Gerard [Vocals]  Name: Gerard Arthur Way Age: 30 Date Of Birth: April 9th, 1977 Hometown: Newark/ Belleville, New Jersey BIO Gerard Way first began singing in fourth grade, when he played the part of Peter Pan in a school production of the play. His grandmother, Elena who also taught him to sing, was so excited about his role that she made him a costume that included green tights. After this Way 'turned his back' on singing, saying, "Well, I don't want to be this weird singer kid, [I'm] into other things like comics and Iron Maiden". He then decided to pursue graphic arts. Way had always been interested in drawing and comics because his childhood house was a "dark and dingy gothic-looking" place in an area of New Jersey where it was crime-ridden. Dead bodies were almost frequently found in the West Hudson River, which was located in a park where children went to play. Way says that as a child, you couldn't really go out and play, so what he did was make up imaginary worlds in his head, which led on to his love for artwork. After graduating from high school in 1995, he attended School of Visual Arts in New York City graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1999. In 2001, Way says he tried to sell an animated television series to Cartoon Network[1] called The Breakfast Monkey. He maintains that Cartoon Network turned down the pitch because it was too similar to Aqua Teen Hunger Force, then already in production. The Formation of My Chemical Romance When the September 11th attacks occurred, Way was working in the comic industry in New York, and could see the horror occurring at the Twin Towers. This inspired him to "do something with his life", and he formed the band My Chemical Romance. The song "Skylines and Turnstiles" is the first song ever written by My Chemical Romance, and it is based off of Way's experience with the 9/11 incident. The band's name, suggested by Mikey Way, came from a book written by Irvine Welsh, entitled Ecstasy: Three Tales of Chemical Romance. Gerard brought together Ray Toro, Matt Pelissier (later replaced by Bob Bryar), Frank Iero, and his brother Mikey to play gigs along the East Coast. The band soon released its first album I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love in 2002 under the at that time obscure New Jersey label Eyeball Records. Music turned out to be an effective means for Way to deal with his longtime battle against depression, alcoholism, and prescription drug abuse, leading to the creation of deeply personal songs such as "Helena", written after the death of his grandmother, Elena Lee Rush. Despite his success as a musician, Way has not left his drawing behind: He drew all of the art on the band's second album, Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge and has done all the artwork for the new third album "The Black Parade" and has designed merchandise for his and other similar bands. He also has made efforts in order to raise money through his art for causes such as the fight against breast cancer. Other charity funds include working with The Used lead singer Bert McCracken to release a cover of the Queen and David Bowie single Under Pressure, on a Tsunami Relief charity CD. Also, on the third album, he designed the "marching band costumes" For touring and for the single "Welcome To The Black Parade". Frank [Guitar/Vocals]  Name: Frank Anthony Iero Age: 25 Date Of Birth: October 31, 1981 Hometown: Belleville, New Jersey BIO Frank Anthony Iero is the rhythm guitarist and back up vocalist for the alternative rock/pop-punk band My Chemical Romance. He also has his own clothing line/music label/publishing company called Skeleton Crew. Iero grew up in Belleville, New Jersey along with many of the other members of his current band, My Chemical Romance. He had been playing in numerous other bands since he was eleven years old. In addition to his band Pencey Prep, Iero played with the bands Hybrid, Sector 12, and briefly with American Nightmare (now known as Give up the ghost). He was bullied throughout high school and went to Rutgers University on a scholarship, but eventually dropped out to join My Chemical Romance. He was recruited to fill out the band's sound when his band, in which he was vocalist for, Pencey Prep, broke up. He is very passionate about music, and has been playing in bands since the age of 11. His father, granfather, and great uncle are a major influence on his music career. Iero uses an Epiphone Elitist Les Paul Custom guitar with an Alpine White finish. One of his many guitars sports the name Pansy which is also a nickname of his, although recently, Pansy was broken by an MTV guitar tech. Iero has named many of his guitars; some of these names include "Texas", "Bela", "Sinatra", "Angel" and "New". He has been seen playing Angel on several TV appearances and the guitar makes a cameo on Life on the Murder Scene. He admires Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day, and learned to play the guitar by imitating him. His favorite bands include The Bouncing Souls, American Nightmare (now known as Give up the ghost), and Black Flag. He has suffered from Epstein-Barr virus and battled bronchitis throughout his childhood. He has suffered from a case of mono and has had numerous lacerations to his head, hands, and knees. He claims he gets hurt every show. The worst was when he broke his toes. Mikey [Bass]  Name: Michael James Way Age:27 Date Of Birth:September 10, 1980 Hometown:Newark/ Belleville, New Jersey BIO Mikey Way was born in Newark, New Jersey and grew up in Belleville, New Jersey. As a teenager, he stayed musically active by playing with a few small bands made up of friends, and occasionally his brother Gerard. One of these bands was named Raygun Jones. He is responsible for the band's name, which came from the book Ecstacy: Three Tales of Chemical Romance, by Irvine Welsh, while working at a Barnes and Noble bookstore in Clifton, New Jersey. Mikey Way learned bass in order to be able to play in the band, which lacked a bassist at the time. He also dropped out of college so that he would have enough time to play with the band and record their first album, I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love. He plays both a Highway 1 Precision Bass, and a Fender Standard Precision Bass. Mikey Way is Scottish and Italian. He and Gerard are maternal second cousins of Joe Rogan, Host of the NBC game/stunt show Fear Factor and former cast member of the sitcom News Radio. Ray [Guitar/ Vocals]  Name: Raymond Manuel Toro-Ortiz Age:29 Date Of Birth: July 15, 1977 Hometown: Kearny, New Jersey BIO