My Chemical Romance broke out into the Music scene in early 2001 and have been releasing successful videos and have been doing some non-stop touring for the majority of the last 3-4 years, all while building a massive fan base. Many know the band and their music, but not many can vouch that they know a lot about their origins. That’s about to change. In this “History Of:” article, your going to learn everything there is to know about one of the biggest success stories to come out of New Jersey in recent years. Let’s begin.
In the mid 2001, Gerard Arthur Way was a 24 year old guy you could find in New York comic shop. He had a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from graduating from New York’s School of Visual Arts. He didn’t have a lot going his way at the time, He was battling alcoholism, prescription drug abuse, an illness in the family, and severe depression, partially as a result of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. His life was not amounting to much, his only artwork to make it anywhere close to being released was a cartoon called, “The Breakfast Monkey”.
He decided one day as he was in his friend’s basement that he would “**** Art”. He and Matt Pelissier, who was a friend from high school, began to channel Gerard’s depression and anger into the form of music. They wrote a Song about the 9/11 attacks called “Skylines and Turnstiles”. Little did they know that it would be the start of something that would change their lives dramatically.
Needing a guitar to round off their music, Pelissier and Way looked back to their hometown of Belleville, New Jersey. They joined forces with lead guitarist Ray Toro who was between bands at the time. He agreed to help them and put some riffs guitar to the words that Way and Pelissier had written. Needing a Bassist, Gerard’s brother Mikey Way bought a bass guitar and began learning as the band began making more songs. All they needed now was a rhythm guitarist to help fill in the background of Ray’s solos. The Answer was Frank Iero. Having just quit a band named Pencey Prep, Iero dropped out of college to begin playing with the rest of the band.
Not having a name, they were looking for a title that would go with their dark lyrics and punk/emo image. One day while working at a Barnes and Noble book store, Mikey spotted the book “Ecstasy: Three Tales Of Chemical Romance” by Irvine Welsh. Mikey thought that My Chemical Romance would be a pretty deadly band name. The name stuck, and in 2002 they decided to sign with the local “Eyeball Records” music label to release their first CD.
The Band released their debut CD titled “I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love” on July 23, 2002, which had the song “Skylines and Turnstiles” as the 7th track. To support the disk, the Way’s Grandmother, Elena Lee Rush, bought the band their first touring van, and they were off.
Their first live show turned out to be a mixed blessing however. The whole band, notably Mikey, drank to cover up their stage fright making the actual performance less than spectacular. However, the band caught the eye of a few people and word began to spread.
This seemed to make them much stronger. They began to perfect their live shows and began to build a large fan base. They teamed up with bands such as Thrice, The Used, and briefly with Alkaline Trio. They received an offer from Reprise records, a division of Warner, to record an album. They began to record a new album that was more professional and appealed to a wider fan base, but they still had their hard image style. With the death of the Way’s grandmother the band wrote the song “Helena” in memory of her, and the rest of the album began to take shape. The result was “Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge”.
Released on June 8th, 2005, the band immediately saw a response. They debuted at the number one on the Billboard Heat seekers chart and were getting offers to underline the “Vans Warped” tour and to be in the first ever “Taste of Chaos” Tour.
This was very good for the band, but problems internally resulted in Matt leaving the band. Needing a drummer, the turned to some of the friends they made before their 2nd Album. A Sound Technician for The Used offered to fill in the spot and Bob Bryar, a native of Chicago, became the band’s drummer. With a full line up they began to tour and landed a spot to be the only opening band for Green Day’s “American Idiot” tour.
With the release of their first single “I’m Not Okay (I Promise)” they began to get airtime on MTV’s TRL and the infectious song was being requested on many music stations. The album began to sell and the band followed “I’m Not Okay” with a video for “Helena”. Although it did not do as well as “I’m Not Okay” on the charts, record sales increased and “Helena” received nominations on MTV’s Video Awards, and it won “Woodie of the year” at MTV’s Woodie awards. Their final single from the album was a video for the ballad-like “Ghost of You”. The video had an anti-war message and the song helped “Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge” go platinum.
MCR didn’t stop there after the release of “Ghost Of You”. They began to headline a tour to support the album with opening acts consisting of Circa Survive, Thrice and Alkaline Trio. They also released a DVD/CD collection on March 21, 2006 titled “Life On The Murder Scene”. The DVD’s have behind-the-scenes-footage of the band’s rise to fame, and a collection of all their videos. The CD with have live versions of their songs, and demos of new song. They band is currently writing new material for a 2006 release and have been performing a new song on their tour called “Shut Up And Play”.
From being the kids that used to get picked on in school, MCR have risen above everyone’s expectations and have made a major impact on today’s youth with what Gerard calls “Violent, Unsafe Pop Music”. Their may be many bands similar to MCR, but there’s almost no doubt that they will be a band to stick around for a long time.
