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September 30, 2004
My Chemical Romance
by Amy Meyer
THE REBEL YELL
http://www.ryunlv.com/news/2004/09/30/ArtsEntertainment/My.Chemical.Romance-739481.shtml

Underground band My Chemical Romance has recently been noticed by the radio world, thanks to their first major label release. Nothing has gone to the band members' heads though. They are still just five regular guys, four being from New Jersey and one from Chicago.

"We're here to actually make a difference in music, bring a more positive message, be a real band, and be there for people who are into us as much as we can," singer and songwriter Gerard Way said.

My Chemical Romance's music is influenced by the Smiths and the Cure, and also by bands with a different style like the Misfits and Iron Maiden.

"That's kind of how we shaped our sound, by liking a lot of punk bands and at the same time liking a lot of pop bands," Way said.

The new album, "Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge," is a big jump from prior release "I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love."

"I think it's a lot riskier, it has bigger pop sensibility," Way said. The band has felt a lot of growth with this release, and has taken great pride in the result.

"I think it's more honest; it's less fictitious," Way said.

Way writes all of the lyrics for the band, and finds means of inspiration from some interesting sources:

"Basically, I watch a lot of horror movies, I read a lot of comic books, and a lot of it is from real life experiences, that's where a great deal of it comes from," Way said.

While on the road the band is always writing new material in preparation for a new album.

The new album emphasizes sexuality in many of the lyrics. My Chemical Romance is trying to be more ambiguous about sexual orientation.

"It (sexuality) is just brought up in a lot of the lyrics. A lot of the sexuality on the record is homosexuality. I think that music has gotten so masculine in the last five years that I really wanted to change that and bring it back to where David Bowie or Iggy Pop had it in the '70s. There's a lot more homophobia, sexism, and racism in rock-and-roll than there needs to be, and that's been something that we've noticed as a band," Way said.

Along with radio play for the album single "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)," commercial success is treating the band very well.

"It's exciting and it's extremely cool to know that your songs are reaching that many more people. It's not something that has stressed us out at all or caused us any kind of grief or backlash or any kind of bullshit like that," Way said.

The band has always had an underground following of loyal fans, but the fact that their music is reaching so many more people is nothing less than astounding to the band members.

"There's generally just a larger awareness of the band, who we are and what we're doing, and that's just amazing," Way said.

The biggest place My Chemical Romance notices the addition of fans is when they are doing a headlining show in the middle of nowhere.

"We have been selling out clubs, which is a first for us," Way said.

Overall, the band is just excited to see all the new people at the shows singing along.

Touring and recording an album are two very different elements of being in a band. My Chemical Romance enjoys both processes, but find it quite impossible to prefer one activity to the other.

"When you're doing one of them you're always missing the other. We miss playing shows while we're in the studio, but now that we're out on the road, we miss making a record. That's something that's always the way it is, you always like what you could be doing instead of what you are doing better," Way explained.

Overall, with commercial success increasing every day for My Chemical Romance, the band could not be happier with how things are going. They feel that anything they can do for other people by reaching them through the means of their music makes the experience all worthwhile, and the more people that experience their music, the merrier.

Finally, Way concluded, "We mean this probably more than anything in our entire lives, it is extremely important for us as human beings to be doing this as a band and to be out on the road."