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METALHAMMER.COM 3
CONTENTS
06 In The Begining 32 Frank Iero
What rock’m’roll looked like in 2000. How MCR’s dynamite kid came good.
08 New Romantics 34 Going Underground
On a day of tragedy, a band was born. Lost eyes and big surprise on tour in 2004.
12 Jersey? Sure! 39 The People Versus…
How New Jersey’s DIY scene bore a legend. When MCR tackled our loyal Readers.
14 Gerard Way 44 Like Clockwork
Under the skin of the legendary frontman. The Chem’s first ever Hammer cover feature.
18 I Brought You My Bullets… 52 The Facts
The album that started it all. My Chemical Romance in statistical form.
22 Chemical Equation 54 Road Warriors
The bands who inspired The Chems. MCR get Warped on tour in 2006.
24 DC Hardcore 60 Battle Lines
The gang talk movies and metal in 2004. The Chems come out fighting for Album 3.
28 Three Cheers… 66 Tatt’s Life
The classic that made MCR superstars. Frank Iero’s life in ink.
68 Death Becomes them 100 Major Lasers
MCR in morbid mood. Ray and Frank on their futuristic finale.
74 The Black Parade 106 Mikey Way
The album that redefined a genre. From shy kid to bass-bustin’ rock god.
78 Ray Toro 108 Hero Worship
Big hair, big riffs, big heart. Gerard Way on his passion for comics.
80 One Vision 114 Live Albums
MCR on post-Black Parade superstardom. The band’s live albums and DVDs rated.
90 The Umbrella Academy 116 Conventional Weapons
Gerard takes over the comic book world. Hits and misses: the band’s swansong.
92 The Big Picture 118 Heartbreakers
Gerard’s top 10 comic books The end of MCR, the start of a new era.
94 Are MCR Emo? 120 The Comeback Kids
We solve the issue once and for all. Inside the MCR reunion.
96 Danger Days… 124 The 20 Greatest MCR Songs
Dayglo rock with The Fabulous Killjoys. Their biggest anthems – chosen by you.
PRESS
PRESS/FUTURE
6 METALHAMMER.COM
Grunge was dead. Nu metal was bloated. Indie rock was predictable.
At the turn of the millennium, rock’n’roll needed a revolution.
WORDS: STEPHEN HILL
y the time My Chemical Romance formed, something had to give. Generation X had grown older, wearier
Band, ultimately, more cynical. A generation of disillusioned young music fans were left waiting for some
new heroes to pin their hopes to. The stage was set…
A decade earlier, Kurt Cobain’s raw, withering howl had dragged grunge’s revamped punk rock back
into the mainstream and opened the floodgates for a slew of bands that wore the grunge tag either with
world-weary disdain or as a means to sell records to the Lollapallooza masses. After Cobain’s death, Bush, Creed
and Nickelback arrived to take the shell of his ideas and repackage them into slick, radio-friendly arena anthems
that bore no resemblance to the existential self-loathing that spoke so vividly to a frustrated generation.
Meanwhile, those kids who loved Nirvana gravitated towards the platinum pop-punk of Green Day, The
Offspring and Rancid. Those bands had a lot to thank Nirvana for in terms of opening doors, but this was an
altogether more positive experience compared to the grunge explosion. Fizzing, buzzsaw guitars and snotty,
bratty, middle-fingered lyrics characterised the explosion and led to the formation of The Warped Tour and
some novelty hit singles. And, as the sound became more omnipresent, so the ‘punk’ in pop-punk seemed to
disappear. Blink 182 were hugely influential but when The All-American Rejects and Simple Plan smoothed
their sound down even more, it was no longer dangerous or exciting – it was just MTV-ready pop to be played
on the soundtrack to the next American Pie movie.
Of course, there was a certain spiky-haired, baggy-shorted subgenre of metal that had plenty to say around
this time. Korn and Deftones, nu metal’s innovators, had produced beautifully crafted, heavy, catchy and original
music that didn’t shy away from exposing its feelings. There was an honesty to their sound that spoke to the
same people Kurt Cobain had inspired a few years before, only this time it was more extreme and futuristic.
But, as with its grungier cousin, very quickly all of the subtleties and uniqueness of nu metal were replaced
by identikit guitar tones, silly beards and macho bullshit posing. Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park had enough
tunes to see them through; Adema, Slaves On Dope and Godhead were just a clunking freak show.
By the early 00s, alternative music was in desperate need of some new figureheads. Commercial rock music
was dominated by ‘The’ bands: The Libertines, The Strokes, The Hives, The Vines, The fucking Kooks. Somebody
needed to make dark, aggressive, vibrant rock’n’roll that spoke to the people bored of the whimpering, safe and
faceless music that was masquerading as alternative. Somewhere, in a downtrodden part of New Jersey, five
friends were about to make an impact…
“ALTERNATIVE MUSIC WAS IN DESPERATE
NEED OF SOME NEW FIGUREHEADS”
METALHAMMER.COM 7
In 2001, in the aftermath of a nation-afflicting tragedy,
one young man and his friends began a journey that would change
the course of alternative music.
WORDS: STEPHEN HILL
It was the definitive moment of the 21st century band to his label, Eyeball Records. Now MCR were almost PRESS
so far, only a year into the new millennium. The ready to launch themselves on the world, but there
terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New was just one piece of the jigsaw missing. On their first
York shocked, stunned and appalled most of the show they had supported another Eyeball Records band
planet, and for a young New Jersey native by the named Pencey Prep and their frontman, Frank Iero, had
name of Gerard Way, it did all that and more. On the day made a big impression. After his group disbanded in 2002,
of the disaster, he was inspired to start a band and, along Iero decided to become a full-time member of My Chemical
with drummer Matt Pelissier, sat down and wrote the song Romance – a move that would set MCR’s projectory alight.
Skylines And Turnstiles to express the complex emotions
he felt about the event that had taken place within In 2002, the gang decamped to Nada Recording Studio
a frighteningly short distance of his home town. This in New Windsor, New York, where Rickly produced debut
is the seed from which My Chemical Romance grew. album I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love.
Gerard described it to Hammer as “an amalgamation of
After recruiting guitarist Ray Toro soon after, due to all of our favourite things within punk and metal and
Gerard’s openly admitted inability to sing and play at whatever seems to move us”.
the same time, the as-yet-unnamed trio retreated to
Pelissier’s attic to record Our Lady Of Sorrows and Cubicles The album was released on July 22, 2002, to mixed-
for what the band now refer to as The Attic Demos. After to-positive reviews. Rolling Stone called it “aggressive
hearing the demo, Gerard’s brother Mikey dropped out thrash with piledriver drums, dragon screeches, and
of college to join the band on bass and give the quartet the kind of over-the-top climax you find in horror
a name after a book by Irvine Welsh – Ecstasy: Three Tales movies”, while Hammer recommended it to fans of
Of Chemical Romance. “At The Drive-In, Thursday and Thrice”. The album
was received well enough by fans and industry types
The guys then took to the live circuit, playing their alike to see MCR tour with the likes of The Used, Finch,
first ever show at the VFW Hall in Ewing, New Jersey, in Thrice and, crucially, as openers on a European tour that
October 2001. The members later reflected on the pure featured Taking Back Sunday and Thursday.
cathartic emotions they felt from that first show, but that
alone wasn’t enough to satisfy them creatively. Despite By the time the tour rolled around, the word-of-mouth
the rawness of that early gig, MCR were determined from buzz had swelled to the point where people were turning
the off to set themselves apart from the usual ‘plug in and up early solely to catch these hot new things. Their
play’ ethic of their punk rock peers. performances stole the show and the response, particularly
here in the UK, was rabid. Suddenly, almost overnight, My
“When we started this band, we all kind of had the Chemical Romance were no longer just an outlet for Gerard
feeling that there was something missing from the current Way’s fears and frustrations. “We wanted that feeling you
music scene,” Gerard told Hammer at the time. “We want to get when you watch old tapes of Iron Maiden performing,”
bring that stadium feel to those small places.” noted Gerard of the band’s hysteria-courting shows.
This ambition impressed Thursday frontman and They had become an international phenomenon that
fellow New Jersey resident Geoff Rickly who, after doing would only get bigger as the years progressed – a triumph
some local gigs with MCR around Jersey, signed the over tragedy.
8 METALHAMMER.COM
“WE WANTED THAT FEELING YOU GET WHEN YOU
WATCH IRON MAIDEN”
GERARD WAS LOOKING TO SOME HEAVY METAL ICONS FOR INSPIRATION
METALHAMMER.COM 9
10 METALHAMMER.COM
New Jersey has long been a hotbed for
punk and rock. In 2003, we got Thursday
singer Geoff Rickly to give us the
lowdown on the new NJ explosion –
including an unkown band named
My Chemical romance.
T o those that live there and for most looking in shows on. When you live away from big cities like New
from the outside, the new-wave emo hardcore York, you’re forced to have your own thing and to make
scene originated on the East Coast of America in everything yourself because you can’t get to be a part
and around New Jersey. With enough new bands of what’s going on elsewhere.”
spawned by the scene to create prominent and
influential indie labels such as Ferret and Trustkill, it’s A lot of the small-town kids became involved with
hard to know which ones are worthy of attention over and this new music scene in New Jersey and bands began
above the rest. Geoff Rickly of NJ-based superstars to appear as if from nowhere. “Often the case would
Thursday tells us about the history of the burgeoning be that we didn’t have any bands to play that week so
scene, and his tips for the top. we’d have to start another band. The kids that already
had bands together would say, ‘Let’s start another one
“The New Jersey scene feels like it’s concentrated ’cos there aren’t enough!’ Kids would be in three of four
down in New Brunswick, which is a pretty big city, bands at a time and they’d all play together, with some
and it’s like the halfway house for this scene,” Geoff drummers even playing three sets in one night!”
explains. “Kids from the suburbs used to meet up
in New Brunswick and started this whole thing. In Over the years, bands split up and dispersed to form
comparison, my home town in New Jersey was only other bands but the friendships remained and the NJ
one square mile in size but there were some kids in the scene became very integrated and supportive of its own.
next town over who had a garage in which they’d put For example, Geoff became involved with Eyeball Records
and made sure he kept a lookout for new talent. “From the
“WHEN YOU LIVE AWAY FROM BIG CITIES ALL PRESS
LIKE NEW YORK, YOU’RE FORCED TO HAVE
YOUR OWN THING” A DIY ATTITUDE IS KEY
METALHAMMER.COM 11
beginning, I really liked this guy Ben [Jorgenson] who’s Nora who runs Ferret Records, and his band are from New
the singer from Armor For Sleep, so I wanted to put out their Brunswick,” Geoff explains. “Their drummer used to book
record and get them to tour,” he says. “In order to do so, bands on at the Melody Bar, which is the big NB venue.
