About Me
My Chemical Romance is an American rock band from New Jersey. Formed in 2001, the band consists of Gerard Way (lead vocals), Mikey Way (bass), Bob Bryar (drums), Frank Iero, and Ray Toro (guitar). My Chemical Romance cites their main influences as The Misfits, Morrissey/The Smiths, and Iron Maiden[1] Growing up, they were also very influenced by horror films and comic books, and therefore their music, lyrics, and image all have overt elements of fantasy, storytelling, horror, and theatricality. The band members hail from Belleville and Kearny, New Jersey, except drummer Bob Bryar, who is from Chicago, Illinois. Bassist Mikey Way coined the band's name from a book entitled Ecstasy: Three Tales of Chemical Romance, by Irvine Welsh.
Early career (2001–2002) The band was formed by frontman Gerard Way and ex-drummer Matt Pelissier. The first song they wrote was Skylines and Turnstiles, which was written by Gerard about his feelings on September 11th. Shortly after, Ray Toro, Mikey Way (Gerard's brother), and Frank Iero would join the band. The band immediately started playing numerous local shows in basements in Montclair and New Brunswick, VFWs like Boonton Elks, and clubs such as the Loop Lounge in Passaic and the Bloomfield Ave. Cafe & Stage, in Montclair, New Jersey. The band then recorded their first album, I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love, and released it in 2002 on Eyeball Records. When I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love was made, they had only been a band for about three months. Frank Iero had joined My Chemical Romance only days before the band hit the recording studio for their debut album. Even though he joined before the recording sessions, he played on only a few songs because he was busy with his other band, Pency Prep.
Recent and future plans (2006—) On March 21, 2006, a 2 DVD/1 CD set entitled Life on the Murder Scene was released. It includes one DVD chronicling the band's history, and a second DVD with music videos, the making of their videos and a couple of live performances. The release of the album/DVD was delayed twice; it was first rumored to be released on November 8, 2005 and was postponed until February 7, 2006, then was delayed again until it was finally released on March 21, 2006. An unauthorized biography DVD was released on June 27, 2006 and is named Things That Make You Go MMM!. The DVD does not actually feature any My Chemical Romance music clips or performances, but contains interviews with those who knew the band before much of their fame. My Chemical Romance has recently been working on their third album, The Black Parade which is scheduled for release on October 24th, 2006 in the USA and October 23rd, 2006 in the UK. The band started recording the album on April 10, 2006 with Rob Cavallo, who has produced every Green Day album since Dookie except Warning:. The Black Parade was originally thought to be titled The Rise and Fall of My Chemical Romance, but in an interview with Kerrang! magazine Gerard Way denied this was the title of the next album, stating "It was never the title of the album, more a spoof, or joke." It name ended up being more of a working title for the album.
My Chemical Romance Band Story
"My Chemical Romance", a band hailing from Newark, New Jersey, is not your typical rock band. They all claim to have grown up in strange households over the years, which may have influenced some typically "strange" behavior coming out of this rock group sensation. The band technically got started when Gerard started writing songs, calling over buddy Matt Pelissier to help out. Ray hadn't been playing guitar seriously for about three years, but went over there anyway to check things out. He went to practice in their attic and ended up being blown away by the style of music and writing Gerard had done. It was a real dark, edgy theme, still containing a slight pop element. After a couple weeks a practicing there was an obvious energy they felt playing together. The band’s name comes from an Irvine Welsh novel, and was suggested by Gerard’s younger brother, Mikey. The younger Way brother started playing bass with them, and soon they got Frank a couple months later to fill out the other guitar spot. He happened to be in another band that had helped them get some of their first shows. When the band broke up their first instinct was to use him. Frank was already a fan of the band and an excellent guitar player. They were all in that stage of their life where you are kind of at that crossroads where you can either go one way or another. It worked out that they could all come together and form My Chemical Romance. They were extremely lucky to find each other and are even luckier to be where they are now.
Making It Big
Gerard Way (vocals), and his brother Mikey (bass), are two of the group members, as well as Frank Iero (guitar), Ray Toro (guitar) and Bob Bryar (drums). This particular band says they emerged from the New York/New Jersey Punk Scene, which had a major influence on them as teenagers. Guitarist Frank Iero has been in bands since he was 11 years old, being allowed to practice in the basement as long as his schoolwork was getting done. My Chemical Romance has been through a lot of labels, first being called "emo", moving onto "vampire and zombie" rock. They believe if you like the record, you like it, whatever it is. Their sound has been describes as Queen meets the Misfits. The band has been banned from Orange County, CA. My Chemical Romance were the surprise breakthrough act of 2005, gaining themselves the highly coveted support slot on the last Green Day world tour. Following the success of "Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge", the band began recording their follow-up record in April of 2006. Tentatively titled "The Rise And Fall Of My Chemical Romance," the real title, "The Black Parade" was announced in August of 2006 by Gerard while performing at the Hammersmith Palais in London. Having reached the 1 chart position in numerous countries and selling over $380, 000 copies in it's first week alone, The Black Parade is set to define My Chemical Romance as the artists for the new generation.
