s face was just amazed that the song was finally coming together. I think it was the second take that we ended up using." Ask Gerard the best compliment he’s ever received, and he’ll tell you what Rickly said after he heard a finished version of / Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love: “Geoff told me the first time that he had heard it, he was fucking terrified of what we were capable of. He asked, ‘You ever heard of Ink & Dagger?' I was like, ‘Not really. I've heard of them, but I've never seen them or heard them.’ He was like, ‘You need to go get some Ink & Dagger, because it's what you guys are doing-but you're doing it better'.” LOOKING OUT THE WINDOW OF MCR’S ROOM at the Hyatt on Sunset, you can see people pouring out of hotels bars and milling around like denizens of an ant farm. The smells of car fumes, expensive perfume and stale cigarettes waft through the air. The House Of Blues sits quietly across the street, a silent reminder of a job well done. The band should be celebrating after tearing up the place just three hours earlier. It may've been the last leg of Face To Face’s string of farewell shows, but it was MCR’s long-overdue welcome to the major league of rock. As members of New Found Glory, the Bronx and H2O looked on, My Chemical Romance covered every inch of the stage with their unique concoction of organic musicianship and raw machismo. But instead, lero, Toro, Bryar, Mikey and the rest of the crew gather their duffle bags and guitar cases and load everything back into their van. Tomorrow they’re playing a radio show in Phoenix, and a long drive lies ahead of them. Their white, 15-passenger van is making an obnoxiously loud grinding noise. Good thing a tour bus is meeting them in Arizona, because it’s only a matter of miles before their beloved vehicle shits the bed. Gerard passes up the drive and stays behind one more night in Los Angeles. Sitting Indian-style on one of the room's double beds, he surveys his surrounding and sees that his bandmates have left the room a sty. The floor is stained, littered with empty pizza boxes and ashtrays overflowing with smashed cigarette butts, while someone's dirty underwear sits balled up in the corner, unclaimed. Gerard takes a deep breath and lights a cigarette. It's practically the only vice he’s got left. For this enigmatic frontman who eats, drinks and sweats rock ’n' roll, the past six months are a blur. Actually, they're more of a pill-and-booze-induced haze. Since releasing MCR’s sophomore album on Warner Bros., Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge, nothing’s been the same. Exceeding anyone’s expectations, the sales were bigger (Revenge sold in one week what Bullets sold in nearly two years), the shows were bigger-and the drinking problem that had been plaguing Gerard for years was now officially out of control. “I can’t believe that they're even still a band," says Rickly, incredulously. “Who can go from zero to 120 like that? I heard stories that Gerard was drinking so much and doing so many drugs that I thought, 'Somebody’s gonna die; the band’s gonna fall apart, and it's gonna be awful.’" With an unyielding momentum, My Chemical Romance embarked on the Vans Warped Tour '04 and soon started making fans out of their idols, like Alkaline Trio’s Matt Skiba. “I wandered out into the crowd, [MCR] started playing, and I got kind of the same feeling that I got going to see Naked Raygun shows," Skiba remembers fondly. “They were so good and sounded so great, and the energy exchange with the crowd was something that I hadn’t seen in a long time. I had no choice. I had to start dancing. My drink was full when I v/alked in there, and five seconds later, it was all over a bunch of kids' heads.” Warped was one big traveling circus, and MCR were becoming the star attraction. But the devastating heat, the overwhelming schedule and Gerard’s increasing chemical addiction were starting to affect the band and their performance. Rickly saw the self-destruction firsthand when both bands were on the tour and he wondered if he should intervene. “It's weird to say, because they’re a band and they can do what they want." Rickly pauses. “But those are our friends. You don't want to see them get sucked into something you’ve had your band get sucked into." At the height of the band's success on Warped, Gerard was going through $150 worth of illegal pills per month, mostly Xanax, and drinking a bottle of vodka every day to day and a half. “I worked out a system," Gerard says as he takes a swig from his bottle of vitaminwater, “where if we played at noon, I was basically just hung over, still drunk probably from the night before. If we were playing at 1 or 2,1 was already drunk. If (I wasn't] fully drunk, then I was trying to get drunk at any signings we had to do. After that, I would continue to get drunk well until the [day's tour stop] was done, until bus call. Bus call would come, or sometimes before it, and I would pop a bunch of Xanax and basically be cracked out. It was the only thing at that point that would put me to sleep and shut my brain off." The name My Chemical Romance was no longer homage to Irvine Welsh’s book, Ecstasy: Three Tales Of Chemical Romance; it was now Gerard’s mantra. The band jumped off Warped’s traveling punk-rock circus in mid-July, and immediately embarked on a co-headlining tour with Senses Fail. Both bands were sharing a tour bus and partying it up, but things went too far on a tour stop somewhere in the Midwest. “I had gone to see the Killers and got really drunk," recalls Gerard. “I found a way to get cocaine, and I bought a whole fucking eight ball and pretty much did the whole fucking thing. I did so much cocaine that I was in the middle of the street, throwing up everywhere. My head was pounding; it felt twice its size. All the veins in my head felt like they were going to explode. The next day, I woke up, and I was more suicidal that morning than I had ever been in my entire life-and it was completely amazing to me. “Nobody in my band knew," he adds. “I had a really good way of hiding stuff." Or if they did know, they certainly didn’t acknowledge it as a problem. “I think I was accepting because I was equally bad as he was at one point," explains Mikey. “I was even worse than him at some points early on in the band's career. I thought it'd be really hypocritical to say, 'Put that vodka down!'" "Any time you mix drinking with narcotics, something bad can happen,” adds lero. “And depression-mixing the three of them is really bad, Every time you do it, it changes your whole body chemistry. When we were touring, no one really thought about it, because we were all doing it together." After making a call to his manager, who talked him down for the next three hours, Gerard managed to snap out of his suicidal stupor in time to finish the tour and head back to Jersey to regroup-but not for long. The band were scheduled to leave for Japan, the one place Gerard ever wanted to visit, and the one place he feared he wouldn't return from. “I was terrified," he remembers. “All I did was sweat two days before Japan. I sweat buckets, drank and loaded up on my pills for the trip.” He loaded up on liquor at the airport bar, popped a whole bar of Xanax and woke up in a completely different country. Doped up and unsure how he even made it through customs, Gerard was on autopilot. He overindulged in sake, entertained more thoughts of ending his life and played two of the largest shows of the band's career completely wasted. “My intention was to make it a memorable experience for everyone, and I did," he says with a shrug and a sheepish grin. “But it’s kind of like making a deal with the devil. I made it a memorable experience for everyone-but in the worst possible way." “It's weird, because usually when we're playing, me and Gerard can look at each other and no matter what's going on, I can pull back to it and go for it," says lero. “When I looked for him [in Osaka] and he was underneath the stage being drunk, I just wanted to [put my guitar down] and go." “I walked offstage and I threw up for 45 minutes straight in this garbage can, like I had never thrown up before," Gerard says as he lights another cigarette. “I puked everything out. The whole band was there, and I was sitting on the couch in the corner. Ray turns to Brian [Schechter, manager] and says, ‘You need to get him to the doctor. Listen to him. He's not doing well. There’s something wrong with him. He’s really sick.’ Sitting there, I still have vomit all over myself, and I just thought, ‘This has to be the end.' I was still really suicidal and depressed, but I was just like, ‘I have to stop drinking. I don’t know how, but this has to be the end.' “I didn’t know what was gong to happen when I got back to the U.S.," Gerard continues. “I got off the plane and was really upset. I knew what was going to happen to Otter, and I think that's another reason why I was really upset. I said goodbye to him and knew that I probably was not going to see him again. At the same time, I didn’t know if I was going to be alive the next day. I said goodbye to everybody and I had tears in my eyes because I wasn’t really sure if I was going to see anyone in my band again." “THE LAST TIME I SAW OR HEARD FROM GERARD,” says Pelissier, “it was when I gave him a hug at the airport.” While Gerard was dealing with getting clean, MCR were struggling with an even larger challenge-building up the courage to ask their drummer to leave the band he helped start. “It was like the moment that you break up with someone you've been dating for three or four years that you used to love in the beginning of the relationship and things went sour, but for some reason you’re still together,” explains Toro, who, along with the band’s manager, went to Pelissier's house to break the news. Pelissier^who now works as a mechanic back in Jersey, is still searching for answers, insisting, “I was flat-out told the only reason I’m being kicked out of the band is because ‘We don't feel comfortable with you onstage anymore because one, you don’t play to the click track, and two, those couple times you messed up, we just don’t feel comfortable.’ Even though Gerard was drunk every night and messed up every night..." His voice trails off. “They haven't even made a formal announcement, and they keep avoiding the subject.” “People probably thought it was weird that we didn’t make any kind of statement beforehand or really talk about what happened," Toro responds, carefully. “It must’ve been weird for people to notice, ‘Wow! One of the members who started the band and has been in the band for three years is now gone, and they haven’t said anything.’ The main reason why we decided to do that is because we didn’t want to get into a pissing match, and we didn't want to have this sort of he-said, she-said bullshit. “There are obviously things that went along with that (decision]," Toro continues, “like a lack of getting along with him and a lack of being able to play songs the same way every night. But the main reason was that we weren’t having fun being in the band... He had to have known in his heart-whether he'll admit it or not-that he wasn’t performing up to the way we needed to perform. You had to have been fucking blind to not see the relationship problems between each of us and him-that we just didn’t get along. When I started getting into the reasons of why we made the decision, he just walked away. That was the last time I spoke to him." Pelissier, obviously, doesn’t see things the way his former bandmates do. “I had Ray come up to me once or twice and ask me to play to a click track [a metronome-type machine that helps a drummer keep time] live, and I said no. Pretty much no drummer does, because it takes away the whole live feeling. And that was it. I got back from Japan, and only Ray came to my house with [manager] Schechter. It's like your whole world comes crashing down, after I gave everything I ever did, everything I ever owned to make sure the band would survive, and that’s the thanks I get." While Pelissier dealt with the blow, the rest of the band had to find a replacement. Enter well-respected soundman and secret MCR wannabe Bryar. “It was at Irving Plaza, maybe a year-and-a-half ago, and My Chemical Romance [were playing with] Finch and the Used," recalls Bryar. “My Chern finished playing, and I walked into the back and said something to [their manager] like, 'I wish I could do that.'" At this point, Bryar was just a cellmate the band met along the way. The band didn’t even know he could play drums, but after flying him out for a test run, there was no doubt Bryar was the perfect blend of personality and technical ability they were looking for. No one in the band has talked to Pelissier since returning from Japan, except for lero. “I called him right after it happened and was like, 'Yo, I wanted to be there, but I understand why Ray wanted to talk to you alone. I hope that we can be mature about this after everything In three short years, My Chemical Romance have done things some bands only dream about-dueting with punkrock royalty, hanging with hip-hop heavyweights and chilling with Frodo Baggins. But that’s not to say the men of MCR still don’t get starstruck. Here are their top three out-of-body encounters that had them scratching their heads, wondering, “Is this really happening?” Attending a 2004 post-Oscar bash attended by the cast of The Lord Of The Rings and other A-List celebs. “The whole time I’m thinking, ‘I don’t belong here. What am I doing with these people?'" remembers Ray Toro, eyes wide. “I was sitting this close to Kirsten Dunst. I could’ve literally touched her." In addition to lighting his hair on fire and seeing Courtney Love moon a deck full of innocent bystanders, Toro and the rest of the band also watched as an actor (known to play an all-powerful wizard) eyed Mikey Way “like he was a piece of chicken." Mikey refused to comment on the poultry comparison, but did say it ranked as his craziest night in Los Angeles. Giving Keith Morris vocal lessons during the recording sessions for Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge. “I wasn't coaching him," Frank lero insists, “but he was asking me how we wanted it." The band invited the Circle Jerks singer to sing on “Hang ’Em High," and it was all lero could do not to pinch himself in the vocal booth. “Basically, I was like, 'Do it like this.’ Then he'd do it, and I’d say, ‘Do one more take.’ We just sat down, ate Chinese food and he just talked to me for hours and hours. It was so fucking cool." Being invited to tea at Rick Rubin’s house. After an MCR show with Piebald at the Troubadour in Los Angeles, a mysterious man came up to Gerard Way and said, “Rick Rubin would like to meet you." Legend has it that the producer rarely leaves his house and hardly ever goes to see bands, so Way was intrigued. Rubin eventually invited the band over to his house to talk about music, and MCR jumped at the chance. “We get to his house, and they asked us all to take off our shoes and they hand us these giant bottles of water," Gerard recalls. “We sat in his library with a huge stuffed polar bear and pictures all over the wall-original prints of John Lennon photographs and Black Flag. He came in and sat across from us. I don’t think he blinked at all. He stared right into our souls. And then somebody comes to the door and asks if we can close the two doors to the library, and it’s Cedric [Bixler-Zavala]. We all turn to each other and go, ‘Was that Cedric?' Then we ask, 'Is that the Mars Volta in there? Can we meet them?' We totally nerded out. So Rick gets right up, opens the doors and goes into the piano room. It was their last day. They were finishing De-loused In The Comatorium. He goes, ‘Would you mind meeting these guys?’ They were the coolest guys. I remember Omar [A. Rodriguez-Lopez] went, ‘I really like your belt.’ What the fuck? That was huge!" [IS] This month, AP readers voted My Chemical Romance’s Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge as having the most awesome album art The blood couple on the cover was actually drawn by Gerard Way, who graduated in 1999 with a Bachelor Of Fine Arts from the School Of Visual Arts in New York City. Way spent the next couple of years trying to work as a comic-book artist before eventually settling with a company called Funhaus, which designed and-sculpted Marvel Comics action figures for preschoolers. With the band’s grueling tour schedule, Way doesn’t get to draw as much as he’d like, but he did find the time to create these exclusive European-comic style, Mike Mignola-inspired (Hellboy) portraits of himself and his bandmates for AP. blows over. I hope you keep playing music, but I'm sorry that it had to go down this way. Call me if you ever want to.’ Then he called me back at 3 in the morning one day, because he had gone to our trailer and tried to get things out of it and he couldn't get in. I was like, ‘Why are you at our trailer at 3:00 in the morning? If you want anything out, we can arrange to get it out for you.’ Then he hung up on me. “I went to where our practice space had been, and he and a friend had left cutouts from newspaper clippings and nasty notes, and had locked the door so we couldn’t get back in, but I broke in. I called him back after that and told him to grow up and to call me when he did. He hasn’t called yet." “IT TAKES ME A WHILE TO TELL STORIES,” Gerard says with a smirk and a sigh. "I think it’s because I was drunk for three years.” His eyes are wide, and the excitement of newfound possibilities seems to ooze out of every pore. He’s ready to start a new chapter of his life, one that doesn’t take his band's name too literally. When Gerard returned from Japan, he got the help he needed from his longtime therapist, and he says he hasn’t been the same since. He hasn’t sipped a drink or popped a pill in nearly two months, and today, the band are playing better than ever. In his youth, Gerard may've aspired to be a famous comic-book artist, but as he reaches his late 20s, he’s no longer interested in making a cartoon of himself. “I wipe the make-up off; I take the suit off; I take the tie off and everything. I kind of mop my hair out, and I’m normal again. I’m Gerard again. And that, to me, is way cooler, because it makes the Gerard onstage, the character onstage, a lot more special. Because I’m not him all the time anymore. It really puts the focus back on what the band was important for, to me, which is not this rock 'n' roll character. It’s this band of guys who have something to say and love playing together." Now, when Gerard takes the stage, he’s no longer a liability-he’s a threat. The whole band are. “There are things required to be in My Chemical Romance,” he begins. "The main thing, above all else, is that you have to embody the spirit of the band. Talent is definitely part of it, but you have to be a fighter." And Gerard should know. He’s been fighting the good fight against the toughest enemy-himself. “For me, [being onstage] is me being everything I always wanted to be," he says. “It erases everything I hate about myself. Nothing can hurt me. I feel completely invincible. I feel like everyone else on that stage is invincible and we’re capable of anything. There’s no stopping us.” alt | ||||||||||
45 | Law of Inertia | 12 | 2004 | Gerard Way | Stephen Blackwell | x | |||||||||||