I went to dinner with all their parents and tried to convince They’re one of the bands who’ve been around for a long
them why the band should drop out of high school and tour time and helped create the scene.”
full time. That’s my liberation story for them!”
As well as the ‘old timers’, there are some fresh new
Like some kind of perpetual motion, bands formed faces coming out of New Jersey who Geoff is sure will
labels that picked up bands that formed new labels. soon be household names. “Prevent Falls are a great band
Everyone in the scene became involved in expanding it. who do really cool, sarcastic post-hardcore that sounds a
For example: “Everyone here knows Carl [Severson] from little like Helmet, a little like Quicksand and a whole lot
of prog rock,” he tips. “The Oval Portrait are also amazing
“MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE ARE MY FAVOURITE
UP-AND-COMING JERSEY BAND”
WE RECKON THEY’LL DO ALRIGHT
12 METALHAMMER.COM
New Jersey
THE FACTS
N J is not only home to emo and hardcore stars
but it has also spawned the talents of Bruce
Springsteen, Whitney Houston, Jon Bon Jovi,
Frank Sinatra, Jack Nicholson, Queen Latifah and
Bette Midler. Gadzooks!
The annual Skate And Surf Festival takes place in the
small town of Asbury Park, home of decrepit rocker
Bruce Springsteen. Finch, Killswitch Engage and
The Used have all played, with Thursday headlining.
The Dillinger Escape Plan lived there. “When they
started, people thought they were a metalcore band.
Then they came out with Under The Running Board
and it was jazz metal! They played a Jersey Fest
and wiped the floor with every other band,”
laughs Geoff.
and they’re like a spazzy Refused meets The Dead Boys; NJ has its own song: ‘I know of a state that’s a
off-the-wall punk. Their singer is so openly over-the-top perfect playland with white sandy beaches by the
gay. He’ll call to tough hardcore kids and shout, ‘Listen sea/With fun-filled mountains, lakes and parks
girlfriend, if I see you fighting down there I am gonna and folks with hospitality…’ Livin’ On A Prayer it
come down and grab your ass!’ Then there’s Further ain’t, folks.
Seems Forever who’ve moved to New Jersey, so they’re
now a New Jersey band! Their new record is really cool and NJ also has a Camden, but unlike London’s market-
they’re putting together a spoken-word compilation for a o-tat, theirs has a baseball park, a children’s
benefit, and I hope to do something on that too.” garden and the first drive-in movie theatre
ever built.
Like the good musician he is, Geoff always saves
the best until last. “Another band to watch out for is NJ has a total land coverage of 7,000 square miles,
My Chemical Romance, who are my favourite up-and- with an average population of 8,414,350 people.
coming Jersey band. I’ve known these kids since But no taxis. Only kidding – there are at least three.
before they were a band and I remember them telling
me one night that they were going to get together. It’s affectionately known as the ‘Garden State’.
“They said it was going to be like Squeeze and North Jersey is the car-theft capital of the world,
Psychedelic Furs plus Smashing Pumpkins and Iron with more cars stolen in Newark than even the
Maiden all at the same time. I listened to them and two largest cities of New York and Los Angeles
thought they were crazy! Then they played me a song put together. Beat that, Merseyside!
and I was so amazed I asked them if I could produce
their album. They’re on fire!”
METALHAMMER.COM 13
My Chemical Romance’s mercurial leader became a beacon
for an entire generation of disillusioned music fans.
WORDS: JAMES GILL
Gerard Way is not only a musical icon, but also a honest, which resonated with the youth who wanted
subcultural leader. The New Jersey-born self- veracity, not just pantomime. Gerard spoke directly to
professed comic nerd gave not just music but a disenfranchised generation in an internet age, ever-
ideology to a generation of goth/punk/emo obsessed with materialism and looks. He famously once
kids who ached for affirmation. said on stage: “Hey, girls, you’re beautiful. Don’t look
Gerard and My Chemical Romance rose meteorically at those stupid magazines with stick-like models. Eat
from the underground in 2005 when their Three Cheers healthy and exercise. You are gorgeous, whether you’re
For Sweet Revenge album catapulted them up the charts a size four or 14. It doesn’t matter what you look like on
and into larger and larger venues on both sides of the the outside, as long as you’re a good person, as long as
Atlantic. But it wasn’t just the apocalyptic pop-punk you respect others.”
anthems that appealed to the nations’ teenagers – it
was the band’s frontman. He extended these sentiments to girls baring their
chests at shows, regularly saying, “The first rule some
Born in 1977, Gerard was an overweight weirdo who of you can’t help. The first rule is don’t be an asshole. The
gravitated, as many of us did, towards the pursuits of second rule is don’t flash your boobs. We’re not into that.”
misfits: underground music and graphic novels. The
latter occupied his ambition and it was only after the As news of this and other stage rants proliferated, he
nearby events of 9/11 that he decided to start a band. gained no friends from the more red-blooded end of the
rock and metal spectrum.
Having shifted the weight to become a striking
20-something waif, Gerard’s onstage persona was He also offered positivity in dark times, invariably
making anti-suicide speeches from stage, such as at
14 METALHAMMER.COM
PRESS
METALHAMMER.COM 15
PRESS “IT DOESN’T MATTER WHAT YOU LOOK LIKE
ON THE OUTSIDE, AS LONG AS YOU’RE
A GOOD PERSON” GERARD’S TIMELESS MANTRA
16 METALHAMMER.COM
INS NEWS/SHUTTERSTOCK
Reading in 2004, when he said: “Suicide is a serious so clear, but the power of Gerard’s image and personality
thing. And if you know anyone who is suicidal, you was too strong and dozens of copycats were soon spawned
need to get them help. No one should be in pain.” – hello there Aiden and I Am Ghost!
It struck chords among fans like no nu-metal rap- The backlash was inevitably brutal but, as ever, Gerard
chat or hardcore claptrap ever had. was there for his fans. “You’re going to come across a lot
of shitty bands, and a lot of shitty people,” he noted.
Of course, with their notoriety and ‘emo’ image, they “And if any one of those people call you names because
picked up no small amount of haters, along with the of what you look like or they don’t accept you for who
archetypal cred thieves, taking underground music and you are, I want you to look right at that motherfucker,
packaging it for the teen market. Gerard found his band stick up your middle finger, and scream ‘Fuck you!’”
hated in the hardcore and metal underground, and they
were still far from being household names. Never turning his back on his most vulnerable fans,
he continued to represent the underdog and give them
However, the frontman had other problems. As MCR’s the courage and tools to stick to their guns.
popularity skyrocketed during Three Cheers, his drug
and alcohol addiction had already reached an unworkable Four years after their magnum opus, Gerard reinvented
level and he decided to get clean. With the odd the band again, this time as the Fabulous Killjoys – Tank
recreational drink not suiting him, he decided to abstain Girl meets Gorillaz – with the album Danger Days: The True
completely. He was clean, sure, but he’d still ‘been there, Lives Of The Fabulous Killjoys.
man’; he understood the meaning of ‘lowest ebb’.
Now in his 30s, the once nerdy teen and troubled
Many artists find they lose their muse when they 20-something had it all: a beautiful wife (in Lyn-Z
get clean, but MCR would suffer no such fate thanks of Mindless Self Indulgence), and a child with
to the classic crossover album they were about to a standard silly rock-star-kid name (Bandit Lee Way).
unleash. When they released The Black Parade in 2006,
My Chemical Romance became an arena band and, It’s always hard to say how big a band could get
turning their back on any semblance of their hardcore without a particular frontman, be it HIM, Judas Priest
roots, they embraced a whole new audience, as well as or Limp Bizkit, but one thing is clear when it comes to
a ‘Green Day meets Pink Floyd’ sound. MCR: there’s something about Gerard Way that, love him
or hate him, came to mean to a generation what the likes
With that album came a new look, fed by Gerard’s fertile of David Bowie and Marilyn Manson meant to their fans;
imagination and all part of his driving creativity. Copying the type of role model the mainstream would simply
someone so individual is hard because the plagiarism is never give them.
METALHAMMER.COM 17
“BY FAR AND AWAY THE MOST RAW THING
THE BAND EVER PUT THEIR NAME ON”
18 METALHAMMER.COM
I BROUGHT YOU MY
BULLETS, YOU BROUGHT
ME YOUR LOVE
(EYEBALL, 2002)
The MCR saga officially got underway with a raw and promising debut.
