My Chemical Romance

My Chemical Romance

My Chemical Romance (often shortened to MCR) is an American alternative rock band that formed in 2001. The current members of the band are Gerard Way, Ray Toro, Frank Iero, Mikey Way, and Bob Bryar. Shortly after forming, the band signed to Eyeball Records and released their debut album I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love in 2002. They signed with Reprise Records the next year and released their major label debut Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge in 2004. The album was a major commercial success, selling over two million copies due in part to the success of the singles "Helena", "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)", and "The Ghost of You". The band followed this success with 2006's The Black Parade, featuring their biggest hit "Welcome to the Black Parade". While the band identifies their sound as simply "rock", the subgenre of the band's recordings has been a subject of debate among fans and the media.

Biography

Early career (2001–2002)

The band was formed by frontman Gerard Way and ex-drummer Matt Pelissier around a week after the September 11, 2001 attacks. Witnessing the planes crash into the World Trade Center influenced Way's life to the extent that he decided to start a band. Way wrote the song "Skylines and Turnstiles" to express his feelings about September 11th. Shortly thereafter, Ray Toro was called up and asked to join the band because at the time Way couldn't sing and play the guitar at the same time. The first recording sessions were done in Pelissier's attic, where the songs "Our Lady of Sorrows" (formerly called "Bring More Knives") and "Cubicles" were recorded. Mikey Way, the younger brother of Gerard, loved the demo so much that he decided to join the band, dropping out of college and learning the bass guitair in order to do so.

My Chemical Romance was signed with Eyeball Records and played in the same room as Pencey Prep and Thursday. It was there that the band met Frank Iero, the lead vocalist and guitarist for Pencey Prep. After Pencey Prep broke up in 2001/2002, Frank became a guitarist for My Chemical Romance, just days before the band's debut album was recorded. Three months after the formation of the band they recorded their debut album, I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love, subsequently released in 2002 on Eyeball Records. Despite only joining the band a few days before the album recording sessions began, Iero played guitar on two of the tracks, one of them being "Early Sunsets Over Monroeville".

Mainstream breakthrough (2003–2006)

In 2003, the band signed a deal with Reprise Records. Following a tour with Avenged Sevenfold, the band began work on their second album, entitled Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge. Released in 2004, the album went platinum within a year. The band released three singles from the album: "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)", "Helena" and "The Ghost of You". It was during this time that the band replaced Matt Pelissier with Bob Bryar, after they went to Japan in July 2004. The true nature of Pelissier's departure was due to an argument with band member Ray Toro as a result of mistakes made by the drummer during live performances.

At the start of 2005, the band was directly supported on the first ever Taste of Chaos tour, and was also the opening act for Green Day on the American Idiot tour. During the summer, they co-headlined the Warped Tour 2005 with Fall Out Boy. Later that year, My Chemical Romance co-headlined and headlined their own tour with Alkaline Trio and Reggie and the Full Effect around the US. That same year, My Chemical Romance collaborated with The Used for a cover of the Queen and David Bowie classic, "Under Pressure" that was released as a benefit single on iTunes and other Internet outlets.

On March 21, 2006, a 2 DVD/1 CD set entitled Life on the Murder Scene was released. It included one DVD chronicling the band's history, and a second DVD with music videos, the making of their videos, and a couple of live performances. An unauthorized biography DVD Things That Make You Go MMM! was also released on June 27, 2006. The DVD does not actually feature any My Chemical Romance music clips or performances, but contains interviews with those who knew the band before much of their fame.

The band started recording their third studio album on April 10, 2006 with Rob Cavallo, producer of many of Green Day's albums. It was originally thought to be titled The Rise and Fall of My Chemical Romance, but in an interview with Kerrang! magazine, Gerard Way suggested this was just the album's working title, stating "It was never the title of the album, more a spoof, or joke." On August 3, 2006, the band finished shooting the videos for their first two singles from the album, "Welcome to the Black Parade" and "Famous Last Words", to be released on January 22, 2007. The video was directed by Sam Bayer, director of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and Green Day's American Idiot videos. During the shoot for "Famous Last Words", band members Gerard Way and Bob Bryar were injured. Way suffered torn ligaments in his ankle, and Bryar a burn to the leg which caused a severe staph infection that needed constant monitoring in hospital. Consequently, the band was forced to cancel a few tour dates. While these injuries were reported by several news agencies to have been the result of a car accident, a statement released by the band on their website and MySpace page has confirmed that these injuries occurred on the set of the video.

