My Chemical Romance

My Chemical Romance are:

Gerard Way
Ray Toro
Frank Iero
Matt Pellesier
Mikey Way

Taking their name from the cult description of Irvine Welsh's novels, My Chemical Romance is emerging as one of the most promising young bands in recent musical memory. Their sound, distinct and fresh, pledges allegiance to everyone from Iron Maiden and The Misfits to Morrissey and At The Gates.

Based in New Jersey, My Chemical Romance is an alternative pop/rock and punk-pop band that has been compared to Thursday and, to a lesser degree, Cursive. Many of their songs are loud, fast, hyper, and aggressive, but My Chemical Romance's work also tends to be melodic and pop-minded. Having a live show that explodes with energy and leaves a footprint in the face of all things in it's way, My Chemical Romance has spent 2003 trekking around the United States numerous times and traveled to Europe to do a string of dates in the UK, Germany, Holland, & Spain. This has given the five lads a chance to further hone their skills and craft, all the while connecting with fans on an international level. It all seems like quite a feat for a little band from Newark, NJ.

The chronicle of My Chemical Romance is a twisted voyage through many years of grimy New Jersey suburbs. The five members have been very loose-knit friends since their high school years. There were many incarnations of local bands throughout that time, but never the combination that left that feeling of satisfaction they were striving for.


As high school ended, the band members were scattered in all different directions in a search to find out what they would become. This left some attending school, while others went instantly into full time jobs. Over the years, the guys stayed in contact with each other. "I was doing animation in New York City, living in my mother's basement," states Gerard, "and I was really starting to question the direction of my life. So I called Matt, who'd been asking himself a lot of the same questions. We decided we would get together and play some music."
My Chemical Romance got started in the early 2000s, when lead singer Gerard Way and drummer Matt Pelissier decided to try writing some songs together. The first tune that Way and Pelissier came up with was called "Skylines and Turnstiles" (a title reflecting the fact that Way had been working in New York City, where he was in the animation field). Way and Pelissier both felt good about the song, and Way asked guitarist Ray Toto if he would be interested in working with them. My Chemical Romance's five-man lineup was complete when Way, Pelissier, and Toto joined forces with bassist Mikey Way (Gerard Way's brother) and guitarist Frank Iero. With that lineup in place, the band started playing all around the Northeast Corridor and made plans to begin working on its first album.
After writing a song, and getting together with Matt, Gerard decided it was time to move forward. "The song, 'Skylines And Turnstiles,' came out pretty good. So I decided to call Ray, who is the best guitarist I know."
The three of them spent the next few months in what was considered "a constant state of seeing what would happen." The result of this was another demo, recorded in an attic in the winter of 2001.
"Things started moving rather quickly after that," explains Gerard. "Mikey heard about what we were up to and wanted to be a part of it. My brother didn't really know much about being a bassist, but he knew that was what we needed, so he learned to play almost overnight. We are all very impressed."
After being picked up by the New Jersey independent Eyeball Records, My Chemical Romance marched into a studio in upstate New York to record their debut album in May of 2002. Still feeling incomplete, the band recruited Frank to fill out their sound. Tracking the record in just over two week's time, My Chemical Romance was all ready to go. What they never saw coming was that their ability to write songs would touch the hearts and souls of nearly everyone they came across.
I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love was released in July of 2003. With this album came an avalanche of interest in the band. Constant regional touring created a fan base that is loyal to no end. The next evolutional step was to expand the touring to a national level. Securing opening spots on high profile tours, they set out in a van for the next 14 months of their lives.
My Chemical Romance did not take these opportunities to appeal to more fans than they expected very lightly. From swaggering to leaping, the band set out to grab people by the throat, scream until they listened, than explode in their face with unprecedented energy and performance that would not be ignored. They have something to say and want you to listen. The cool darkness of Gerard's lyrics & vocals may leave you to think of Nick Cave, Greg Dulli, or a young Reznor, while the wall of sound behind him will seal the coffin of what was. From "Demolition Lovers" and "Early Sunsets Over Monroeville," to the big rock of "Headfirst For Halos" and "Vampires Will Never Hurt You," My Chemical Romance really does have something to say. They will prove that in music, is life. And this life is darker than any New Jersey shore could ever be. Just listen for yourself.
Orlando Florida Guide Reader Comments about My Chemical Romance:
"My Chemical Romance is awesome in concert. I've seen them three times and all three times they have blown me away. Once they stopped in the middle of a song to tell people if their here to start a fight to get out is just amazing. At one of their shows somebody asked me what was the name of the band playing. If someone goes to a concert not knowing all the bands that are playing, but likes one of them enough to ask a total stranger the name of the band is Incredible. My Chemical Romance has so much energy with their shows and they sound amazing, too. You can tell they have real talent and didn't have to do much editing on their album to make it sound the way it does. They are great guys too. I met them all and they are very nice and willing to talk to fans even when they are packing up their instruments. I'm a My Chemical Romance fan forever."
In 2002, Eyeball Records (the New York-based indie that Thursday had recorded for) released My Chemical Romance's debut album, I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love. The album was often compared to Thursday -- a comparison that, for various reasons, was inevitable and unavoidable. Both bands were from New Jersey, both had recorded for Eyeball, and both combined punk-pop's musical aggression with introspective, confessional lyrics.
Lyrically, I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love is as dark as it is introspective and cathartic; Way has been quoted as saying that the band's lyrics were a great way for him to deal with the problems he had been going through (which included severe depression and a serious illness in his family). The 2002 release included Way and Pelissier's first song, "Skylines and Turnstiles," and many of the album's other song titles were equally intriguing, including "Honey, This Mirror Isn't Big Enough for the Two of Us," "Drowning Lessons," "Headfirst for Halos," "Our Lady of Sorrows," and "Vampires Will Never Hurt You." In 2003, My Chemical Romance signed with Reprise/Warner Bros. and released Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge one year later.