WORDS: TERRY BEZER
A nd so the story begins. Crackling with decided to form the band in the aftermath of the 9/11 LEAD: PRESS TV: GETTY
youthful exuberance and by far and away the attacks, MCR’s inception was something of a whirlwind.
most raw thing the band ever put their name Ray Toro joined to assist Gerard who, by his own
on, what Bullets lacks in the conceptual depth admission, couldn’t play guitar and sing at the same
the band made their forte on future releases, it time. The trio spent their time honing their attack and
more than made up for in pulsating, electric energy. beginning to form the nucleus of their sound during
intense recording sessions in Matt’s attic. If you really
After Gerard and original drummer Matt Pelissier
METALHAMMER.COM 19
want to delve into the guts of the album and tap into the THE SONG
excitement of a band coming to life, hunt down The Attic
Demos on YouTube. VAMPIRES WILL NEVER HURT YOU
Gerard’s brother Mikey joined the band after he heard The first ever single from the band,
the demo and consequently opted to drop out of college, Vampires Will Never Hurt You is the
and in the aftermath of his band Pencey Prep’s split, clearest indication of the quality that was
Frank Iero joined the gang just two days before they were to come from MCR. At five and a half minutes,
due to begin recording. If this all seems like it happened it feels as though this was more of an
at a thunderous pace, bear in mind that My Chemical exercise in showing what they were musically
Romance were formed and began to record the album capable of at this point rather than trying to
within just three months of deciding to start a band. gatecrash the mainstream. Drawing from the
horror-punk styling of The Damned and the
Thursday frontman Geoff Rickly was a natural choice Misfits for the first time (a theme that would
to produce the band’s debut effort, having already continue from their breakout Three Cheers For
garnered a reputation in New Jersey through putting Sweet Revenge album all the way to Vampire
on shows by the likes of Glassjaw and The Movielife. Money on their final opus, Danger Days…),
He understood where the band were coming from, both it retrospectively serves as an indication of
sonically and conceptually. He fully understood them, where the band would always sit stylistically.
from eyeballs to entrails. “My Chemical Romance never
had any interest in being cool – they were about doing The frantic fretwork and impassioned,
something interesting and fun,” he explained to NJ.com. dynamic vocal from Gerard Way make it the
“If you were going to mock them, you were just feeding standout performance from the band’s debut.
into what they were doing. They drew those targets on That it remained in their live shows up until
themselves. The detractors don’t get it.” their very last show at the 2012 Bamboozle
festival in their native New Jersey tells
The sound of the album perfectly mirrors their story its own story.
up to this point in that it’s pure chaos. Gerard may have
gone on to master harnessing intensity in his vocal
performances, but here it’s all wild-eyed insanity and
frenzied delivery. The music itself shows shards of the
avant-garde edge that would define their legacy but
here it gets pulverized and has its lunch money stolen
by thrashy guitars and up-the-punx pace, channelling
the unstoppable, immovable passion the guys had for
the band they had just formed.
In perfect honesty, if you were to pick the finest
songs from the band’s star-studded catalogue, very few
tracks from Bullets would make the grade, but purely
for its buoyant, juvenile charm and the excitement that
crackles from every breathtaking second of its length,
it’s one hell of a starting point for the MCR rocket ride.
WHAT WE SAID
“These New Jersey rockers are young, honest and
highly original. Taking a variety of influences on
board, the final product is something of a hard-
hitting punk-rock explosion. Baring their souls, they
won’t go unnoticed for long.”
– KATIE PARSONS
20 METALHAMMER.COM
THE VIDEOS
WORDS: TERRY BEZER
VAMPIRES WILL NEVER HURT YOU HONEY, THIS MIRROR ISN’T BIG ENOUGH
FOR THE TWO OF US
A far cry from the Hollywood blockbuster videos
the band would go on to excel at, this modest clip is Upping the ante in terms of production and performance,
fuelled by performance and personality, rather than a this sinister video draws heavily from Asian horror classic
budget that would make Michael Jackson blush. While Audition. In truth, it almost wholesale rips the entire movie
most bands counting their pennies would struggle off from start to finish, but if you’re going to steal, steal
to make something memorable, let alone iconic, the from the best, right? It’s probably the most normal the
theatrical debut performance of Gerard Way propels band themselves have ever looked in a video, clad in jeans
the video, and the band getting on their suit-and-tie and T-shirts, with Gerard looking particularly badass in
shit proves a masterstroke. Sure, the vague subplot a Motörhead shirt and leather jacket combo. But you can
involving a girl, a box and some red lighting might be make them look as normal as you like – their charisma
a bit naff and has dated terribly, but the crux of the and star quality always made them anything but.
video still has plenty of spunk and gives a glimpse of
the band they would become.
METALHAMMER.COM 21
The key ingredients that go into making
your favourite New Jersey rock stars.
WORDS: TOM DOYLE
Pomp, circumstance and electrifying showmanship were The macabre, schlock-horror tones of the Misfits are all
always Queen’s stock in trade, and by the time MCR were over the first three MCR records, with the influence of the
filling arenas, they were most certainly channelling the original goth punks palpable on songs like Vampires Will
world-beating spirit of Freddie and the boys. A spirited Never Hurt You. Elsewhere, the graveyard chic of Danzig
cover of Under Pressure alongside The Used offered and the gang drips off the video to Helena like eyeliner
a signpost of just what the band meant to Gerard and co. on a wet day.
The emo stalwarts struck a blow for a whole generation The Manchester quartet who were emo before emo was
of New Jersey post-hardcore fans as early as 2001 with even a thing undoubtedly had a profound effect on the
Full Collapse, in the same year that My Chemical Romance band who made the term a household name. Morrissey’s
formed. Indeed, The Chems have frequently referenced introspective, soul-searching lyrics and willingness to
Thursday’s combination of intelligent, heart-on-sleeve take on a political cause proved to be key touchstones for
lyricism and buzzsaw guitars as being formative during Gerard Way throughout MCR’s career.
their early evolution.
22 METALHAMMER.COM
For all the majesty and theatrical prowess of My Chemical At the turn of the millennium, AFI were the perfect blend
Romance’s later performances, their early days were of Morrissey’s poetics and the Misfits’ horror, with an
characterised by raw punk fury. The confrontational injection of ferocious modern hardcore thrown in for
ethos of Black Flag pervaded a fledgling band who didn’t good measure. While the Chems were never as hard-edged
look or sound like their peers at the time, and didn’t give as Davey Havok’s mob once were, a comparable lineage
a fuck about fitting in either. from punk-rock upstarts to mellowing rock gods is clear.
The military garb on The Black Parade owes a lot to Bruce Danger Days… saw the band bringing the technicolour
Dickinson’s penchant for a civil war uniform, albeit with synthesisers of 90s Britpop to the table, and it was Pulp’s
a somewhat gothic overtone. Combine that with the flamboyant streak that most obviously infiltrated the
spine-tingling guitar intro on Headfirst For Halos and it Chems’ image during this time. Gerard Way’s milk-pale
seems pretty obvious that MCR weren’t averse to a spot of skin and tousled, bright red hair gave him the air of
Number Of The Beast when the mood took them. a futuristic Jarvis Cocker. Disco 2000 indeed.
METALHAMMER.COM 23
24 METALHAMMER.COM
H
Comics, movies and metal legends…
for their first full Metal Hammer Feature in early 2004,
My Chemical Romance laid their foundations bare.
WORDS: JAMIE HIBBARD
L ast night we were talking about the schematics of DePalma’s Phantom Of The Paradise is this weird rock opera and
superhero weapons,” admits My Chemical Romance that was some influence, as was The Wraith with Charlie Sheen,
guitarist Frank Iero, as the rest of his bandmates which is a shitty 80s movie.”
wonder whether to change the subject or embrace
their geekdom. As soon as he utters the word “shitty”, Frank politely cuts
Frontman Gerard Way is happy to continue. “Frank was him off to explain that it’s a not-shitty story about Charlie
reading really shitty Avengers comics and I was reading Preacher, Sheen being a vengeful motorcycle ghost who goes around
with a stack of Spider-Mans right next to me,” he reveals. “The slaying the people who stole his car and murdered him. It
more I re-read Preacher, the more I realise what a huge lyrical whiffs of a tour bus favourite.
influence it’s been on me. I think I’ve even taken individual
issue titles and used them as lyrics!” “We realised how important action movies are to us on the
feel of our songs,” says Frank. “For example, there’s a thing
Gerard isn’t afraid to admit that My Chemical Romance take from Lethal Weapon 2 that Ray plays on Demolition Lovers!”
their influences – such as the Garth Ennis/Steve Dillon cult
classic graphic novel series Preacher, which itself deserves “It’s totally true,” confirms Ray. “The soundtrack for that
wider attention for being the best story ever written – from movie was by Sting and Eric Clapton – the guitar work is
stranger places than most bands. In MCR’s world, Nintendo awesome. It’s taken from the last song on the soundtrack
games and cheesy action movies veil themselves within a dark [Shipyard]. We’re also about to be influenced by DuckTales,
and sinister landscape of star-crossed lovers, attacking vampires which is an old Nintendo videogame. I nicked a riff from
and skull fragments. that, too.”
“The new album picks up where I Brought You My Bullets, You Bands, eh? They’re all crazy in some way – it’s just not always
Brought Me Your Love ended,” explains Gerard. “It tells the story a rock’n’roll way.
of a guy who comes back from the dead to get revenge. Brian
“We party, but not as hard as half the people we meet,”
laughs Gerard. “We like to drink and some of the guys smoke
pot, but we’ve not snorted coke off dead hookers. Yet. We need
“WE’VE NOT SNORTED COKE OFF DEAD
HOOKERS. YET…” A GLIMPSE OF THINGS TO COME? ER, NOT REALLY
PRESS
METALHAMMER.COM 25
THE SHOW MUST GO ON
Well, they didn’t land that Iron Maiden tour,
but in January 2004, MCR obliterated London’s tiny
Barfly venue. Here’s what went down…
WORDS: TERRY BEZER
I t’s that time of the year where you’ll be hearing the passion among their ranks is unquestionable.
the names of a million bands you’ve never heard of Everywhere you look onstage there is a band member
before, all with the phrase ‘next big thing’ tagged to throwing himself around in a fit of aggressive tension,
’em. And, needless to say, they will all be vying for you enhancing the song from being merely above-average
to spend your hard-earned cash on helping them ditties into howling, monstrous anthems that London’s
establish themselves as one of the big boys. Well, with Barfly go absolutely ape for.
a debut album produced by Thursday frontman Geoff
Rickly and a slot on this summer’s Warped Tour, My Sure, to look at the guys in the band you’d think
Chemical Romance are certainly one of the names to they’re bowing down to every current rock cliché going
keep an eye on. (the guy with the shrubbery afro, the guy with the
‘nerdy’ specs on), but in frontman Gerard Way, MCR
But are they actually that good or are they destined have a maverick showman who not only has an instantly
to join the likes of Out and Orgy on the pile marked identifiable voice but also the ability to connect with
‘overhyped toss’? To answer your question, despite his audience and incite them into a riotous frenzy… even
their none-more-emo name, My Chemical Romance are if he does look a little bit like Drew Barrymore circa ET.
a scorching mix of chunky, jagged guitars and wailing,
maniacal vocals, and although their songs occasionally So while the band’s ‘next big thing’ credentials may
sound repetitive, judging by tonight’s performance, be questionable, their ability in the live is no longer up
for debate. They rock – end of story!
