Name: Gerard Arthur Way
Nickname: Ger, Gee
Birthday: 09. April 1977
where ?: Belleville, New Jersey (USA)
Haircolour: black
Eyecolour: green
How tall ?: 1,75m
Brohter or Sister ?: band member Mikey Way
Descent: mother Italian, father Scot
Education: before he founded MCR Gerard was studing
at the School Of Visual Arts in New York City
Favourite Bands: Green Day, Iron Maiden,
David Bowie, Distillers, The Cure, The Smiths
Childhood
Gerard is of Scottish and Italian descent. He first began singing in fourth grade, when he played the part of Peter Pan in a school production of the play. His grandmother Elena Lee Rush (who was known to friends as Helen), taught him to sing and made his costume, including traditional green tights. After this he "turned his back" on singing, saying, "Well, I don't want to be this weird singer kid, into other things like comics and Iron Maiden". He then decided to pursue graphic arts. Gerard had always been interested in drawing and comics because his childhood house was a "dark and dingy gothic-looking" place in the town of Belleville, New Jersey. He says that as a child, he was not much able to play outside, so he made up imaginary worlds in his head, which led on to his love for artwork. As a child, Gerard came to the revelation that everyone he cares about will eventually die, and that he will die alone. This has led to his current obsession with the idea of death.
He has recovered from an addiction to drugs and alcohol, being sober as of August 2004, and visits a therapist when the band's not on tour. Gerard’s band mates have pulled him out of a deep depression twice (before the band really got started, and as he was sobering). However, he still enjoys his Marlboro Red cigarettes.
He recently stated in an interview that as a New Year's resolution he was trying to quit smoking; however many fans have claimed to still see him smoking outside concert venues. He also smoked a cigarette during a recent interview with NME magazine.
After graduating from Belleville High School in 1995, he attended School of Visual Arts in New York City graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1999. Gerard aspired to be a comic book artist (he loved comic books, and his favorite superhero was always Wolverine) before forming My Chemical Romance. In 2001, Way says he tried to sell an animated television series to Cartoon Network 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. He has also done the artwork for the My Chemical Romance albums and used to design merchandise for the band Thursday.
Way and his band released their first CD, I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love in 2002, a CD titled Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge in June of 2004, and also their third concept album The Black Parade in October 2006. Way is always trying to write new material, and he usually gets song ideas from the newspaper. He sees lyrics as a way of telling a story, and usually loves dark stuff "anything twisted, weird, and a little evil". The song, “Demolition Lovers”, is said to be about Gerard’s then girlfriend, based on a dedication in the CD booklet.
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Frank Anthony Iero
(Iero: "eye-year-oh")
Nickname: Frankie
Birhtday: 31. October 1981
where ? : Belleville, New Jersey (USA)
Haircolour: brown
Eyecolour: green
How tall ? : 1,64m
Education: 4 Years Rutgers University
Favourite Bands: Black Flag, American Nightmare,
The Bouncing Souls, Beastie Boys, Green Day
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Before My Chemical Romance
Frank Iero was born on October 31st, 1981 and grew up in Belleville, New Jersey, close to the other members of his band..
He was bullied throughout high school at Queen Of Peace in North Arlington and went to Rutgers University on a scholarship, but eventually dropped out because he felt that the band he was in was going somewhere (though he still believes he should have a backup plan, as he stated in the band's Life on the Murder Scene DVD).
He has played in various bands since the age of eleven, much like fellow bandmate Gerard Way. His mother allowed him to play in their basement to the point where she couldn't sleep.
In addition to his band Pencey Prep, Frank also played with the bands Hybrid, Sector 12, I Am a Graveyard, and briefly with Give Up the Ghost
My Chemical Romance
Frank was recruited after his band, in which he was a vocalist for, Pencey Prep, broke up. He was recruited after the band decided they needed another guitarist (in addition to Ray Toro) to fill out the sound. At the time when he joined My Chemical Romance, he had dreadlocks. On My Chemical Romance's first album, he played on "Honey, This Mirror Isn't Big Enough for the Two of Us" and "Early Sunsets Over Monroeville"..
Side Projects
Frank has his own clothing line, record label, and publishing company called Skeleton Crew. It is not a T-shirt company as stated by himself. He currently plays in a band called Leathermouth whose debut album will be released early 2007 and will be released on Skeleton Crew Records.