The Black Parade (August 2006–current)

Announcement of The Black Parade at London Hammersmith Palais

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. "Welcome to the Black Parade" had its first radio airing on September 11, 2006. On September 26, 2006 the "Welcome to the Black Parade" music video was released in the UK, and on September 27 in the US.

On October 12, 2006, My Chemical Romance made a rare in-store performance to 500 fans at Virgin Megastores on London's Oxford Street. In order to get wristbands for the event, many fans slept outside the shop the previous night. British band Towers of London caused trouble at the event when the Towers guitarist, Dirk Tourette, allegedly flicked a cigarette butt at Bob Bryar while he was performing. "Welcome to the Black Parade" reached number one on October 15, 2006, on the UK Singles Chart, giving them their first number one. The Black Parade was released on October 23, 2006 in the United Kingdom and on October 24, 2006 in the United States.

The Black Parade World Tour started on February 22, 2007, with Rise Against, Thursday and Muse as support acts. At the first concert of the tour in Manchester, New Hampshire, My Chemical Romance announced the addition of Reggie and the Full Effect frontman James Dewees, who will play keyboards/synth on the tour. On March 12, 2007, the band appeared on the The Tonight Show with Jay Leno as the host. They played their single, "Famous Last Words" at the ending of the show as flames were bursting behind them.

My Chemical Romance received many positive and negative accolades. In Kerrang! magazine, issue 1138, My Chemical Romance won the following categories in the 2006 poll: Best Band, Worst Band, Best Album (The Black Parade), Worst Album (The Black Parade), Best Track ("Welcome to the Black Parade"), Best Video ("Welcome to the Black Parade"), Best Live Show, Best Thing about 2006, Worst Thing about 2006, Hero of 2006 (Gerard Way), Villain of 2006 (Gerard Way), and Sexiest Male (Gerard Way). It is interesting to note that Gerard Way also came third in the Sexiest Female Category. 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.

On April 19, 2007, it was announced that Mikey Way would temporarily leave My Chemical Romance's 2007 tour to spend time with his new wife, Alicia Simmons-Way. Mikey's temporary replacement was Matt Cortez, a tech, and friend of the band. On August 29, 2007 during a concert in Holmdel, New Jersey, Mikey returned for the performance of the group's song "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)".

During the third leg of The Black Parade World Tour with support act Muse, members of My Chemical Romance band and crew and members of Muse’s crew were struck by food poisoning, thus canceling six shows. My Chemical Romance was a part of Linkin Park's Projekt Revolution tour in 2007, along with, Placebo, Mindless Self Indulgence, Saosin, Taking Back Sunday, HIM, and Linkin Park.

Four original recordings from The Black Parade were featured on the Xbox 360 release of Guitar Hero II. "Dead!" was added to the song list in-game, and as of August 14, 2007 three more tracks were made available via bulk download from the Xbox Live Marketplace: "This is How I Disappear", "Teenagers", and "Famous Last Words". The My Chemical Romance Track Pack is available for 500 Microsoft Points.

It was announced that My Chemical Romance will be on a headlining tour in Europe with Mindless Self Indulgence opening, starting in October.

In September 2007, My Chemical Romance confirmed they have no plans to record a new album until at least mid-2008.

Om September 17, 2007, Billboard reported Gerard Way will be guest vocals on the title track, of Say Anything upcoming album "In Defense of the Genre".

Musical style and influences

My Chemical Romance's music has been described by the media as "pop punk", "emo", "alternative rock", "post-hardcore" and "punk revival". The band themselves described their music as simply "rock" or "violent, dangerous pop" on their official website, as well as rejecting the term "emo" to describe their style, though another source quotes frontman Way stating that they are "What-else-ya-got-emo".