PLUS 44

Forming during pop-punk trio blink-182's 2005 hiatus, +44 brought blink alums Travis Barker (drums) and Mark Hoppus (vocals/bass) back together as their former bandmate Tom DeLonge went off to form his own band, Angels and Airwaves.

 Originally billed as a largely electronic-based project, their songs eventually fell instead under the alternative rock umbrella; their name came from the international dialing code to the United Kingdom, where the duo first discussed doing the project. The two initially hooked up with vocalist Carol Heller of Get the Girl, but by summer 2006, she was no longer in the band in order to spend more time with her family.

 A month later, it was quietly publicized that +44 instead included guitarists Shane Gallagher (the Nervous Return) and Craig Fairbaugh (Mercy Killers, Lars Fredericksen & the Bastards, the Forgotten). Their debut album, When Your Heart Stops Beating, hit stores in early November 2006 through Interscope, as its title track found airtime on radio and MTV.

 +44 headed out on nationwide headlining dates through mid-December in support of the record, despite Barker breaking his right arm while filming the band's first video.

Angels & Airwaves

Formed: 2005 in San Diego, CA
Years Active: 00's
Genre: ROCK

With the hiatus of pop-punk superstars blink-182 in full effect by the fall of 2005, singer/guitarist Tom DeLonge revealed the formation of his new band -- one he'd already been working with for six months -- called Angels & Airwaves. Much hype ensued after the announcement. In interviews with outlets like MTV.com, DeLonge proclaimed that his new music would borrow elements from bands like U2 and Pink Floyd and, ultimately, be something of a revolution to change the face of rock & roll forever. Rounding out his lineup were guitarist David Kennedy (Boxcar Racer, Hazen Street), drummer Atom Willard (Rocket from the Crypt, the Offspring), and bassist Ryan Sinn (the Distillers), and the group made its live debut on April 12, 2006, to a sold-out crowd at Pomona, California's Glass House. Those unable to attend the show were given a taste of Angels & Airwaves' shimmering, arena-ready rock later that spring, when We Don't Need to Whisper was released on the Geffen label.


