I know it has been a long time since we have written you guys. We have been very, very busy touring in places that we have never been to before. To all of our fans in Southeast Asia, THANK YOU from the bottom of our hearts. What an amazing time we had and you all made us feel so welcome the entire time. We will be back in your part of the world as soon as we can.
We are also just finishing up the process for our CD/DVD "THE BLACK PARADE IS DEAD!". As soon as we have a solid release date on it, we will let you all know. It was filmed over a few weeks in October and looks incredible.
My Chemical Romance is a band some love to hate, some hate to love and millions just flat out think are great. Based on the success of 2004’s Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, the video and single, “Helena,” and the ambitious Welcome to the Black Parade in 2006, which won over many critics, My Chemical Romance has done its biggest influences, which they cite as The Smiths, the Cure, the Misfits and Iron Maiden, proud.
The band was the brainstorm of Gerad Way, a Jersey boy working in New York as an animator, and drummer Matt Pellissier a week after September 11, as a response to Way’s seeing the World Trade Center collapse. To sum up his feelings, he wrote “Skylines and Turnstiles,” but when the two tried to record the song, they realized that Way couldn’t sing and play guitar at the same time. Realizing that was a problem, they roped in guitarist Ray Toro. After hearing the original demos, Way’s brother Mikey, decided to drop out of school and learn to play the bass so he could be in the band.
In 2002, the band had been signed by Eyeball Records, and was in the process of recording I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love when guitarist Frank Iero, who was with another Eyeball band, Pencey Prep, found out his band was breaking up and he came on board just as My Chemical Romance was finishing up the last two songs of the album.
Proving that they could self-market with the best of them, My Chemical Romance took advantage of the fledgling social network, MySpace, and became one of the first bands to use its technology to build a fan base. They were a logical match for the website: Their name was taken from cult writer Irvine Welsh’s line in Ectasy: Three Tales of Chemical Romance, as well as his frequent description of narcotics acting like a chemical romance. In addition, their goth and dark pop culture overtones, as well as their over-the-top theatricality made them their own web-friendly cult waiting to happen.
And so it did. The band quickly moved to Reprise Records for its second album, Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, and stormed MTV, most notably due to the video for “Helena.” Touring with bands such as Avenge Sevenfold, Green Day and Fall Out Boy, they became part of the line-up for the Used tour.
By the time the tour had made its way part way across the country, My Chemical Romance had actually become a bigger draw than the headliner. (They also suffered their first personnel change. After an alleged argument over Pellisier’s live performances with Ray Toro, Pellesier left the band and was replaced by Bob Bryar.)
This was just a prelude to the next album, 2006’s The Black Parade, produced by Rob Cavallo, late of Green Day. The band had promised something big, and they did not disappoint. A high-concept album, it pretty much divided critics and fans. Many critics, including some from places like the Los Angeles Times that had been lukewarm about the band up until then, waxed rhapsodic over the dark yet intelligent material, while others thought it was pretentious claptrap.
Still, the album had no trouble going platinum, and the world tour in support of it sold out regularly. Although it may not have been the breakout hit My Chemical Romance was hoping for, they still won numerous accolades, including Rolling Stone’s 20th best album of 2006 and Q Magazine’s 2007 International Band of the Year. “Welcome to the Black Parade” was also reportedly the most downloaded rock song of 2006, which is impressive since they didn’t release it until 9/11.
They continue to tour with the album, most recently as part of Linkin Park’s Project Revolution and now as headliners on yet another leg of their international tour. They plan on going into the studio sometime in 2008 for a follow up but not until My Chemical Romance marches their Black Parade up and down a few more boulevards.
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I love you guys.......realy, but im not to happy because I want you guys to make a concert on Puerto Rico. There are people waiting for you guys and me to. Good luck.
Ello =) Just thought I'd drop by to say how much I respect you guys - your music means a lot to me, and you really inspire me in day to day life... so, thank you!
omigod i love u guys so much ur songs r amazing!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!! gerard ur the best i luv u so much and i really want 2 meet u!!!!!!!!!! im ur #1 fan no doubt!!!!!!!!!!!! !! the songs u write r so inspiring 2 me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!! i could listen 2 u all day long!!!!!!!!!!!!! this mite b a long comment but idc mcr is the best band evr and i want 2 show them how much i love them and thats alot!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!! well thats about it. o and 1 more thing I LOVE U MCR!!!!!!!!!!!:): ):):):);)
