With the release of incendiary new album Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge, New Jersey's own My Chemical Romance has consolidated a reputation for brilliant, biting and boundary-leaping rock and roll that first came to worldwide attention with their 2002 Eyeball Records debut I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love.
Featuring thirteen new originals written by the band, Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge is an impressive leap forward for a group that's been constantly on tour for the better part of 2 years, winning a fanatical following across North America and Europe, both as headliners and co-billed with The Used, Taking Back Sunday, Story Of The Year and a host of others.
We had to pull ourselves off the road to get fully focused on the album, explains vocalist Gerard Way. We put ourselves under a lot of pressure to exceed what we'd done the last time around, which was a good thing. But at the same time we allowed for the music to evolve and grow. We experimented a lot, tried a lot of new things.
Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge explodes with what Way calls violent, unsafe pop music. Produced by Howard Benson, whose work with legendary Motorhead was a major influence on My Chemical Romance, the album tells a hair-raising story in song. Half of it is about making a deal with the devil, says Way. The other half is taken from our experiences as a band.
With tracks ranging from I'm Not Okay (I Promise) and The Ghost In You, to You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Prison and I Never Told You What I Do For A Living, its up to the listener to distinguish which half is which in some of toughest, most convincing modern rock in recent memory.
The tale of My Chemical Romance, with a name inspired by author Irvine Walsh, starts in the grimy New Jersey suburbs, where the group had formed a very loose-knit friendship since high school. After graduation, they spread out but stayed in contact, eventually reforming around new music.
After being picked up by the New Jersey independent Eyeball Records, My Chemical Romance cut I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love in just under two weeks. The result was one of the best debuts of the year and led to a major label deal with Reprise and a flurry of touring offers.
We've basically been on the road ever since, Way continues. Finally, when we could take the time to develop the songs and story, we got back in the van again and drove out to Los Angeles to record. Part of the reason was we wanted to take our own equipment, and part of the reason was we wanted to get some of that energy carrying into the studio.
Working closely with Benson, who aside from Motorhead, has produced hit music for Hoobastank, POD and others, the group took two months to craft the music and tell the story of Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge. It started out as a complete concept album, Way continues. But as we went along we realized that our own lives were mixed up in it, so we started writing ourselves in the story.
In the same way, My Chemical Romance gets deep inside their own sound on Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge. While echoes can be heard of everyone from Nick Drake to Trent Reznor; Iron Maiden to Morrissey and beyond, it?s the band?s own distinctive and original vision that pulls together this high impact collection. Simply put, Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge is the album to beat for 2004.
What now? We're already back on the road, laughs Way. We?ll be on the VANS WARPED TOUR and over to Japan and back to the UK where we got a great reception. Then, on from there, we?ve really made a lot of progress in the past year, and had a lot of fun. We're committed. Why stop now?
Post comments ONLY for the My Chemical Romance biography. If you
want to comment on My Chemical Romance albums, songs, lyrics, or pictures please select appropriate category first and post your comments from there.