We Don't Need to Whisper was met with mixed reviews but went gold nonetheless, due in large part to a popular pre-sale that ensured the band a healthy first week of sales. Several U.K. festival appearances and a month-long headlining tour followed, and the group also served as an opening act for Head Automatica for Taking Back Sunday during a tour of American venues. After replacing Sinn with former 30 Seconds to Mars bassist Matt Wachter, Angels & Airwaves returned in 2007 with their second album, the equally dramatic I-Empire. Although deemed by DeLonge to be "as exciting as rock 'n' roll gets!" in an interview with Kerrang!, I-Empire didn't fare nearly as well as the previous album, with sales eventually stalling around 260,000 copies in America. A stateside tour in early 2008 proved to be fairly popular, though, and the group remained on the road by joining the Warped Tour later that year.


At the Grammy Awards on February 8, 2009, DeLonge climbed on-stage with Travis Barker and Mark Hoppus to announce plans for a blink-182 reunion. The band toured that summer and spent significant time in the recording studio, where sessions for a new blink-182 album kept DeLonge busy. He found enough free time to record a third album with Angels & Airwaves, however, and the finished product -- simply titled Love -- was released free of charge on Valentine's Day 2010. The second part of Love arrived in November of 2011, not long after DeLonge released his reunion album with blink-182, along with a set that combined both parts of the album.

Box Car Racers

Box Car Racer was a side-project from two members of the band Blink-182, featuring guitarist Tom DeLonge and drummer Travis Barker. DeLonge formed Box Car Racer to experiment with and record ideas he felt were not "Blink-friendly", along with Travis Barker. David Kennedy from Hazen Street completed the group and an eponymous album was ready to be recorded. Tom was insistent on a bass player, so he hired Anthony Celestino who was Kennedy's friend. Guests on the album included Mark Hoppus from Blink-182 on the song "Elevator", and Tim Armstrong from Rancid and Jordan Pundik from New Found Glory on "Cat Like Thief".

DeLonge and Barker claim the group was heavily influenced by Dischord emo, citing influences such as Rites of Spring, Fugazi and later era post-hardcore bands such as Quicksand and Jawbox.

Box Car Racer took a hiatus after their headlining tour in the fall of 2002. DeLonge has stated publicly that the project has served its purpose, and is now permanently defunct.

Origin of name

Travis Barker has always liked the name Box Car Racer. Tom Delonge immediately fell in love and then later realized that it was the same name as the Japan bomber. He wasn't happy with it but DeLonge wanted to be politically correct. So he states that the band's name comes from the B-29 Bomber which dropped the second wartime atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan. The plane's name was "Bockscar". Tom has said in an interview that he had seen the name misspelled as "Boxcar", and thus, dubbed the band under that name for their music and lyrics pertaining heavily to love and war. He wanted the band to also have a three word name, another reason for the name "Box Car Racer".

Simple Plan

Formed: 1999 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Years Active: 00's
Genre: ROCK

Simple Plan is one of Canada's most successful punk-pop acts, featuring a lineup comprised of former high school pals Pierre Bouvier (vocals), Jeff Stinco (guitar), David Desrosiers (bass), Sebastien Lefebvre (guitar), and Chuck Comeau (drums). The quintet initially came together when Comeau and Bouvier founded Reset at age 13. Reset proved to be a modestly successful band in Canada, touring the country with other punk groups like MxPx, Ten Foot Pole, and Face to Face. A debut album followed in 1997; however, Comeau bowed out quietly to attend college. Two years later, Comeau pushed his studies to the back burner and returned to music, this time working with Stinco and Lefebvre to put a new group together. Meanwhile, Bouvier was still in charge of Reset, but he'd grown tired of being both a frontman and a guitarist. After he and Comeau reconnected at a Sugar Ray show in late 1999, Bouvier agreed to join Comeau's new project. Desrosiers, who briefly replaced Bouvier in Reset, was also asked to join the group, and Simple Plan was born.


