Tommy Bryant - The true lives of My Chemical Romance : the definitive biography

FOR ASHLEY MAILE,

A GREAT ROCK N ROLL PHOTOGRAPHER

The first time I met My Chemical Romance, we were in New York. It was August 2004, a few months after their second album Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge had been released. Though the record had been out a little while, it had yet to make them famous. That would arrive in the coming months, but back then they were poised and on the brink.

The city was hot and muggy, and our photo shoot was on the shoreline of the Hudson River. The New Jersey where they grew up was outlined behind them, the bustle and energy of New York stood before them, almost like a metaphor for the way their career would take off from that point.

Gerard Way, chain-smoking, was fascinated with what the photographer Tony Wooliscroft was looking for. The singer was wearing the cheap black suit and striped black and white tie that was his uniform back then. It was the same suit he had worn all across the Warped Tour that summer, the same suit he had performed, drunk and flown across the world in for months. It did not smell good. But it looked fantastic. Alongside his band, in jeans and T-shirts next to him, he pulled pose after pose. He looked, I remember thinking at the time, like a star.

Mikey Way, Gerards brother, was quiet that day. He fooled around with drummer Bob Bryar, who had been a member of the band for only a matter of days at that point. Ray Toro and Frank Iero were both polite and friendly. Frank was relaxed and cracked sharp jokes, but later in the interview he was intense and passionate. Ray was happier to take a back seat, but when he did speak it was obvious that everyone else listened and deferred to him. He seemed like the bands quiet mastermind, while Gerard seemed its visionary. That would make Frank, I remember noting down, the beating heart.

As the photo shoot finished, a great clap of thunder rolled luxuriously through the sky. A torrential summer downpour burst across the city. Caught out in it, we got soaked. We ran for cabs and I ended up sitting next to Gerard as we drove to my hotel for the interview. That was a mistake. New York became humid in the rain, and the taxi heated up quickly. Gerards jacket began to steam: it reeked of sweat, of booze, of backstages and cigarettes; it smelled of the dirt of touring, the stench of truck stops and the rottenness of the road.

He turned to me apologetically. You know its bad, he said with something approaching embarrassment, when you disgust even yourself.

There was something joyous and innocent about the band then. When we got to the hotel I asked them, half jokingly, what their plans were if Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge went on to sell over a million copies. Back then, the possibility seemed a long way off.

Well all go out and buy jets and space stations, said Mikey, grinning happily. As long as we get our own action figures, well be happy.

Id probably buy Dungeons & Dragons books, said Gerard while Ray added, Id buy a Pac-Man arcade machine, then take care of my family. Id erase all debt from my friends.

Would they all move out to LA like successful bands tend to do?

No fucking way, said Frank.

Ill never move to LA, reckoned Mikey.

These guys are very Jersey, said Gerard. I could see myself moving. Anywhere, though, not necessarily LA. I like California.

But within years, Gerard, Mikey and Ray would all live in Los Angeles. Only Frank stayed behind in New Jersey.

They were happy, contented and enjoying each others company that day. They started to describe each other and themselves, smiling as they did so.

Im the sensitive one, said Gerard, grinning. Im the girl of the band!

Im the annoying father that everyone hates, said Ray resignedly, to laughter all round.

Hes like, Boysss thats the way he says it, Boysss, we got ten minutes, said Gerard, mocking his guitarist good-naturedly. Youll be asleep and hell be like, Time to get up boyssss, weve got to make a video. Frank is the loose cannon if he believes something, hell stick to his guns no matter how much we push him. Mikey is the kid, we have to take care of him because hes always getting mugged and beaten up.

Im the unlucky one, Mikey confessed.

Unlucky! spluttered Frank. Dude you took an electric heater into the shower once, thats not unlucky!

Well, sometimes I dont think straight, confessed Mikey.

Hes kind of like Mr Bean, said Gerard, laughing out loud until he looked at his brothers face. Well, a little bit.

But then they got more serious. They talked about the future, about their hopes for their album and what it might do for them as a band. I asked them what their realistic expectations were for Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge.

They are that we have a shot, said Gerard. We have a chance to hold ourselves up against huge bands, to bring some new ideas and dislodge some of those bigger bands by pushing the envelope.

Because of the kind of record we made, we questioned ourselves, said Frank. We worried no one would get the album and then they did understand it. That made us realize we had a really big shot. We feel like we can be something amazing.

In the next nine years before they split up, they became something extraordinary. They followed the visceral, buoyant punk of Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge with the gloriously grand, multi-platinum brilliance of The Black Parade and became the most iconic, stylized, and bombastic rock band in a generation. With Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys, their creativity and visual panache exploded into technicolour. Yet throughout, they maintained something personal in their music and in their ferociously strong relationship with their fans.

Ive lost count of the number of times I interviewed them. We met in glamorous photo studios, in plush hotels and in a handful of different countries. But we also met in dirty backstages and seedy bars. No matter where, though, I found them all to be that rarest of things in the music industry: genuine. Unfailingly friendly, loyal to a fault and immensely humble, they were always far more generous with their time than I deserved.

They were funny too often eye-wateringly so. There are plenty of times they come across as dark and intense characters in this book but they could also make you laugh in a split second. Dude, I always thought we were fucking hilarious, Mikey told me once. But then I know us...

Mostly, though, they were unfailingly honest. The second time I interviewed Gerard, he said, Oh good its you. We have good conversations, I can trust you, while one of the last times I met them, Mikey let me know that weve always got time to talk to you, well always tell you the truth. And in the intervening years, they told me their hopes and dreams, they confessed to me their addictions and failures, and they played down their successes. They allowed me a privileged insight into their lives. Thats the story I hope to tell here.

Id like to thank the band for their generosity from the first time I met them to throughout the writing of this book. Though this is not an authorized biography, Frank was good enough to subject himself to two extremely long interviews. Meanwhile, the band allowed me to speak to a number of their close friends, associates, producers, engineers and peers. The rest of the book is based on my library of interviews with them over the years, many of which have not been published before.