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Name: Michael James Way
Birthday: 10. September 1980
where ? : Newark, New Jersy USA
Haircolour: brown
Eyecolour: brown
How tall ? : 1,85m
Brother or Sister ? : Band member Gerard Way
Education: was at the College
Favourite Bands: Smashing Pumpkins, Anthrax,
Oasis, The Misfits, Radiohead, Blur
Mikey Way was born in Newark, New Jersey, USA, where he grew up. Mikey is the younger brother of My Chemical Romance front man, Gerard Way. He is of Scottish and Italian descent.He came up with the band's name, taken from the book Ecstasy: Three Tales of Chemical Romance, by Irvine Welsh, while working at a Barnes and Noble bookstore in Clifton, New Jersey.
Mikey had been working in the music section of the store, and had decided to take out the books to discuss with a coworker. Mikey also got his brother Gerard a job there working in books. Early on in My Chemical Romance's career, it was said that he learned bass in order to be able to play in the band, which lacked a bassist at the time.
But during interviews with Mikey in their DVD release, Life on the Murder Scene, Mikey claims that he had been an amateur musician since he was young and was in bands as a bassist before My Chemical Romance. He plays a Highway 1 Precision Bass, a Fender Standard Precision Bass, and a Fender J. Mikey had been known for his trademark glasses to correct his nearsightedness, but had Lasik eye surgery and no longer wears them.Mikey recently became engaged to guitar tech Alicia Simmons
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Name: Bob Bryar
Birthday: 31. December 1979
where ?: Chicago, Illinois, (USA)
Haircolour: blond
Eyecolour: blue
Favourite Bands: Black Sabbath
Bob Bryar was born December 31st, 1979, in Chicago, Illinois, he attended university in Gainesville, Florida and previously worked at Disney World as a drummer. He had attended Eisenhower Junior High in Darien, Illinois where he played drums in symphonic and jazz bands.
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 the band on tour with The Used. Frank Iero, the rhythm guitarist, 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." Mikey Way has also said Bob Bryar has taught them to "not take any shit from anybody."
He replaced Matt Pelissier when Pelissier left the band, after being a sound man for The Used for a few years. Contrary to popular belief, he did not play the drums for the band on their second album. The video for "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)" was filmed with Bob drumming before he became an "official" member of the band.
In a clip from the making of the video "Welcome to the Black Parade", he said that he was working on a solo project, and all of the songs were written about Gerard, something that has become a joke among fans.
In the filming of the music video for "Famous Last Words", on The Black Parade, Bob's leg was badly burnt. In the first version of the video he can be seen mouthing, "I can't take this fuckin' heat anymore!" As a result of this he suffered third degree burns and later developed a gangrene infection from his burns. He went to a hospital afterwards and received treatment.
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Name: Raymond Toro Ortis
Birthday: 15. July. 1977
Geburtsort: Newark, New Jersy USA
Haircolour: red - brown
Eyecolour: brown
How tall ? : 1,85m
Descent: Puerto-Rican
Education: he was studing at a musicschool in New York
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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." He also used to have a pet dog called Boy, growing up in a Puerto Rican and Portuguese household. In 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. Ray 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
Ray attended Kearny High School. Contrary to popular belief, he did not attend high school with any of his bandmates, but he did start playing guitar during his sophomore year. It wasn't until a 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 September 11th when Gerard Way saw the bodies fall from the World Trade Center, and decided he wanted to do something with his life to help people. He called up Matt Pelissier and together they started My Chemical Romance along with Mikey Way and Ray Toro. Ray is a major contributor to all the My Chemical Romance instrumentals, as well as writing the majority of their music, and he often helps rhythm guitarist and backup vocalist Frank Iero write his guitar music. He 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, he is not a fan of punk rock or emo music (although My Chemical Romance recently did a cover of the Misfits song "Astro Zombies").
Toro cites Randy Rhoads, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Slash, Jimi Hendrix, Kirk Hammett and Jimmy Page as his guitar influences and has been quoted as 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 from Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge, "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)".
Toro's guitar usually uses the left speaker in The Black Parade.
Previously, Ray played an Epiphone Elitist Les Paul Standard which has a mahogany body, maple top, and a rosewood fingerboard and a Gibson X-plorer. He now plays an ebony Gibson Les Paul Standard.
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