The band quickly hit the road and joined the annual Vans Warped Tour in 2001. By this point, Simple Plan had carved out a spunky, energetic punk sound, textured like Cheap Trick but raw like Pennywise. The following year, Simple Plan headed into the studio to capture the sound on tape. Good Charlotte's Joel Madden and Mark Hoppus of blink-182 joined Simple Plan during those sessions, and the end result was the fiery, fun No Pads, No Helmets...Just Balls, which was released in early 2003 on Lava Records. The group took home a 2003 MuchMusic Video Award for People's Choice Favorite Canadian Group in June, and the album became a genuine success, selling over four million copies worldwide while going double-platinum in Canada and America. The Bob Rock-produced second album, Still Not Getting Any..., appeared the next year and also did quite well, scoring hits like "Crazy" and "Welcome to My Life." Simple Plan continued touring in support of both releases, and released the concert album Live from the Hard Rock in 2005.


The band scaled back their touring schedule in 2006, looking to concentrate on writing new material instead. Simple Plan entered the studio in June 2007 to begin work on their third studio album, the self-titled Simple Plan, which appeared in February 2008. Although not an international best-seller like its two predecessors, the album still went platinum in Canada, where demand for the band's spunky pop songs remained strong. The band returned three years later with another album, Get Your Heart On!

The Click Five

Formed: 2003 in Boston, MA
Years Active: 00's
Genre: ROCK

Sounding like a younger Fountains of Wayne and looking like a '60s mod band reincarnated for the new millennium, power pop quintet the Click Five formed in Boston in mid-2003. Lead guitarist Joe Guese, bassist Ethan Mentzer, and keyboardist Ben Romans were students at the Berklee School of Music when they captured the attention of Svengali manager Wayne Sharp, a longtime jazz promoter whose first attempt at creating a pinup-ready pop combo (Candy, featuring future Guns N' Roses guitarist Gilby Clarke) ended in commercial disaster when the group's hotly tipped 1985 debut, Whatever Happened to Fun, flopped at retail. After signing Guese, Mentzer, and Romans to his roster, Sharp added another Berklee student, drummer Joey Zehr, who recommended childhood friend Eric Dill to fill the band's frontman slot. After receiving their matching, mod-influenced suits and salon-styled haircuts, the Click Five began honing their chops on the Boston nightclub circuit, and in the spring of 2004 cut their first two-song demo session. A four-song tape quickly followed, and within a month the group signed to Lava Records.


Under Sharp's direction, the Click Five appeared to be everywhere during the first three years of their career. After touring the U.S. in support of Ashlee Simpson and releasing an EP, Angel to You (Devil to Me), and guys began working on their own debut LP, Greetings from Imrie House, which arrived in the summer of 2005 amid a flurry of licensed lunch boxes, trading cards, and hair products. The album was also supported via tour dates in support of the Backstreet Boys. Despite being the opening act on the tour, the Click Five actually enjoyed more mainstream success than the Backstreet Boys at the time, with Greetings from Imrie House peaking at number 15 and its platinum-selling lead single, "Just the Girl," nearly cracking the Top Ten.


The Click Five's popularity in America proved to be short-lived, though. After replacing Dill with singer/guitarist (and fellow Berklee alum) Kyle Patrick, the group returned in 2007 with Modern Minds and Pastimes, an album whose slightly retooled sound -- more synthesizers, more new wave elements -- failed to make an impact at home. Abroad, however, the Click Five continued to top the charts, particularly in Asian countries like Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand. As a result, the band released its next album, TCV, exclusively to Asian markets in late 2010. A European release followed six months later.

Good Charlotte

Good Charlotte is an American pop/rock band from Waldorf, Maryland that formed in 1996. They took their name from the children's book called "Good Charlotte: The Girls of Good Day Orphanage," written by Carol Beach York.

