Early career (2001–2002)
The
band was formed by frontman Gerard Way and drummer Matt Pelissier
approximately one week after the September 11 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 11 and shortly
thereafter, Ray Toro was recruited because at the time Way couldn't sing
and play the guitar at the same time. The name of the band was
suggested by bass guitarist Mikey Way, younger brother of Gerard, who
was working in a library when he was struck by the title of a book by
Irvine Welsh named Ecstasy : Three Tales of Chemical Romance. The
first recording sessions were undertaken in Pelissier's attic, where
the songs "Our Lady of Sorrow" (formerly called "Bring More Knives") and
"Cubicles" were recorded. The band refers to those sessions as The
Attic Demos. After hearing the demo, Mikey Way decided to join the band
after dropping out of college. While with Eyeball Records, the band met
Frank Iero, the lead vocalist and guitarist for Pencey Prep. Following
Pencey Prep's split in 2001-02, Iero became a member of My Chemical
Romance, just days prior to the recording of the band's debut
album. They recorded their debut album, I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love,
just three months after the formation of the band and released it in
2002 through Eyeball Records. The album was produced by
Thursday frontman Geoff Rickley after the band became friends with him
while playing shows in New Jersey. Despite only joining the band a few
days before the album recording sessions began, Iero played guitar on
two of the tracks, one of which being "Early Sunsets Over Monroeville."
During this time, the band was booked at the infamous venue, Big
Daddy's, where they began to receive more attention.
My
Chemical Romance offered free downloads through Pure Volume and the
social networking website MySpace, where they gained an initial fan
base.
Major label signing and Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge (2003–early 2006)
Main article: Three Chers for Sweet Revenge
In
2003, the band signed a deal with Reprise Records. Following a tour
with Avenged Sevenfold, the band began working on their second album,
entitled Three Chers for Sweet Revenge. Released in 2004, the album went platinum in just over a year. The band released four singles from the album; "I'm not okay (I
Promise)", "Thank You for The Venom", "Helena" and "The Gost of You".
It was during this time that the band replaced Matt Pelissier with Bob
Bryar, after returning from a tour of Japan in July 2004.
At
the beginning of 2005, the band was featured on the first ever Taste of
Chaos tour, and was also the opening act for Green Day on their American Idiot tour.
They then co-headlined Warped Tour 2005 with Fall Out Boy and
co-headlined a 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.
In March 2006, record entitled LIfe on the Muder Scene was
released, incorporating two DVD's and a CD. It included one documentary
DVD chronicling the band's history, and a second DVD with music videos,
the making of their videos and live performances. An unauthorized
biography DVD Things That Make You Go MMM! was also released In
June 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. A biography titled Something Incredible This Way Comes was
also released, written by Paul Stenning and published in 2006. It
features their beginnings right through to their third album, The Black Parade.
My
Chemical Romance 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 completed shooting the videos for their first
two singles from the album; including the first single, "Welcome to The
Black Parade" and although not released until January 2007, "Famous Last
Words". The "Famous Last Words" video was directed by Sam Bayer,
director of Nirvana's "Smeels Like Thin Spirit" and Green Day's American Idiot videos. During
the second single's filming, 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 confirmed that these
injuries occurred on the set of the video.
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 ticket to be re-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. Before the band took 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.
"Welcome
to The Black Parade" was released as a single on September 11, 2006. On
September 26, 2006, the music video for "Welcome to the Black Parade"
was released in the UK, and on September 27 in the US. The single became
the band's first number one on the UK Singles Chart in October 2006. 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
commenced on February 22, 2007, with the eventuating 133 shows
featuring Rise Against, Thursday and Muse as support acts. Reggie and
The Full Effect frontman James Dewess played keyboards/synth on the
tour. In April 2007, it was announced that Mikey Way would temporarily
leave the tour to spend time with his new wife, Alicia Simmons-Way.