46 | AMP | Summer | 2004 | Jeff Schechter | x | Chemical Burn By Jeff Schechter The lights dim. and with the c rowd milling around the energy amongst the young fans in attendance at the Majestic Café m Detroit seemed like a pocket of gas. pent up and ready to erupt. Like a match struck. My Chemical Reaction hit the stage with an explosive presence and the room goes from dormant to devastation “The crowd s energy was amazing tonight," says singer Gerard Way. “The kids climbing up and diving offstage; man that's why we love Detroit.' Toaring through a sot interwoven with fan favorites, and songs off the impending release on Reprise Records: Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, My Chemical Romance left the stage littered with equipment, and the crowd screaming for more. Since the release of the debut. I Brought You My Bullets. You Brought Mo Your Love in the summer of 2002, it has boon a relative landslide of hype about the band. Well-deserved hype at that. From starting the fire on the Warped Tour, to tour- ing constantly throughout the United States, My Chemical Romance has established a heightened state of street credibility and a much wider fan base, as well as a growing energy in their songs and stage performance. Described as an explosion of rage and integrity, whether at one of their shows, sweating and screaming right along with singer Gerard Way, or enchanted by the melodies of -Demolition Lovers- screaming from a stereo, all In question have to agree that My Chemical Romance is a prevalent force to be reckoned with in the years ahead. Recently signing with the major. Rcphse Records. My Chemical Romance jumped right back to work after relentless touring that has spanned the United States and much of Europe; in the UK, Germany, Holland, and Spain. As they now come into their own. My Chemical Romance docs not plan on taking their music, newfound position, or their fans for granted. Like a snake full of fresh venom. My Chemical Romance cuil up to attack, back in the studio recording what is described as. the darkest and hardest music to date by sngcr Gerard Way. After such intense songs as "Headfirst for Halos' and “Cubicles" It will be an anxious wait to see what this frosh young band will crank out next. "We went for a grainy, dirty sound, trying to capture tno intensity of our live performance on the album." stated guitarist Frank lero. “We wore a bit apprehensive, waiting to see how the label treated us in the stu- AMP 215 dio. But it worked out groat. Reprise gave us creative license to create the sort of record we wanted, this is definitely the record we sot out to make." After a debut record that made such an impact, receiving acclaim from Koith Morris of Black Flag, and the Circle Jerks fame, it will be quite a thing to see how the band has approached their sophomore effort. "Keith Morris is one of my musical idols," lero admits with enthusiasm. “He contacted the band, and ’expressed how much of a fan he was of what we were doing. He is actually on Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge. That is one of my greatest experiences so far. writing a piece of music for one of my heroes to perform on our new record." My Chemical Romance is like a chemical reaction leaving all things In their wake changed forever. These guys come right off a freight train of rock and roll fury; first stop, right in your face. Raw talent, dark lyrics, and heavy angst cover the debut I Brought You My Bullets. You Brought Me Your Love. Layered musical content coupled with a fierce sense of annihilation unleash an addiction for My Chemical Romance that is manifested in their solid, loyal fan base. Such a diverse sound was cultivated from the individuals in the bands different tastes. "We are all different guys, musically." says lero. With tastos from Brit-Pop. to classically trained guitarists, and hardcore punk rock enthusiasts. My Chemical Romance is a melting pot of beautifully chaotic sounds. "Heading back into the studio, we were anticipating it to be more difficult. so having a lot of ideas already prepared helped in the process." lero comments on the recording process. "As a band wo wanted to capture the live aspects of our shows, because we didn't feel that the frst record did our live performance the justice it deserves." While exuberant m the youth of My Chemical Romance, this band has paid their dues, and it Is like.breaths of fresh air to have such an original band make such an impact in so short a time. Hailing from the turbulent streets of urban New Jersey, the tale of My Chemical Romance chases these five young men back to the days of high school. . As acquaintances in younger years, the members of My Chemical Romance were tried and true members of the local mustc scone. It was in their own individual bands that they began a fledgling approach to the world of an indie-rock move- ment. As time goes, so did the bands, and they all'head oft In separate directions, seeking separate paths. Keeping in touch over the years, it became apparent that each man's path wasn't loading to tho places they had imagined. Singer Gerard Way was living in his mom's basement. making transit to Now York City doing animation, when he called up drummer Matt Pelissier. and found they wore both in precarious limbos. Not sure where they were headed, the two got together to play some music. After rounding out the roster with Ray Toro and guitar and Mikey Way on bass, the soothing seed of My Chemical Romance was born. lero recalls the early days. “After they had all gotten together, Gerard. Ray. Matt and Mikey. I was a huge fan of the music they were making. After tho band I was in at tho time split up, they decided to got another guitarist, and askod mo to join." Tho story behind the band is as captivating as tho music they crcato. “This new record is really gonna blow up. it is just as true to what was done with 'Bullets' but more energetic and over tho top. I can't wait for tho fans to get their hands on the new record. We are set up to tour so much In the next year; I forgot what my house looks like already." With the release of Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge slated for June, the growing fever of the band's energy criss-crosses the nation with Avenged Sevenfold on a tour that kicks off in Detroit April 3rd. also look forward to them on this summer's Warped Tour www.warped-tour.com. With all that lay ahead of them, it is Impossible to see just how far My Chern's signature sound can go. You can check them out online at www.mychcmicalromanco.com, or wait and find My Chemical Romance in your town, tearing a relative black hole for the masses to peer into throughout the country. In the opinion of this writer, the harder they rock, tho darker the better. K 216 AMP | |||||||||||
47 | Guitar World | 4 | 2005 | Ray Toro | Jon Wiederhorn | x (hq illustration) | My Chemical Romance leave one in the toilet By JON WIEDERHORN Illustration by STEVEN CIANCANELLI IF RAY TORO WASN'T SO TIGHT with his four bandmates in My Chemical Romance, he might think they didn't want him around. After all. they’ve ditched the guitarist twice in the middle of the night. Both incidents occurred at mick stops while Toro was in the bathroom. The first episode took place in 2002. while the group was en route from San Francisco to Seattle in a van. “I don't know how you could fail to notice that someone you wen driving with wasn’t in the van," muses Toro. When he realized the group’s vehicle was no longer in the truck stop parking lot. Toro reached for his cell and discovered his battery was dead. The problem was compounded by the fact that he’d programmed his bandmates' numbers into his phone and hadn’t memorized them. "After racking my brain, I was able to remember one of the guys’ numbers," he says. “Someone at the truck stop let me use his phone, and about 20 minutes later the guys came back. They had got-i ten at least 10 miles down I the road.” ’ Less than a year lat-r er. MCR were driving through Long Island after a show with the Used and stopped at an Applebee’s to grab a bite. When they got inside, they learned the restaurant was closing up. While Toro took a restroom break, the group returned to the bus and hit the road, leaving Toro with his pants down once again. “I went back out and no one was there," he says. "I was like. ‘Aw. man, not again!’ But my cell phone was working that time, so I called them. They said, ‘We know, we know. We’re coming back to get you.’" ■ | ||||||||||
48 | Big Cheese | 1 | 2005 | Gerard Way | Jim Sharples | x | BREAKING THE HABIT 2004 has been a year of contrast for MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE. The musical madness of their massive second album caused their profile to explode. And it's saved frontman Gerard Way's life in the process... From thu covets; o! music magazines on both sides of the Atlantic to strings o! sold out shows. Three Cnee'S For Sweet Revenge' has been one bell o1 a bess-ng. But in some ways also a curse for Gerard Way. Since Gerard. Mikey. Ray. Frank and new drummer (and former tech for The Used) Bob landed in the UK. its been a whirlwind of flesh pressing, radio shows, gigs and interviews. It would seem that now everybody wants a piece of New Jerseys hottest export. •Cigarettes ana coffee: an alcoholes best friend!* laughs the voca st as we lean up against a wai outside of me XFM buid ng. where the band are prepar ng for a radio session. While the rest of the band are cramped inside setting up equipment, we've decided to head out into mo street for a much.needed nicotine hit. Relaxed and upbeat given the constant torrent of attention on his shoulders, it's an altitude that's even more surprising considering that not long before this interview took place Way had been < covertly lighting a long-running battle with the bottle that was threatening to tear My Chemical Romance, and indeed. Ways lifer apart at its very seams. •| had this really good way of hiding it. A lot of people were very shocked to near how far off I was and how messed up I was. Then I came dean about a lot of things. A true alcoholic has a really good way of hiding it.* "Its encouraged on a level even today for bands to act like rock stars, to be fucked up on drugs and alcohol, partying their asses off", says (Jay wryly: "Bands like Guns N' Roses and Motley Crue In the 60s were encouraged to do that. Or they were so out of control that nobody could help them at that point, whereas I was all about hiding It." If he’d continued down that path, it isn't like he'd have been the first. The rock n’ roll read is littered with the corpses and casualties of the musicians that stayed faithful to me myth of 'live fast, d o young and ¡cave a good looking corpse'. Its that self-destructive, nih otic nature that has made for some of the most compelling music ever but also some of the biggest tragedies and wastes. 'It's encouraged on a level even today for bands to act like rock stars, to be fucked up on drugs and alcohol, partying their asses off. says Way wryly: ’Bands like Guns N’ Roses and Motley Crue in the 80s were encouraged to co that. Or they wore so out of control Iha: nobody could help them at that point, whereas I was ail about hiding it. I didn't wan: to become another cliché of rock W roll. I wanted to defeat it before it get to the pont where we could .ose everything. There was never an intervention, there was never anyone pulling me bottle away saying that 1 was going to rehab. It was my own decision. I wanted to get dean/ Genuinely worried about not only nis physical hea th but also his mental well-being. Way sought help from an outside source, checking in for therapy. Playing distractedly with nis cigarette packet, he visibly winces at me memory: The day I went into therapy I went to Alcoholes Anonymous meetings the same day and it was really difficult to go no: jus: co'c turkey and m therapy but mto a meeting m the same day. It was "So many people came up to me afterwards saying that we looked like we were having so much fun up there and we really were having a great time showing off in a way. That's kind of how the band was when it first started so it feels all new again and I think the alcohol and stuff is definitely in the past. It's a part of me that's gone. I don't think the band...I don't think I'll survive if I keep up with that." the hardest week of my life. To not run out, go off and drink was so difficult. I was sweating, shaking...all the stuff that goes along with it. I was so..." he tails off. Bereft of the crutch of alcohol, Way found indecision at every corner, even when it came to playing shows. ‘The first week of shows afterwards, I'd find myself onstage thinking to myself, 'should I move that way? What did I used to do when I was wasted? Should I fall down now?' and that was all in my head. I was very much too in control of myself, whereas the live show before was very much about reckless abandonment, hurling your body against the barricades, which is great and all but I want to get that sober. It was taking a very physical toll. Not just the alcohol but what I was doing onstage as well: beating myself up." Today, Way is a near-glowing example of perfect health underneath a shaggy black mane, especially pleased with the response the UK tour, which culminated in a frenzied set at London's Mean Fiddler, has received and also with this stone-free performance. 'These shows, for me personally, have been a real victory. To be able to do what we did last night and me be sober...I'll remember that show forever. More energy, more fun, less 'look at me! I'm laying down covered in blood and sweat' and more about just having a great time. So many people came up to me afterwards saying that we looked like we were having so much fun up there and we really were having a great time showing off in a way. That's kind of how the band was when it first started so it feels all new again and I think the alcohol and stuff is definitely in the past. Its a part of me thats gone. I don't think the band...l don't think I'll survive if I keep up with that." Other bonuses have also become apparent. 'The COO' thing is that all these hangers on and lurkers and creeps that we'd see around the band have all disappeared as there's nothing left for them." Not to mention the ammunition for the followup to 'Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge', which the band will be continuing to work on when they return to the UK with Taking Back Sunday and The Used in January. "The way these songs have been going so far, it's been really sad, heavy shit. The guitar work is almost glammy - glam as in a David Bowie kind of vibe. It feels that stuff is moving in that kind of direction: huge but raw. I think lyrically it feels like it's going in more of a salvation-type thing. A lot of acceptance, a lot of regret and a lot about this band saving my life again." 'Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge' is out now on Reprise 'I'm Not OK (I Promise)1 is out in February on Reprise Jim Sharples Big Cheese | ||||||||||
49 | Kerrang! | 1 | 2005 | Gerard Way, Adam Lazzara | x | Show review, Taking Back Sunday | BLOOD BROTHER TAKING BACK SUNDAY AND MY / CHEMICAL ROMANCE JOIN FORCES FOR EXPLOSIVE DOUBLE HEADER, TAKING BACK SUNDAY PLUS: MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE THE ACADEMY. BRISTOL 18.01.05 WELCOME TO the catoa before the »tom Atole out bort the toidcmt crowd n champing at *• M M areCpaMn Of whs«! to come. back Mage Mag« art eerily tranquil Hr admen railing Bad Sunday are tocked an their «owing room m ga^vMoa of 0» few Ac- of . hoOranwipetod tour. «Mr My Chemical Romm. «*0 arrived in Britain th« moenng are «Vagging to send their frtiag paAng ««! «MM 0« ktarburk«' moil potort concocnom. frontman Gerard Wry ccrrenanMrrmg «-< mirror Io quiatoy trowel cartel ryr make-up war M miter« of Ain Thi. H «rely the laM tune My Cheroui Romance wrt tree do a support tow at thrilnW* the dewrtrd. eartpAnng mayhem that greet. them OnpUyi >Nl how mud. the» Mar h • «ho MUM. and Ar/ro danwed if they're gang to «»appoint from tM minute they amw in a -Ml o' baa and rod to Oar minuto they leauo. they gno a dnpiay of ahror. Mert,topping. non Mop magNtaence Gerard Way to partrcuUr. is an cen m the *u>k mg. tbe llreg embod-neet of IMM. *0 rot* Mar bloodsucker from Anne Mui Vampre OnaM* - despite Ml huchrd rather Co«»an«qm postwe. Girts and Moys a*e are spefbcunl and clamowtog to get dour m *r band whip Thant ¥0u for The Venom' «to a boarbhif mo-M»t gwtamt Marti lerol Mohawk fbppmg wddM wMe IM own be threaten, to throt» tom. Which bnngsui to the song« for. far more Are the sum of their lauge. the mutkiamhip on display here ri pNrnoreeai, the choruses a. near to perfect a« you're oror gong to grt. Weyl recall a, aiiwed • and wrwarenrig at they are passtonato Became make no re«al.e he means erery stogie wort he ■tog« - a rarer tale- than you might thin. - dropping to IM knee« wt* ho eyre «rowed Art during tree lot NH. K*. rppng hri faeomte trout«« In Ao proceM -« ri getting theta feeUg. acron to to ri •Mai for Mi wry wrvval By the «to« they're wrung Ae last drop of emotion out a« the aheedyarrtreMc Tea Not otay- 0 Promwer. tore "-g-g Me «.«land Me a (Ml* at the *wn tot Mb dear that Mil to a bort youh co«» to cherith Uwe member of your ownfantoy id »lg««e an art for Takng lac. famday to lertow. but dosprietMvyovAAe tong Mend qiartet are old proi at keeping the lerek in the red. Again, their frontman it the key Adam Uuaeh hit hair newly Vtmto^rpe. «pre* the ortbe thorn •waging Nt microplwne aromd the cord weapping tghc around Mt nact agam and agae. at he higto ipeed mnm around the itagr. pan umMO hartcore Md. part togh-camp lagg— "Hou Know Mow I Da and Tou-re $0 Lett kurreer' round mammoth. as Lasara tNasbes arowto Ike a uughthsh. the centre o< .•tendon and boring it With a My. knowing w—k. . TH Mare insert swearing, eihiu.tr« and | thorougbay conteni happy to let calm take over once I more. Unto nett time HEROWORSHIP_ ADAM LAZZARA ON MCR "I'm a huge My Chemical Romance fan. How they start their set is like how they start old war movies - right before they start attacking they have the drums going, and there's this feeling like you're about to burst. My favourite moment was when Gerard asked the crowd to hold up their cellphones and lighters because they were playing a ballad and "You can't listen to a ballad, you have to feel it". That was great. Frank is mesmerising onstage. I cannot take my eyes off him. It sucks. I missed the last three songs cos I have to do my vocal warm-ups. But what an amazing show." GERARD WAY ON TBS "Tonight was awesome. Adam's hair is amazing. Adam live is all about the strut and the hair and the mic - and now you can see his hair much more easily! It looks fun when they play. With us it looks more like we're trying to get out some demons or trying to kill each other, but they just have fun. My favourite song is always 'Cut From The Team (Cute Without The E)'. They've become this really great dirty rock band, almost like The Stooges. Adam's so good with the mic. I've tried to swing the mic about three times ever, and each time I've hit myself really hard in the head. I smashed myself in the face so hard I knocked my teeth through my lip. Then I stopped. I have no co-ordination." VIDEO OF THE WEEK MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE I'M NOT OKAY (I PROMISE) Shot in the style of a cheesy '80s high-school movie, the video to 'I'm Not Okay...' perfectly captures the full-pelt hysteria of the song (out as a single on February 28). This inspired clip features the glorious sight off ffrontman Gerard Way camping it up in a school uniform and mascara. We've said it before: the man is a fucking star. Unmissable. BEST BIT: When bassist Mikey pops up behind Gerard to mouth the immortal 'Trust me!' line before the final chorus. Sky Digital 454, Telewest Digital 332, NTL 819 | ||||||||||
50 | NME | 1 | 2005 | Ray Toro | Ray Toro | x | Tour diary | ||||||||||
51 | Alternative Press | 2 | 2005 | x | AP Year Poll | ||||||||||||
52 | Black Velvet | 12 | 2005 | Gerard Way | Shari Black Velvet | x (alt) (transcript) | MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE Conquering Planet Earth (Interview With Gerard Way Taken From Black Velvet 44 - Feb 2005) By Shari Black Velvet There are bands… and then there are bands. And then there's a band called MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE who are almost unlike any other band ever. They're different, which is quite rare these days. They stand out. They do things their way. And they AIM to make a difference. A difference for them and a difference for you. We're at the Birmingham Academy and it's really early. Well, it's midday. Which is early for an interview anyway. It turns out the band haven't yet arrived. "Maybe go away and come back in a couple of hours time," the girl at the box office says. Hmm. I don't think so. Luckily, two minutes later Gerard Way, Mikey Way, Ray Toro, Frank Iero and Bob Bryar AKA My Chemical Romance arrive. Gerard Way, the band's captivating frontman and I find a place to sit on the sofa in the balcony area. I have a lot that I want to ask. We start by discussing that difference they want to make… MCR on the cover of Black Velvet 44. Black Velvet: You've talked about being inspired to be in a band by Geoff Rickly of Thursday. You once said 'it seems like he's actually making a difference and he's doing something'. Frank has also said: 'our major goal was to make a difference'. What exactly do you want to make a difference in? Gerard Way: When you want to play music or play live; we saw it as playing live, we didn't realise you could help people by actually making music too. Well, I didn't realise. When you play live it immediately responds in people. What you're singing about connects with them and it helps them like it's helping you. We're the kind of band that it was very much like group therapy live. And then I realised that when we made records it helped people too. We didn't always have to be playing shows to help people. That's the kind of difference; that kind of immediate response from people. You're helping them in their day to day life get through some really tough shit. BV: Do you think not enough bands do that? GW: I don't know, I think a lot of bands do. I think a lot of bands aren't interested and are interested in other things be it chicks, having fun, rocking out or whatever it is, money and shit like that. But I think there's a good number of bands that actually want to do some good. BV: The band has great charisma and stage presence. Even on the Mariah Carey Christmas cover, 'All I Want For Christmas Is You' the band's personality and charisma comes through. Where does that charisma come from? Do you think you have the same aura and personality offstage and away from music or does it stem back to wanting to make a difference? GW: That's what it is. It stems back to really wanting to make a difference. There's a certain kind of change that occurs, with everyone in the band, from about 20 minutes before we go on, while we start getting dressed, putting crap on our faces. There's something that happens and you get in the game, and it's this kind of reckless level of good-natured arrogance, just like a real passion, a desire and that kind of all just comes out live. I'm