History
Early career (2001–2002)
The band was formed by frontman Gerard Way and ex-drummer Matt Pelissier around a week after the September 11, 2001 attacks. Witnessing the planes crash into the World Trade Center influenced Way’s life to the extent that he decided to start a band. Way wrote the song “Skylines and Turnstiles” to express his feelings about September 11th. Shortly thereafter, Ray Toro was called up and asked to join the band because at the time Way couldn’t sing and play the guitar at the same time.[3] The first recording sessions were done in Pelissier’s attic, where the songs “Our Lady of Sorrows” (formerly called “Bring More Knives”) and “Cubicles” were recorded. It was said by Iero that the lyrics to “Best Day Ever” were just finished as the band got to the studio the day of recording. They were called The Attic Demos. Mikey Way, the younger brother of Gerard, loved the demo so much that he decided to join the band after dropping out of college. It was once believed he learned how to play the bass guitar just to join the band, but Gerard Way confirmed in the CD/DVD Life on the Murder Scene that this is just a rumor, that Mikey had been in several bands before joining My Chemical Romance.[3]
My Chemical Romance was signed with Eyeball Records and played in the same room as Pencey Prep and Thursday. It was there that the band met Frank Iero, the lead vocalist and guitarist for Pencey Prep. After Pencey Prep broke up in 2001-02, Frank became a guitarist for My Chemical Romance, just days before the band’s debut album was recorded. [3] Three months after the formation of the band they recorded their debut album, I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love, subsequently released in 2002 on Eyeball Records. Despite only joining the band a few days before the album recording sessions began, Iero played guitar on two of the tracks, one of them being “Early Sunsets Over Monroeville,” and the other being “Demolition Lovers.” (He came up with the guitar harmony for “Early Sunsets Over Monroeville” sitting outside the studio, in the back of a van.) During this time, the band was booked at the infamous venue, Big Daddy’s, where they began to receive mainstream attention. [4][5]
Mainstream breakthrough (2003–2006)
In 2003, the band signed a deal with Reprise Records. Following a tour with Avenged Sevenfold, the band began work on their second album, entitled Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge. Released in 2004, the album went platinum within a year. The band released three singles from the album: “I’m Not Okay (I Promise)“, “Helena” and “The Ghost of You“. It was during this time that the band replaced Matt Pelissier with Bob Bryar, after they came back from Japan in July 2004. It was a very controversial time for My Chem fans the world over. He left in agreement with everyone in the band; there were issues about his ability to keep time with the rest of the band. It is believed that Ray Toro asked him to try playing with a metronome for a little while, which offended the experienced drummer. Fans who were disappointed with the release of Matt wondered why the drummer, who took some artistic liberties in live performances, was relieved instead of the “pill-popping” lead vocalist. It is well-known that Gerard was at one time incredibly depressed; however, he has been clean and sober since August ‘06. This, perhaps, is the reason the band does not wish to talk about it often. This information was disclosed in the 2006 CD/DVD Life on the Murder Scene.
At the start of 2005, the band was directly supported on the first ever Taste of Chaos tour, and was also the opening act for Green Day on the American Idiot tour. During the summer, they co-headlined the Warped Tour 2005 with Fall Out Boy. Later that year, My Chemical Romance co-headlined and headlined their tour with Alkaline Trio and Reggie and the Full Effect around the US. That same year, My Chemical Romance collaborated with The Used for a cover of the Queen and David Bowie classic, “Under Pressure” that was released as a benefit single on iTunes and other Internet outlets.
On March 21, 2006, a 2 DVD/1 CD set entitled Life on the Murder Scene was released. It included one DVD chronicling the band’s history, and a second DVD with music videos, the making of their videos, and a couple of live performances. An unauthorized biography DVD Things That Make You Go MMM! was also released on June 27, 2006. The DVD does not actually feature any My Chemical Romance music clips or performances, but contains interviews with those who knew the band before much of their fame.[6]
The band started recording their third studio album on April 10, 2006 with Rob Cavallo, producer of many of Green Day’s albums.[7][8] It was originally thought to be titled The Rise and Fall of My Chemical Romance, but in an interview with Kerrang! magazine, Gerard Way suggested this was just the album’s working title, stating “It was never the title of the album, more a spoof, or joke.”[9] On August 3, 2006, the band finished shooting the videos for their first two singles from the album, “Welcome to the Black Parade” and “Famous Last Words“, which was released on January 22, 2007.[10] The video was directed by Sam Bayer, director of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and Green Day’s American Idiot videos.[11] During the shoot for “Famous Last Words”, band members Gerard Way and Bob Bryar were injured. Way suffered torn ligaments in his ankle, and Bryar a burn to the leg which caused a severe staph infection that needed constant monitoring in hospital. Consequently, the band was forced to cancel a few tour dates. While these injuries were reported by several news agencies to have been the result of a car accident, a statement released by the band on their website and MySpace page has confirmed that these injuries occurred on the set of the video.[12]