26 METALHAMMER.COM
“THE MORE I RE-READ COMICS, THE MORE I
REALISE WHAT A HUGE LYRICAL INFLUENCE
THEY’VE BEEN ON ME” GERARD ON HIS COMICAL INSPIRATION
something to build up to! I think we have a very Mötley Crüe now ready to go back into the studio, this time with producer
attitude when we play, but we’re totally the opposite offstage.” Howard Benson (Motörhead, Sepultura, Blindside) for major
label Reprise.
When MCR first bolted from the stable door, they weren’t too
sure how the local New Jersey scene would react to them. “We “The new record is shaping up a little harder and weirder
were definitely influenced by Iron Maiden, Guns N’ Roses and than the first one,” reveals Ray. “With I Brought You My
shit like that in the beginning,” muses the frontman. “No one Bullets… we just wrote what we wanted, using all our
else had a cock-rock thing going on except us. influences. With this one, there’s more punky ideas in there
and we’re just writing whatever sounds good.”
Beyond all expectations, it worked, and MCR started to draw a
crowd keen on checking out this new twist on the NJ punk-rock “We’re trying to match moods with this one,” adds Gerard.
sound. They played with whoever would take them out and, “On the first record we didn’t think too much about how the
mostly, it would be bands who didn’t sound like them but album worked as a whole, so now we’re thinking about making
were fans of theirs. They ended up doing a show opening for this as a body of work and the feelings you get from that. We’re
Jimmy Eat World in front of 10,000 people, which caught the being a lot more critical because there’s songs from the first
attention of Bert McCracken from The Used, who asked them album that now we dread playing live. There’s more songs on
to go out on tour. the new one that make the hairs stand up on the back of my
neck, and we haven’t even recorded anything yet!”
“That’s when it really started to move fast, ’cos we were
playing with the right bands that got us to the right kids,” offers Those new songs, Gerard hopes, will get him closer to his
Gerard. “We had a lot of fun and just kept touring. We tried some dream of supporting none other than Iron Maiden! “I know
different things, ’cos we needed to see what worked and what it’d be tough but I’d do it just to say I’d been out with them,”
didn’t. It didn’t always work, and we still don’t know who we’re says the singer. “I’d love it if we came on and their fans started
supposed to go on tour with!” chanting, ‘Mai-den! Mai-den!’ ’cos then I could pretend
they were doing that just for me. That actually I was in Iron
The frontman became friends with Thursday’s Geoff Rickly, Maiden.”
who signed them to his label Eyeball Records and produced the
I Brought You My Bullets… debut, released in the UK on 20:20. Boys’ fantasies can take them a long way towards realising
After touring their asses off for the last couple of years, they’re them, and MCR’s are just around the corner.
METALHAMMER.COM 27
28 METALHAMMER.COM
THREE CHEERS
FOR SWEET REVENGE
(REPRISE, 2004)
Punk rock, goth schlock and a touch of flamboyance collided
on MCR’s era-defining breakthrough.
WORDS: STEPHEN HILL
I n 2004, bands were growing up. Court jesters Blink The hushed opening of Helena was an intriguing LEAD: PRESS TV: BIG JOHN
182’s self-titled album a year previous had hinted preamble that marked MCR out as a group of musicians
at a more mature sound and Green Day were about prepared to experiment and take the scenic route toward
to blow the whole thing sky high by trading two- pure rock fury. Its subdued scene-setting soon gave way
minute slacker anthems about masturbation and to a deeply personal and heartfelt love letter to Gerard
not wanting to tidy your room for the sprawling, epic, Way’s deceased grandmother. Despite its heavy lyrical
anti-war rock opera American Idiot. Popular music was content, it still kicked serious amounts of arse, the
primed for change. My Chemical Romance delivered it. thrashing verses and breakdown groove of the chorus
METALHAMMER.COM 29
sating those who just wanted to bang their heads. THE SONG
Give ’Em Hell, Kid and To The End follow in a much more
I’M NOT OKAY (I PROMISE)
straightforward punk-rock vein, all urgency and blazing
power chords, yet are characterised by Gerard’s bitter and When MCR released the first single from
wounded prose. You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge they
Prison tries to restrain itself and allows Gerard to wallow immediately entered into the lexicon
in his own fears, but, like Animal in The Muppets going of great anthems for the disaffected youth.
crazy on his drums, MCR can’t keep the subdued gothic I’m Not Okay (I Promise) stands alongside
shoegazing up for long. Just as the chorus is about to the likes of The Who’s My Generation, The
kick in, the band detonate in exhilarating fashion. Sex Pistols’ Anarchy In The UK, Nirvana’s
Smells Like Teen Spirit and Rage Against The
Then there comes the song with which My Chemical Machine’s Killing In The Name in the honours
Romance captured the hearts of so many. I’m Not Okay list of zeitgeist-capturing, generation-
(I Promise) is a genuine anthem for the disaffected, still defining statements. It’s also a song that best
sounding as righteously pissed off and fresh as it did showcases what made My Chemical Romance
almost a decade ago. For all their future success, it’s this so exhilarating musically. Despite its outsider
moment that turned My Chemical Romance from a band stance, the song is effortlessly cool, the mid-
to a cult and is arguably the four minutes that have come section breakdown where Gerard declares ‘I’m
to define them. okay’ over a tinkling piano before the whole
band come careering back in with renewed
If people thought the album was to peak there then vigour that they keep until the song’s end is
The Ghost Of You, while not being as startling and instant, delivered with a swagger that any band would
still kept the anthems coming. A black-hearted ballad of sell body parts to replicate.
true woe and despair, it marks the point where the more
grandiose tendencies of the band were first allowed to I’m Not Okay became the most perfect three
flex their muscles. and a half minutes of teen angst in a decade
and in doing so launched MCR. It made them
On reflection, all these years later, there is no denying more than a band – they became a badge of
that the second half of the album isn’t quite as breathless honour.
as the first. Only the spaghetti western-inspired Hang
’Em High, featuring a typically frantic vocal performance
from former Black Flag and Circle Jerks frontman Keith
Morris, and the brilliantly defiant Thank You For The
Venom, really live up to what had gone before.
By that point, though, it was enough. My Chemical
Romance had spliced an original, inspiring and
youthful collection of dark-sounding punk-
rock anthems that showed as many glimpses of
instantaneous pop as it did the wildly lavish pomp
and ceremony that would come to characterise the
oncoming juggernaut that was The Black Parade.
And although that may be the album most identify
them with, Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge still stands
as My Chemical Romance’s masterpiece.
WHAT WE SAID
“This album is not destined to be a classic,
but – if you can overlook a damp-squib ending
– it excels as a contemporary post-hardcore album
with integrity and tunes in equal part”
– MARK NORTON
30 METALHAMMER.COM
THE VIDEOS
WORDS: STEPHEN HILL
HELENA MCR portraying students at a high school revelling in
their ‘uniqueness’, from playing croquet to jumping out of
The MCR glam/goth aesthetic taken to its absolute lockers to scare cheerleaders to eating their own science
pinnacle, as Gerard Way gives a eulogy for a beautiful experiment, was exciting and inspiring to many fans.
young lady at a funeral before the entire congregation
stand up as one to sing along with his pained It’s also very funny – the scene where guitarist Ray Toro
narrative. Then a bunch of them start dancing around plucks something from a girl’s eye is brilliantly observed.
him. That sort of thing would usually be frowned upon The song remains to many the most recognisable in the
at many ceremonies such as this. Here, though,it band’s catalogue and much of that is owed to the brilliantly
seems to have a revitalising effect as the corpse gets rabble-rousing imagery of this video.
up and does a bit of ballet before dropping down dead
again. Easy come, easy go, as they say. Back in her THE GHOST OF YOU
coffin, the boys carry her out of the church in the
pouring rain as the by now incredibly disrespectful For the most fragile and ballad-like song on the album,
mourners bust out their very best Singin’ In The Rain My Chemical Romance made the most harrowing of videos.
moves. Which, if the expression on Gerard’s face is Clearly influenced by the iconic opening sequence of
anything to go by, doesn’t really help cheer him up in Saving Private Ryan, the band are depicted as World War
the slightest. Some people, eh? II soldiers playing at a dance, before being shipped off to
fight on the beaches. What begins as MCR playing while the
I’M NOT OKAY (I PROMISE) troops and their sweethearts slow dance to the floating,
ethereal melody soon merges into a coal-grey-skied war
This could very well be the moment that My Chemical zone complete with guns, bombs, explosions and all of the
Romance went from being a band into being a cult. horror of war spelt out in no uncertain terms.
The I’m Not Okay video is three and a half minutes of
gloriously cinematic, jock-baiting, outsider-status- Cutting back and forth between the two sets as the song
celebrating beauty. It gave a platform for a generation builds in aggression, we see bassist Mikey Way leave his
of misunderstood kids to feel like they could stand lover and then die in battle, then get a close-up of Gerard
up, push back and cling to their own identity. Seeing Way’s reaction to seeing his brother pass away, before the
video ends on his terrified face. It’s heavy duty stuff.