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. An unauthorized biography DVD Things That Make You Go MMM! was also released on June 27, 2006. The DVD does not actually feature any My Chemical Romance music clips or performances, but contains interviews with those who knew the band before much of their fame.[3]
The band started recording their third studio album on April 10, 2006 with Rob Cavallo, producer of many of Green Day's albums.[4][5]
It was originally thought to be titled The Rise and Fall of My Chemical Romance, but in an interview with Kerrang! magazine, Gerard Way suggested this was just the album's working title, stating "It was never the title of the album, more a spoof, or joke."[6]
On August 3, 2006, the band finished shooting the videos for their first two singles from the album, "Welcome to the Black Parade" and "Famous Last Words", to be released on January 22, 2007.[7] The video was directed by Sam Bayer, director of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and Green Day's American Idiot videos.[8]
During the shoot for "Famous Last Words", band members Gerard Way and Bob Bryar were injured. Way suffered torn ligaments in his ankle, and Bryar a burn to the leg which caused a severe staph infection that needed constant monitoring in hospital. Consequently, the band was forced to cancel a few tour dates. While these injuries were reported by several news agencies to have been the result of a car accident, a statement released by the band on their website and MySpace page has confirmed that these injuries occurred on the set of the video.[9]
The Black Parade (August 2006-present)
The album cover for The Black Parade (2006), the band's third studio album. It has been a critical success for the band.
A biography titled Something Incredible This Way Comes was released, written by Paul Stenning (Published in 2006). It features their beginnings, right through to The Black Parade. On August 22, 2006, the band played a special one-off show at the 1800-capacity London Hammersmith Palais. The show sold out in 15 minutes prompting tickets being sold on eBay well over the tickets' face value. The name of the album they promoted was announced and 20 people dressed in black capes with their faces obscured paraded around Hammersmith, followed by a large group of fans and street team members with signs saying "The Black Parade". Later during the show the album title and the UK release date were confirmed. Prior to the band taking the stage it was announced that My Chemical Romance were unable to play, but they would be replaced by "The Black Parade". After initial crowd hostility it became clear the band were simply performing under a pseudonym in keeping with the theme of the album. When the set began, the backdrop art displayed the words "The Black Parade".
On September 2, 2006, My Chemical Romance posted "Welcome to the Black Parade" on their MySpace page and their PureVolume page.[9] "Welcome to the Black Parade" had its first radio airing on September 11, 2006. On September 26, 2006 the "Welcome to the Black Parade" music video was released in the UK, and on September 27 in the US.[6]
On October 12, 2006, My Chemical Romance made a rare in-store performance to 500 fans at Virgin Megastores on London's Oxford Street. In order to get wristbands for the event, many fans slept outside the shop the previous night. British band Towers of London caused trouble at the event when the Towers guitarist, Dirk Tourette, allegedly flicked a cigarette butt at Bob Bryar while he was performing.[10] "Welcome to the Black Parade" reached number one on October 15, 2006, on the UK Singles Chart, giving them their first number one.
The Black Parade was released on October 23, 2006 in the United Kingdom and on October 24 in the United States.
On October 21, 2006 My Chemical Romance made their first appearance on Saturday Night Live as the musical guests where they played "Welcome to the Black Parade" and "Cancer". My Chemical Romance performed "Famous Last Words" on top of the Pontiac Building on MTV's New Year's Special.
They played six dates from January 19 to February 4, 2007 in the world renowned Big Day Out festival in Australia and New Zealand. Gerard Way commented that the band would be returning to New Zealand at the 2007 Big Day Out in Auckland.[citation needed] The Black Parade World Tour started on February 22, 2007, with Rise Against, Thursday and Muse as support acts[11]. At the first concert of the tour in Manchester, New Hampshire, My Chemical Romance announced the addition of Reggie and the Full Effect frontman James Dewees, who will play keyboards/synth on the tour. On March 12, 2007, the band appeared on the The Tonight Show with Jay Leno as the host. They played their single, "Famous Last Words" at the ending of the show as flames were bursting behind them.
My Chemical Romance received many positive and negative accolades. In Kerrang! magazine, issue 1138, My Chemical Romance won the following categories in the 2006 poll: Best Band, Worst Band, Best Album (The Black Parade), Worst Album (The Black Parade), Best Track ("Welcome to the Black Parade"), Best Video ("Welcome to the Black Parade"), Best Live Show, Best Thing About 2006, Worst Thing About 2006, Hero of 2006 (Gerard Way), Villain of 2006 (Gerard Way), and Sexiest Male (Gerard Way). Also, in issue 1139, Kerrang! rated The Black Parade as the 4th Greatest Album of 2006. In Rolling Stone magazine's ranking of the top 50 albums of 2006, The Black Parade was voted the 20th best album of the year. My Chemical Romance won the award for "Best International Band" at the 2007 NME Awards. Gerard also won the "Hero of the Year" award.[12]
On April 2, My Chemical Romance released "I Don't Love You" as their third single from The Black Parade album. This single was a UK only release. To coincide with this release date, the band performed an exclusive gig for BBC Radio 1 at the KOKO venue in London[13]. Tickets were made exclusively available as competition prizes. The show was broadcast live on Radio 1 and was broadcast later on BBC 2.
In May, My Chemical Romance headlined the first day of New Jersey's annual rock festival, The Bamboozle.[14] The band has headlined the festival in past years. They are also confirmed to play at Oxegen '07 in Ireland in July.