Band members

Joel Madden - lead vocals

Benji Madden - rhythm guitar , backing vocals

Billy Martin - lead guitar , keyboards

Paul Thomas - bass guitar,

Dean Butterworth - drums

Former members
Aaron Escolopio - drums, percussion
Chris Wilson - drums, percussion

Good Charlotte started out by playing at small bars. They soon caught the attention of punk rock band, Lit, whose song "My Own Worst Enemy" was a chart topper at the time. Good Charlotte lost the opening slot on Lit's East Coast tour in 1999. Soon after, Good Charlotte played some dates with the band Blink-182, who had just experienced mainstream success with their album, Enema of the State. All of this caught the attention of major music labels, and Good Charlotte eventually signed with Epic Records in 1999.

In 2000, they released their self-titled debut album, Good Charlotte. Y100, a now-defunct radio station in Philadelphia spun Good Charlotte's song "Little Things" before it was released as a single. It ended up being a big success on the station, so big that on Y100's nightly "Cage Match" competition (where new songs were pitted against each other and listeners could vote on which was better), "Little Things" won fifteen nights in a row, beating out bigger names, before it was retired to the cage match hall of fame.

Good Charlotte also gained a lot of momentum and popularity from "Little Things" being played by now defunct Washington radio station,99.1 WHFS. WHFS's annual music concert, the HFStival, hosted a locals only stage and is credited with being Good Charlotte's big break.

"Little Things" was later released as a single in 2001, and peaked at #23 on the U.S. Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart. In the second half of the year, three more singles were released from the album, "The Motivation Proclamation", "The Click" and "Festival Song".

2002's The Young and the Hopeless well marked the band's music into mainstream popularity. Their breakthrough single, titled "Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous", topped both pop and rock charts around the globe. Singles that followed from that album include "The Anthem", "Girls & Boys", "The Young and the Hopeless" and "Hold On". They thanked many other bands for their influences for this album, including Blink 182, Sum 41, NOFX and Green Day.

The album eventually went on to receive triple platinum certification (three million copies sold) from the RIAA. During the course of the album's success, Good Charlotte landed appearances on Saturday Night Live, CNN, and The Today Show, the covers of Rolling Stone and Alternative Press magazines, and were also featured in The New York Times. They also became popular on MTV, where their music videos were played in heavy rotation on both MTV and MTV2. "Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous" received the "Viewers Choice Award" at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards.

The band hired temporary drummers during the recording, release and touring of The Young and the Hopeless due to former drummer, Aaron Escolopio, having left the band before its release to join his brother's group, Wakefield. In 2003, the band added Chris Wilson as a drummer, he was introduced to the band through mutual friends from the group The Used. Also in 2003, the band made a cameo appearance in the King Gordy video for "Nightmares".

Good Charlotte's third album, The Chronicles of Life and Death, was released by Blake face in 2004. The album received mixed reactions from both the music press and Good Charlotte's fan base. The album has been widely considered a departure from their previous two albums, mixing new elements such as lyrical topics into Good Charlotte's youthful sound. Singles released from the album include the two hits "Predictable" and "I Just Wanna Live", as well as "The Chronicles of Life and Death" and "We Believe". The only single from The Chronicles of Life and Death which managed to chart upon the U.S. Hot 100 was the hit "I Just Wanna Live". All of the singles released from the album went top 30 in the UK, except for "We Believe".

In May 2005, after much speculation from fans, it was officially confirmed that Chris Wilson had left the band citing personal health reasons. Benji also told Kerrang! magazine that, for him, "Chris leaving the band was the worst part of 2005". Chris then joined a pop/rock band The Summer Obsession but because of its split in 2007, he currently plays drums in Allegiance To The Fire.

On Good Charlotte's "Noise to the World Tour", performing with Simple Plan and Relient K, the band recruited Dean Butterworth (who had previously played for Morrissey) as the band's temporary drummer. Later, in March 2007, Butterworth was confirmed as the band's permanent drummer.

Benji Madden has claimed in interviews that he feels this record was not as successful as the previous record due to it being "too selfish."

Good Morning Revival is the fourth album by Good Charlotte and the follow up to 2004's The Chronicles of Life and Death. It was officially released in March 2007, with the precise date varying by country.