METALHAMMER.COM 31
Frank Iero’s grounded, DIY ethos was the
missing ingredient that ignited the band.
WORDS: STEPHEN HILL • PORTRAIT: FONTAINE/PHOTOSHOT
When you hear Gerard Way talk about the were made by MCR, and Frank began to get the inkling
early days of My Chemical Romance, you’ll that he may soon be able to join what was, in his own
often hear him mention the band’s need for words, his “favourite band”.
“dynamite”. When they were a four-piece,
they were explosive, but it wasn’t until the After being offered the role as guitarist, the sound
addition of Frank Iero that they truly ignited. of the band expanded, sharpened and focused, with
Frank’s passion for his work coming through in his
Born on October 31, 1981 and raised in Kearney, New interviews and music. “The best music happens when
Jersey, the young Frank spent most of his early life in you have a personal connection to it,” he stressed to
and out of hospitals due to a series of allergies, numerous Guitar World. “That same philosophy can extend to
bouts of bronchitis and ear infections. This undoubtedly the instrument you hold in your hands: if a guitar
stoked a yearning for a creative outlet as, at the tender means something special, you’re bound to do great
age of 11, Frank began to play in local punk bands in and things with it.”
around the Jersey scene. Both his father and grandfather
were musicians and despite his father’s suggestion that In many ways, Frank is the consummate punk rocker
Frank take up drums, he instead picked up a guitar. of MCR, the man that keeps them rooted in the DIY
ethics of their early years. It’s more than just the tattoos
“My first show was when I was a high school freshman, of his beloved Black Flag and Misfits, though – Frank
but it was at the junior class dance,” he told The AV Club. has been vegetarian from an early age since discovering
“My older friend and bandmate booked it. The band was the mistreatment of animals in slaughterhouses, and
called Steve Weil And The Disco Kings. No one in the he’s staunchly committed to pro-gay rights issues. His
band was named Steve Weil, and we didn’t play disco!” custom-made ‘Homophobia Is Gay’ T-shirt has become
an iconic, fan-favourite image.
It was during his stint as frontman of post-punks
Pencey Prep that Frank first met Gerard Way. In fact, his He also founmd time to front the far thrashier,
band were the headliners at MCR’s first ever show. Later hardcore punk of Leathermouth, as well as playing in
on the two bands would share a record label, Eyeball Reggie And The Full Effect and Death Spells. He writes
Records, on which Pencey Prep released the Heartbreak and performs his own solo material too, recording a
In Stereo album in 2001 before splitting soon after. cover of The Ronettes’ Be My Baby and even contributing
a track to a Tim Burton movie. With this much on his
After the break-up, Frank busied himself in numerous plate, it’s no surprise that Iero was philosophical about
projects, such as I Am A Graveyard, Hybrid, Sector 12 and the break-up of MCR, telling Epiphone, “We had a great
the highly influential American Nightmare, but he made 12 years that I wouldn’t change for the world, but it just
no secret of his love of MCR, and was present during the came to an end.”
band’s recording of a demo version of Vampires Will Never
Hurt You. During a conversation about the difficulty of WIth that amount of dynamite, there was always
playing the song with only one guitarist, the first hints a chance Frank Iero was gonna blow up. So it proved.
“THE BEST MUSIC HAPPENS
WHEN YOU HAVE A PERSONAL CONNECTION”
32 METALHAMMER.COM
METALHAMMER.COM 33
In mid-2004, with the global domination that was to come just a
murmur on the horizon, we followed MCR around the UK for one
of their very first Metal Hammer features.
WORDS: JOHN DORAN • PHOTO: JEFF KRAVITZ/GETTY
Gerard Way had been having premonitions that Gerard, now wearing shades, takes up the story: “I head-
he was going to be blinded for months. The lead banged into her finger and it went right in my eye. It was
singer of My Chemical Romance kept on seeing it the weirdest feeling. It was painful but the worst thing
happen in dreams and each time he would wake was how weird it was. I could feel her finger in my eye and
up in a cold sweat, shaking. So he was almost all this really warm fluid running down my face. I thought
prepared for the accident that was to happen tonight at my eyeball had burst and I just kept on thinking about the
London’s premier sauna-cum-venue, The Garage. During an dreams I’d been having about going blind. I was like, ‘Dude,
eviscerating performance, Gerard throws himself toward I’ve lost this left eye.’ But the finger was right back into my
the crowd just as one particularly lust-crazed young woman socket around the eyeball where all the tendons and shit are.
thrusts her arms up to touch him. It made a really weird slurping noise when she took it out.”
34 METALHAMMER.COM
“I COULD FEEL HER FINGER IN MY EYE…
I THOUGHT MY EYEBALL HAD BURST”
GERARD GETS A LITTLE TOO CLOSE TO THE FRONT ROW
Metal Hammer has very strict rules about what girls can insurance. “Frank [Iero] hit me in the face with the head
and cannot stick into its various orifices and this should of his guitar one night and it was bleeding so much that
definitely be a no-no. Gerard and the rest of the band are my entire face was covered in blood,” says Ray Toro, the
sitting around sharing coffee, beers and soft drinks, waiting Afro-haired guitarist. “It was like a mask of blood.”
for their Manchester Hop And Grape show soundcheck this
evening and telling us all about how they are beginning to “We’re a really physical band on stage,” adds Gerard.
take off in this country – while swapping gig injury stories. “I slipped a couple of discs in my back on tour. Frank has
Gerard reckons it would have been cool in a way to have lost broken his wrist. We’ve all been hurt.”
his eye, saying: “Can you imagine how cool it would be to
wear an eyepatch on stage?” It was the gig the night before when we first met up with
the five-piece (Gerard’s brother Mikey plays bass in the
“You’d be the screamo Bluebeard!”, adds taciturn drummer outfit) from Newark, NJ, who, despite only having a couple
Matt Pelissier. All of the band have horror stories to tell of single releases in this country, are starting to cause a
when it comes to playing live and, watching the powerhouse huge stir over here. And if they don’t care much for their
performance that they put on, you can’t help but feel own safety, then they do about their fans. They walk out on
they should take out a hell of a lot more personal injury stage to hand out bottles of water to the people at the front
and regularly douse the ones who look like they need it.
METALHAMMER.COM 35
“WE’VE ALL BEEN HURT”
GERARD ON SOME OF THE DOWNSIDES OF THE JOB
CHRISTINA RADISH/GETTY They also try to protect their fans from the carnage on stage band go straight to bed, leaving Hammer up with Matt and
if they get up there. It’s Metal Hammer’s view that moshing the drummers from Hondo Maclean and The Bled, drinking
is a good thing because it gives people the chance to have Stella and talking about hi-hats.
catharsis and get the violence out that is in us all without
hurting anyone else (usually). In fact, we’d go so far as to The next day, when Hammer has unstuck its tongue
say that if everyone in this country under the age of 40 was from the floor and tried to rub its aching pancreas better, we
made to go to one punk or screamo gig a week then football look for the band, but apparently they all got up to go
violence would probably die out overnight. But Gerard still sightseeing around Manchester at 5.30 this morning. 5.30am?
thinks there’s a negative element to it sometimes, saying: That was only half an hour after Hammer went to bed! Later,
“Some of it is macho bullshit. Some of the nu metal acts were after a lot of fannying about with gaffa tape and hairspray,
just encouraging violence for violence’s sake. It gives punk the band finally say they’re ready to go out for a quick pint.
rock a bad name and it makes it harder for the kids. Their Now Gerard’s got over the fear of nearly becoming a rock’n’roll
parents aren’t going to let them go and watch bands if they cyclops, he can explain the genesis of their strange name.
go and get the shit kicked out of them.” “The name is taken from an Irvine Welsh book. Me and Mikey
were looking at a copy of Ecstasy, and on the inside it said,
The Garage is heaving hours before the gig even starts and ‘Three tales of chemical romance.’”
people keep on coming up to Gerard in the pub beforehand.
He’s nearly mobbed at one point by two girls coming out of The de facto leader of the group adds: “Well, the words
McDonald’s. “Oh! My! God!” says one with her mouth full of Chemical Romance mean so much on so many different
Curly Wurly McFlurry “My! Chemical! Romance!” levels. It seemed to be the only way to describe the music.
And in another way, Trainspotting is generally set in this
And you can see why they’re starting to area with people getting caught up in a scene and a vibe
attract this kind of attention when the gig where there’s a lot of drugs about and that resonated
kicks off. Within seconds of the first song,
Gerard is in the crowd, screaming and with us because of all the stuff we had to fight through
thrashing like a younger, better-looking to become a band. The strange thing is that when you
Casey Chaos. Their music is reminiscent of watch the movie with the drug
other emo/post-hardcore bands, but addiction and murder, it
they have a scruffier, punkier
edge, which comes from the even looks
fact that they’re all massive like Newark,
fans of Black Flag. where we come from!”
Matt, who looks like he
The band, it has to be would sooner be pulling his own
said, as nice as they are, teeth out with pliers than being
don’t appear to be very interviewed, perks up slightly and
rock’n’roll. Hammer says, “Newark is in the State of New
groans inwardly Jersey, a few hours outside of New York.
when it gets on the It’s a complete goddamn wasteland. It’s been shut
tour bus, as the down for about 20 years. It smells godawful.”
two DVDs that “What does it smell of?” we ask.
are out on show “Dead bodies”, he replies nonchalantly.
are Dungeons “Also, at the time I was drinking severely,” Gerard
& Dragons says, “and during that period I was using substances
and Wind to overcome other substances.