Mikey's temporary replacement was Matt Cortez, a friend of the
band. During the third leg of the tour, as a support act for Muse,
members of My Chemical Romance band and crew and members of Muse's crew
suffered food poisoning, and consequently had to cancel six shows. The
band later featured on Linkin Park's Project Revolution tour in 2007, along with, Placebo, Mindles Self Indulgence, Saosin, Taking Back Sunday and HIM.
My Chemical Romance received mixed accolades for the third album. In Kerang! magazine, issue 1139 The Black Parade was rated the fourth 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 went on to
win the award for Best International Band at the 2007 NME Awards and
Gerard Way also won the Hero of the Year award. My Chemical Romance was
also nominated for Best Alternative Group at the 2007 American Music
Awards.
The
band announced in a blog on their website that they would be going on a
final tour in the United States before taking a break. At the same
time, they announced they will be releasing a live DVD/CD collection
titled The Black Parade is Dead! which includes two concerts in
October 2007, the final Black Parade concert in Mexico, and a small show
at Maxwell's in New Jersey. The DVD/CD was meant to be released on June
24 in the United States and June 30 in the UK, but was postponed to
July 1 because of a technical fault with the Mexico concert.
In
2009, My Chemical Romance released a new single entitled "Desolation
Row" (a cover of the Bob Dylan song) on February 1, 2009. It was
recorded to feature as the end credit track for the 2009 film Watchmen,
an adaptation of the graphic novel on the same name. It was then
announced by the band that they would be releasing "a collection of nine
never-before-seen live videos, straight from the encore set of the
Mexico City show from October 2007", entitled Venganzal. The
release was stored on a bullet-shaped flash drive and also contained
exclusive photos of the band from the show. It was released on April 29,
2009.
Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys (2009–present)
On
their website, on May 27, 2009, their web designer Jeff Watson
announced that they were headed to the studio to record their fourth
full-length album for the following few weeks with producer Brendan O'Brien, who has worked with AC/DC, Mastodon, and Pearl Jam.
In an interview with NME,
Gerard Way said the band's next record would be a rock album, saying,
"I think (the next album) will definitely be stripped down. I think the
band misses being a rock band." In a separate interview with Idiomag,
Way commented that the next release would be less theatrical in scope,
stating that "it's not going to be hiding behind a veil of fiction or
uniforms and makeup anymore." In an interview with PopEater, Way also
stated that the next album will be "full of hate." He has also said
"Over the years that we've been hearing ourselves live and hearing us on
records, we kind of prefer the live. There's more of a garage feel and
more energy. I'd like to capture some of that, finally. That's the goal
for the next one."
On
July 31 and August 1, 2009, My Chemical Romance played two "secret"
shows at The Roxy Theater in Los Angeles, the shows being their first
concert the band has played since Madison Square Garden, in May 2008.
The band also premiered several new songs said to be from their upcoming
fourth album during the shows, one reportedly titled "Death Before
Disco", a song front-man Gerard Way has noted he is particularly excited
about. The song has since been renamed "Party Poison" and will be
included on the new album. Way explained further in a Rolling Stone
interview that "It's a completely different sound for the band — it's
like an anti-party song that you can party to. I can't wait for people
to hear it. It brings back, lyrically, some of that wonderful fiction
from the first album.
Gerard
Way also said in a November 2009 interview with Rock Sound that the
fourth album would be their defining work. "A friend who heard the
record recently said he now had no interest in listening to our older
work anymore, that we had made all our old material redundant. I took it
as a compliment, the next thing you should always make the last thing
seem unimportant and I think that will happen when we finally release
this album."
On March 3, 2010, Iero announced on their official website that Bob Bryar had left the band. He wrote:
"As of 4 weeks ago, My Chemical Romance and Bob Bryar parted ways. This was a painful decision for all of us to make and was not taken lightly. We wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors and expect you all to do the same."
The band did not state reasons on why he left.