not like that at all. I'm not really a show-off in person. I'm not really over-the-top like that. I think we all have a really crazy black sense of humour. But on stage it really comes out, cranked up to 20. That's really what it is. We're all how we are on stage but it's cranked up so much. BV: Why did you choose the Mariah Carey cover? GW: One of our first tours in the US in a band in the winter, we really weren't going to be home for holidays. We weren't depressed but it was the first kind of wake-up call as to what touring was like. We were freezing cold in the van and the Mariah Carey song came on the radio and this was back when we used to carry knives and weapons and stuff 'cause you needed to. And there was something about that song because it would get me so excited, but it was really violently excited, and I just remember swinging a knife around and freaking out because the song made me so God damn happy. So instead of covering a classic song or instead of writing a new song, we decided to pick this ridiculous song and see what we could make of it. BV: You've said about being onstage; 'it erases everything I hate about myself'. What do you hate about yourself? GW: That's kind of hard to answer. Various stuff, everyone hates about themselves. I think what's more important is coming to grips with what you hate about yourself as opposed to what you hate about yourself and accepting it and being willing to change that stuff, or if you can't change it just be willing to accept it. The fact that I'm an alcoholic, I hate that about myself. The fact that I like drugs, I hate about myself. Those are the main things I hate about myself. BV: Are you still off the alcohol? GW: Yeah, I'm off everything still, but it's something that had taken me over for so long. It's a drag that the desire is still there. Well, it's always going to be - if you're an alcoholic that doesn't change, so… BV: On a regular concert day, what emotions do you most often go through? What's the rest of the day like to you? GW: I'm always mentally preparing. I think the other guys are too. If we have a day off we'll act very differently to if it's a show day. Even if we have 15 hours before we're playing. Like today, we have a lot of time, something like nine hours now. I'm always trying to keep my head in that space, or at least trying to prepare myself for what's about to happen at night. You can't do certain things, because certain things will take your head out of place. I won't go an amusement park. Let's say there's an amusement park a block away… I won't go there. I'll avoid stuff like that. It'll fuck with my head all day. I can't do anything that will really boost my serotonin level that much, or make me too happy or too upset. I avoid movies. I'll occasionally watch movies on the TV but we won't go to a theatre, we won't do stuff like that. We just generally walk around and be bored. BV: What would happen if you did go to see a movie? GW: I think the movie would affect my brain too much. I think walking around and always starting to think about the show, you constantly build this bored-ass nervous energy and it's boredom to the point that you're ready to tear something off the wall and I think we all need that to do what we do live. BV: How do you feel when you get off stage? Does it feel like a release? GW: Yeah. It feels like you've just sweat and yelled every good and bad thing out of your body. You really feel like a blank slate offstage. Unless something disastrously goes wrong or something breaks, like that night when the water hit the thing (when the band played Birmingham Academy 2 in September someone threw water over the PA), then you're kind of bummed on that so you focus on that and that's a drag. You sit there and go 'oh God, I can't believe that happened' and usually you'll joke about it with the guys. That sucks 'cause it's out of your control and you're not used to something spiking your momentum. We weren't too bummed; we actually had fun that night. We could've taken that a lot worse I think than we did, but instead we were like 'let's have fun. Whatever, we'll fix this. If we don't fix this, we'll still make it through the set'. BV: Frank said 'when listening through this record we want you to go through different emotions like a ride'. What sort of emotions? Do you want listeners to experience sad emotions when listening to the album? GW: Yes. 'Cause there are a lot of emotions, there's happiness, sadness, anger… BV: Wouldn't you rather them just feel happiness? GW: No, 'cause they can feel happiness from a lot of different records I think. I think with our records you can feel everything. Maybe not everything, but… you can feel a lot of things. The most present feelings on the record are sadness and hope. I think there's a lot of hope on the record so it doesn't matter to us that there's so much sadness or depression or violence or anger, as there's so many other things on there. BV: And you like getting a range of emotions from someone else's music yourself? GW: Yeah. BV: Name an album by another band that has allowed you to experience a wide range of emotions. GW: Probably the 'Murder Ballads' by Nick Cave. Because that's got all kinds of crazy shit. It's got really sad songs. It's got songs like 'Stagger Lee' on it which are just brutal. It's got really ironic ones. I don't think I felt happy at any one point of that album. No, definitely at the end, 'Death Is Not The End' with all his friends singing with him. That song makes me happy. But that's about the only one that makes me happy on the record. BV: Kyle Bishop of Black Maria once said 'to me, a song is never finished, it always takes a new direction every time it is performed'. Would you agree and which of your songs would you say has grown and taken new directions since it was originally recorded? GW: That's interesting that he said that. I would agree that the songs take on new directions for sure. I'll tell you which ones I feel. You never know how the song's going to be until you play it live. Sometimes it takes on a whole new life and you're just 'woah, that isn't what we thought it was going to be'. It's mostly good. I think they're finished. I see what he's saying so I do agree with his point. A song like 'Prison' is really super rowdy live and that's taking a kind of trashy, cabaret live, it's more punk than it is on the record. 'It's Not Okay' has gone from being this cry for help set to pop music to being this total freak-out, all these kids' bodies flying over the barricade and losing their shit. It's been really cool. BV: Frank's been in bands since the age of 11. You only a few years ago decided to be in a band. How has the difference amount of time in bands worked? Has Frank got all the experience from being in bands previously while your outlook is maybe fresher? GW: He does, he does. But the beauty of it is that everybody in this band was all part of the same musical community from a young age, so while we weren't in bands he was on the other side being in a band. We were always supporting by going to the shows, meeting the bands, being part of the community that way. He was always in the bands. So was Ray from probably about the age of 16 or even earlier. He was also in bands. It's interesting because he brings in those perspectives. I bring in an interesting perspective as being an outsider in a way, as someone who hasn't been in bands. Sometimes there's a fresher way of looking at things, while a lot of times he has really good insight too. Even stuff he learned at 11 years old. 'I've seen this shit happen in bands'. He's seen shit go down in bands, emotionally, how a band's structure works and all that. BV: What's Bob brought to the band since his addition? GW: Bob is an extremely unique and special individual. Bob's kind of a constant. Bob has your back. We all have each other's backs but Bob's a really strong person too. You know getting up that you can always count on him. You know that no matter what happens, he's going to make it work. I've seen the kid play sets with half a drum set. I've seen him play sets on other people's kits. I've seen him play on rented, broken kits. I've seen Frankie take out most of his cymbals and bass drum on national TV by accident and he's managed to finish the song. There's nothing I'm ever worried about with him. He makes us all feel very comfortable. There's a level of comfort that comes with him. There's a kind of love we have for him, it's just very exciting to turn around… It's gotten to the point where we look at him and it doesn't look weird to us anymore. It's Bob, he's in the band. He's been in the band but it's only been a few months, so that takes time, but it's gotten to the point now where we look around and we expect to see Bob. We're not surprised to see him. He's also someone that on an emotional level makes you feel so good and makes you laugh and it carries over live. BV: 'Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge' was a part concept album in which you incorporated yourselves as you went along. If you were told right now to finish the story, or write the song that would serve as 'the end' what would the ending be like? GW: I just figured out the ending to the story yesterday. This is the total truth too. I was doing an interview and I didn't say it during the interview but I actually figured out the end of the story. It's weird because I never came up with an ending to this story. It's really bleak though, but it would have to end this way if it was a movie, right? So the guy has to bring the devil the souls of a thousand evil men to be united with the woman he loves. I'm sure a lot of people saw this coming but I never realised it. So obviously he kills 999 evil men and then he realises the last evil man he has to kill is himself. I thought of that and was like 'man, why didn't I think of that before?!' But at the moment I don't know what it'd be like as a song. BV: Celebrity Big Brother recently graced UK TV screens. If you had to share a house with six celebrities, who would you choose and why? GW: I wanna mix it up. I don't want to pick obvious. What would be interesting? See, they all used really interesting people already though. I met Ron Jeremy in person. They have this kind of Big Brother in the US. Have you seen it? In the second series they had Ron Jeremy in it and I actually got to meet him and he was really cool in person. Probably Rip Taylor, Liza Minelli… let's see who else… This is tough… Ashlee Simpson and Lindsay Lohan, 'cause they probably wouldn't get along very well. Let's pick some actors… Edward Norton… because I'd need someone to hang out with in that house… he'd probably be the only one I could hang out with. That's five… I just need one more. I dunno, any MTV VJ or something like that. That'd probably be funny. BV: How would you get on living in a house with six others? Are you easy to live with? GW: Yeah, I think I'm easy to live with. I think all the guys in the band are too. We never have any problems. We all have our moments of complainingness or bitchiness and stuff like that. BV: Is there anything that might annoy you living with celebrities? GW: Oh yeah, I'm sure a lot. I'm sure that they're all used to being pampered and taken care of, none of them probably wash dishes, none of them probably clean the toilet, they probably leave scum in the shower, they probably have crazy fans trying to meet them all the time so there's no privacy, that kind of stuff. BV: Richey Edwards of Manic Street Preachers has been missing for 10 years. Do you think someone could run away and go missing for ten years and still be alive? GW: Yeah. Me and Mikey love the Manic Street Preachers. I didn't know it was that long. That's crazy. I think he's missing. Once you develop a persona that carries over into getting any sort of fame or recognition, it's very easy to reverse the process, and it's very easy to change who you really look like. For me, very simply if I cut my hair it'd be very easy. And if you move somewhere where people really don't give a shit about music, which is actually a lot of places in the country and in the US too. A lot of places in the Midwest or the Northeast you could just vanish. You'd have to move away from everybody you know but you could do it. BV: Some musicians think of music as salvation. You've said that the next album is more about 'damnation and salvation'. Can you comment more on that? GW: Sure. It's just all the feelings that we've gone through from the rise of the band and the introduction of sobriety to my life. It brings up a lot of subjects of damnation and salvation. It's not religious in terms of Jesus Christ or organised religion of the church, but it's more like the band is your salvation and the music is, and you start looking at it that way and the band takes on a whole new light. The songs feel obviously more mature, obviously more evolved, but they all feel more honest, more direct, more desperate, a little less poetic, but only from the standpoint of brutal honesty and from a need to really be direct with people. BV: Prior to the UK tour you were on TRL. How was that? GW: It was really weird. It was really interesting. Kind of like a science experiment is the best way to describe it. They introduced us and brought us out. It was probably one of the scariest things ever because not only is it live television, but you are literally thrust into this TRL world. Forget everything you know about the normal world. They bring you out and there are all these kids screaming. There are these bright colours everywhere and Times Square is right out the window and you're like 'oh my God'. You look outside and there are hundreds of people, there's NYPD, there are signs, and screaming and cars whizzing by almost hitting all these people, and you're like 'oh man, this is not normal'. I think I said it on the air, I felt like we were from Mars. Frank had said he'd asked if they were sure they had the right band. And all I heard from people who watched it was that we just looked very mean… which we weren't trying to do on purpose, I think we were just a little overwhelmed. Yeah, it felt like we'd come from another planet and people were like 'welcome to planet earth!' and we were like 'wow'. BV: Did you feel like you conquered it? GW: Definitely. We at least gave a performance that had never been given on TRL. It felt like it. It's a victory just to have a band like us on TRL I think. A lot of people could view it in a negative way, but I think those are people that like to view anything in a negative way. They could view it as 'oh, it's going to change for them now, there are little girls that like them, they're going to sell out' and all this stuff. If our band doesn't do that, doesn't go on TRL… not selling out - 'cause we wouldn't do that… if our band doesn't go on TRL, if a band like ours that comes from our community doesn't step up the plate and make people aware of them and our scene, you're just going to see the same shit on TV and the radio and it's going to be this endless cycle of garbage. So whether we sink or swim on commercial television, like TRL, that's neither here or there, the point is to be on there. BV: It's almost like bringing salvation to the world! GW: That's kind of a big thing to say! In a way it feels like bringing a little more honesty to the world, to music at large. There are so many honest, passionate, sincere bands out there but you don't see them on TRL. There are some that you see on there, but not so many bands that come from such an underground place, that literally come from the basements and refuse to do things like showcase for major labels. There are a lot of things we would refuse to do, like pander ourselves in any way. For the first three months we wouldn't even say our band name live or give out stickers. When we finally had a website we felt a little apprehensive about it. So yeah, we decided it was important, that it was necessary in a way that we were on TRL. BV: Some of your long-time fans on one of your fan site message boards were saying they didn't like you being on there and seem threatened and worried that all the trendy kids will start liking you. GW: Yeah, it's understandable. Our fans from the beginning have been going through that forever. What a lot of people don't realise is that they got into us because they felt alienated and they were the only people who were into us. And a lot of these kids, despite the fact that they may be 14 years old, female and at high school, it doesn't mean they're any less alienated. There's a lot of sexism, racism and homophobia that these kids all have to face at high school and that's something that we connect with. Just because them and their ten friends like the band and you just liked it alone doesn't make it any different. I understand, it makes sense that they feel threatened; I get it. It doesn't bum us out that bad. It's kinda par for the course. BV: Do you have a message for fans who've been around right from the beginning - and also a message for any new fans. GW: Yeah. Definitely what I just said to the old-time fans. We were just as alienated as you which is why you got into the band and a lot of these kids that are new are just as alienated as us. There's nothing that's going to change about the five guys in the band. We may make videos that cost more money and we may really get to execute our vision, which is all we really use money for, to make a live show better or really execute something that we bought, 'cause we've always wanted bigger things in terms of production. That's the only thing that's going to really change. You're going to see more lights and cooler stuff on stage hopefully as the band gets more income to do that. For the new people, I really ask them to look into the band, but don't even go by what you read on message boards. The internet is a really evil place. Go by what you hear on the CD and what you see live. That's really all there is to it. And when you meet us in person, if we have the time, and it's a safe condition in which to talk to you, then we'll always try and make that time, and maybe you'll find out a little bit more about the band that way. But the best way to find out about the band and make assumptions is by listening to that CD because it's all right there. The old fans we have always loved and we're always going to love to the end, and we know they're the people that will be there to the end and we don't forget that kind of thing. But the thing is we're one of those unique bands where the newer fans that we attract will also be there at the end 'cause of what this band will do for them and what we do for ourselves, and what we try and do for society. BV: On 'I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love' there's a song called 'This Is The Best Day Ever'. What's been the best day ever so far? GW: It's hard to say, we've had so many amazing things happen… I think the best day at least from my perspective was hearing that we got the Green Day tour. A lot of really great things happen to your band and you get so used to it and then when something like that happens you go 'wait a minute, a lot of that stuff didn't really matter as much as this'. To have recognition from a band that's done it their way for so long and cares so much about their music and their fans and their integrity, to be acknowledged by that kind of band is the biggest thing that could happen to a band. To be accepted by that band. It's kinda like being lead in, it's kinda like being made in the mafia. We haven't been made yet, but we've been given a chance and that's rad. A chance to prove ourselves by our heroes. BV: What would be your best day ever in the future? G: Playing Times Square outside on New Years. That would probably be the best day ever. That would be nuts… especially if we had pyro. That'd be pretty cool. Indeed. Black Velvet's always wanted to go to Times Square for New Years. If My Chemical Romance played we'd be there like a shot. Sounds like a plan. Visit www.mychemicalromance.com for more info. MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE (Interview With Gerard Way & Ray Toro Taken From Black Velvet 41 - Aug 2004) NB. Matt Pelissier is no longer in the band. By Laura Fitzgerald MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE are the rock 'n' roll embodiment of Jekyll and Hyde. Onstage, cursing and howling, spitting and snarling, an enthralling yet seemingly unhinged band plough through their finest material, the slow but steady alcohol intake of the previous few hours having taken glorious effect. Chaotic, furious and playing as if their lives depended on it, it is hard to believe that just a few hours earlier Black Velvet was sat with these same individuals in an upstairs dressing room discussing cartoons and English cuisine. For despite their boisterous onstage antics, My Chemical Romance are some of the most grounded, polite and genuine people you will ever come across. Off the back of the success of 'I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love' My Chemical Romance (Gerard Way - vocals, Ray Toro - guitar, Mikey Way - bass, Frank Iero - guitar and Matt Pelissier - drums) rushed into the studio in between tours to complete work on their second full length offering 'Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge'. "It's definitely a lot of growth for the band, rapidly from the first record," Gerard explains. "It's definitely a transitional record. You can hear a lot of the stuff we did well on the first record, that's all brought onto the second record but we explore a lot of different song types, structures, it's actually more structured for sure. The songs are all collectively a lot shorter." Many bands profess to either being a 'studio' or a 'touring' band, enduring one because of the enjoyment the other brings. Unusually, My Chemical Romance claim to have no preference. "I think we're split pretty much. We like making records; we already want to make a new one. But at the same time, after three months in LA recording, the first night of our first tour we were like "fuck man this is what we live for". At the same time when you're on tour for a year and a half you're like, "I wanna make a fucking record". The band is also unable to write on the road. "We like to write together in Jersey at our little shitbox practice space, that's where we write everything. We like to have stuff ready, sitting around in a studio, wasting thousands of dollars, going "ah I got a riff". That's a waste of time to us." In fact, work on the album got so pressured that Gerard disappeared for a few days during the recording process, prompting a post on the band's official website declaring the front man 'Missing in Action', much to the concern of their loyal fan base. He explains, "It was more irresponsibility than MIA. I had forgotten my phone charger, I had a credit card on me, a notebook and some art supplies. I realised I had to finish two songs lyrically and do the artwork, so I found a hotel, charged a room and stayed there for a couple of days. But it got out of hand and it was really irresponsible of me. It was a little bit drink-fuelled, not majorly. It was more like I gotta get all this shit done and I'm gonna stay up constantly to do it and not use the phone or tell anybody where I was." In the early stages of writing, the new album was rumoured to be a concept album about a guy that comes back from the dead to wreak revenge on those that had wronged him during his life. It turns out that although things did not pan out exactly as planned, fans hoping for a revenge-fuelled zombie killing spree will not be disappointed. "It is and it isn't a concept record. The coolest thing that happened on this record is the fact that we went into it as a concept record and then partway through making it you kinda get lost in the story, in your own life and stuff like that. And you can't help but write about your own life. There's a lot of stuff that happened in the band that I wanted to relate through lyrics about what happened in our first year and a half that I really just said 'fuck it' to the concept. "So it's like this cool concept where you get lost in it then you gotta figure out what's part of the concept. 