In The “I’d had a really bad year before the band and that
Willows. Nearly all the helped me get out of it. My art career had gone down
the shitter, 9/11 had just happened… I was quite
36 METALHAMMER.COM
CHRISTINA RADISH/GETTY
CARLEY MARGOLIS/GETTY
close to that at the time and it affected me in a very bad Gerard is a goth-rock marauder
way. I became like a hermit and just started drinking all with raven-black hair, torn black clothing
the time and I didn’t want to do anything with my life. and aviator shades, and Matt, with his backwards cap and
And drinking and not doing anything else is the worst goatee beard, looks like he’s ready to walk on stage filling in
thing you can do in terms of depression. I had to go for Metallica. Frank is the most ‘modern’-looking guy in the
and see a therapist for the first time ever and she put band with his punctured face, gun and heart tattoos, and
me on antidepressants. But it wasn’t the counselling asymmetrical haircut. Suddenly all their disparate looks gel
or the drugs, it was the band that got me out of my and they look like a band should: a band of brothers.
depression. I had a purpose again.”
“In this life you gotta do what you gotta do!” yells
“You’ll find that none of us was the cool kid at Gerard before adding, “And if that means doing a line of coke
school,” offers Frank. “I felt like I never fitted in when I and getting a blow job, then that’s what you gotta do!”
was younger and I think depression is a normal thing that
happens in that situation. So a lot of those emotions go into Hammer ain’t gonna argue, and by the end of the show
our songs. We keep it in check now. Sometimes I go a little there have been more members of the audience running
bit off the rails but we keep each other in check. There’s across the stage and diving off than those who haven’t.
always beer around on tour. You’re more likely to get beer
tickets than meal tickets.” After dragging Frank off for a quick curry in nearby
Rusholme, just to prove that all English food isn’t shit,
The reason that bands drink so much on tour is because we rejoin the others in Manchester rock bar, Big Hands,
of all of the downtime there is to kill. Matt, who doesn’t where a dizzying array of beers are drunk by the band, and
drink that often, says: “You’ll get kids who are desperate by the swelling ranks of girls who want to drink with them.
to come backstage and when they run into the dressing
room there will be, like, one guy asleep, two having a chat, We leave them at about 3am, cavorting on the streets of
one watching the TV and another smoking a cigarette; they Manchester, singing note-perfect impressions of English
always look so depressed, like they’ve walked into the wrong bands while dreaming about world domination.
room. Why? You feel like saying, ‘Look, you’d be having a
better time if you were out at the bar.’”
Frank agrees: “The hour you’re on stage and meeting the
kids afterwards is what it’s all about. It is the 22.5 hours of
the day which is boring when you’re on tour.”
But if last night’s gig was incendiary, tonight’s is
certifiably cooler. Ray looks like a 1960s urban guerrilla
with his MC5/Mars Volta ’fro, the rake-thin Mikey looks
like he could have stepped straight out of Flock Of Seagulls,
METALHAMMER.COM 37
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THE PEOPLE
VS.
It’s not just us journos that get to grill the greats. In November 2004,
the lads popped by Hammer Towers for our classic Spanish Inquisition
feature, fielding questions from… YOU!
WHY ARE YOU GUYS SOOOOO school and that’s how we found each other. We were always
COOL? on the outside looking in and it depends on whether you
think that’s cool or not.”
THOMAS, VIA EMAIL HAMMER: Offstage though, and outside of music, who is the
coolest, the most goddamn suave when chatting to the ladies?
GERARD: “We can answer this question. (Massive pause.) Er, ALL BAR MIKEY IN UNISON: “Mikey.”
shit. Let me answer this with a question: ‘Why is Brody Dalle HAMMER: Is it your uncanny Jarvis Cocker impersonation?
from The Distillers so hot?’ (Another massive pause.) I guess MIKEY: “Yeah dude, it gets them every time. No, it’s Bob; the
we’re cool because we’re just like Thomas. Unless he’s a serial ladies are suckers for his beard.”
killer or something. We’re just the kids who didn’t fit in at
METALHAMMER.COM 39
GERARD, HAVE YOU ANY PLANS GERARD: “Well we did. We played Jack The Ripper, which was
TO DO ANY MORE ARTWORK originally a Morrissey B-side, at the same time the first record
FOR FUTURE ALBUMS, AND was out because we just didn’t have enough songs. We did
HOW MUCH WOULD IT COST TO that for years ’cos we only had five songs and our sets would
GET YOU TO PLAY IN MY FRONT have been over too quickly.”
ROOM? HAMMER: We tend to hate it when bands do either exact copies
of songs or when they do really obvious songs. What rules do you
NAME TAKEN, VIA HAMMER MESSAGE BOARD think apply to cover versions?
RAY: “The band you cover have got to be over and done with,
GERARD: “Yes, and 20 bucks.” or at least on their 10th album or whatever.”
HAMMER: I suppose there may be people who don’t know that FRANK: “Yeah, so it doesn’t matter if it’s Aerosmith – not
you do all the artwork. that you should try to do an Aerosmith cover anyway – but
GERARD: “I did the art for both of the records. The first one how are you going to improve that?”
– I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love – MIKEY: “Johnny And Mary by Placebo (actually Placebo’s
because I didn’t want photographic artwork, so we got originally by suave 70s rocker Robert Palmer - Pedantic Ed)
the picture, photocopied it, put some Ajax on it and put is an interesting cover.”
some cellophane on that. It’s not actually a digital image RAY: “Just don’t do anything obvious. Not covering a hit
like most people think. Then the second album, Three Cheers should be another rule. Placebo also covered Where Is My
For Sweet Revenge, was all done in watercolours and paint. Mind? by The Pixies and you can’t do that. How many bands
And yes, I want to do all of our album covers. I don’t get the do that song? Too many.”
chance to do half as much artwork as I’d like.”
HAMMER: Talking of front rooms, what’s the smallest gig you’ve GERARD, HOW DO YOU FEEL
ever played since you’ve been releasing records? ABOUT THE COMMENT
RAY: “We played a basement in Philly in front of five people, a THAT YOU LOOK LIKE DREW
major record label rep and a homeless person.” BARRYMORE IN ET?
FRANK: “The homeless guy had a tape recorder tied on a
string round his neck. He bootlegged the gig and then tried ANT, BIRMINGHAM
to sell it back to us afterwards. It was very enterprising of
him.” GERARD: “Where does this come from?”
HAMMER: I think it was originally from a Hammer live review
HAVE YOU EVER THOUGHT OF ages ago.
DOING A COVER? GERARD: “I always get compared to some Hollywood starlet
or other. Especially Christina Ricci.”
THE DRIFTER, VIA HAMMER MESSAGE BOARD
40 METALHAMMER.COM
“THERE WERE FIVE PEOPLE AND A HOMELESS
GUY AT THE GIG. THE HOMELESS GUY
BOOTLEGGED THE GIG AND TRIED TO SELL
IT TO US AFTERWARDS” MCR ON ENTERPRISING HOBOS
WHAT DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE replaced him? (The band turn round to Bob, who is dozing in
CLAIM THAT YOU ARE GOTHS? the corner with his hoody pulled up, and laugh.)
ALL: “Bob, what’s your background?”
ALI, FROM READING BOB (GROGGILY): “I started playing drums when I was three
and then after school I worked my way into the
GERARD (WHO IS DRESSED ENTIRELY IN BLACK, HAS music business, working in music stores and record shops.
LONG BLACK HAIR AND LOADS OF MAKE-UP ON TO I started doing drum tech stuff and I always ended up
APPEAR LIKE HE HAS THE THREE-DAY-DEAD EYES OF A hanging around with My Chemical Romance whenever I
GHOUL): “It doesn’t really bother us. I think it comes from worked with them.”
our song Vampires Will Never Hurt You. I mean, I always
dress in black – the whole of the band always dress in black WHAT ARE MCR’S FAVOURITE
– but that isn’t really goth to me. Bauhaus were goth; The SANDWICH FILLINGS?
Sisters of Mercy are goth. I think it has more to do with the
sound of the music and our sound is more punk rock. All YOUR BIGGEST FAN, NORTHERN IRELAND
that goth music is good stuff though. I just don’t think we
sound like that.” RAY: “Turkey and Gruyère.”
FRANK: “Eggplant [aubergine – American Ed] and parmesan.”
WHY NOT PLAY A SHOW IN MIKEY: “Grilled cheese and tomato.”
ICELAND? IT’S NOT A BAD IDEA. BOB: “Tuna mayonnaise.”
HAMMER: So who is the best cook in the band?
ICELANDIC NAME, ICELAND RAY: “Well, I know that Bob can actually cook. Bob, how do
you cook them steaks?”
GERARD: “I would love to.” BOB: “I get some steak and some vinegar and some other
FRANK: “I’ve heard it’s fucking beautiful.” shit. I could tell you but I’d have to kill you. Shit, I don’t
GERARD: “We’re always up for doing stuff like that in different know. I can cook really good if I’ve got a book in front of
countries and what I always say is, ‘If you can find a promoter me.”
willing to bring us over then we’ll do it.’” GERARD: “Next time I’m over in the UK, I’m going to cook
all of Metal Hammer’s readers a chickpea curry. It tastes
HEY GUYS, SORRY TO ASK THE really good.”
OBVIOUS, BUT WHAT HAPPENED FRANK: “If you’re making a chicken Caesar salad, you should
TO MATT (PELISSIER, THE put powdered onions into the dressing and it tastes really
BAND’S DOUR AND SLIGHTLY nice.”
OLDER EX-DRUMMER)? HAMMER: Powdered onions? What kind of insanity is that?
FRANK: “You guys don’t have powdered onions? You are so
ALEXANDRA ROSE, VIA HAMMER MESSAGE BOARD BC.”
HAMMER: Goddammit. You can’t speak to a member of
GERARD: “We’d rather not talk about this because we’re not a Her Majesty’s Metal Press like that! But let me know where we
shit-talking band.” can get this shit; we’re thinking of launching a sister title – Metal
FRANK: “It’s just not anyone’s business. We don’t feel we And Modern Cookery Hammer.
need to talk about stuff like this.” ALL: “Awesome!”