My Chemical Romance cite their main influences as Queen, Thursday, Iron Maiden, The Misfits, Morrissey/The Smiths and the Beastie Boys. Gerard Way has said, "We love bands like Queen, where it's huge and majestic, but also bands like Black Flag and the Misfits, who would go absolutely crazy." Way has also said that his band patterns their career after that of The Smashing Pumpkins, another band they admire. Geoff Rickly, the lead singer of Thursday, has compared My Chemical Romance to Ink & Dagger. Growing up, they were also very influenced by horror films and comic books, and therefore their music, lyrics, and image all have overt elements of fantasy, storytelling, horror, and theatricality.

The band's name "My Chemical Romance" is taken from the line: 'Ectasy-Three Tales Of Chemical Romance' from the Irvine Welsh novels Trainspotting (later made into the successful UK film of the same name) and its sequel Porno, which allude to the use of drugs (in particular, heroin) as providing a "chemical romance".

Criticism

My Chemical Romance was among the first bands to achieve prominence by offering free downloads through PureVolume and the social networking site MySpace, where MCR gathered its first few thousand fans. The band has clearly grown well beyond those initial numbers, expanding their fan base beyond the typical fans of their musical style and direction, partially helped by the more mainstream sound of their 2004 album, Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge. MCR are sometimes maligned by the "grassroots" fans, for the expanded fan base, after the release of Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge. Due to the increased amount of new fans, some of the old fanbase considers the band a "sellout" and the new MCR fans "posers". The fans are particularly vocal on online forums.

Numerous artists in other bands have criticised the band openly in the media, amongst them is Marilyn Manson; he wrote the song "Mutilation is the Most Sincere Form of Flattery" as an attack on the band for his Eat Me, Drink Me release. Stating in an interview that "I'm embarrassed to be me because these people are doing a really sad, pitiful, shallow version of what I've done". In response to this, Gerard Way claimed nothing Manson could say would bring the band down and there has been no real criticism of the band from anyone that they have taken seriously so far.

Tours

My Chemical Romance has been on many tours, and has a reputation for sold-out shows. Including the Vans Warped tour in their earlier career, amongst others. Touring with many well-known bands, earlier, with Fall Out Boy, The Used, Thursday, Greenday and others. In their recent tours, famous British rock-band supported them, as well as Rage Against the Machine.

The Black Parade World Tour

The Black Parade World Tour was a concert tour the band did to promote their newly released album, the Black Parade. The tour was the opportunity for fans in countries like New Zealand to watch the band live for the first time.

Projekt Revolution '07

The band were featured in Projekt Revolution in 2007, supporting headliners Linkin Park, kicking off on July 25th and ending on September 3rd in Colorado. The band plays on center stage, a one-hour set, opening with This Is How I Disappear, as flames burst behind the band, and ending with Cancer, with the occasional falling confetti and fireworks.

Frontman Gerard Way has stated that it had been the best tour the band has ever been on. This tour is worth mentioning as a stream of controversial events occurred, including the infamous kiss Gerard Way and Frank Iero shared during a performance of You know what they do... in San Bernardino on the 28th of July, that spread quickly over YouTube. And amongst other things, Gerard Way's engagement to Mindless Self Indulgence's bassist Lyn-Z. . My Chemical Romance has announced that following the Projekt Revolution tour they will be opening for Bon Jovi in October, and depart for an Europe Tour, with Mindless Self Indulgence supporting.

MCRmy

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". 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 to. 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.

Band members

Current members

• Gerard Way - lead vocals
• Ray Toro - lead guitar, backing vocals
• Frank Iero - rhythm guitar, backing vocals (2002-present)
• Mikey Way - bass
• Bob Bryar - drums (2004-present)

Former members

• Matt Pelissier - drums (2001-2004)

The Black Parade World Tour/Projekt Revolution members

• Matt Cortez - replacement bassist (2007)
• James Dewees - keyboard (2007)

Discography

Main article: My Chemical Romance discography

• 2002: I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love
• 2004: Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge
• 2006: The Black Parade

External links

• My Chemical Romance Official Website
• The Black Parade Official Website
• Template:MySpace
• My Chemical Romance at Vampirefreaks
• MCR Video Interview
• My Chemical Romance at AllMusic