My Chemical Romance

The terrorist attacks of September 11th affected a lot of people in many differing ways. They destroyed families, wrecked careers and took the entire world into a state of shock. The president remained defiant, firmly stating that he would stop at nothing to take revenge upon these animals that had, for one day, destroyed the heart of America. The very second the towers crumbled represent the pride of every American crumbling with them, all knowing there was very little they could do to guard against this, or any other attack of it’s kind. In the ensuing three years, Americans have done little to let the attacks rest, rather using it as an example of how their fellow countrymen pulled together to defy even the purest evil, and example of just what it means to be an American. The rest of the world tried their best to aid the victims and understand the agony that every family must have suffered, wondering as to whether their loved ones were safe, or simply another on the expanding list of victims. The events of that day, as I say, affected every man and woman in the country, resulting in both positive and negative actions toward how they would cope and get on with their lives, one such story is that of My Chemical Romance lead singer Gerard Way…….

“ASTONISHING, THEY’RE GOING TO BE HUGE” Kerrang! magazine

At the time of the attacks, Way, a keen comic book fanatic, was studying Art in his home town of New Jersey, hoping for a bright future harnessing his blossoming talent. New Jersey’s close proximity to NYC meant that he, along with many others, would feel the hit so much harder than others, with the effects even more pivotal in his future decisions. A manic depressive and well known alcoholic, Way saw that he was, to an effect, wasting his life away with the negatives in life, rather than using his abilities for the good of his fellow man. He binned the idea of being an artist in favour of forming a band, in the hope of carrying the emotions of every American through their music. He and brother Mikey wanted to do something to dampen the pain of the attacks, whilst giving the world something new and fresh in the seemingly meaningless world of modern guitar rock. Upon teaming up with drummer Matt Pelissier and guitarists Frankie Jero and Ray Toro, the band began the long winded path to finding a record label by playing small gigs around their local New Jersey area, in hope of turning up a record deal that would meet their needs.

“A HARD-HITTING PUNK-ROCK EXPLOSION - INCREDIBLE” Metal Hammer magazine

Playing around Gerard’s local town of Newark, the band built up a steady reputation as having a mean live show, with the songs to match. Luckily for them, they caught the eye of a local ‘20-20 Records’ representative relatively early and were instantly signed simply due to their stage antics. With a debut album budgeted, the band called upon fellow New Jersey native Geoff Rickley of the band Thursday, in the hope that he would lend his skills and produce the album, something he was more than happy to do. Debut album ‘I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love’ was released to largely positive reaction, leading to comments promoting the band as the next best thing. The bands music, however enjoyable, is not an easy listen - Gerard in particular, with his manic depression and alcoholism, tends to have a macabre outlook on life, and brings these views into the bands music. Tracks such as ‘Vampires Will Never Hurt You’ and ‘Our Lady Of Sorrows’, share the theme of, to put it bluntly, vampires, death, love and revenge - their music is not for the faint hearted, something that also makes their live show such a spectacle.

“MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE ARE, WITHOUT EXCEPTION, WHAT EVERY BAND SHOULD SOUND LIKE” Rock Sound magazine

With minimal airplay around their local area, it was left to the band to do their own talking, gigging their way to better things in the form of Reprise Records, the major label deal that all bands pray for. Reprise were of the viewpoint that My Chemical Romance were a safe banker, a guaranteed success when considered what they’d achieved already, and with a live show drawing in the punters with ease, they were also the proverbial cash cow for the bands representatives. Way’s original ideal of representing the pain that all Americans felt after 9/11, were now knocked aside in the view that the band has a serious shot at being big here, with a label to match their ambition, MCR were set for world domination. With the debut album only receiving release in America, the band found that they had a lot of hard graft to put in if they were to spread their influences across the pond, let alone to the rest of Europe. Again, it was down to their live shows and support slots that the band built up a fan base in the UK, but with word spreading like wild fire, it was simply a matter of time until they reached their target. It came to the time where the band had to go and record their sophomore effort, an album that would change the face of modern rock for the better.

“THE BEST THING SINCE SLICED BREAD” Me

The bands slightly twisted stance toward their music took a harder, darker turn with the release of their first major label release ‘Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge’. Track titles such as ‘You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Prison’ and ‘It’s Not A Fashion Statement, It’s A F*cking Deathwish’ were, at first, taken with a pinch of salt, although a deep read of the lyrics showed a morbid sense to Gerard’s writing technique, speaking openly of death and revenge. It’s this alone that captivates their fans, the instant attraction to what they write of and the things they talk about. The album itself is a punk-rock gem, eclipsing everything that’s come before and standing alone on it’s own pedestal, driving home what they’ve felt since 9/11. Yes, the two events may seem differing, yet the influence that those attacks had on Way, enhanced his thoughts even further, taking a twisted viewpoint on the world around him and the simple fact that you can be here one minute and then it can all be taken away in an instant. I suppose the saying here is ‘live every day to the fullest’, and Way took that in mind when forming My Chemical Romance, wanting to use the ability he knew he had to reach out to people on a worldwide scale.

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‘Three Cheers…’ talks of one mans revenge toward the people that had wronged him in the past, of how he rises from the dead to seek out those that led him to his death. The title alone gives the jest of what the album is all about, with love, death and revenge the main issues covered on it’s 40 minutes of supreme punk-rock. It may have been the band’s epic live show that got them the attention they so deserved, yet it’s their albums that have raised the eyebrows of the buying public, representing everything that punk-rock should do. They aren’t repetitive, they don’t conform to the normality of modern rock and they sure as hell have their own views that they are to firmly stick too, and whilst other bands seem happy to be just ‘another’ band, My Chemical Romance are determined to be ‘the’ band. From the rundown streets of Newark to the dizzy heights of worldwide stardom, they are set for far better things than they already find in front of them, but for now Gerard Way seems happy just to be getting his point across, as was always his intention !

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Formed -

1997, Newark, New Jersey

Albums -

I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love (2002, 20-20 Records)
Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge (2004, Reprise Records)

Official Site -

www.mychemicalromance.com