In
a March 2010 MTV interview with Gerard Way about the new album, the
singer/songwriter explained, "There's no title yet...I'm actually kind
of excited about that. It's kind of 'anything goes' at this point, but
I'm so happy with the songs." Though the band has since decided on the
title of their fourth album, it continued to go unannounced, with
various rumors circulating and the band stating on their website that it
will be revealed "all in due time." and in Gerard Way's words, "a special way this time. Maybe some sort of event, something fun, something soon."
By
July, the recording of My Chemical Romance's fourth album had been
finished, as confirmed by multiple band members. During the 2010 San
Diego Comic-con 2010 Gerard Way announced that the band had finished
recording the 4th studio album. This was later confirmed by Frank
Iero on the band's official website, who officially announced, that the
album is "done, finished, kaput, in the proverbial can, and being played loudly as we drive way too fast in our respective cars."
Rock
Sound has had a preview of the album and gave a positive review,
commenting "the way they’ve used everything they learned on ‘The Black
Parade’ and tightened up in certain places feels natural and confident"
and that it sees "the creativity of the band taking flight musically,
graphically and literally."
In September, a trailer video was uploaded to MCR's official You Tube page entitled Art is a Weaponand announced the title of the album, Danger Days : The True LIves of Fabulous Killjoy,
which featured the band wearing strangely coloured outfits and battling
unusual characters in a desert surrounding, and featuring a sample of
music from the song "Na Na Na (Na
Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na)". Notable comic book author and the band's
personal friend, Grant Morisson, makes a special appearance, in the role
of an enemy and leader of a band of masked characters. On September 22,
the band premiered their song "Na Na Na..." on Zane Lowe's BBC Radio
1 show, and Los Angeles-based radio station KROQ. The tracklisting was
released on September 23 via the band's official website.
My Chemical Romance has since been using Michael Pedicone as a touring drummer to replace the recently departed Bob Bryar.
During
a performance at Wembley Arena on February 12, 2011, Gerard Way
announced that the band will be appearing at a UK festival later this
year, later confirmed as the Reading and Leeds Festivals, which they
will headline. They will also perform at Radio 1's BIg Weekend on May
15, 2011.
Musical style and influences
My
Chemical Romance's general style has been categorized as "alternative
rock", "post punk hardcore", "punk revival", "pop punk" and, most
controversially, "emo". The band's official website describes their
music as simply "rock" or "violent, dangerous pop". Band frontman
Gerrard Way has publicly rejected the term "emo", describing the genre
as "fucking garbage".However, Way has reportedly also described the
band's style as "What-else-ya-got-emo".
Way said to Rolling stones,
"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." Lead
singer Gerard Way has stated that the band is heavily influenced by
Queen, Misfits, Black Flag, Iron Maiden, The Cure, Joy Division,
Bauhaus, Siouxsie and
the Bandshees, and The Smiths/Morrisey. Way has also said that his band
patterns their career after that of The Smashing Pumkins, another band
they admire.
Controversy and "emo" label
Singer-songwriter
Gerard Way has previously stated that he strongly disagrees with the
band's frequent classification of "emo", saying:
"Basically, it’s never been accurate to describe us. Emo bands were being booked while we were touring with Christian metal bands because no one would book us on tours. I think emo is F–ing garbage, it’s bulls–. I think there’s bands that unfortunately we get lumped in with that are considered emo and by default that starts to make us emo."
UK tabloid incident
On May 8, 2008, British tabloid The Sun published an article entitled "Suicide of Hannah, the Secret emo",
which reported the death of a thirteen year-old British girl named
Hannah Bond, who had hanged herself supposedly because of her
involvement with a reported "self-harming 'emo' cult", which the newspaper directly associated with My Chemical Romance, and their then-current album The Black Parade,
which was said to be linked to her suicide. In the article, coroner
Roger Sykes expressed concern that Bond's "emo" lifestyle glamorized
suicide, though he did not mention My Chemical Romance in the
interview. Regardless, The Sun's article, and an article in NME about
The Sun's article, had linked My Chemical Romance to the suicide, which
caused outcry from the band's fanbase. Supporters of emo
music contacted NME to defend the genre against accusations that it promotes suicide.