'Cause I'd say at least half of the record follows the concept, even the songs that have nothing to do with the concept too. You can't really plan things when you make a record 'cause if you do that then you get stuck. Oh you gotta use this song because it tells the story as opposed to oh you gotta use this song because it's a great song." It seems that lately concept albums have been making somewhat of a surprising comeback. Coheed And Cambria are partway through a Star Wars-like trilogy of albums detailing the untimely end of a pair of characters confusingly called Coheed And Cambria, The Mars Volta's critic pleasing debut 'Deloused In The Comatorium' is a tale of a friend's coma after a failed suicide attempt and The Street's 'A Grand Don't Come For Free' is a moving account of, erm, losing a thousand pounds. My Chemical Romance believe this lyrical revival is a change for the better. "I think they're just bored of the same old shit and people are coming up with very creative science fiction horror movie type things and they wanna tell those stories through music, and I think that's really really awesome. I think people are kinda moving away from singing about relationships between men and women and moving onto more fictional things. And I think that's really cool because you can relate fiction sometimes better than reality." With songtitles like 'Vampires Can Never Hurt You', some would argue that Gerard's lyrics are pure fiction. However, the frontman reveals that it is a conscious decision by the band to mask the true meaning of the songs behind horror movie imagery rather than the lyrics being completely straightforward (albeit supernatural metaphor-less.) Although the paranormal associations make for some extremely cool merchandise, the new album is a step away from all things Halloween themed. "The second record has a lot less of the supernatural element aside from the fact that it's a concept record about a guy that comes back from the dead. Obviously that's supernatural. We've kinda moved away from the vampire thing." In case you are wondering, yes, the band are massive horror movie fans. The quintet saw Dawn Of The Dead together in Los Angeles whilst recording, the movie getting a big thumbs up from the band, unlike over the top blockbuster Van Helsing, Frank describing as "awful". Another of the band's passions is cartoons, an obsession of Gerard's in particular. Before the group took off, the singer was working for a company making a series called 'Sheep In The Big City', as well as developing a show of his own called 'The Breakfast Monkey.' Intrigued, Black Velvet asked the obviously multi skilled front man to explain more. "It was a failed idea, it never got sold but it got close. It was about a monkey. He doesn't really look like a monkey though so it's kinda weird. He looks more like a cross between a monkey and the Pillsbury Dough Boy, and he has breakfast magic powers which are unexplainable. He hangs out with a Spanish wrestler and a kid who is really sugar damaged and has ADD and he rides his bike in all the pictures." Recommending 'Aquatine Hunger Force', ("It's incredible. Makes no fucking sense, it's awesome") and 'Adult Swim' as cartoons for us Brits to look out for in the future, My Chemical Romance feel that television in the UK is a bit of a let down. As is the food. "I did have a nice pizza today, I will say that," announces Ray, before adding "at a pub, but I might have had four beers anyway by that point." The culture shock topic is one the assembled give careful consideration to. The measures used to pour spirits are a particular pet peeve of Gerard's. Unbelievably such devices are non existent in America, "the bartender just puts as much as he wants in there. Sometimes you get a bartender that will put almost all vodka in your drink," he explains. "In the States, if you get a vodka cranberry it's almost clear, just a little bit of pink in it. In the UK there is just a smidgen of vodka in it, so yeah that was kind of a culture shock for me personally." Before the topic is well and truly exhausted, Ray remarks "the toilet bowls flush differently" and "all the toilet paper is really rough." My Chemical Romance have toured with a bizarre variety of bands, from hardcore to emo and everything in between, their dream being to open for Iron Maiden one day. Whilst not as high profile as a support slot with Bruce Dickinson and co, the band did play this year's Concert For Compassion in Los Angeles. They explain to Black Velvet how they got involved, "I think that happened pretty quickly. John Reese, who manages The Used and Story Of The Year, has been a big supporter of the band for a long time and they were like "you wanna play this thing? It's gonna be cool and you're already gonna be out here." We said absolutely 'cause it's a good cause. So we did that and it was fun." A show to raise awareness of animal cruelty and to stop animal testing at Huntington Life Science's lab, many of the bands on the bill were extremely passionate and vocal supporters of animal rights, actively involved in work with charities like PETA. My Chemical Romance, however, do not fall into that category, and whilst you are unlikely to find the band protesting outside your local KFC, it would be equally as unjust to suggest that the band does not care. "We don't really have any kind of political stance or anything, but we support good causes. If it's a cause like that then we'll absolutely support it. We haven't really got into that aspect of things as a band" Gerard clarifies. None of the band are vegetarian, "I wear a leather jacket" the singer states. "I didn't wear my leather jacket that day obviously, but I wear one every show so it's kind of interesting they even asked us to play. PETA contacted us once and I was like "dude what are you doing? I'm wearing a leather jacket!" I mean I didn't kill it, I just saw it in a second hand store, it's a cool jacket." Despite claiming not to get into "that" aspect of things as a band, the one cause the band readily lends their support to is suicide prevention. When asked if they feel it is important to communicate such a positive message, Gerard answers "absolutely. Especially when you get up there and you and your band are so violent and abrasive and drunk sometimes onstage. It's very important to at the same time give a positive message. And even if we weren't that way live, I think it's kind of your duty as an artist that young people listen to and look up to or whatever they do, to lead people in the right direction, as opposed to just an extremely nihilistic attitude where you just say "fuck everything, it's all pointless, we should just die". There has been a lot of art like that made. There's nothing wrong with being crazy and cursing your head off and being nuts on stage but at least have something important to say." Wise words indeed. Nu metal is then mentioned, where a generation of frustrated teens were encouraged to respond to life's problems by sticking their middle fingers in the air. "Exactly," Gerard proceeds. "I think an example of that is Limp Bizkit. They have a song where it's just like "break stuff". It's ridiculous. They played Woodstock and incited riots and people got raped. Is that leading anybody to anything good? I don't think so." And there you have it. Jekyll and Hyde undoubtedly. My Chemical Romance not only want to send you home from their shows with temporary tinnitus and clothes drenched in other people's sweat (the tell tale signs of a good gig); they want to lead you in the right direction. They rock, but they care. Visit www.mychemicalromance.com for more info. | ||||||||||
53 | Elle Girl | 2 | 2005 | Ray Toro | Ray Toro | x | Tour diary | ||||||||||
54 | Kerrang! | 2 | 2005 | Frank Iero, Ray Toro, Gerard Way | Tom Bryant | x (alt) | SCHOOL OF HARD KNOCKS. My Chemical Romance's songs and live shows are famous for their us-against-them rage. It's born of frustrated youth and schoolyard alienation. Now the outcasts are fighting back... uiY CHiulICAL Romance have always been fighting. , Fighting the r background! Fighting each other. F»gMing tor survival They fought their way cut of New , Jersey, out of live! that teemed mapped out for them twice b *th - of nne-to-frwx of dunking and fucking and rctwnrg home mwerabie about k. They fought at Khoo*, when they didn't know what they were fighting for as they ail sat alone tn class ' rooms and lunch halls. The strange kids, the outsiders that no-one wanted to know They fought because they wanted to make a difference, to not be the people their peen were, to not die without having tried somehow to change someone. somewhere'! world They were toM they would (al constantly that they were no good, that they didn't have the talent or the bott e to see ft through You can see that fighting sprit when they're onstage, you can see it when they wait into a room together and you can hear it in every note of their musk You can Mil that itY a battle that they think they might be winning And that means everything to them because, for Gerard Way and his boys, 'It's always been about wctory, glory, defeat and desire. I've always wanted to wm. that's ad I've ever wanted * SCHOOL IMS never fun for My Chemical Romance They were newer the popular k>di never the kids who were at the centre, or even the fringes o* a group As they UK all of them dressed in ixwforms and Mood, having just trashed a school room for the purposes of the pictures alongside, there’s gee in their eyes • I was one of the irwhbk people as school.' says gusar st Ray Toro He says this without a trace of regret - or pain "I didn't enel at anything, I wasn't terrible at I anythng. After school I would go home alone and id I and play gutar or video games until the next day • It's a story that rngs true with every member of the band Hone of them were at school together, yet all of } them have ths as a shared history. Frank lero spent high school with just three friends He d^ni do a lot he smoked weed, got high and. ’That was about it I knew I <Mn*t ready want to be in school but I dido! know what else I wanted to do * Me was bull ed Me says, 'There was a tot of that". Sand that he didn’t ever M in, that he was never the sportsman or the top of the clan So he discovered punk rock and drugs and knew that everyone thought of km as weed if you ask any of My Chemical Romance about the# school days, they ted you the same thing I xccpt Gerard BWay He i the east biter about that tme. despite acknowledging that Ml school days were very solitary. ’I was realty notated,' ha says ’But I found so a;e n the com* book store That saved my hit On my best i day m h»gh school I sat all atone at lunchtime it was the class« story - the weird • d in the army jacket horror j movie T-sh rt and long black hair.* He found a group, though, a group of metal beads who'd vt with him and talk, but Gerard never had much interest to hanging out •I was more interested in music and be-ng creative Prop e were never really mean to me, they mostly just left me atone I think reaty. I just warted to be aiore* THOU GH THEY may not have realised it, those days were vital for My Chemical Romance. The experience of be»ng the outsiders, of always looking to at something the meant they were Hied with dewe to be noticed "We all felt like outcasts,* says Gerard Way 'ThatS what brought us ail together We thrve on conf «t opposition everything rw always been Hee that At first it was us versus New York City Then it Mt like the band versus Ame*«a Now it s us versus the word ’ 'That kind of thing really fuels you,’ adds Mo 'R feels good to prove people wrong. To show all the people who sad you weren't good enough and that you'd never succeed You stay hungry because of that Yo j never settle and that’s a good thing ' Mo, for one, says he was told he wouldn’t make it at least three tents a day. It built up an anger in the band, one bu It from defiance to the face of adversity and one of revenge “Thrs record ft revenge for wk' says Gerard Way with a sm!e 'On ail the people that said we would never succeed Fee been obsessed with revenge ever since I beard the flack hag song Revenge’ It started to mean someth ng to this band. We thought we could get even for all the shrt that’s happened to us in our Wes, for being raised by good parents in a reaty bad area. Revenge that meant we could break out Mmt of ail. revenge on ad the people who never believed m us * It led to a strange self confidence bon out of having no one to rely on but themselves Their revenge was to believe in themselves and know they were right That everyone else was wrong •I had th s obsessive weud vibe.' says Gerard Way. ”I hid th*» ertrtn* conf «dent e where I Mt like nothing cow'd touch us. Nothing anyone said coUM hurt me when l was tn this band It was as though I was always the person I was onstage I had created that onstage character and no-one could break that until I stopped drinking " THXIP HQKSTOVE of New Jersey was never somewhere they loved They spent yean looking at the I fees they could lead there, the Ines that meant living foe fnday and Saturday nights Of getting smashed out of your skull simply because it dulled the mundaraty of the working week RY a large place, but small town in mind-Btt everyone knows who you are and what you do there So the band fought agamst it became part of the underground punk scene - a scene that lero describes as elitist bet very caring and helpful Then they played anywhere they could. 'We played basements, legion halls, anywhere, as often as we could." says Mo 'I even played a hot-dog stand once. We’d play anywhere 'cause it’s all we had ' When he's speaking. Mo has a calm but <y exterior. There's a real toughness about him, Hrs words are softly spoken but full of considered grit As much as Gerard Way is the frontman and the voice of the band. Mo B its heartbeat and its bood He I ves this band as Ns Me because he has nothing ehe. has never wanted to do anything ehe and can't see what ehe he nvght do. When he which around the stage, he g ves hn all for Nt band •I need to have given my eV be says "I need to know that dl be left on the floor and that rm completely done after a show. I need to have nothng left. I need to fed dangerous, I need to not 'eave anyone standing I want to UI tie aud^ncev * It s what they feel onstage them wnui the world. "You have to think of your fans as opposition.* says Mo. "Noone stands n your way and the foe of you are there to destroy every person in that room That's how we 90 onstage every night We go there to kill people" "I stll need to go out there and fueling M,* says Gerard Way "But now the kids are there * or us. it'S not so much us against them anymore. Now it's all of us together aganst something much larger. That's the best fueling fading in the world When a thousand kids are throwing their fists in the air and screaming along to a song, mat's a fucking victory" This pugnacious attitude saw them rhe to the top of their local scene, break out and move on. Then a strange thng happened They al realised how proud they were of New Jersey How proud they were el themselves for having Noken out "We wanted to »how people we were different.* says Gerard Way. "We went out to represent Jersey to prove to them all that we weren't just drunk, shithead. Maha cbuMen rm very proud of where I'm from now, despne its faults * I? ’S THa? outcast attitude that means they've become heroes to a* the lonely people »ft not some thing they asked for but they are seen as kindred spurts to ail those people who stand in the corners "We never set oursches up to be marauding for the underdogs* says Mo *We were never trying to be superheroes or role models But to think that we’re looking out for kids who don't have anyone eke feels good. But we're kids too We don't have answers’ ’That sort of thng frightens me a little.’ says Gerard Way ’I guru it's that old superhero thing - wth great power comes great respenub ity We do have a power now and tome people are looking al us as saviours in a way RY an incredible weight on cur shoulders ' that responsibility H something that has been pressing on Gerard Way particularly. But then helping or trying to make a difference has always been the pont of the band, whether it's helping themselves or helping other people -At f»st that WM group therapy for ourselves.’ says Gerard ’Then if went to group therapy for a room of people Then, with the records, it was group therapy for anyone who bought It I hope we re helping people but that doesn't mean rm going io go to peoples houses because they wrote me a suicide note. ThatY not going to happen * Receving suicide notes, however, n something that happens RY partly a symptom of berg the Mm of band they are. of looking like the gang that has stood up to the bullies and haters it means people associate with them for that very reason It aho means they're worried they're becoming the sort of band whose fans feel they have to be fucked to understand the muse. *1 thru, some do think that and it's ready heavy,* says Gerard "it can be threatening, a little dangerous * RY something he already knows is a problem. Anyone who saw the band on then recent tour would have noticed Way's speech on 1-800 SUICIDE, the American helpline for people thinking of taking their own lives. He never used to say the speech in England, partly because he doesn't know what the UK equivalent was. Then something recently made him re-think. "I don't want to get too personal because I don't want to embarrass the person involved. We always turn the houselights up during 'Our Lady Of Sorrows' because it's a special song to us. On this tour, I saw someone in the crowd who was completely cut up, arms and all over. That changed everything right then. I'm worried that people might think they have to do something like that to come to one of our shows. That they have to go through that in order to fit in. I would hate to think there's anything about this band that would encourage anyone to do that to themselves." It's something that some bands could shrug off as not their problem. My Chemical Romance think it is their problem but they're not totally sure how to deal with it. They try, though, because these are their kids, their fans or - as Frank lero puts it - "our army". It's a lot of responsibility to shoulder. "We're not psychotherapists," says Gerard. "We're not going to be able to do anything good for these people so we try to be mature and keep being the band we are and be there with our words and live show. We're there for people in that respect." That Gerard can associate with those urges and feelings does help. He knows what it is to hate yourself. "I have had a lot of self-hate," he says. "The most recent example was the song 'Helena'. It's a really angry open letter to myself. It's about why I wasn't around for this woman who was so special to me, why I wasn't there for the last year of her life. Self-hate is always a big part of the lyrics. I've felt like that all my life. I don't know why but I've always hated myself. Hopefully that self-hate is growing into something else now; hopefully it's grown into caring about myself and wanting to stay alive." THERE WaS a time, though, when all that self-hate was becoming a problem for Gerard, when people were starting to wonder - himself included - whether he would stay alive. He's talked about his problems with alcohol and drugs before, about how they very nearly sent him over the edge. Looking at him today, he is a different person. He looks healthy - despite being splattered in 'blood' and dark eyeliner. He's also positive, something he once found it hard to be, and has been sober for months now. It was a difficult process. Before he quit he would be able to hurl himself around the stage intuitively, driven by the music, drugs and the booze. Sober, he found himself at a loss both onstage and off, he suddenly had time on his hands that he previously filled by being off his face. "I felt invalid when I quit," he says. "I felt contrived, as though I was trying to be someone fake. It was as though I'd lost the thing that made me Gerard Way. I had to concentrate on being creative, on letting that overtake the alcoholic side." The period after he quit was, he says, the toughest of his life. He hit an all time low, moping about, wondering if all the success the band had achieved, and all the adulation he'd received as a singer was down to the drunken persona he'd created for himself. Aside from his grandmother dying - the woman whose life and death inspired much of 'Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge' - he says, "That was the worst moment of my life. Losing my grandmother and the drinking were connected. When I quit I could see myself clearly and I wasn't sure how much I liked it. I wasn't confident about anything, just depressed. Also, when you get sober, everyone is very honest about everything you've done. That can be hard." It's something he's worked hard to turn around. He says he's very tough on himself, that he has very high expectations of himself and that when he doesn't live up to those, he gets incredibly disappointed. He used to deal with that by clamming up. Now he tries to fight them, he tries to talk to his band and his friends. It's meant that he thinks he's become a better person, someone with balance who finds the time to enjoy himself and to just be himself, rather than playing the part of the singer in a band. "I would obsess over death but I'm more comfortable now. I don't feel like I have to be the crazy, drunken, fucked up singer the whole time. I can turn it off and on now. The other guys in the band were getting so sick of me, they couldn't believe I was like that the whole time." Toro agrees: "It’s not a concern anymore; we don't worry if he'll slip back into it. When he stopped drinking and we got our new drummer, we became much stronger. Gerard performs better, we have more fun and we don't have to worry about what state he's in..." "...or if he's stealing our stuff for drugs," adds lero. It's hard to tell if he's joking or not. aKE SO My Chemical Romance found themselves going into 2005 newly recharged. They had fired their old drummer - who, according to Ray Toro, always made them nervous before shows, "We didn't know what might happen next onstage with him and that wasn't good". They also had a sober and fired up singer once again. On top of that, their album had been one of the critics' albums of 2004, their shows were getting bigger and bigger and they were being touted by everyone as potential superstars. Which puts them in a difficult position. If you've based your identity on being the underdogs, what happens when you've got the upper hand? "It is still a fight," says Gerard Way. "It's funny, if we believed all the press and the reviews; we could just think we've got this in the bag. We do feel like we've got the sons of bitches by the balls! But we're not ready to let go either. We could sell a million records and still feel like the underdogs. I have thought about it, though, you do wonder whether it will ruin the band if you're not an underdog anymore. You can still be an underdog to yourself, though." The heart of the band, lero, puts it more bluntly: "We've always been fighters. There will always be something to fight against. So we'll always fight, underdogs or not. Put a wall in front of us, we don't look to go round it. We just bust straight through." Which goes a long way to summing up the confidence in My Chemical Romance at the moment. Right now, they feel as though they've overcome almost everything that ever held them back, that they couldn't be stronger, better or "more like a gang", as lero puts it. In fact, ask Gerard Way to sum up his own band, and he sounds like a boxer before a fight. "We're threatening. Unstoppable. Undefeatable. Dangerous. You can't ignore us anymore." ■ MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE'S SINGLE 'I'M NOT OK (I PROMISE)' IS OUT ON FEBRUARY 28 ON REPRISE. | ||||||||||
55 | Kerrang! | 2 | 2005 | Gerard Way | x | Comics, vampires | HANGING WITH GERARD WAY MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE PLACE: FORBIDDEN PLANET, EAST 13TH STREET, NEW YORK SO YOU RE A COMIC MERO, THEN? •YcA pretty "Wl>. Though I don't think RY that r*"tf. M you took at tome of th* amar mg talent thus gone Im* them, you rea-se if» an incrodiMe art form, rm reoSy into th* artwork -1 erm drew a whole anmated series I wanted to get tommitslorwd on TV ARE YOU A SUPERHERO OR VAMPIRE SORT OF FANT •Oh vampires. withouta doubt. I love al the dark Huff - aoydung twisted. weed and a IrtOe ml.* EVER FANCIED BEING A VAUP1RE? •Oefeiitely. it'd be tool to be a vampire Vampres are the beM bean you tan ever be They're the coolest metaphor in the world Alto, tail me egotistical but l think I tore the whore idea ol mmorulty ' DO YOU REALLY WANT TO LIVE FOREVER? Than probably the emir» reason rm in a band Actually rm not airaid ol dying but I wo«/dm mind being around forever. I quest musk Ml you do that And being a vampire • BUT. IF YOU NEVER GOT OLO. YOU WOULDN'T et AOI t TO SIT AROUNO IN CARDIGANS DRINKING SOUP IN FRONT OF ■COUNTDOWN'. THAT WOULD BE TERRIBLE •fatting around all day wouhng TV and eating bad food n pretty much Ute being in a band tn tout though. I figure I'« hove done my fair share of that in a few years' Une, so rm prepared to make the sacM.ce I •** rd rather be a creature of the rwgM than an Md dude * YOU 0 HAVE TO AVCHD THE PESKY VAMPIRE SLAYERS. THOUGH . 1 dart think rd hke to be an evil va-np.ro! rd be a good one! rd only steal blood (rem hotpiuk; I wouldn't Me people's necks or anything rd use my dark powers for goodl” YOU'D USE YOUR POWERS OF BLOOD SUCKING. SUPERHUMAN STRENGTH ANO TERR ULI RAGE FOR GOOD? HOW? 1 could bang around stopping other vampires from AH.ng people! Aho. my superhuman strength would mean I cov'd break into the bMpitai blood store more easdy* YOU'RE SULL NOT THAT GOOD I THINK STEALING FROM HOSPITALS IS PROBABLY FROWNED UPON. •Oh shit. I guess you're nght But I guess a va-pre thief is better than a vampire kifar I'm sure the hospitals would rather I was Healing Mood from then instead of leaving them with a load of Mood drained corpses with punctures In their necks to deal with * ■ | ||||||||||
56 | Rock Sound | 2 | 2005 | Gerard Way, Adam Lazzara, Matt Rubano | Ronnie Kerswell | x (alt) | TAKING BACK SUNDAY VS MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE [Blood, "Bowie’s package" and Bush; life's dealt some m wild cards for members of My Chemical Romance and Taking Back Sunday. Now these unlikely tour partners are about to hit the UK and it's going to be 'Dangerous' as rock sound discovers... & WORDS: Ronnie Kerswell / PHOTOS: Chris Mottahni Darkness And The Light "I've just seen the first part of the Queen Of The Damned; I had no idea that movie turned into a story about a vampire rock band - what's funny is that the opening scene is a press conference where all they're talking atout is vampire shit, just I like one of our interviews!" To some. Gerard Way, frontman of bat-core boys My Chemical Romance could even be Anne Rice’s dangerous lovable hero Lestat. And Gerard wouldn t have it any other way, believing i. you get into this industry because you want to be famous, it's not as special. 'When you fall into it, you develop into a really different person and become the person you've always wanted to be. You get to live that every day. I really never thought I'd be here.’ THE FICTION WE LIVE Growing up on the mean streets of Newark, it was too dangerous for Gerard and bass-toting younger brother Mikey to play out like normal kids, so Gerard turned to his imagination. “When 1 was a kid, I definitely didn’t want to live in this world, I was way more interested in a fantastical world or a place where magic existed - anywhere that I could use my imagination. The environment we were surrounded with was filled with crime, shootings and stuff and it was a really nice way to escape that. My grandmother taught me art and to sing and paint -1 learned something every weekend with her. She was my mentor and even though my parents weren’t artistic they always encouraged me to figure out ways to have fun in a safe environment. I drew a lot of pictures, read a lot of comics and made up stories.” Gerard got into science fiction and fantasy after seeing pre-teen fantasy films like The Goonies and Labyrinth. “You can’t really avoid David Bowie’s package in that movie, there’s no way of avoiding it at all!” he laughs. “My personality didn’t really develop in any real place,” he continues. “It developed in a fictional place. It’s interesting; you have your basic personality which is how me and my brother interact with one another and our friends and there's this other side that came out of a place that wasn’t real. I had a hard time for a couple of years - even as an adult - trying to deal with reality. I didn’t like it very much. That’s what made the band so appealing. I’m never going to have a normal job, it’s impossible. I’m the worst employee in the world in a matter of months. Every job I’ve ever had I gave up because I can’t understand why I’m even there. A mundane job makes no sense to me.” However, as a teenager, Gerard did find the perfect job in his local comic store, which was to provide a lasting impression for all the wrong reasons... “One experience that had a big impact on me was having a gun put to my head,” he discloses. “I was 15 then, I was in the comic store and we got held up; that was the one thing that pulled me right back into reality, where you think, ‘This isn’t all made-up, I might just get my head blown-off!’ They put me down on the floor execution-style and I thought they were going to blow my head off but they just robbed the place. It wasn’t like my life was flashing before me, the whole time I was wondering if they were going to kill me - not in a way where I was scared, it was kind of more of a curious thing, like, T wonder if he’ll do it’.” Fortunately, the robbers chose not to pull the trigger but the near-death experience forced Gerard to throw his energy into the thing that really matters to him - art, although it wasn’t until he was at art school that thoughts of fronting a band entered his head. “Everyone in art school had a band. I was putting the feelers out at the time and I was 24 when I joined this band - which is kind of late to start a band.” Better late than never... Since forming three years ago, things have really taken off for Gerard, Mikey, drummer Matt Pelissier and guitarists Frankie lero and Ray Toro. They’re about to complete their biggest UK trek yet, with Long Island pals Taking Back Sunday, in what’s been dubbed something of a ‘darkness and light’ tour. “They have some pretty dark stuff in their lyrics, too, but they definitely come off a little lighter than us,” states the frontman. “It’s definitely very exciting. Who would have thought that we’d all be going to Europe together, having a great time and playing these huge shows? I’ve always likened Taking Back Sunday to a big party when you go and see them; everybody has a good time, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a fight at a Taking Back Sunday show.” But seeing My Chemical Romance is like a big party too - a Halloween party! “Or a wake party or something!” he laughs. “We are both celebratory bands that’s for sure, I think it’s going to be a very well-balanced bill!” Although Gerard is ready to embrace the forthcoming tour with relish, life on the road can be a pretty disconnecting experience when it comes to friends and family, as ‘You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Prison’ (from their Reprise / Warners debut, ‘Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge’) with lyrical images of being trapped, highlights. “That was a metaphor for being in the band,” the singer clarifes. “But things weren’t ever bad, it was just a way of releasing the bad points - the depression of being away from home and missing people. It was just a way to deal with that and be honest about it, instead of giving this illusion that’s like: ‘We’re hanging out with strippers, doing a bunch of blow and having the time of our lives’.” Having $ said that, the singer alleges there are some who actively encourage “rock star” behaviour because it’s good for record sales! “So many people treat you like you’re a kid so you might as well act like one and throw your television out of the hotel window. I’ve heard of a band whose label asked them to trash their hotel room just so they’d get a reputation as a bad boy band.” Although trashing hotels is not for the members of My Chemical Romance, Gerard explains that the last couple of years have been something of an eye-opener. “I’ve learned how to grow up and take care of myself - you either learn it or you don’t make it. You have to watch each other’s backs as nobody else is going to give a shit about you. That’s why so many band get messed up and end up on drugs.” With drugs and alcohol freely available, it’s very easy to get tempted to blot out the monotony of the road. Gerard has always been very open about his “problem” but with everyone feasting on that “sensational” experience, he feels it got blown up out of proportion. “Me talking about it was stopping it before it got to the point where it was ridiculous, that was the real focus,” he adjusts. “It was a way of preventing any drama or bullshit happening to the band as opposed to, ‘Everything is about to fall apart’. Maybe I was about to fall apart but the band wasn’t about to. “A lot of dramatic stuff did happen but everything is magnified 10 times and I did say all of the stuff I said. I was definitely depressed, I was definitely suicidal but it was steps I had taken in order for the band to really succeed. About the time when you start feeling successful, your privacy goes out the window. It’s not a bad problem to have, it’s just a new problem to have and it’s something that you’ve got to get used to.” PRIVATES ON PARADE Having their private life exposed is something that tour pals Taking Back Sunday are all too aware of, and, despite having lost two members (former guitarist John Nolan and bassist Shaun Cooper) after well-publicised personal ructions (see issue 63), the Long Island lot have come back brighter than ever before - though that’s not been without pitfalls. “There are a lot of people that talk a lot of crap and there are kids that buy into it,” maintains frontman Adam Lazarra. “There are kids who’ve never even met me who just know what they’ve heard from other bands that don’t like us.” One of those unfair rumours is that Adam is arrogant. “Anybody who is in a band that is doing okay, that has trouble taking with a big group of people, is going to be called arrogant,” counters the reserved singer. “After shows, if I walk out and there is a huge group of people there I don’t deal with it very well and just freak out. The majority of the people there have that idea of you in their head and you don’t have a chance because if someone were to ask you a question, they would answer it for you in the same sentence. It used to make me angry but now I don’t care, people are going to think what they want about you.” According to bassist Matt Rubano, people’s faulty perceptions extend to the way the band, completed by guitarists Fred Mascherino and Ed Reyes and drummer Mark O’Connell, live their lives. “A lot of people think we have sports cars, mansions and that we’re dating models. I’d like to be dating a model and I’d like to have a big house - we’re lucky in what we get to do, but people have this preconception when they read something on a tabloid bullshit website. It’s unfortunate because there is so much information available nowadays that people aren’t concerned about how valid it is, where it comes from, or if it’s true or not. I’ve heard things about each one of us that are so untrue it’s beyond amusing. People think they own you and they’re really connected to what you do and what you are. They want you to behave the way they think you should behave. We get sick, we get tired like everyone else, but we live for other people’s amusement, that’s one of the shittier aspects of being an entertainer or whatever we are.” Coming from the guy whose first word was, “No” and first phrase was, “Leave me alone”, that’s hardly surprising. “I think that might have been a wired-in thing,” asserts Matt who confesses to being something of a loner as a youngster. “I was a pretty dark and introverted young kid and I just liked to be alone and listen to dark stuff. Before I discovered music and really focused on it and decided it was what I was going to do, nothing would really get my attention, and I was never drawn towards it as a ‘life’s path’ sort of thing. It wasn’t a musical household per se, and there wasn’t a piano or anything like that there but I remember car rides and really zoning out with the stereo on watching the road go by listening to Frank Sinatra, Kool And The Gang, Billy Joel or whatever it was my parents were listening to. They had pretty diverse tastes.” Anyone doubting Adam’s rock heritage need only look towards his punk rock dad, Lazarra senior, who could almost pass for a (younger) American version of Granddad Of Punk Rock, UK Subs frontman Charlie Harper. With the music of bands such as Golden Earring filling his childhood, Adam was forced to listen to something really ‘Bad’ to rebel. In fact he’s so proud of his love for the music of Michael Jackson that, during Taking Back Sunday’s performance for competition winners at an alternative radio station in Philadelphia, he coolly confesses to having a ‘Billie Jean’ ring tone, rock sound witnesses the aftermath, as Adam’s dad Phil pulls the singer aside, advising him not to advertise his support for the moon-walking mentalist: “We don’t like people like that, he’s weird!” Later the singer admits that their disagreement goes much further back. “It was that album ‘Dangerous’,” he explains. “My dad took it and gave a speech about how the guy is a weirdo. Even then I was like, ‘I’m not into it because I think he’s pretty, I’ve got it because I think the music’s awesome!’ I’d listen to that stuff louder than I normally would just to make my dad angry. He disagrees with Michael Jackson’s private life so much that he’s against supporting him. He just needs to dance!” BEATING ABOUT THE BUSH Dancing may well be on the frontman’s mind at the moment, but as a nipper it was swimming with sea mammals that interested Adam. Fascinated by Flipper and friends on the television, he envisioned his life following a more dolphinfriendly direction. “I wanted to train dolphins,” he smiles, “it’s certainly questioning my manhood - but I’m not a hippy!” Life in the Lazarra household was pretty laid-back, and, although he was raised as a Catholic, there was no pressure for Adam, unlike his bandmate who was raised the Jewish way for his first 13 years. “It was something that I was presented with like, ‘This is who you are and this is what we’re doing’,” shrugs Matt. “As I got a bit older and listened to what was going on, it felt like brainwashing and there wasn’t a lot of joy in it. My rebellion caused total uproar in my house; trying to denounce my religion nearly gave my mother a heart attack. I don’t subscribe to taking other people’s words of wisdom. I think forcing children into religion is like recruiting into the army without choice. Religions cause a lot of violence between people in the world as does Nationalism.” He’s not wrong there, especially in the aftermath of the Trade Center attacks where speaking out against government policies was tantamount to siding with the enemy. “It was like a witch hunt,” the bassist maintains. “There’s a tonne of information about 9/11 nowadays and you just believe in what you believe - either you are for our troops or you believe Bush is a criminal.” Being of the latter persuasion, the fivesome are gutted Bush is up for another term in the White House and Matt believes there is something more sinister at play when it comes to the voting system. “I was flabbergasted - all that stuff is rigged, there’s no way he won. The voting sheets were provided by a company they own and a Republican-owned company tabulates the votes. Also there was a list of statistics that defy the election results, like new voters jumped up by the millions and it had no effect. There are counties that registered more votes than voters. If the last election wasn’t enough to take the piss out of you, make you realise that it’s really not up to us and our votes don’t count, then this one was the spirit breaker. Vote all you want, it’s not going to matter.” The bassist also reckons there is a certain “type” who register their support for Bush. “I find that any person who I speak to who voted for Bush has wealthy parents. He’s incredibly vocal about praying and God and his beliefs and in this country it’s like standing up to be counted. All he needs to say is, ‘I’ll pray for you’ and everyone just gets all weepy and thinks, ‘He’s the guy!’ He’s like, ‘You can’t have gay marriages because I say it’s wrong’. Who gives a fuck what you say? Who says The Bible says it’s wrong? But he’s like, ‘The Bible says you shall not lay down with another man’. It’s his interpretation of The Bible. It’s just telling people how to live.” That’s something that’s definitely not on the Taking Back Sunday agenda. “What’s right for you may not be right for somebody else,” asserts the frontman. “One of the most important things is to learn something,” nods the bassist. “Be open minded; don’t be judgmental about things that really have no effect on you, like other people’s lifestyle choices. Try and do something while you’re here - because not enough people give themselves the chance to do what they want to do in life. It’s terrifying to do what you want in life; I’ve had no money or no place to live but I’ve stayed with it.” And now it’s pay back time! g You can catch Taking Back Sunday and My Chemical Romance when they hit the UK for a joint tour in January; see gig guide for details. www.mychemicalromance.com www.takingbacksunday.com LOG ONTO WWW.ROCK-SOUND.NET FOR EXCLUSIVE TAKING BACK SUNDAY | ||||||||||