Raymond Manuel Toro-Ortiz, most known as Ray Toro (born on July 15, 1977 in Kearny, New Jersey) is the lead guitarist and backup vocals for My Chemical Romance. He is recognized in the band by his signature afro. Biography Childhood: Growing up, Toro's father worked at the post office in the shipping department, and the family lived on a "dead end" street where he grew up in a Puerto Rican household. "There was definitely a funny collection of people hanging around my block," the guitarist told the magazine Alternative Press. "There was this guy who was this drug addict. Every couple of weeks he would OD outside my house. I would see the ambulance come and take him away." In the My Chemical Romance DVD Life on the Murder Scene he talks about how he wasn't allowed to go and play because they were finding bodies in the local parks, and in West Hudson Park river which was right around the corner from his house. Toro says that due to incidents like this, his parents didn't want to let him out of the house onto the streets by himself. Music: Toro attended Kearny High School. Contrary to popular belief, he did not attend high school with any of his band-mates, but he did started playing guitar during his sophomore year. It was few years after graduating high school that he met Gerard Way and Mikey Way through a mutual friend from Gerard's art school. The three remained "loose friends" until he reconnected with Gerard at an Iron Maiden concert, which is where the formation of My Chemical Romance began. Toro is major contributor for all the My Chemical Romance instrumentals, as well as writing the majority of their music, and he often helps rhythm guitarist and a backup vocalist guitarist, Frank Iero, write his guitar music. Toro often harmonises his guitar solos, as heard on I'm Not Okay (I Promise). He has also been credited by Mikey Way as a "metalhead" due to his love of Iron Maiden and Ozzy Osbourne. Unlike his bandmates, Toro is not a fan of punk or emo music. Toro cites Randy Rhoads, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Slash, Jimi Hendrix, Kirk Hammett and Jimmy Page as his guitar influences and had been quoted saying, "I'm into classic rock and metal. All of my style is patterned after these guys." He also had a large role in the music video for My Chemical Romance's first single off of Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge, "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)". He plays an Epiphone Elitist Les Paul guitar which has a mahogany body with maple cap and rosewood fingerboard. Guitar playing style: Toro's guitar style has been heavily influenced by heavy metal of the 80's such as Metallica, Slayer and Megadeth. This can be heard in many of the rhythmic parts he plays with Frank Iero. A lot of his solos are based on hard rock and blues metal from the 70's, but have a very pop sound influenced by Johnny Marr, as mentioned on the Life on the Murder Scene DVD. On the forthcoming album "The Black Parade" distinct Brian May influences can be found in his playing, most noticeably in his solos. He has even been asked by the band Alkaline Trio to play on a song with the band. Trivia He recently, like the Way brothers, dyed his hair a different color-- dark brown. He performs most of the guitar solos on My Chemical Romance songs. Toro has been injured several times on stage, some examples being: *During a particularly complicated move, guitarist Frank Iero's guitar flew away from his shoulder and hit Toro in the side of the head (One of the two injuries so far meriting a hospital visit) that ended in Toro getting a concussion and minor blood loss. This has happened many times; however, this is the only incident that required a hospital visit. He played the rest of the show despite his injury. Fortunately, the remainder of the set only consisted of three more songs. *A more recent addition to Toro's many head injuries, the snare drum in drummer Bob Bryar's drum kit fell from a height of eleven feet, hitting Toro. It was the first and last time Bryar decided to be elevated above the rest of the band. *His nose has been broken three times. *One of the first moments of My Chemical Romance live, captured on film consisted of Toro getting hit in the face with lead singer Gerard Way's microphone as he swung it (which would later become a trademark move), resulting in a torn lip and bloody nose. This was the only other injury that ended in a hospital visit due to the need for stitches in his lip. Bob [Drums]  Name: Robert Nathaniel Bryar Age: 26 Date Of Birth: December 31, 1979 Hometown: Chicago, Illinois BIO Robert Nathaniel Bryar (born December 31, 1979 in Chicago, Illinois) is the drummer for My Chemical Romance. He is professionally known as Bob Bryar. Biography: Born in Chicago, Illinois, he joined the band in 2004 while working as a sound engineer for The Used, through whom he became friends with the members of My Chemical Romance. He first met them when The Used went on tour with My Chemical Romance. Frank Iero, guitarist in My Chemical Romance said on the DVD Life on the Murder Scene: "Bob and Toro are the two hardest working people I've ever met, and if there is a God, I thank him everyday for bringing us Bob." My Chemical Romance has also said Bob Bryar has taught them to "not take any shit from anybody". He replaced Matt Pelissier when Pelissier was left the band, after being a soundman for The Used for a few years. The video for I'm Not Okay (I Promise) was filmed with Bob drumming before he became an "official" member of My Chemical Romance. He attended university in Gainesville, Florida and has previously worked in Disneyworld, Florida as a drummer. When he attended Eisenhower Junior High in Darien, Illinois he played drums in symphonic and jazz bands. Trivia: Bob Bryar recently sustained second and third degree burns to the back of his left leg while filming a video for My Chemical Romance's single from The Black Parade, Welcome To The Black Parade. He is a big fan of the animated series of Mr. Bean and received the last tape to his collection on MCR's first ever Secret Santa by a guy named Chris, who is thought to be Chris Dudley from the band Underoath. He was sent to the emergency room on August 31 with Staph Infection brought about by the burns he received earlier when he went to the hospital and recieved the infection. He should not have even done the concert during the pre-show of the MTV Video Music Awards. He was sent directly afterwards to be treated. He has said he does vocals on the song "Cancer" from My Chemical Romance's latest album The Black Parade. | |