HAMMER: Well, I’ll turn the question around: can you tell us
about the background of your new member Bob Bryar, who’s
METALHAMMER.COM 41
TO THE GUY WITH THE BIG HAIR GERARD: “I’m not sure what he’s talking about. If he means
(RAY): DO YOU ACTUALLY LIKE the people who remember us from being in a hardcore band
IRON MAIDEN OR ARE YOU JUST who call us faggots on the internet then we’re not bothered.
BEING COOL? We get called faggots a lot but, you know, so what? We tend not
to read about ourselves. Live reviews are handy because you
INSANE ANGEL, VIA HAMMER MESSAGE BOARD can learn stuff from them, but generally not.”
GERARD: “Whoa!” DO YOU CONSIDER YOURSELVES
BOB: “Ha ha ha!” A METAL BAND?
RAY: … (starts shaking)
FRANK: “Oh my God!” GRACE, LONDON
RAY: … (smoke starts pouring from his ears)
MIKEY: “What a fucking question!” GERARD: “Metal is a big influence. If you think about the
RAY (WITH BARELY CONTROLLED ANGER, THROUGH power, the screaming, the guitars etc then it is quite metal,
GRITTED TEETH): “No. I hate them. They’re fucking shit. but it sounds like punk to me.”
That’s a fucked-up question, you shithead!” MIKEY: “We’re also metal in the sense that we’ve a lot of
GERARD: “To be fair, it’s a valid question. You do see a lot of metal on our instruments and I have quite a lot on my
young chicks wearing Maiden T-shirts who are just doing it belt buckle as well.”
because it’s a fashion thing to do.” GERARD: “If we’re metal then we’re very traditionally metal.
HAMMER: So we can safely assume you’re all Maiden fans? Iron Maiden are an influence, as are Helloween. Don’t ever
ALL: “Dude! Of course!” forget Helloween!”
HAMMER: In that case, can you all give me a surprising Bruce HAMMER: So is your song Thank You For The Venom an ABBA-
Dickinson fact? style tribute to the large-haired black-metal poodle rockers from
MIKEY: “He was an Olympic fencer.” Newcastle, England?
RAY: “He wrote books on how to get on in the music biz.” GERARD: “Eh?”
GERARD: “He’s a trained pilot, dude!” HAMMER: It doesn’t matter.
FRANK: “Do you know how in the 70s Bowie started thinking GERARD: “That song is a sarcastic statement, a bit like
he was Ziggy Stardust? Well, I think Bruce Dickinson is saying, ‘Thanks for ruining my life.’ It was something I had
the same with Lord Iffy Boatrace [the main character from written on my T-shirt the first ever gig we played.”
Dicko’s ‘comedy’ novels].”
WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF YOU
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE EVER ENCOUNTERED A MOOSE?
CRITICISM YOU RECEIVE FROM WOULD YOU RUN OR STAND
THE METAL COMMUNITY? AND FACE IT?
CHRIS, VIA EMAIL GOLDFINGER, VIA HAMMER MESSAGE BOARD
42 METALHAMMER.COM
FRANK: “Has Goldfinger ever seen any mooses?” ALL, CRACKING UP: “Awesome!”
MIKEY: “That isn’t the plural of moose. It’s moosi.” HAMMER: Yeah, they are an easy target. Wasn’t it Donald
GERARD: “Fuck off, it’s meese.” Rumsfeld who said that going to war in Iraq without the French
FRANK: “Has Goldfinger ever seen a flock of meese was like going hunting without an accordion?
advancing on him? It’s a terrifying sight. They aren’t FRANK: “Brilliant.”
small creatures. You would just run off like a girl or a boy.
What does running like a girl mean anyway?” CAN YOU CLEAR THIS UP FOR
MIKEY: “I’ve seen one. I’d run like a girl for sure. They’re US ONCE AND FOR ALL: WHICH
massive. If you run over one, you’re fucked. They come in ONE OF THE VILLAGE PEOPLE
through your windscreen kicking.” WAS ACTUALLY GAY?
BOB: “People think that moose are really gentle and goofy but
they aren’t; they’re fucking animals.” IRON MONKEY, VIA HAMMER MESSAGE BOARD
HAMMER: What’s the most exotic piece of wildlife you’ve
encountered on tour? GERARD (WITHOUT PAUSE): “The construction worker.”
GERARD: “I saw some grizzly bears in Canada.”
RAY: “I saw a coyote.” YOU GUYS RULE LIVE. WHAT
BOB: “Ray saw this girl in Chicago. She was fucking exotic.” BRITISH BAND WOULD YOU LIKE
RAY: “Oh shit. She pelted me with chicken-flavoured TO PLAY WITH IN THE FUTURE?
crackers. Do you remember the homeless lady as well? She
was this really old lady with this faint voice that I found HOLLOW MAN, VIA HAMMER MESSAGE BOARD
when I was getting on the tour bus one night. She said, ‘Can
I sleep here tonight?’ and I was like, ‘No way lady, get the hell FRANK AND MIKEY: “Muse.”
off the bus.’ And then I realised that she had wrenched the RAY: “Funeral For A Friend.”
window off the side of the bus to get in.” GERARD: “Yeah, Funeral For A Friend again.”
HAMMER: You have more stories about homeless people
than any other band we’ve met. HAVE ANY OF YOU EVER BEEN
GERARD: “That’s because they are our core audience.” SHOT AND/OR STABBED?
MIKEY: “We’re very attractive to them because we dress like
homeless people.” ANDY, BRISTOL
DO YOU LIKE THE FRENCH? RAY: “We nearly got shot recently. We were stuck in a traffic
jam and our manager got into this argument with these
PAUL, KINGSTON-UPON-THAMES Puerto Rican guys and told them to go fuck themselves. They
pulled up next to us and got a gun out. Our manager was
GERARD: “Oh. That is such a loaded question.” trying to grab the gun. I thought we were fucked for sure.”
FRANK: “Well, I’m going to say no because when we’ve toured BOB: “I just rolled the window up. I couldn’t think of
there they’ve never been anything but mean to us.” anything else to do. ‘Phew. I’m safe from the .375 gun
HAMMER: Well, you’re in good company. I know Andrew Eldritch now that I’ve rolled the fucking window up.’”
from The Sisters Of Mercy said if he had one wish, he would make HAMMER: Were you scared?
France sink into the sea – except for all of the pretty girls aged BOB: “Nah, I’m full of piss and vinegar.”
between 18 and 26, who he would levitate to safety.” HAMMER: So that’s what’s in your secret steak marinade!
BOB: “Shit yeah! I piss on my steak. Now I’m gonna have to
kill you.”
“I JUST ROLLED THE WINDOW UP. I COULDN’T
THINK OF ANYTHING ELSE TO DO. ‘PHEW. I’M
SAFE FROM THE .375 GUN NOW THAT I’VE ROLLED
THE FUCKING WINDOW UP’” BOB ON BECOMING BULLETPROOF
METALHAMMER.COM 43
44 METALHAMMER.COM
In April 2005, we made a little bit of history
by awarding My Chemical Romance their first
UK cover. It was one hell of an experience…
WORDS: DANIEL LANE • PHOTOS: JOHN MCMURTRIE
T here are plenty of rock stars who can talk the a gang and each of them individually has something valid
talk, but there are actually very few who can also to say as much as the next band member, be that in the
walk the walk. And there are even fewer who can form of guitarist Ray Toro’s heartfelt passion for music,
strut down the street with that knowing, snotty, the quick and belligerent wit of guitarist Frank Iero, the
rock’n’roll swagger that it takes to truly make it dark humour of drummer Bob Bryar or bassist Mikey
in this business. It’s a heady combination – part balls, Way’s unashamed love of schlock horror flicks.
part bravado, part fucking insanity – but whatever it is,
New Jersey’s My Chemical Romance have it, and they have But it’s not because the band are afraid of Gerard
it in abundance. becoming the Anti-Hero Superstar of the 21st century’s
Generation X – or as they aptly put it, “This ain’t the
Like a modern-day real-life re-enactment of Anthony Gerard Way show by any means.”
Burgess’s cult classic A Clockwork Orange, My Chem Rom
are all sharp suits and flick-knives. Both dapper and It’s because, it turns out, the gang mentality is for real.
dangerous in equal measure, they’ve captured the hearts “It’s not an ego thing or because everyone wants equal
and minds of the dysfunctional and the downtrodden. time,” continues Gerard. “It’s because we are a gang. But
They are to this decade what Nirvana and Manic Street the weird thing about this gang is there’s no leader. We
Preachers were to the 90s. And, like those aforementioned don’t want it to become anyone’s ‘show’ because ultimately
bands, MCR frontman Gerard Way doesn’t accept the that detracts from our music. Without naming names,
ascribed moniker of ‘rock star’ lightly. “I don’t think probably in the last year and a half/two years, certain
people are looking for a rock star or rock stars,” he individuals were pushed to the front of their bands.
explains, taking a long pull on his cigarette. “I think Maybe it will sell them a few more records, or maybe they
people are looking for a rock star to kill.” didn’t think of the consequences of doing so, but that
kind of thing is basically a poison in your band.
MCR are clearly gunning for the Clockwork Orange
strength-in-numbers approach. They do everything as “Anything this band does, even down to merch,
is collaborative. We’re the kind of guys that, when
“IN OUR BAND, IT’S THE FIVE OF US AGAINST
THE WORLD” FRANK AND THE BOYS HAVE THE GLOVES OFF
METALHAMMER.COM 45
something comes back to bite us in the ass, we know it seldom feels like art, y’know? It’s almost as if most
it’s all our fault! And that’s how stuff ends up being bands have this model and he sings and there’s four ugly
done. I don’t think we’ve been unhappy with anything guys at the back! And to top it off, their producer probably
we’ve done so far – a T-shirt, a video, a record… writes all their songs! In our band it’s the five of us against
I think the kids who are into this band are interested the world. That’s what we’ve chosen for our music and
in finding someone to lead them. This band is what that’s how I think we should be portrayed if you want to
we’d rather have lead them than just me. It’s really rare do things in an honest way. If you want to show the fake
that onstage these other guys will talk, but offstage in side of music and just sell a magazine cover or a record
interviews, or if the kids approach one of these guys, you then by all means go ahead!”
will find that they have a lot to say that’s very relevant.”