I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love
My Chemical Romance's first record, "I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love" debuted in 2002, was a worldwide attention grabber, featuring thirteen original songs by a group that's been on tour for the latter part of two years. They have gained a respectable following in North America and Europe. I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love is a concept album, and the debut album by My Chemical Romance, released in 2002. The storyline continues in Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge. The copyright of Bullets reads: © 2002 EYEBALL RECORDS/ MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE. UNAUTHORIZED DUPLICATION IS A VIOLATION OF APPLICABLE LAWS AND WILL RESULT IN GERARD COMING TO YOUR HOUSE AND SUCKING YOUR BLOOD
Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge
To make their second album Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, MCR (as most people call them nowadays) had to pull themselves off the road that had accompanied them for so long. It was the only way they could have put out a decent record, and, oh boy, was it decent. "Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge" is what everyone's calling "violent, unsafe pop music". The band has said it "Rose from the ashes following the tragic events of 9/11". Gerard's artwork is featured on the cover of the album, and was inspired by the band's love for horror movies, comic books, and science fiction. The story of the previous album continues in Three Cheers. The story is about two lovers that break up, but reunite when their hometown is invaded and over run by vampires. The female (dubbed as "Helena" on some fansites) ends up being bitten by a vampire and is sent to a hospital where she soon dies with a spike through her heart from her lover. The male continues to live, but realizes that he cannot continue living without her, and kills himself.
The Black Parade
October 24th 2006 saw the release of "The Black Parade", My Chemical Romance's third and newest studio album. Produced by Rob Cavallo (Green Day) and featuring the guest vocals of Liza Minelli and the parents of Frank Iero and Gerard and Mikey Way; the band hit the studio in April 2006 to make their third concept album. The story of The Black Parade centers around a character called "The Patient" who has suffered an untimely death. The Black Parade, a parade devised by singer Gerard Way, come to take the Patient into the after-life while reflecting back on his short years alive. Citing Queen, The Smashing Pumpkins, The Beatles, Pink Floyd and David Bowie as influences for their melodramatic classic-rock tinged masterpiece, My Chemical Romance continue to exceed expectations - The Black Parade has to this day sold over 1.3 million albums worldwide.
My Chemical Romance today
Today My Chemical Romance are headlining festivals worldwide, and are set to begin their full tour of The Black Parade in early 2007. Promising a theatrical stage show, over-the-top production with their "longest tour ever", MCR are sure to please many a fan across the globe.
Created in 1998 by Jared Leto and his brother, Shannon, 30 Seconds to Mars began as a small family project. Things began to speed up quickly, however, and Matt Wachter later joined the band as bassist and keyboard player. After a small revolving door of guitarists (as the band's first two guitarists, Kevin Drake and Solon Bixler, left the band due to issues primarily related to touring), the three auditioned Tomo Milicevic to round out the bands roster.According to an interview from Virgin Records, the band's name "actually comes from a thesis that [the band] found online [that] was written by a former Harvard professor. And one of the subsections of the thesis was titled 'thirty seconds to mars' and he goes on to talk about the expediential growth of technology that relates to humans and saying that we are quite literally thirty seconds to mars. What it means to us is, we thought it best described our music, in short."[1]30 Seconds to Mars' first, self-titled, album, produced by Bob Ezrin, was released in 2002 to mixed reviews and achieved sales of just over 100,000. The band's second album, A Beautiful Lie, was released on August 30, 2005. For this effort, the band traveled (during the course of three years) to four different continents, including five different countries, to perfect their sound and also to allow for Jared's film career. The album was produced by Josh Abraham, whose producing credits also include Orgy, Velvet Revolver, and Linkin Park.Because A Beautiful Lie was leaked five months before its release, the band decided to include two bonus tracks: "Battle of One" (an original song that was also set to be the album's title track when it was first announced) and "Hunter" (a cover of the Björk song of the same name). To further promote the album, the band also enclosed "golden tickets" in 12 copies, which grant their owners access to any 30 Seconds to Mars concert free of charge, along with backstage access.On August 31, 2006 the band won the MTV2 Award for "The Kill" at the MTV Video Music Awards, one of their two nominations. The second nomination was for Best Rock Video; however, they lost to AFI's "Miss Murder". The music video is loosely based on the film The Shining. A Beautiful Lie was certified Platinum by the RIAA in January for distribution of over 1,000,000 albums.In October, the band began their "Welcome to the Universe" tour, sponsored by MTV2. They were supported on this tour by Head Automatica, The Receiving End of Sirens, Cobra Starship, and several other bands including Street Drum Corps. On November 20, MTV2 premiered the video for "From Yesterday"; the video is the first American rock video ever shot in its entirety in the People's Republic of China.[2] The music video is loosely based on the film The Last Emperor.
On April 29, 2007, the band performed at the Australian MTV Australia Video Music Awards, where they were nominated for three awards, winning "Best Rock Video" and "Video of the Year" for The Kill.As of Spring 2007, the band is supporting The Used as a part of the "Taste of Chaos" tour and have scheduled a string of dates in Europe supporting Linkin Park. They are also scheduled to play Roskilde, Rock am Ring, Pinkpop, and Download. Following other commitments, they will begin working on their third album.
On March 1, 2007, bassist Matt Wachter announced his departure from the band live on stage during the band's El Paso, Texas "Taste of Chaos" set. This was confirmed the following day with a statement on the band's website.[3] He has since been replaced by Tim Kelleher (not the actor of the same name), who has been seen playing at the band's concerts. It is unknown if this is a temporary or permanent change. Wachter has also since joined Angels and Airwaves.Following the release of "From Yesterday" as a single, the band posted a link on their MySpace blog to vote for the next single from A Beautiful Lie. The choices available were "A Beautiful Lie," "The Fantasy," "Savior," and "The Story." Another vote was done later between the top two songs, "A Beautiful Lie" and "The Fantasy." On May 2, 2007, the band has announced that "A Beautiful Lie" had won and would be the next single.The band's phoenix logo (which the band named "Mithra") bears the phrase "Provehito in Altum", the band's motto. Roughly translated from Latin, this means "Launch forth into the deep". The logo was primarily used for promotion of the band's debut, whereas for A Beautiful Lie, the new Trinity logo was created consisting of three skulls, along with the band's name and motto.
