Based in New Jersey, My Chemical Romance is, in Gerard’s words a “Death Rock Band”. Their name comes from a Irvine Welsh novel, this came about when Mikey and Gerard worked in a book store, Mikey picked up a Irvine Welsh novel and on the back of the book or inside the cover it said “Three Tales of a Chemical Romance”. Mikey instantly thought of it as a band name and added “My” on the front making My Chemical Romance. The band began in the early 2000s, when lead singer Gerard Way and ex drummer Matt Pelissier decided to try writing some songs together as Gerard was a failing comic book artist and was realising that was not what he wanted to do in life. The first song that Gerard and Matt came up with was called “Skylines and Turnstiles”, a song written after Gerard witnessed the Twin Towers fall while working at his animation job in New York City. Gerard and Matt both felt good about the song and Gerard asked guitarist Ray Toro if he would be interested in working with them. My Chemical Romance’s five piece line up was complete when Gerard, Matt, and Ray joined forces with Gerard’s younger brother, Mikey Way and guitarist Frank Iero. With that line up in place, the band started playing all around New Jersey and made plans to begin working on thier first album.

In 2002 Eyeball Records, an indie label, released My Chemical Romance’s first album titled I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love. The album was produced by Geoff Rickly from “Thursday”, who My Chemical Romance are regulaly compaired to as both band’s are from New Jersey and recorded with Eyeball Records.
Lyrically, I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love is as dark as it is introspective and cathartic. Gerard 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. The 2002 album release included Gerard and Matt’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 Brothers and released their second album “Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge” one year later. Proving to be widely popular, the album boasted several successful singles on commercial radio and MTV, including “I’m Not Okay (I Promise)”, “Helena” and “The Ghost of You.”

Despite the bands growing success in July 2004 Gerard became depressed as his alcohol problem had become out of control. This made Gerard feel suicidal and he did not want this to mean the end of the band so on August 11th 2004 he became sober.
In mid 2004 Matt was kicked out of the band to be replaced by Bob Bryar, who was working as a sound engineer on tour with The Used when the offer was put out for him to join the band. Bob replaced Matt and is the current drummer in the band.

The band gathered a large fanbase across America and much of Europe and in 2006 they released their first DVD titled “Life On The Murder Scene”. This was an in depth three disc account of the band. It included a video diary of the band from the beggining onwards and a disk of live performances and music videos and a live audio disk.

On April 10th 2006 the band began recording their third studio album with producer Rob Cavallo, who is best know for producing breakthrough albums for artists such as Green Day and The Goo Goo Dolls. Although drummer Bob Bryar had being in the band for almost two years, since replacing Matt Pelissier in July 2004, this was to be the first My Chemical Romance album that would feature his drumming. Recording of the album took place in
As a whole The Black Parade was a concept album which followed the story of a character called ‘The Patient’, who is dying tragically young from cancer. The album follows the characters reflections on, and passage out of his life. When the patient is dying death comes for him in the form of a Black Parade. The concept of a Black Parade was influenced by one of Gerard’s childhood memories,

“I have a really strong memory of my dad taking me and Mikey to a parade. I remember the big inflatable balloons, even the ones of cartoon characters I loved, were so imposing. So I wouldn’t say that was my happiest memory, but there’s something really cultural about a parade, which is why it became the perfect vehicle. It could represent a funeral procession, or the Day of the Dead or a celebration. For the album’s character, it’s what he wants death to be.”
Gerard Way – Rolling Stone magazine, November 30th, 2006

On October 7th, 2007 the band performed their last show as The Black Parade in Mexico City, Mexico. The show was recorded for the bands second live cd/dvd combination, ‘The Black Parade Is Dead!’. Shortly after the performance a flatline graphic was added to TheBlackParade.com to represent the death of The Black Parade. My Chemical Romance’s official site MyChemicalRomance.com made no reference to the death of The Black Parade and carried on as normal.

On February 1st 2009 My Chemical Romance recorded a cover of Bob Dylan’s Desolation Row for the movie adaptation of the Watchmen graphic novels. The track was featured on the ending credits of the movie. The single was released as a digital download and as a limited edition 12″ picture disc vinyl. The vinyl were limited to just 3000 copies and were backed with an extract from the movie’s score on side B. Desolation Row also featured as the opening track of the Watchmen soundtrack album, “Watchmen: Music from the Motion Picture”, which was released a few days earlier than the film worldwide.
The song showcased the fast, punk-rock sound that had not being heard since Revenge and Bullets.

On Wednesday 27th May 2009, the bands web designer Jeff Watson announced that they were heading back into the studio to record their fourth full-length album. The album was recorded in Los Angles with producer Brendan O’Brien, who has worked with AC/DC, Mastodon, and Pearl Jam.
In various interviews, Gerard has said that the sound of the next album will be dark, raw and sounding more like a live band. It is most likely that it will sound closer to a mix of the groups first two albums, I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love and Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge.
During the album recording guitarist Ray Toro kept fans up to date with the process on the official website. He posted various updates including studio pictures and an MP3 audio update.
The album is expected to be released in late 2009 or early 2010.
The only live performance during the album recording process was when the band headlined the Summer Sonic festival in Tokyo, Japan on Friday 7th August. This was the groups first time headlining the festival, although having performed there previously in 2004 and 2006.
On Thursday 28th July 2009 MyChemicalRomance.com was temporarily taken offline with the title “Change in Progress” and the message:

My Chemical Romance will be right back

In July the band announced two concerts for July 31st and August 1st. These would be the first shows since playing Madison Square Garden, back in May 2008. Mikey left a twitter message about the shows:

From the sound of practice last night, tonight shall be legendary. I miss you crazy fuckers! Let’s do this.
Mikey Way – 31st July 2009 – Twitter.com

Lindsay Way mentioned on her twitter account how excited she was about the shows:

@mikeyway very, very, VERY excited about the show tonight!
Lindsay Way – 31st July 2009 – Twitter.com

A fan (@brandyway) asked Lindsay if Bandit would be going to the show, to which she replied:

@brandyway nah, does not like rock shows. thinks they are too pedestrian. whatever that means…
Lindsay Way – 31st July 2009 – Twitter.com

On March 3rd 2009 Frank posted a blog on the official website stating that drummer Bob Bryar was no longer in the band.

“As of 4 weeks ago, My Chemical Romance and Bob Bryar parted ways. This was a painful decision for all of us to make and was not taken lightly. We wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors and expect you all to do the same.”
Frank Iero – March 3rd 2009 – MyChemicalRomance.com

Many gossip sites reported that an arguement between Bob and the rest of the band had taken place, resulting in Bob’s departure. The band have not yet disclosed the reason why.

In June 2010 various download torrents appeared online, claiming to be a leaked version of the bands fourth album titled “Murderer”. Currently all fan attempts at downloading the torrents have failed and it is not yet known if Murderer is or is not the album title.