My Chemical Romance will also be headlining Friday night of the Download Festival in 2007. Festival organisers were criticized by many fans of the festival who felt did the band failed to fit the rock/metal festival, and the official announcement[15] received thousands of negative responses to the choice.
My Chemical Romance will be one of the many bands that will be performing on day 1 of "The Virgin Festival" An annual concert held in Canada and the US. They will be opening on May 20th for the show.[citation needed]
My Chemical Romance will be a part of Linkin Park's Projekt Revolution tour this summer[1], along with, Saosin, Taking Back Sunday, HIM, and of course, Linkin Park. According to a radio interview (WXDX - Pittsburgh) with Linkin Park's DJ Joe Hahn, the band plans to announce official dates on their Website in early May.
On April 19, 2007, it was announced that Mikey Way would temporarily leave My Chemical Romance's current tour to spend time with his new wife Alicia Simmons/Way. Mikey's temporary replacement is Matt Cortez, a tech, and friend of the band.[18]
During the third leg of The Black Parade World Tour with support act Muse, members of My Chemical Romance band and crew and members of Muse’s crew were struck by food poisoning, thus canceling one show in Maine, and postponing another.[19]
Musical style
The band's music has been described variously by the media as "alternative rock","emo", "pop punk",[20] "post-hardcore"[20] and "punk revival".[20] The band themselves described their music as simply "rock" or "violent, dangerous pop" on their official website,[21] as well as rejecting the term "emo"[22] to describe their style. Another source quotes Gerard stating they are "What-else-ya-got-emo".[2]
My Chemical Romance cite their main influences as Queen, Thursday, Iron Maiden, The Misfits, Pink Floyd,[23] and Morrissey/The Smiths.[24] Geoff Rickly, the lead singer of Thursday, has also compared them to Ink & Dagger.[2] 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.
Criticism
My Chemical Romance was among the first bands to achieve prominence by offering free downloads through PureVolume[25] and the social networking site MySpace, where MCR gathered its first few thousand fans.[26] The band has clearly grown well beyond those initial numbers, expanding their fan base beyond the typical fans of their musical style and direction,[27] partially helped by the more mainstream sound of their 2004 album, Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge. MCR are sometimes maligned by the "grassroots" fans, for the expanded fan base, due to attracting fans they claim are "dirty great bummers", after the release of Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge. Due to the increased amount of new fans, some of the old fanbase considers the band a "sellout" and the new MCR fans "poseurs". The fans are particularly vocal on online forums.[28][29]
In October 2006, the British Indie Rock band Kasabian criticized My Chemical Romance, labelling them "clowns" and "emo kids" who "don't have anything positive to say" and "should get out more and try and have a good time instead". [30]
My Chemical Romance played the main stage at the 2006 Reading and Leeds Festival—this was the largest show they have ever played in the UK. According to issue 221 of Alternative Press, they followed thrash metal band Slayer and were not received warmly by the crowd at Reading, as the band was subjected to heavy bottling. Large sections of the audience threw bacon, tangerines, golf balls, and bottles filled with urine at the group as they played.[31]
Relationship with The Used
The Used is known to have both a personal and a professional relationship with My Chemical Romance. My Chemical Romance and The Used have covered "Under Pressure" (originally by David Bowie and Queen) in concert on multiple occasions. Bert McCracken also sings on the track "You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Prison," from My Chemical Romance's Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge. On My Chemical Romance's DVD, Life on the Murder Scene, the band's manager, Brian Schecter, states that he introduced the two bands to each other, as he had once been The Used's tour manager.
In recent months, however, the two lead singers of both bands seem to have had a dispute involving the addition of "Under Pressure" to The Used's In Love and Death.
In an interview with Blender, Gerard Way talks about the last time he and Bert McCracken crossed paths, during the San Diego stop of Warped Tour 2005. "It was really unfortunate," says Way. "We were about to take the stage and he was standing with a megaphone trying to get kids not to watch us. We just hit the feedback and drowned him out."[32]
MCRmy
MCRmy's street team logo.
The MCRmy (pronounced MC-army), or 'Rmy', is a publicity street team for the band My Chemical Romance, which helps in bringing friends to the shows, convincing friends to buy band merchandise, phoning local radio stations to request the band's songs, putting up posters, posting to band forums or related bulletin boards online, and maintaining zines or websites dedicated to the band. Members even went as far to organise parades in the streets before the release of The Black Parade.
Originally the street team went by the name "Unleash the Bats" or "UTB" as it was shortened to, which is a line from the inside cover of the first album, I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love. Sometime later the street team began calling themselves the "MCRmy" and referring to themselves as "Soldiers of the MCRmy".[33] The street team is run by Warner Bros.
The community of members work closely and take pride in the "family" community that they have created around the similar interest of one band. Due to the overwhelming support that members of the street team offer each other, the MCRmy medics was created in 2007 as a support system for those who need to talk to someone about their problems, but have no one else to turn too. The street team also offers Local Teams to which members can ask to be a part of. The teams are run by a Lieutenant who organises promotion in their area's with the aid of their team.
Members
Current Members
Tour Members
Former Members
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