57 | Visions (German) | 2 | 2005 | Falk Albrecht | x | German | |||||||||||
58 | Revolver | 3 | 2005 | Frank Iero, Gerard Way, Mikey Way | Jon Wiederhorn | x (alt) | ..n an alley aehind the Philadelphia club Electric Factory MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE frontman GERARD WAY sniffs and spits as bo peers out from beneath the hood of a Black Dahlia Murder sweatshirt. Even though it's over 60 degrees and he’s wearing a biker jacket over the sweatshirt, he doesn't look the least bit warm. And when hn throws bock his hood, it's impossible not to notice his bruised face and greasy, unkempt hair, which he admits he hasn't washed in more than a week. Just as much time has passed since his last shower. If it wasn't for the all-access laminate hanging around his neck. Way could easily pass for a junkie or terminally ill patient, fire singer would probably take this as a compliment. Death becomes him. and his Weak aesthetic colors the music of My Chemical Romance like a targe, dark bloodstain. "I've always been obsessed with death, which I’ve discovered is a natural and beautiful thing." Way says from his dressing room 30 minutes later. 'I used to wake up crying in the middle of the night when I was little because I thought someone in my family was going to din. Then, when I was 16. a friend of mine jumped in front of a train. I think the older you get the more you realize what death really means.* Almost all of the songs on My Chemical Romance's second record, last year's Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge (Warner Bros ), mention killing or dying, and some address depression and suicide. While that's not at all unusual for the sort of screamo and metal My Chemical Romance play. Way has more familiarity with his subject matter than many of his peers. Although he's dean and sober today, a few months ago he was suicidal, drcwrwtg in booze and popping a pharmacy's worth of pills. His bandmates-bassist MIKEY WAY (Gerard's younger brother), guitarist-- RAY TORO and FRANK If RO and drummer Matt Pélissier (who was replaced last summer by 808 BRYAR -were battling their own problems, including road fatigue, career anxiety, and interpersonal turmoil. But through all the emotion and chaos. My Chemical Romance have continued on an incredible upward career arc. Throe Cheers for Sweet Revenge, a concept album about u dead man who makes a deal with the Devil (he'll got h s life bock in exchange for the souls of 1.000 evil men), is selling faster than black lipstick at Hot Topic. My Chemical Romance are one of the highlights of this year's Taste of Chaos Tour (which also features the Used, Killswitch Engage, and Senses Fail), and the band has already been booked for the main stage of next year's Warped Tour. One of the main reasons My Chemical Romance have connected so quickly is because they combine elements of metal, screamo, and pop punk in a way that appeals to fans of all three genres. Gerard delivers artery-popping howls and sobbing pleas with equal skill, while lero and Toro layer scribbly guitars over anthemic rhythms, and combine jagged riffs with solos reminiscent of Brian May, Randy Rhoads, and Kirk Hammett. Thursday, the Used, and Senses Fail may be heavy, but of all the emo-related bands, My Chemical Romance have the greatest chance of attracting the most headbangers. Gerard was introduced to metal in the fourth grade when an older friend played him Iron Maiden's Number of the Beast at a Dungeons 8 Dragons party. But it was the singer's mother who introduced her sons to the dark imagery that permeates My Chemical Romance. "She would rent all these horror movies when we were really young and make us watch them with her," Gerard says. "She loved anything with dolls or puppets that came alive," adds Mikey. "I was terrified of the dark, and she had this porcelain-doll collection that was really fucking creepy. I tried to get her to lock them up in a cupboard, but she never would." Along with the cinematic scares, the Ways had religion to further warp their minds. They were raised Catholic and, as such, were taught about the importance of piety and the peril of sin. It terrified them, but still, they didn't change their lifestyle. "We were told that after we died, we would definitely go to either Hell or Heaven," Gerard says. "Hell seemed to be the more likely place, just because we did all the stuff they said was bad, like jerking off and cursing." And drinking. Before he was even a teenager, Gerard hid bottles of cough syrup under his bed and sedated himself to sleep every night. His brother began getting wasted in middle school. "Boozing in New Jersey is just a way to deal with boredom," Mikey says, shrugging. "The only things there are shopping malls and diners, and if you're not at either of those, you have to do something. We'd just get fucked up with our friends and listen to music." While Mikey always knew music was his calling, his brother originally wanted to be a comicbook illustrator; he spent most of his teenage years locked in his room, drinking and drawing. When he was too depressed to do either, he just lay in bed or stared at a wall. "I had all these thoughts of ending my life, but they were just thoughts," he insists. "For a while, I was on Wellbutrin for depression, and you can't drink or you can get an aneurysm. But I didn't listen at first, and I had some serious migraines. I thought my head was going to explode." Over the years, Gerard banged around in a couple of bands with his brother, including the Weezer-ish Raygun Jones, but he didn't take performing seriously until after the terrorist attacks of 9/11. At that point, the singer reevaluated his life and concluded he was spinning his wheels with comic-book art. He decided to give the rock thing a shot. Gerard met Pelissier through a mutual friend, and the two formed a band with Toro, who had previously played with Pelissier in another group. They called themselves My Chemical Romance after an Irvine Welsh novel and recorded the now-legendary "Our Lady of Sorrows" demo in Pelissier's attic. "Oh man, that thing was so shitty," remembers lero, who started playing in bands when he was 11, "but there was something about it and nobody knew what it was. It’s not together, nothing is in tune, but you could always imagine what it would sound like put together properly. My band at the time would listen to that demo on the way to and from our shows, and it would get us psyched up. I became a huge fan and good friends with the guys. So when my other band ended and they were looking for a second guitarist, they asked me to join." Mikey, who was in college when My Chemical Romance formed, also dug the demo and con- vinced his brother to let him play bass. At the time, Mikey was interning for Eyeball Records; the connection helped the band secure a deal with the label. Thursday frontman Geoff Rickly produced My Chemical Romance's 2002 debut album, / Brought You My Bullets You Brought Me Your Love. The record generated a solid buzz, which was strengthened by Gerard's onstage volatility. "Everybody wants to see blood, and I'm kind of masochistic," he says. "I used to take mics and smash them into my head to try to break it open. I would throw myself into things to try to hurt myself. We played Chicago on Warped, and I got so excited I swung my mic, and it did a full revolution around my body, connected perfectly with my mouth, and knocked two of my teeth through my lip. It was really gross and there was tons of blood pouring out. It was awesome." When My Chemical Romance started drawing crowds, Gerard stopped taking antidepressants and started partying again. His favorite recipe was a bottle of Vodka and a handful of Xanax, Valium, or Vicodin; if that wasn't available, he'd settle for whatever he had on hand to "shut off" his brain. As reckless as he was, however, Way's indulgence didn't affect his performances—at least at first. But during last summer's Warped Tour, he was getting rocked around the clock, and sometimes he barely made it onstage. Then, at one show in Louisville, he completely lost control. "They handed me a cordless mic, so I decided I was gonna make a big joke out of it," he says. "I climbed all around the stage. I didn't even know where I was half the set. And I ended the show on the second stage while my band was on the first stage." "I was so fucking mad," recalls lero of the incident. "Geoff Rickly and [Glassjaw's] Daryl Palumbo saw him under the stage, and they’re telling him where to run to next. And after the gig Daryl was laughing, and Geoff's like, 'Wow, you guys just fall apart real well, don't you?' I was so pissed I didn't talk to Gerard for two days." Gerard felt badly and considered curbing his intake of recreational toxins, but he was unable to stop until a post-Warped incident in July scared him straight. At the time, My Chemical Romance were on tour with Senses Fail, and they were getting ready to head to Japan. Way was so addled and stressed-out that he almost ended his life. "I never felt more suicidal," he admits. "I woke up at five in the morning and nobody was awake. I was strung out, hung over, and really desperate. I had tons of pills on me and lots of liquor. I thought, [Killing myself] could just be so easy, but instead, I called someone who talked me down. And afterward I thought, This has to stop, or I'm not gonna stop feeling this way, and I have to be there for the music. This band totally saved my life." According to lero, Way's substance abuse was one of two cancers eating away at My Chemical Romance. The other was Pelissier, who was no longer vibing with the rest of the group and was playing inconsistently. When his bandmates tried to confront him during the sessions for Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, he'd walk away, lero says. The group's relationship with Pelissier reached critical mass during a week in which he took a few days off to take care of some personal matters. "We had such an amazing time together while he was gone," lero says. "Then he came back and no one talked again. We said to ourselves, What are we doing? It's either him or us." My Chemical Romance fired Pelissier in August after their Japanese tour. Instead of auditioning a new drummer, they called up their former soundman, Bob Bryar. Oddly, the band members didn't know Bryar played until friends told them. "It was a huge leap of faith for us to call up Bob, but it was the best thing we could have done," lero says. "He came to practice and played really well, and then we went on tour right away. Four shows in, we were like, Get the fuck out of here! This is amazing! We were so much tighter, and we were all smiling while we were playing." About 30 minutes before taking the Electric Factory stage, My Chemical Romance are smiling once again. Since the show isn't too far from their Jersey homes, their parents have driven in, and numerous other relatives and friends are also in the crowd. Gerard has dressed up for the occasion, forsaking his biker jacket in favor of a black suit, black shirt, and blood-and-dirt-smeared black-and-white-striped tie. His face is smudged with eye makeup and lipstick, and a metallic belt buckle shaped like a bat juts out from above his groin. The morbid look is interrupted only by the singer’s toothy grin and jittery enthusiasm. "I truly believe that this is the greatest band in the world," he says as he fidgets with the knot in his tie. "Sure, U2 and R.E.M. are giant fucking bands that stop wars and stuff, but I feel like people are looking for someone who can break out of this emowhatever genre thing and create some great music. I think we're the band that's doing that. Every night we're playing, I feel completely unstoppable." ^ GROOMING: KARI BAUCE; LOCATION: LIT BAR, NYC | ||||||||||
59 | Rock Sound | 3 | 2005 | Stephen Fairbanks | x | Show review | |||||||||||
60 | Kerrang! | 3.1 | 2005 | Gerard Way, Bert McCracken | x | Taste of Chaos tour 2005 | |||||||||||
61 | Kerrang! | 3.2 | 2005 | Gerard Way | x | Movies, Hiyao Miyazaki, music influences, Misfits | GO SEE... MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE "They are the best, dude. We toured with them and I was right there down the front They are super- musical. they have great words and their performances are always super-energetic, people just go crazy. The singer, Gerard Way, is a total star performer too. He has so much charisma." JULIETTE LEWIS, JULIETTE & THE LICKS Gerard Way's theatrical Goth-punks headline: Wolverhampton Wulfrun Hall April 6. Glasgow Barrowland 7, Manchester Academy 8. London Charing Cross Astoria 9 I matinee and late show! I -- THE SONG THAT CHANGED MY LIFE gerard way my chemical romance I'd say 'ASTRO ZOMBIES' by the MISFITS I'd never heard punk rock before, and I was really into Iron Maiden. Iron Maiden changed my life in a lot of ways too - they showed me that there were other things than commercial music. But when I found the Misfits, I had never heard anything that made me feel so free or excited. They empowered me and set me on the path to punk rock.* FIND IT; Walk Among Us' (WEA, 1982) -- GET THIS! GERARD WAY FROM MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE RECCOMENDS... NAUSICAA OF THE VALLEY OF THE WINDS (BUENA VISTA DVD; £19.99) "It’s an animated film by Hiyao Miyazaki, who's like the Japanese Walt Disney. All his work is extremely powerful and this is no exception. It's a really powerful commentary socially. 'Porco Roso’ is one of the other ones that just came out. It's just a simple story about a pilot who gets cursed and his face turns into that of a pig. It’s a really funny little story. His stuff's all beautiful." (EJ) | ||||||||||
62 | Axis | 4 | 2005 | Mikey Way | Ashley Berke | x | |||||||||||
63 | Blender | 4 | 2005 | Frank Iero, Ray Toro, Gerard Way, Mikey Way, Bob Bryar, Brian Schechter | Dorian Lynskey | x (alt) | "WE'RE HERE TO FIGHT EVIL" IF'DEATH ROCKERS" MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE SAY THEY'RE SUPERHEROES. THEN WHO IS BLENDER TO ARGUE? WE JUST DON'T R6M6MBE« SPIDER-MAN HAVING SO MANY PROBLEMS WITH DRINK, DRUGS ANO SWEARING IN FRONT OF KIDS. eYOC*uNin«K£Y PMIMtUMYSTlteO ONE DAY LAST AUGUST. Gerard Way boarded a plane io Japan with the gnawing conviction that he might not be coming back. Cher the past year, the 27-year-old singer for the reel group My Chemical Romance had got it into his head that he had to be drunk to perform, and then needed Xanax to switch off his brain afterwards, and the combination was nuking him suicidally depressed. Way didn't like being suicidally depressed, so he'd often add cocaine to the mix. That's when his mood r«Uy got Wack. He spent the days before the flight saying goodbye to friends in New Jersey, just in ease. in Japan. Way spent all his time drunk. Before the final Tokyo sho*, he got so trashed on Heineken; and vodka tonics that he realized, even as he was performing, that he wouldn't be able to remember anything about it the next day. After he came off-stage he spent half an hour throwing up in a garbage can. until there was nothing coming up except bile. Tonight, he thought to himself, his hair caked with vomit, JVe drunk my last drink. ’ll was a vicious circle.' lie says matter-of-factly. 'I needed it to function but it made me want co kill myself- It made me extremely unpredictable and dangerous to myself. 1 didn't want it to get to the point where it became like a VHi Behind the Mum where they show this really bad picture of me jo pounds overweight, throwing up on the floor in Berlin. I didn't want that tn happen to this band-’ Way’s cold-turkey flight back to the band's home of Belleville, New |er-sey, was excruciating—almost 7,000 miles of skin-crawling, sweat-soaked willies. "1 got really emotional outside the airport when we landed. ( didn't know if I was going to see these guys again.’ He went straight to his therapist and booked into Alcoholics Anonymous, knowing that in the same week My Chemical Romance had to replace their drummer, film a video and start their tour. And you thought you'd had a hard week at work. "We got through the hard shit,’ says Way. "This is the easy part." mcrscans.tumblr.com ANY FEARS LAST summer that My Chemical Romance were going to implode into obscurity were knocked flat by their swaggering teen-dysfunction anthem “I’m Not Okay (I Promise).” Inspired by the high school experiences of Way and his friends, it delivers angst-rock verities with a knowing wink, not to mention the kind of melody that ignites careers. The tongue-in-cheek video, filmed in the same LA. high school as Donnie Darko, depicted MCR as proudly geeky misfits. It was a role that didn’t require much rehearsal. Way calls My Chemical Romance’s music “death rock.” Others have tagged it goth punk or emo. Some endearing individuals have overcome genre confusion by simply calling MCR faggots. “Our guitarist Frank met somebody who said, ‘How do you feel when people stop liking your band because they find out you’re gay?’” says Way, curling his lip with pointed amusement. To the more meat-headed members of the Warped tour fraternity, some eyeliner and the occasional ambivalent lyric (in “You Know What They Do to Guys Like Us in Prison,” Gerard sings "I’ll kiss your lips again” to a male character) are too much to process, but Way hopes MCR can change a few minds. “We’ve always tried to switch the way people think about rock bands," he says. "That (lyric) puts a dividing line between people. Are you on our side and you want to be different or are you on that side and you want to throw a football at my head?” Only a morbid former comic-book artist from blue-collar New Jersey could have hatched a band as toughly unorthodox as My Chemical Romance. Gerard Way writes the songs with his bandmates—his bassist brother Mikey Way, guitarists Ray Toro and Frank lero, and new drummer Bob Bryar—but the vision is all his. He illustrates the record sleeves and defines their image. Recently he chose matching shirts, ties and armbands for the band to wear in the video for “Helena," taking enormous care not to resemble (a) the Hives or (b) the Nazis. Most important, he’s the one who assembled the band back in late 2001, when September 11 jolted him out of his rut as a struggling illustrator. On their 2002 debut album, I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love, and last year’s Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, MCR yoke the thunder of punk to the black humor of Morrissey, Nick Cave and Tom Waits, and blaze with purpose. “There are bands that are in it for the wrong reason, polluting the airwaves and filling their own pockets," Gerard growls. “Or just saying, Oh I wanna be a rock star. Right. You’ve got a lot of kids following you. What are you saying to them?” So what are MCR saying? He’s ready for this one. “We’re saying it’s OK to be messed up. There’s other people just like you. And if we stick together we’ll get through this.” ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ WHEN GERARD WAS still working in comic books, his favorite creation was The Amazing Coffo Brothers, Piano Movers Extraordinaire. A black comedy set in a creepy, anonymous city, it was a metaphor for the relationship between him and his younger brother, Mikey. Despite their age difference (Gerard ii 27; Mikey is 24), the Way brothers wore matching outfits as children. Today, the Ways arrive at a Midtown Manhattan restaurant wearing identical black jackets, but that’s the only visible similarity. With his blood-red tie, ink-black hair and snow-pale skin, Gerard looks part Jack White, part Edward Scissorhands, and sounds as if he’s been hanging out at the Bada Bing! club. His stick-thin sibling, meanwhile, wears oblong-framed glasses and the kind of candy-striped wool hat favored by fourth-graders and fashion stylists. He has the most extraordinary laugh: a shrill, girlish giggle that causes waiters to turn their heads. They grew up in the predominantly Italian-American town of Belleville, in Sopranos country—the Pizzaland restaurant glimpsed in the show’s opening cred- its is a few blocks from the house they still live in with their auto-mechanic dad and hairdresser mom. In Jersey, says Gerard, “There’s a 99% chance you’re not going to do anything with your life.” Mikey yelps with pretend outrage. “Well, 90%, maybe,” his brother concedes in a deadpan drawl. “Every time I come back to Jersey, it’s ready to put its tentacles all over me and suck me right back in. If I’m home for more than three weeks, I forget I’m in a band. I start to fill out applications for supermarkets.” Is there anything good about the Garden State? “I think it gives you a bleak outlook on life, which is awesome,” says Mikey, cackling. “It gives you an edge. When you’re from Jersey, people act like you’re from Rikers.” Gerard nods. "Sometimes all we have to do is get up there, make some feedback and say, ‘Yeah we’re from Noo Joisey,’ and then hit ’em like a bomb. People are like, ‘Hey, I don’t want to get beat up!’” After high school, Gerard studied art and Mikey drifted his way through college: “I thought college was a place you went to find people to be in a band with.” Sometimes they played in bands together, but Gerard was more committed to becoming an artist, which was proving to be a disheartening process. When he eventually quit, his big project was a magic cartoon chimp called Breakfast Monkey. “I was doing bullshit,” he shrugs. After September 11, Gerard wrote his first song, “Skylines and Turnstiles,” and played it to an old friend, drummer Matt Pelissier. Pelissier knew a guitarist called Ray Toro. “They played me their one song and I was jumping around the attic and headbanging,” says Toro, a genial, frizzy-haired film buff with a caricature of Alfred Hitchcock tattooed on his left arm. “Gerard sounded really sincere about wanting to start something real. That’s what made me excited." The members of My Chemical Romance aren’t especially weird—it’s not like any of them collect skulls or serialkiller memorabilia—but they all grew up with reasons to feel like outsiders. Toro was a shy kid with an overpro-tective mother. Instead of going out with friends, he’d stay at home playing guitar to Jimi Hendrix or Metallica. Guitarist Frank lero suffered from bronchitis and ear infections and was ill almost constantly until the fifth grade. He was raised by his mom after she split from his dad, a musician who worked on records by John Lennon and Kiss. “I’m in the family music industry,” he says. “My dad would ask me how school was, but mostly it was, 'When are you going to start playing?”’ Jazz-trained drummer Bob Bryar was an Illinois kid "who took apart radios and stuff and then tried to put them back together and realized they didn’t work.” He has a dark sense of humor that can sometimes come off as surliness. “I get these urges to fuck off sometimes,” he says. "I find it hard to entertain myself.” Bryar befriended the rest of the band in 2003. when he was a soundman for the Used, whom My Chemical Romance were supporting. When relations with Pelissier deteriorated, he stepped in. The new lineup had just two days to practice before their next tour. "I haven’t relaxed in a long time,” sighs lero. “I look forward to that. I’d like to take a step back and look at some newspaper clippings.” ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ THE NEXT MORNING, the sky is the color of a dirt)r washbowl and it’s being emptied on New Jersey. Brian Schechter, My Chemical Romance’s manager, taps at his cellphone as he steers his car through the damp, gray streets to pick up the Ways. We collect Mikey first. “Did you see that MTV.com headline?” he asks, still wearing his striped hat. “'MCR Aim for Smashing Pumpkins Status.’ It was out of context, but it’s OK. It makes people think it’s possible.” The band's destination is Philadelphia’s Theatre of Living Arts. A local radio station held a competition between high schools to raise the most food for homeless shelters, the prize being an exclusive My Chemical Romance show. Considering the audience will be as young as 13, some adjustments need to be made. “We should probably have a PG show tonight,” says Schechter. “We didn’t do a show for charity just for Gerard to call them a bunch of motherfuckers.” It’s a forlorn hope. “Put your fucking hands together!” cries Gerard within minutes of stepping onstage. In a black-velvet suit, red tie and black armband, he struts across the stage, wagging his finger to the lyrics or spraying mouthfuls of water over the front rows, while his band compress punk, metal, goth and glam into furiously concise pop songs. When he introduces “Headfirst for Halos” as “a song about suicide," you can almost feel the ripples of concern from the adult chaperones lurking around the edges of the room. However, even they can’t resist tapping a toe to “I’m Not Okay (I Promise).” Last night MCR played it on The Late Show With David Letterman. Tonight they’re playing it to a couple hundred Philadelphia high school kids. Letterman was a highlight of their career to date, but it’s here that the song makes most sense. "I didn’t do my usual thing, where I compare high school to prison,” protests Gerard later, sucking on a cigarette in a dimly lit backstage office. He admits he can see how people might get the wrong idea about MCR. “Journalists usually portray us as a fucked-up, dark, vampire, alcoholic rock band. Until they meet us.” Although he’s got the charisma and the goth pinup looks to be an angst-rock martyr, Gerard seems too grounded to play the feel-my-pain card. Maybe it’s the Jersey in him. Even when he talks about his therapist (a “rad guy” who turned him on to Brian Eno), he’s pragmatic. "If you’re in this band, you’re in it for the right reasons,” Gerard declares. “You’re not in it for money or fame. You’re in it to do some good. Becoming more popular, it’s like people are granting us superpowers and we have to use them to fight evil.” Is that the comic books talking? “Oh yeah,” he says, his grin a pearly sliver in the gloom. “We’re like the Doom Patrol.” l***«J | ||||||||||
64 | Bravo (German) | 4 | 2005 | x | German | ||||||||||||
65 | Metal Hammer | 4 | 2005 | Frank Iero, Ray Toro, Gerard Way, Mikey Way, Bob Bryar | Daniel Lane | x (transcript) (alt) | My Chemical Romance: Death Can be Cheerful By Daniel Lane( Metal Hammer ) published March 22, 2005 In April 2005, My Chemical Romance were on the cover of Metal Hammer, as the album Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge broke big. They talked about death, being pin-ups and life changing moments There are plenty of rock stars who can talk the talk, but there are actually very few who can also walk the walk. And there are even fewer who can strut down the street with that knowing snotty rock’n’ roll swagger that it takes to truly make it in this business. It’s a heady combination – part balls, part bravado, part fucking insanity – but whatever it is, New jersey’s My Chemical Romance have it, and they have it in abundance. Like a modern day re-enactment of Anthony Burgess’ cult classic A Clockwork Orange, My Chemical Romance are all sharp suits and flick knives. Both dapper and dangerous in equal measure, they’ve captured the hearts and minds of the dysfunctional and downtrodden. They are to this decade (the noughties) what Nirvana and Manic Street Preachers were to the 90s. And, like the aforementioned bands, MCR frontman Gerard Way doesn’t accept the ascribed monlker of ‘real rock star’ lightly. “I don’t think people are looking for a real rock star or rock stars,” he explains, taking a long pull on his cigarette before stunning it out in the overflowing ashtray in front of him. “I think people are looking for a rock star to kill.” MCR are clearly gunning for A Clockwork Orange strength-in-numbers approach They do everything as a gang, and each of them individually has something valid to say as much as the next band member [be that in the form of guitarist ray Toro’s heartfelt passion for music, the quick and belligerent wit of guitarist Frank Iero, the dark humour of drummer Bob Bryar or bassist Mikey Way’s unashamed love of shlock horror flicks). But it’s not because the band are afraid of Gerard becoming the Anti-Hero Superstar of the 21st Century’s Generation X – or, as they aptly put it, “This ain’t the Gerard Way show by any means”. It turns out that the gang mentality really is real. “It’s not an ego thing or because everyone wants equal time,” continues Gerard. “It’s because we ARE a gang. But the weird thing about this gang is that there’s no leader. We don’t want it to become anyone’s ‘show’, because ultimately that detracts from our music. Without naming names, probably in the last year-and-a-half/two years, certain individuals were pushed to the front of their bands. Maybe it will sell them for a few more records, or maybe they don’t think of the consequences of doing so, but that kind of thing is basically a poison in your band. “Anything the band does , even down to merch, is collaborative. We’re the kind of guys that, when something comes back to bite us in the ass, as we know, it’s all OUR fault. And that’s how stuff ends up not being done. I don’ t think we’ve been unhappy with anything we’ve done so far – a T-shirt, a video, a record – I think the kids who are into this band are interested in finding someone to lead them. This band is what we’d rather have lead them than just me. It’s really rare that onstage these other guys will talk. But offstage in interviews, or if the kids approach one of the guys, you will find that they have a lot to say that’s very relevant.” “I don’t know how anyone else feels about this,” interjects Frank. “But whatever happened to bands? Why does it have to be this star or that star? If you’ve been in a band you’ll know exactly what it’s like. I’ve always been a fan of music made by bands. The whole rock star’ thing has never seemed real to me, and it seldom feels like art, y’know? It’s as if most bands have this model, and he sings and there’s four ugly guys at the back [laughs]. And to top it off, their producer probably writes all their songs. In our band, it’s five of us against the world. That’s what we’ve chosen for our music, and that’s how I think we should be portrayed if you want to do things in an honest way. If you want to show the fake side of music, and just sell a magazine or a record then by all means go ahead!” Indeed, you only have to look at such metal icons as Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Motley Crue, and even more latter day stars like Nightwish and Funeral For A Friend to realize that, even though the frontperson might be the focal point, he or she is not the be all and end all of the band. And while Frank makes a sound argument for this case – one which Hammer wholeheartedly agrees with – the 21st Century’s Generation X still have a hard time accepting such subtle details, when they have already decided to dub Gerard their new rock messiah. That said, since their inception five or so years ago My Chemical Romance have concentrated their energies on changing their perception. You only have to stand outside one of their shows before the doors open to see girls screaming for autographs, when Mkey or Bob walk past, or budding guitarists mobbing Frank and Ray to talk about “strings and pedals and pick-ups”. However, it hasn’t been an easy ride by any means for the New Jersey alt. rockers and , ultimately, it nearly cost the band their frontman’s life by pushing him to the brink of oblivion. Unfortunately, Gerard’s “people are looking for a rock star to kill” line is closer to the truth than you can possibly imagine. “There was a point for me about eight month ago, when I felt really weirded out by the whole ‘rock star’ thing,” he confesses. “It was like, ‘Shit, I didn’t think this was gonna happen’. Well, maybe I did, but I didn’t fuly appreciate the impact of it all. Someone said to me in an interview recently that a lot of kids are looking up to me as their saviour, and I really didn’t know how to answer that. It was really bizarre. When we started this band we set out to help people. And I don’t want to contradict myself, but I guess we didn’t realize that there were that may people out there who needed our help.” My Chemical Romance interview You only have to listen to the lyrics on the album Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge, to discover that, figurative speaking, Gerard Way is one sick puppy. He will openly admit to having “psychotic tendencies” with a shrug, and lists ‘liver damage’ as one of the ailments from which he suffers. “Basically, when we were on the road there would be liquor before water, and sometimes no water at all. And like anything else sometimes it would get out of hand. I’d wake up in the morning and aim to be drink by noon. I can’t really remember the last three years because of it. It was a normal thing for me to get wasted. I knew deep down that I had a problem, but I was something I was very defensive about too. “Now I go to meetings and stuff, and they always say you need to know the date. And everyone I’ve met at those sort of places knows the date when they stopped doing whatever. But I don’t know the date when I stopped, because it was just so urgent for me to stop. I came to the other guys in the band the day we got back from Japan and said, ‘Look, I have a problem, and think it’s going to affect the band’. And that was five or six months ago. So a decision was made to avoid me contributing to a complete breakdown of this band. It was to avid any kind of drama. That’s really it. “The fact of the matter is that I was extremely depressed. I was suicidal and the booze wasn’t helping. It kept me there. I don’t necessarily think it helped me to get there in the first place, but it kept me there. And kept me there for months! It’s a symptom of being on the road having nothing to do for 23 hours a day but drink. But I think you have to have it in you to start with. Before the band I was a pretty good drinker too.” Contrary to the likes of other angst-ridden Anti-Heroes like Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain Korn’s Jonathan Davis, Gerard and his younger brother Mikey had a pretty normal upbringing, albeit in a bad neighbourhood. “Everyone says their family is crazy, so I won’t say that,” explains Gerard. “Our parents were really supportive about everything we wanted to do, and we had a really pleasant environment to grow up in. They encouraged us to do the things we excelled at and we were interested in. They wouldn’t push anything on us, and that was he raddest thing.” What, what, what? A normal upbringing with a mum ’n’ dad who loved you? Surely there must be some mistake, young Gerard? “I guess like anyone else I guess we’re a product of the environment we grew up in,” he continues. “Northern New Jersey isn’t the safest place to grow up. I think we’re really fucked up, because we were forced to live in our heads so much. And when you have to live in your head like that, you have a hard time dealing with the real world. I guess me more so than Mikey because I was the older brother, and I experienced things firsthand, as older brothers do. I am three years older, and I had a really hard time accepting death. I think that’s where my whole fucked upness comes from. “And before you ask, no there was no kind of traumatic event, nothing like that. I was just a kid and I realized one day that your parents, your friends, your family, everyone you care about is going to die one day. It just occurred to me. I wasn’t reading Edgar Allen Poe or listening to The Cure. I was just watching some shitty cartoons, and it dawned on me that we’re all going to die. So, I became hyper-sensitive about It, and still am to this day. “That’s what happens when you’re a borderline psychotic, and therein lies the beauty of this band – our duality. There’s a duality to each band member, too. There’s a desire to have this constant conflict. If we write a song and it turns out to be really poppy, we have to make the lyrics really fucked up. There’s psychosis to everything we do for sure. One day we’re probably gonna write this number one pop tune that will be about a massacre!” Yet, despite Gerad’s growing pains, having Mikey in the band has helped him to sort his head out. “We get along real well,” grins Mikey. “And it’s super sweet! Our relationship now is pretty much the same as it’s always been. I think we just wrestled more back then. We’d professional wrestle each other WWE style, but the rule was no punches in the face!” “I don’t really picture them as brothers,” adds Ray. “They’re more like best friends. I’ve never seen two brothers have a relationship like them.” Bob: “If I were with my brother every day, day in, day out, we’d be at each other’s throats day and night. But these two aren’t at all.” To The End live “It’s easier for me and Mikey to be on the road, because we’re brothers,” explains Gerard. “I know it’s a strange thing to say, but I guess that’s why me and him wake up okay in the morning, because it feels like we’re at home. We used to hang out and play video games together. We did everything together, and it’s the same now.” “I wish their hygiene was better!” laughs Frank. Since they officially broke out of New Jersey in 2002, with their debut album I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love, My Chemical Romance have had a pretty rapid rise to success. In the UK alone, they’ve graduated to bigger and bigger venues each time they’ve toured here. And they’ve actually sold more records than the likes of The used, who were seen a major scream superstars at the time. “We really weren’t aware of that,” says a stunned Gerard. “But we really try not to pay attention to those sort of things. I guess the less you pay attention to record sales, and comparisons between your band and other bands, it keeps your band the way it is.” “There was a point where we realized that it gets less about the music and more about the industry and time goes by,” adds Frank. “We did this interview where the people interviewing us had no idea we were, or that we were even a band! They’d just seen us on MTV or in a magazine or something, and thought we were… I actually don’t know what they thought we were! Hopefully, those times will be few and far between. It’s really not what it’s about. We didn’t set out to be icons.” “Ultimately, we make music for ourselves, to make ourselves feel better,” continues Gerard. “But there was a definite goal to help people when we started out. And that is the difference between us and everyone else, I think.” Frank: “We started out with a lot of goals, and we met them pretty rapidly. We still have a lot of long term goals, but it’s had to articulate that to people without sounding like assholes. Of course, I want to play huge world tours, etc., but out ultimate goal is just to reach as many people s possible.” While MCR may feel like a gang of cool rock star muthafuckers these days with their co-ordinated black and red schtick – even Mikey’s ironic computer geek aesthetic is on the right side of cool – in high school they were less A Clockwork Orange and more Revenge Of The Nerds. Helena “The whole black and red thing isn’t satanic, as some people have said,” grins Gerard. “However, we do have a huge love and respect for the Dark Lord – the Dark Lord being [Alkaline Trio frontman] Matt Skiba. It all came out of a video we were doing, actually. We did the video for Helena, and like everything we do we art directed it. And we all started to like the way we looked in that video. I liked the way we looked kinda uniform. It was important for us, because not only had the band become a gang but we needed to look like a gang, too. It wasn’t a calculated thing. It was just one of the moments when you look at yourself and go, ‘I really like the way we look’.” This is one of the great things about MCR – they’re putting the ‘star’ back into ‘rock star’. Like all the rock star greats before them, MCR have a real sense of showmanship. A sense of mystique that grunge with its dour dress code, nu metal with its safe and sanitized look, and the bands who roll up to a gig wearing exactly the same fucking thing they always wear day in and day out have robbed us of. “Well, we, um, actually do wear the same clothes all the time,” confesses Gerard. “I don’t have any other clothes. Apart from my pyjamas. Or breakfast parts, as I like to call them. The make-up is what we don’t always wear. It’s a process to get us ready to go onstage. That’s why it always feels a bit odd to get up in the morning, and get ready for photo-shoots. But, yeah, we all make a conscious effort to look like jerk-offs all the time. That’s why we smell so bad! “When we went to high school, we were definitely the kids who didn’t fit in. I used to wear a lot of black and got hassled for it. As for a Revenge Of The Nerds kinda vibe, if you look at the kids who came to our shows back in the early days, it’s exactly what it was. We’d end up playing as lot of scenester shows, but you could always tell who came to see My chemical Romance, because they didn’t look like anyone else. They didn’t fit in with anyone else, and everyone gave them dirty looks. They were usually alone too. But now I seem to have been given this ‘cutesy frontman’ tag. Like, what the fuck? I don’t think I’m cute in any way, shape or form. I just thought people like me because I’m a crazy asshole. That’s the weirdest thing, because we don’t understand that at all. So it’s very strange for us that we’re pin-ups on people’s walls.” Frank is a little more philosophical about it all. “Well, if that’s the way it’s gonna happen, then it’s fucking hilarious! Do you really want photos of us spiting at each other and puking up? If you d, you’re fucking crazy!” I’m Not Okay (I Promise) This was first published in Metal Hammer issue 138. Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge was released on June 8, 2004 | ||||||||||
