Hit Parade
Submitted by dtomko on Tue, 2007-02-06 17:38.Hit Parade
My Chemical Romance finds salvation in music
By Ryan Alan
Philly EDGE Correspondent
Sometimes if you dream big enough, even if you live in an unassuming town in New Jersey, you one day might find the world really is your stage.
Of course, displaying some passion and creativity along the way, as the members of My Chemical Romance have done, can get you there faster, and keep you there longer.
Their independent stance, forged in the blue-collar confines of Clifton, which Blender magazine described as “the capital of absolutely nothing at all,” now is the catalyst for a rock message that is decidedly global.
From the Land Down Under to Philly (playing the Liacouras Center Feb. 25), the quintet has audiences singing the joyfully defiant and life affirming refrain:
“I am not afraid to keep on living/I am not afraid to walk this world alone.”
They are found in “Famous Last Words,” the last track of their current, and third CD, The Black Parade, which is earning four-star reviews and the suggestion that this well may be the band’s definitive masterwork.
That most rare of offerings, a concept album for a new millennium, Parade explores dark subjects, including musings on death, before rocking out on its intended message of hope.
The album tells the story of a young man, referred to as The Patient, who is dying in a hospital bed. His strongest memory from growing up is when his father took him to see a parade when he was a child. When death visits him, it is in the form of a Black Parade.
The Patient encounters a variety of characters leading him toward his final resting place, helping him re-examine his life while teaching him about theirs. In the process, The Patient garners fresh insights about the beauty of both life and death.
It is, says Rolling Stone, “a gloriously dark” triumph from a group that is “very much a band of their time – post 9/11.”
Blender adds that My Chemical Romance has transcended the cliché, “overcoming addiction and mental illness to craft a grandiose epic that just might make them the biggest band in the world.”
Bassist
Now it all seems to be back on track.
“I think our album taught people you can get over anything,” explains Mikey Way on the phone from Australia.
“If you read a little deeper about what was happening with the band while we were making the record, it proved to people that no matter how hopeless it looks, it’s not the end of the world. There’s a light at the end of the tunnel.”
The route to the success My Chemical Romance (MCR) is experiencing today is “one of those progressions that happen over time,” Way says. Though they did indeed dream that one day it would happen, there is still an element of surprise when it actually does, he implies.
The band formed in 2001, says their label, out of a mutual love of horror movies, music and punk philosophies. “Skylines and Turnstiles,” their first song, was penned as a response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. Their first album, 2002’s I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love, was released in 2003 and got them signed by Warner Bros.
In 2004, they recorded the CD, Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge, which went double platinum, featuring “I’m Not Okay (I Promise),” “Helena” and “The Ghost of You.” MCR hit the road with Green Day, Taking Back Sunday and many others and played the Vans Warped Tour in 2004 and 2005.
Various live performances were recorded for the CD and double DVD package, Life On The Murder Scene which was released in the spring of ’06.
Despite the success, there is no lack of motivation, assures Way.
“We strive to be better artistically and make people feel better, happy and entertained. Tons of things keep us going. And we want to get better as people.”
Playing live and getting to see the world keeps it fun, he says. “Playing live is the big payoff for working so hard. Every night on tour you get to experience people interacting with your music.”
That feeling, he adds, is “priceless.”
“Sometimes I can’t hear Gerard over the kids.”
My Chemical Romance just wants to bring “honest rock’n’roll” back to everybody, Way says. “I think, at the beginning, we kind of catered to a niche audience. Only an ‘x’ amount of kids were into our music. We had something to say and thought everybody should hear it. It’s a global statement that pertains to everybody.”
Way says that MCR wants to be “an inspirational kind of band…We are just trying to open people’s eyes to a lot of things going on in the world, helping people feel better.”
He believes this is a band that brings honesty, musical skills and a real sense of its own identity to the table.
“People can connect with the vocals, melodies and lyrics. They can connect on a bunch of different levels.”
He admits to being pleasantly surprised at the reception to the new album. “I didn’t think right off the bat people would understand the record at all. I thought it would be a struggle at the beginning. But it spread like wild fire the minute the single came out,” he says.
Why does he think that is?
“People connect with this band, it’s kind of that simple,” Way replies. “Anyone can relate to our music, and the younger kids can relate to us as people.”
Way agrees that The Black Parade is a defining achievement for the band.
“Every band has that CD that people see as the cornerstone of their career. This could wind up being that CD for us.”
“We wanted to write the best songs we possibly could and bring a kind of rock’n’roll sound back,” he adds. “We always like to have people get their own meanings out of songs. That’s where things like this really hit the nail on the head - the fact an album like this has its own meaning for different people. A lot of people plug their lives into it.”
Not only does Way believe the CD, which in part explores the theme of individuality, offers hope, but he characterizes it as “super optimistic.”
MCR knew they wanted to explore a new path with this album, he says.
“We knew the road we came from was a beaten path. People either copied off what we did, or that whole idea of what we are. That’s proof positive we don’t fit in with that whole scene,” Way explained.
“Some bands that people lump in with us, they don’t write their own songs and are a fabricated band. We’re a real band.”
To other bands just getting started, Way advises, “Just keep going at it and never give up, even if you fail. If you want it bad enough you’ll get it. You just have to keep going.”
For My Chemical Romance, he adds, music means everything. “It’s like salvation. It’s almost like our religion, what we believe in and stand for.”
My Chemical Romance
w/ Rise Against
Sun. Feb. 25, 7:30 p.m.
Liacouras Center
1776 North Broad Street, Philadelphia
$30.25
1.800.298.4200