Good Morning Revival debuted in the top 10 of thirteen countries worldwide including the U.S., giving the band some of their highest international chart positions thus far. At midnight, on January 23, 2007, the forthcoming record was made available for pre-order on iTunes. When pre-ordered, the single, "The River" was downloaded immediately, while the rest of the album was queued to be downloaded on the released date. Pre-ordering on iTunes also provided the exclusive bonus acoustic version of the aforementioned single.

The first single from the album, "The River", featuring Avenged Sevenfold's lead singer, M. Shadows and guitarist Synyster Gates, appeared online on January 4, 2007 and was released as the first single from the album in North America. The music video for "The River" was added to UK music channels Kerrang! and Scuzz on April 13, 2007, making it the second single released from the album in the UK. The song charted at #108. "Keep Your Hands off My Girl" was released as the first single in the UK and Australia. "Keep Your Hands Off My Girl" charted on the UK Singles Chart at #36 the first week of release through download sales and then climbed to #23 when released in stores. The second single released in North America was "Dance Floor Anthem", with which the band had scored a surprise hit, making it onto eleven different Billboard charts and peaking at #2 in Australia. The "Keep Your Hands Off My Girl" video was recently certified gold by MTV International. It was played 3,000 times on over 4 continents during the first half of 2007. On January 1, 2008, Good Charlotte was featured on Tila Tequila's New Years Eve Masquerade on MTV, as they were the second performance of the new year and performed their hit "Dance Floor Anthem".

The band made multiple U.S. and international TV appearances in support of the album. First, Good Charlotte appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on April 9, 2007, the Outdoor Stage on Jimmy Kimmel Live on April 11, and on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on April 27. Joel and Benji Madden, Good Charlotte's lead singer and guitarist respectively, co-hosted the Australian MTV Video Music Awards with Fergie on April 29, 2007 where the band also won the "Viewers Choice Australia" award for "Keep Your Hands Off My Girl". In August 2007, the band embarked on Justin Timberlake's FutureSex/LoveShow tour, as Timberlake's opening act. Good Charlotte supported Timberlake throughout his second leg North American dates. They were present for the August 16, 2007 show in Madison Square Garden, which was taped for a HBO broadcast.

In 2008, Good Charlotte appeared on the Three 6 Mafia track off of their new CD Last 2 Walk called "My Own Way".

On November 25, "Greatest Remixes" was released. This compilation album includes 15 songs from previous Good Charlotte albums remixed by other artists like Metro Station, Junior Sanchez, The Academy Is..., and The White Tie Affair feat. Mat Devine of Kill Hannah.

Good Charlotte is currently in the studio recording their fifth studio album. Describing the sound to MTV news, Joel Madden said it would sound a lot like Blink-182. Joel Madden went on to say in the same MTV interview that "There's nothing dance-y on the record, though, at all, which is different from our last one," further implying a movement away from the sound of Good Morning Revival.

On December 3 Kerrang! magazine announced that Good Charlotte would be releasing their fifth studio album, Cardiology in 2009. The title of which, according to Joel, comes from the lyrical content of the album, which he explained is "all connected to the heart". Madden also added that they have already written 20 songs for the new album, and are said to be heading back to their pop-punk roots.

The album is being produced by Howard Benson, who is known for such albums as My Chemical Romance's "Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge", and The All-American Rejects "Move Along".

The band has been frequently tweeting while at the studio. Late July 2009, Joel Madden has mentioned that they are close to track listing the album. On August 9th 2009, Benji Madden mentioned on his twitter that they have yet to record the songs but they are written.

On the 25th August Benji Madden announced on the official Good Charlotte website that the band were in the final stages of tracking and recording the album. He also gave fans a single line from one of the new songs:

"She liked me better when I different, No one knew me then, back in Maryland"

Benji Madden also said on his twitter account on August 26th that they are shooting for a March/April release date. "We are shooting for march/april guys. sorry for the wait but we wanna do this one right. Don't worry, you will get some music before then".