66 | NME | 4 | 2005 | Gerard Way | Mike Sterry | x | Meet My Chemical Romance's zombie-killing demon frontman Gerard Way On the stage of the Milwaukee Eagle Ballroom stalks a veritable demon, lunging about in the paroxysms of madness. Greasyhaired. tar-lunged, it spits: "DO YOU WANT TO FUCK ME IN MY BED?" 6,000 assenting screams rise out from the audience. Satisfied, the demon growls. "Thank you. We are My Chemical Romance". Earlier, we were granted an audience with this demon. Only he’s a really nice guy. He's Gerard Way. frontman of the goth spectacle that is My Chemical Romance, and he exhibits none of the demonic behaviour later demonstrated on stage. My Chemical Romance are the best thing to happen to rock since Fred Durst was shot through his one, tiny bollock (that did happen, right?). Their recent album Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge' is spectacularly crammed with goth-punk-pop ditties about love, murder and prison-rape. It sounds like Queen fronted by Nosferatu, or like the remnants of Busted, jealous of Charlie's rise to credibility, forming a Misfits covers band. He may not be stalked by an imaginary six-foot bunny in a skull mask named Frank - but Gerard Way is Donnie Darko. There was a point when he was all too familiar with Donnie’s tendency to wake up in strange places. Addicted to mind-warping medication, enslaved to hard liquor, wracked by severe bouts of depression, there was a time when Gerard Way could see no way out. Now 28. he spent his teenage years in Newark. New Jersey, living in fear. There’s lots of drug-related crime. Mafia-related crime and killings. You couldn’t go out and play." At home he was caught between horror films and staunch Catholicism. "It was weird." Way admits. "Being raised Catholic, you develop fear and self-hate. The fear of death was the biggest thing, it was made apparent to you al a young age that you were definitely going to die, and when that time comes, you should be very afraid of it It made me become obsessed with death." So Gerard retreated within himself. He found heavy metal. Dungeons & Dragons, and comic books. With nothing else going for him. Gerard took a job at the local comic book store, hoping to find solace within the racks. He didn't. “I was working at the comic store, just watching anime, and we got held up.” Gerard says, calmly sipping his coffee. They pul me on the ground and put a .357 Magnum to the back of my head, execution-style. 1 lost a lot of innocence after that. The comic book store closed two weeks later. I started to get into alcohol. And I liked it. A lot” it was music that saved him. with a little bit of help from Osama Bin Laden. Ysce. My Chemical Romance arose from the ashes of Ground Zero. Pre-9/11. Gerard was in the process of pitching a show to Cartoon Network called The Breakfasi Monkey. about “a little Scandinavian monkey that talked like Bjork who had ‘breakfast magic’, and could make giant waffles appear." Then the towers came down. "It was like getting hit by a fucking neutron bomb of anguish." remembers Gerard. "I was like. 'Fuck this', I don't want to do art. I wanna help people." So he made a few calls, and soon My Chemical Romance had their first practice. In a matter of months, they had recorded their first LP.'I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love', containing the first song ever written about blowing your zombie girlfriend's brains out with a 12-gauge. But there was a problem: the familiar spectre of booze reappeared. "Instead of water backstage, we'd get beer," Gerard sighs. Then hard liquor." With alcohol fuelling him, something was happening to Gerard onstage. He was becoming something else. He was becoming The Demon. "It intensified this character to ridiculous, mythical proportions: someone who lived this shit every day." says Gerard of his onstage persona. "I lived it. 1 was crazy all the time. I'd get the shakes if we were late to a show, because! had to start drinking immediately. There were times in the van where I'd pull a knife, just because I was excited." But he’s sober now, and looking as healthy as a pasty-faced goth king of screamo can. With The Demon at the helm. My Chemical Romance will be hitting these shores soon. What should we expect? Gerard smiles: "A horror show." ^ NME.COM Win tickets to see MCR at NME.COM/COMPS. Be quick though - you only have one day to enter! | ||||||||||
67 | Rock Sound (France) | 4 | 2005 | x | French | ||||||||||||
68 | Rockin' On (Japan) | 4 | 2005 | Yukiko Okuda | x (translation) | Japanese | My Chemical Romance, the new heroes who squeeze the kids emotions into a shout of ‘I’m not okay!’, return the Japan. We search for the roots of their pitch black heavy sound and blood spattered emotions. In their first visit to Japan at Summer Sonic last year, My Chemical Romance gave us a fierce performance, tumbling around the stage and spewing sweat, water and spit. Now they’re back with their first solo tour. Their second album and major label debut, ‘Three Cheers’, is an exceptional work. Rock, Hard Core, Metal, Punk, Emo…all of these styles fit, but none of them is exactly right. All you can truly be sure of it the album’s passion and beauty. Lyrical titles, theatrical lyrics, fierce and bewitching vocals, a solid sound with not a single note out of place, all distinctive and particular issues that would seem to draw only a certain crowd of listeners. What’s brought that album to 48 on the Billboard Charts is the impact of their single ‘I’m not Okay’, and the even stronger impact of their live shows. When that world of blackest darkness and red blood comes alive in concert, vocalist Gerard, wearing a black suit, is reborn into a vampire music star. Hand on his hip, singing as if he’ll bite the microphone off, his expression switches by the second, from a demonic visage to an angelic smile. By his side is guitarist Frank, bent over, violently throwing his head back and forth, kicking the mic stand to the floor again and again. Gerard’s younger brother Mikey plays the bass alone, with quiet passion behind his rampaging brother. Guitarist Ray is refreshingly a metal head, and head bangs perfectly in time with Gerard. And, bringing the other members together and tying them down, lest they fly away through their own sheer force with his steady rhythm is new drummer Bob. It’s already plain to see that he’s become someone the other member’s rely on. I was pleased to hear songs from their first album, ‘I brought you my bullets, you brought me your love’ (sadly as yet unreleased in Japan) in the set list, and listening to them side by side with the songs from the second album made me realize once more that My Chem is so much more than just ‘I’m not Okay’. Of course ‘I’m not okay’ is a great song, but the dark emotion overflowing from songs like the final song of their set, ‘Helena’ is also part of their charm, and I’d love to see the song, which will be their next single catch on just as much. My Chemical Romance was a band begun as a last chance by a boy who sat in his basement in New Jersey drawing comics, with had a chance to rethink his life when he start work in the city. The day that the hearts of kids (and former kids) all over the world are dyed red and black is steadily approaching. Q. You’ve just finished your first solo Japan tour. How was your second time in Japan? Gerard: Yeah, it’s the same thing in the States and in Europe, but festivals and club tours are really different things. It’s the same difference no matter where you go, and we like club tours better, because their so much more intimate. There’s a more of a thrill because all kinds of interesting things can happen, like crowd surfing and stage diving. And you can really see what’s happening. Ray: Yeah, shows on small stages are really fun. And the audience had just as much energy as at the festival, probably more. Q. As far as your sound goes, there’s a big difference between your first and second albums, but when you played the songs live, you brought up the energy to the level of those from the second album, and they had just as much impact. Do you feel that your songs evolve each time you perform them live? Gerard: Yeah, each time we do a show I feel like it gives the songs new life. Our old songs especially have gotten better because of that. I think you could say that the biggest reason for making our new record was to make our shows better, so in that way I do feel that when we play our old songs live everything is reaching the same level. There are some songs from the first record, like ‘Honey, this mirror isn’t big enough for the two of us’, that sound like they could be on the second album when you hear them live. Q. That’s true. Your shows take songs that already have a huge amount of power, and make them a hundred times more powerful, and it’s really enjoyable to see the power of these songs increased by the life performance like that. How do you bring yourselves to such a high energy level before a show? Gerard: Oh, yeah, right, well, when we first started the band, the process took the whole day, really, to concentrate and reach that point. And then it involved alcohol, but lately…it’s easier for me to switch it on and off. Ray: Yeah, yeah. Gerard: I guess you could say that changing into my clothes is kind of like a ceremony. Like, dressing in my stage clothes. Ray: Yeah, that’s definitely true. Gerard said once that it was like putting on his game face, putting on the same clothing and doing his make up. Lately I’ve started wearing the same clothes every time, and I’ve come to understand what he was talking about. That feeling that a show’s going to being soon, that it’s time to go out on stage. Gerard: I think it’s a good thing to wear different clothing on stage and in private. Because that also becomes a kind of switch you throw. Q. Where did you get the idea to wear those black suits and neckties? G. Mine is a mixture of all kinds of things. Like, I’m influenced by Nick Cave, and I’ve always been interested in dark things, I wore nothing but black in high school, and especially went I was in Art School. So it is a bit gothic. I don’t think of myself as a Goth or anything, but I do like gothic things and dark things, so I was thinking about how to fill that gap, and do something you didn’t see very often, so I decided to wear a dark suit like the kind you see in ‘GQ’. (he laughs) And I just really liked that, wearing asuit that looked like it came out of GQ, but at the same time looking like a corpse. But it actually took time to get to this point. I didn’t plan it all out at first, I started off wearing a leather jacket and a t-shirt, and after going through different steps, it became what it is now. Q. The younger kids really love your music, but I’d like it to reach a wider audience. Because I feel like the loss and sadness in your music would resonate in a different way with listeners who had more life experience of their own. Seeing so many different audiences all over the world, what do you think it is about your music that’s captured the hearts of so many people? Gerard: I think it’s because we’re so brutally honest. We don’t do anything forced or fake. Like, we would never make a record of trite love songs to sell an album. We’re not taking people’s unhappiness and turning it into a commodity for sale. We’re just showing it to people. And that’s why I think that people understand it who we never expected to. People come to our shows who we never thought would, it’s really surprising. Ray: No matter what the reason is, I think that they feel how sincere we are. Not just in our albums, but at our shows, I think that they realize how passionate we are about all of this. Because this means everything in the world to us. We wouldn’t want to - we couldn’t - do anything else. That’s how serious we are about our music. And I think that’s what touches people’s hearts. Because there are bands that aren’t making music from their hearts. I think it’s cool that older people watch our shows and remember bands they liked when they were younger, that they feel the same energy and drive from us. Q. There’s a power to shock about My Chem’s music, this is a phrase from Irving Welsh’s novel ‘Ecstasy’, where Welsh called Jungle Music ‘music with the power to shock’*, and I thought it fit your own music perfectly. Gerard: Oh, yeah, I’d never thought of that. Q. Melodies with strong hooks insert themselves where you’d least expect it, while preserving the flow of the song, the developments have a unpredictable charm, when I heard the second album in particular, it was just one surprise after the other. I think the most amazing thing is how the songs never lose that tension, even after you’ve memorized them. What’s going through you’re heads during song writing? Gerard: Well, we have a really strong love for melody, and that’s why we’ve got catchy songs, and all the various things that people like about this band, because first and foremost we’re fans of that type of music. When we made the first album, we were really moved by the desire to try out all kinds of things, and a large part of the album is like the crystallization of those desires. When we were making the second album, it made us glad to realize we hadn’t lost any of that. So on this new record, our love of melody is the same as it always was, it’s just manifested itself in a complicated form. It’s exactly right, what you just said about there being surprises in it. It’s not that we don’t know where the songs are going, we think that the songs are always moving in the right direction. Even if there are moments where you feel it’s going in a different direction. And within that, there are some rough spots, some parts that surprise you. So, yeah, what you said really communicates this band’s musical sense. We’re often asked about how our songs change, but that’s the answer. Ray: Our first and second albums are really different, and that’s because this time Frank helped with the song writing. When we made the first album, Frank had only been in the band for like two weeks, and he’s only playing on two or three songs on the album. So we had one less creative entity when we were making those songs. Frank joining was the best thing that happened to this band. We all have different points of view, which is what gives our songs all the different elements, but we all love the same things. We each bring our own ideas to the table, and put them together, and that’s how our songs are born. Q. How do you actually begin the process of song writing? Do you get a vision of one entire song? Ray: Sometimes we do. Sometimes Gerard will think of a riff, or the vocal melody, and we’ll start from there….once a riff is created, the image for the rest of the song just comes naturally. Like, the drum beat will be like this, and this will be this way…’ Sometimes a song is done exactly the way I’ve envisioned it myself, sometimes all the members add their own ideas to it, and it becomes a whole new thing, something even better than the original. Gerard: Yeah, that’s a lot of fun. I make a list of titles on my own. Even now I’ve got a bunch on my computer. I write down a list of titles that I don’t have a song for yet, but that are titles that I’m sure I can write clever lyrics for, and when the song is done, I use them like, ‘Oh, this would fit with that title!’. When I suddenly get an idea for a title, or lyrics, before a song, I get really excited. I just write down the words just as them come to me. For the second album, what I did a lot was after the theme of the song was decided, I’d chose pick the good phrases from the stuff I’d written down, and add lines that just came to me suddenly. So the lyrics come in stages, with a lot of additions. It’s very rare that I’ll think of the entire lyrics for a song all at once, although it sometimes does happen. For example, ‘You know what they do to guys like us in prison’ was like that. The guitar parts and the vocal melody, the lyrics…it all came in the blink of an eye. Q. Where do you get the inspiration for your titles? Gerard: The Smiths. Morrissey intentionally gave his songs these really long, ironic titles. I thought it would be interesting do that in modern rock, in American Rock. Because they didn’t have that kind of thing. That and black humor are the two things that inspire my titles. Q. And sometimes the titles inspire the songs. Gerard: Right, the title tells me what kind of song it’s wanting. Although sometimes one of the other members will be playing a riff, which will become a song, and then the title and lyrics will come from that. [Transcriber note: * I don’t have the text of this novel, so I can’t check what the actual phrase is.] | ||||||||||
69 | Kerrang! | 4.1 | 2005 | Bob Bryar | x | ||||||||||||
70 | Kerrang! | 4.2 | 2005 | Gerard Way, Mikey Way | Ian Watkins; Paul Travers | x (alt) (alt) (alt) | Show review, Music influences, The Cure, Bert McCracken | ||||||||||
71 | Kerrang! | 5 | 2005 | Frank Iero, Ray Toro, Gerard Way, Mikey Way, Bob Bryar | x (alt) | ||||||||||||
72 | Metal Hammer | 5 | 2005 | Frank Iero | x | Tattoos | |||||||||||
73 | Revolver | 5 | 2005 | Gerard Way | J. Bennett | x | |||||||||||
74 | Guitar World | 6 | 2005 | Frank Iero, Ray Toro | Richard Bienstock | x | |||||||||||
75 | Powerplay | 6 | 2005 | Frank Iero, Gerard Way | Lee J. Benecke | x | |||||||||||
76 | Rock Sound | 6 | 2005 | Frank Iero, Ray Toro, Gerard Way, Mikey Way, Bob Bryar | Victoria Durham | x (alt) | Gang | ||||||||||
77 | Skratch | 6 | 2005 | Frank Iero | Jeff Penalty | x | |||||||||||
78 | SPIN | 6 | 2005 | Frank Iero, Gerard Way, Mikey Way, Geoff Rickly | Andy Greenwald | x (alt) (partial transcript) | |||||||||||
79 | Alternative Press | 7 | 2005 | Gerard Way | Leslie Simon | x | |||||||||||
80 | Circus | 7 | 2005 | Gerard Way | Gabriella | x | |||||||||||
81 | Hardcore Ink | 7 | 2005 | Ryan Adams | x | Tour review, Taste of Chaos tour 2005 | |||||||||||
82 | Rock One (France) | 7 | 2005 | Noemy Langlais | x | French | |||||||||||
83 | Rock Sound (France) | 7 | 2005 | Frank Iero, Ray Toro, Gerard Way, Mikey Way | Emilie Poncet, Guillaume Fouque | x | French | ||||||||||
84 | Rolling Stone | 7 | 2005 | Mikey Way, Gerard Way | Jenny Eliscu | x (alt) (alt2 1, 2) | |||||||||||
85 | Skinnie | 7 | 2005 | Mikey Way | PJ Yatar | x | |||||||||||
86 | Alternative Press | 8 | 2005 | x | AP 20th Birthday party | ||||||||||||
87 | Kerrang! | 8 | 2005 | Gerard Way | Daniel Lukes | x | |||||||||||
88 | Kerrang! | 8 | 2005 | Ray Toro | Tom Bryant | x | |||||||||||
89 | Metal Edge | 8 | 2005 | Frank Iero, Mikey Way | Paul Rogers | x | |||||||||||
90 | Big Cheese | 9 | 2005 | Gerard Way, Bob Bryar | Jen Thomas | x | Warped tour, sexism, homophobia, fans, make-up, fashion, The Ghost of You, music videos | ||||||||||
91 | Billboard | 9 | 2005 | Gerard Way, Matt Galle, Elyse Rogers | Kill Kipnis | x (page 26) | |||||||||||
92 | Interlude | 9 | 2005 | Gerard Way | Mike Kennerty | x | Warped tour, charity, paintings, Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, Howard Benson, addiction, The Ghost of You, music videos | ||||||||||
93 | Kerrang! | 9 | 2005 | Gerard Way | Daniel Lukes | x (alt) | |||||||||||
94 | Kerrang! | 9 | 2005 | Gerard Way | x | Kerrang! Awards | |||||||||||
95 | Rolling Stone | 9 | 2005 | Gerard Way | x | Bulletproof vests | |||||||||||
96 | SPIN | 9 | 2005 | Gerard Way | Gerard Way | x (alt) | Warped tour 2005 | ||||||||||
97 | Alternative Press | 10 | 2005 | Con Hongos | x | Tour guide, 2005 tour | |||||||||||
98 | Bass Guitar | 10 | 2005 | x | Warped tour 2005 | ||||||||||||
99 | Blender | 10 | 2005 | x | Review, I'm Not Okay (I Promise | ||||||||||||
100 | Elle Girl | 10 | 2005 | Sophie Schulte-Hillen | x |