A
group of British fans eventually planned a march across London in
protest against the depiction of the band in the media. The march was
expected to be held on May 31, beginning at Hyde Park's West Pond and
ending outside the offices of tabloid newspaper The Daily Mail, which
widely criticized My Chemical Romance and had published general pieces
about the dangers of 'suicide cults'. The march was expected to attract
500-1000 protesters, according to the organizers. After concerns by
police, the march was called off and instead about 100 fans congregated
at Marble Arch and the band repeated the statement "fuck the Daily Mail" during their gigs in the United Kingdom.
The Daily Mail defended
its position saying its coverage was "balanced, and restrained" and "in
the public interest" and they were reporting genuine concerns raised by
the coroner at the inquest and claim that their coverage of the
incident has been misrepresented and confused with rumor. They state
that their coverage of the coroner's remarks and the parents' comments
was in common with that of other newspapers, and point to their
publishing of readers letters defending the band and positive reviews of
the band's albums and tours.
Proposed 'Propaganda'
On
April 28 2011, US broadcaster Glenn Bleck labelled the My Chemical
Romance song sing as 'propaganda' after it was featured and covered on
the US musical drama TV series Glee in February 2011. Beck stated "It's
an anthem saying 'Join us'. How can you and I possibly win against
that?" The lyrics that Beck pointed out where "Cleaned up corporation
progress, dying in the process / Children that can talk about it living
on the railways / People moving sideways / Sell it till your last days /
Buy yourself the motivation / Generation nothing / Nothing but a dead
scene / Product of a white dream" Many have stated that Beck has
taken the song literally, despite it being set in a fictional,
futuristic California. Gerard Way responded to the accusation on the
band's official website. Way wrote "I think the word Glenn Beck was
looking for was 'subversion' not 'propaganda', because I don't know what
it would be considered propaganda for - truth? Sentiment?". He also
claimed that he was 'shocked that no actual fact-checking was done on
the lyrics'.
Tours
Tours
The
band played in many major tours in 2005. The band toured with Green
Day in 2005 on the Green Day Presents American Idiot Tour". They were
also part of the Warped Tour in the same year. "For a lot of kids, it's
the one thing they look forward to all year," said Gerard Way of the
Warped Tour. "They save up for it. They get to see all the bands they
like in one shot." Their set list included mostly songs fromThree Cheers for Sweet Revenge.
They
co-headlined the main stage with The Used on the Taste of Chaos tour
before starting their own first headining tour, simply named the "My
Chemical Romance Tour". The tour launched September 15 in Ohio, stopping
at 30 locations in the U.S., to promote their album, Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge.
Supporting were Alkaline Trio, and Reggie & The Full Effect. This
tour marked the beginning of the heavy theatrics later showcased in any
of their live shows. Gerard Way expressed his plans for the tour in an
interview with MTV, "We'd talked about bringing out dancers for our
headlining tour in the fall, but it's a big undertaking; you have to
have a bus full of dancers. We've always wanted to do a big theatrical
tour. But you have to do it in steps". The use of theatrics was evident
in their future headlining tour, The Black Parade World Tour,
which was to support their album of the same name. The tour featured 132
performances worldwide, featuring three legs in North America, one in
Europe, Asia, and South America, and one internationally.
See also: The Black Parade World Tour
The
band joined headliners LInkin Park on Projekt Revolution 2007, starting
on July 25 and ending on September 3. The band played a one-hour set on
center stage, opening with "This Is How I Disappear", as flames burst
behind the band. The set ended with "Cancer", occasionally with falling
confetti, and fireworks. A stream of controversial events occurred over
the kiss Gerard Way and Frank Iero shared during a performance of "You
Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Prison" in San Bernardino on July
28. Following the Projekt Revolution tour, they opened for Bon Jovi in
October, and then departed for a European Tour, with Mindles Self
Indulgence.
On
September 19, 2010, the band announced "The World Contamination Tour",
so far taking place in parts of the UK, France, Amsterdam and Germany.
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