Indeed, you only have to look at such metal icons as
“I don’t know how anyone else feels about this,” Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Mötley Crüe and
interjects Frank. “But whatever happened to bands? even latter-day rising stars like Nightwish and Funeral For
Why does it always have to be this star or that star? If A Friend to realise that, even though the frontperson may
you’ve been in a band you know exactly what it’s like. be the focal point, he or she is not the be all and end all
I’ve always been a fan of music made by bands. The of that band. And while Frank makes a sound argument
whole ‘rock star’ thing has never seemed real to me and for this case – one which Hammer wholeheartedly agrees
“WE DIDN’T SET OUT TO BE ICONS”
TOUGH SHIT, FRANKIE BOY!
46 METALHAMMER.COM
with – the 21st century’s Generation X still have a hard BRAVE NEW
time accepting such subtle details when they’ve already WORLD
decided to dub Gerard their new rock messiah.
My Chemical Romance’s axe man Ray Toro
That said, since their inception five or so years ago, (yes, him with the hair) is a massive
My Chemical Romance have concentrated their energies Iron Maiden fan.
on changing that perception. You only have to stand “We don’t really try and make our influences
outside one of their shows before the doors open to see that obvious. I think our influences are a lot
girls screaming for autographs when Mikey or Bob walk more subtle. Frank’s guitar style is different
past, or budding guitarists mobbing Frank and Ray to from mine. He’s from a punk-rock background;
talk about “strings and pedals and pick-ups”. However, I’m more influenced by classic heavy metal.
it hasn’t been an easy ride by any means for the New So just bringing all those influences together
Jersey alt-rockers and, ultimately, it nearly cost the band makes our sound really unique, but it’s quite
their frontman’s life by pushing him to the brink of obvious that I’m a massive fan of Iron Maiden.
oblivion. Unfortunately, Gerard’s “people are looking for My older brother was a big fan of Iron Maiden
a rock star to kill” line is closer to the truth than you can and when I first got into music,
possibly imagine. the first album I had was
Killers. I was really impressed,
“There was a point for me about eight months ago where not just with the guitar
I felt really weirded out by the whole ‘rock star’ thing,” he playing, but also the rawness
confesses. “It was like, ‘Shit, I didn’t know this was gonna of it too. It was like punk
happen.’ Well, maybe I did, but I didn’t fully appreciate rock meets heavy metal.”
the impact of it all. Someone said to me in an interview
recently that a lot of kids are looking up to me as their METALHAMMER.COM 47
saviour and I really didn’t know how to answer that. It
was really bizarre. When we started this band, we set
out to help people and I don’t want to contradict myself,
but I guess we didn’t realise that there were that many
people out there that needed our help.”
You only have to listen to the lyrics on My Chemical
Romance’s latest album, Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge,
to discover that, figuratively speaking, Gerard Way is one
sick puppy. He will openly admit to having “psychotic
tendencies” with a shrug, and lists “liver damage” as one
of his ailments on his biog page on the band’s website.
“Basically, when we were on the road, there’d be liquor
before water, and sometimes no water at all. And then
like anything else it gets out of hand and I’d wake up in
the morning and aim to get drunk before noon. I can’t
really remember the last three years because of it. It was
a normal thing for me to get wasted. I knew, deep down,
that I had a problem, but it was something I was very
defensive about, too.
“Now I go to meetings and stuff and they always say
you really need to know the date. And everyone I’ve met
at those kinda places knows the date when they stopped
doing whatever, but I don’t know the date when I stopped
because it was just so urgent for me to stop. I came to the
other guys in the band the day after we got back from
Japan and said, ‘Look, I have a problem, and I think it’s
going to affect the band.’ And that was five or six months
ago. So a decision was made to avoid me contributing to
a complete breakdown of this band. It was to avoid any
kind of drama – y’know, a VH1 Behind The Music kinda we had a really pleasant environment to grow up in.
situation. That’s really it. They encouraged us to do the things that we excelled
at and we were interested in. They wouldn’t push
“The fact of the matter is that I was extremely anything on us and that was the raddest thing.”
depressed, I was suicidal and the booze wasn’t helping,”
he continues. “It kept me there. I don’t know if it Wait, what? A normal upbringing with a mom ’n’ dad
necessarily helped me to get there in the first place, who loved you? Surely there must be some mistake,
but it kept me there. And kept me there for months! young Gerard?
It’s a symptom of being on the road, having nothing
to do for 23 hours a day but drink. But I think you have to “I guess like anyone else we’re a product of the
have it in you to start with. Before the band, I was a pretty environment we grew up in,” he continues. “Northern
good drinker too.” New Jersey isn’t the safest place to grow up. I think we’re
really fucked up because we were forced to live in our
Contrary to the likes of other angst anti-heroes like heads so much. And when you have to live in your head
Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain or Korn’s Jonathan Davis, Gerard like that, you have a hard time dealing with the real
and his younger brother Mikey had a pretty normal world. I guess me more so than Mikey because I was the
upbringing, albeit in a bad neighbourhood. older brother and I experienced things first-hand, as
older brothers do. I’m three years older and I had a really
“Everyone says their family is crazy, so I won’t hard time accepting death. I think that’s where my whole
say that,” explains Gerard. “Our parents were really fucked-upness comes from.
supportive about everything we wanted to do and
“And before you ask, no, there was no kind of traumatic
event, nothing like that. I was just a kid and I realised one
day that your parents, your friends, your family, everyone
you care about is going to die one day. It just occurred
to me. I wasn’t reading Edgar Allan Poe or listening
to The Cure, I was just watching some shitty cartoons and
it dawned on me that we’re all going to die. So I became
hyper-sensitive about it and still am to this day.
“That’s what happens when you’re all borderline
psychotic and therein lies the beauty of this band – our
duality. There’s a duality to each band member too. There’s
a desire to have this constant conflict. If we write a song
and it turns out really poppy, we have to make the lyrics
really fucked up. There’s psychosis to everything we do for
sure. One day we’re probably gonna write this Number One
pop tune that will be about a massacre!”
Yet despite Gerard’s growing pains, having Mikey in
the band has helped him to sort his head out.
“We get along real well,” grins Mikey. “And it’s super
sweet! Our relationship now is pretty much the same as
it’s always been. I think we just wrestled more back then.
We’d professional wrestle each other WWF-style, but the
rule was no punches in the face!”
“I don’t really picture them as brothers,” adds Ray.
“They’re more like best friends. I’ve never seen two
“I THINK PEOPLE ARE LOOKING FOR A ROCK
STAR TO KILL” GERARD SAW A BULLSEYE ON HIS CHEST
48 METALHAMMER.COM
METALHAMMER.COM 49
NOBODY brothers have a relationship like them.”
EXPECTS THE “If I were with my brother every day, day in, day out,
SPANISH we’d be at each other’s throats day and night,” offers Bob.
INQUISITION But these two aren’t at all.”
It always amused us here at Hammer Towers “It’s easier for me and Mikey to be on the road because
when we ran a Spanish Inquisition feature we are brothers,” explains Gerard. “I know it’s a strange
and invited reader comments. When My thing to say, but I guess that’s why me and him wake up
Chemical Romance went head to head with OK in the morning, because it feels like we’re at home. We
their fans (see page 39), one young man sent used to hang out and play videogames together; we did
132 emails addressed to MCR saying such everything together and it’s the same way now.”
hilarious things as “Tell those emo fags they
suck,” “Tell those emo fags they fucking suck,” “I wish their hygiene was better!” laughs Frank.
and “Tell those emo fags they suck dick!” Since they officially broke out of New Jersey in 2002
Needless to say, the Way brothers found the with their debut album I Brought You My Bullets, You
whole thing hilarious. Brought Me Your Love, My Chemical Romance have had
MIKEY: “The way I think of it is that if someone a pretty rapid rise to success. In the UK alone they’ve
wants to go to all the effort to talk shit about graduated to bigger and bigger venues each time they’ve
you, then they’re secretly intrigued by you.” toured here and they’ve actually sold more records
GERARD: “They’re just a bunch of closet cases. than screamo superstars The Used (who, incidentally,
If you wanna make out with me so bad, dude, namecheck MCR on their latest record).
you only had to say!” “We really weren’t aware of that,” says a stunned Gerard.
“But we really try not to pay attention to those kind of
50 METALHAMMER.COM things. I guess the less you pay attention to record sales
and comparisons between your band and other bands,
it keeps your band the way it is.”
“There was a point where we realised that it gets less
about the music and more about the industry as time goes
by,” adds Frank. “We did this interview where the people
who were interviewing us had no idea who we were or that
we were even in a band! They’d just seen us on MTV or in
a magazine or something and thought we were… I actually
don’t know what they thought we were! Hopefully those
times will be few and far between. It’s really not what it’s
about. We didn’t set out to be icons.”
“We ultimately make music for ourselves to make
ourselves feel better,” continues Gerard. “But there
was a definite goal for this band when we started out
to help people. And that is the difference between us
and everyone else I think.”
Frank adds, “We started out with a lot of goals,
and we met them pretty rapidly. We still have a lot of
long-term goals, but it’s hard to articulate that to people
without sounding like assholes. Of course I want to
play huge world tours, but our ultimate goal is just to
reach as many people as possible and make a difference.
It sounds kinda clichéd, but it’s true. If you can change
the world for the better, even just a little bit, I think it’s
the best thing you can do.”
While MCR may look like a gang of cool rock-star
motherfuckers these days with their co-ordinated
black-and-red schtick – even Mikey’s ironic computer-
geek aesthetic is on the right side of cool – in high
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MetalHammerPresentsMyChemicalRomance3rdEdition2022
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