Stripped Down, Cranked Up: My Chemical Romance Return

[kukolnica]

"I thought the band was going to break up," says guitarist Frank Iero.
"I was expecting a call from Gerard saying, 'We can't do it anymore.'"

Early in the recording of My Chemical Romance's fourth album, the band gave mixer Rich Costey a preview. "Everything he heard was just noise and spitting," remembers singer Gerard Way.

Taken aback, Costey asked, "What are these songs?"

"They're protest songs," Way told him. "It's the sound of 'no.'" Only later did Way realized exactly what he was protesting: "I was protesting us."

After a grueling tour behind 2006's The Black Parade, MCR were worn out and fed up. "I thought the band was going to break up," says guitarist Frank Iero. "I was expecting a call from Gerard saying, 'We can't do it anymore.'" Instead, they took a year off and changed managers. This past February, they went into the old A&M studios in L.A. with Pearl Jam producer Brendan O'Brien.

"The plan was to knock it out and not to overthink it," says drummer Bob Bryar. They expected to be done by April, but the record ended up taking all year. The goal, Way says, was to drpo the theatricality of The Black Parade -- which had lots of Floyd-ian pomp an da Liza Minnelli cameo -- and "to harness everything that's great about this band into shorter songs. Almost protopunk, like the Stooges or the MC5."

The song that pushed them in the right direction was "Trans Am." It begins with the lyric "I got a bulletproof heart" and then stomps through four minutes of fist-pumping rock.

With that new direction -- impassioned but melodic -- MCR put aside the noisier material they had been working on and wrote a new batch of songs; the fast-and-dirty "Still Alice," the anthemic "The Only Hope for Me Is You" and the super-catchy "Death Before Disco" (featuring the chorus "Everybody pay attention to me"). "We simply embraced rock n' roll and where we're from," Way says. "We learned how to be an American rock band instead of a British rock band."

On an October afternoon in L.A., MCR are polishing the album. There's only a month or two of work left to do: some mixing, some overdubs, and sequencing. Today, Way is working on that pivotal cut, "Trans Am" -- which he thinks would be enhanced by "1.2 seconds of Queen."

So he warms up his vocal cords, slips on some headphones, and asks, "Can I get a little bit of reverb? Yeah, it's a crutch." then he sings, "These pigs are after me, after you" a dozen times, creating a "Bohemian Rhapsody" harmony. His performance is stylized, almost like a yodel. With a grin, he announced, "When I start sounding teenage-girlish, that's the sweet stuff."

Way's in a good mood, and not just because he's almost done with the record. In 2007, he married Lyn-Z (bassist for the band Mindless Self Indulgence); this May, they had a baby girl, Bandit. Way took two weeks off and then came back to work "like a zombie, long hair and unshaven." But fatherhood gave him a new perspective on his lyrics, which focused on despair and death. "I wasn't writing a record about becoming a dad, I wasn't writing a record for my baby girl, but I was writing a record for the person that she would turn into when she was 15, if anything ever happened to me."

[Source: Rolling Stone Magazine (RS 1092)]

@темы: news, magazines

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[kukolnica]

Save Yourself, I'll Hold Them Back
Sounds Like: Down'n'dirty rock'n'roll collides with stadium rock, with big, emotive My Chemical Romance chorus that makes you want to jump up and down in a sea of thousands of other people.
Stand-out lyrics:
You can leave this world, live it all behind
We can steal this car if your folks don't mind
We can live forever if you've got the time...

Still Alive
Sounds Like: A bouncy and playful romp - complete with all-girl gang vocals - about the hazards of playing the Reading and Leeds festivals. Gerard wrote this anthem from the perspective of a teenager getting ready to throw a bottle of piss. Tasty!
Stand-out lyrics:
We came here to rough up everyone we see
Get off the stage and ask yourself "Am I still alive?"

Death For Disco
Sound Like: A thumping great ode to the pleasure of raucous rock'n'roll hedonism with an unabashedly pop chorus.
Stand-out lyrics:
'Cos all the good times, they give you cancer...

Trans Am
Sound Like: Huge melodies and epic songwriting intermingle to create a glorious runway teen riot
Stand-out lyrics:
Gravity don't mean too much to me
Is this our destiny
This world is after me

Kerrang Scans

запись создана: 11.11.2009 в 21:22

@темы: news, magazines

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Ray reveals song titles \o/

[kukolnica]

Mixing with our good buddy Rich Costey is going great. So far, he's mixed 9 songs, and they all sound fucking stellar. He had an interesting process where he started out mixing some of the looser songs first, and then ramped up to the denser stuff. Our goal in mixing is to make it loud, and then make it louder then that. "Still Alive" was an early one, and he brought a real heaviness and aggressiveness to that song. Song is very drum and bass oriented, very different for us, but still rocks at the same time. A bit of Queen influenced guitar harmonies helps on that song.

"Save Yourself" was another early one, a mix of Judas Priest metal and 80's arena rock. That song went through a lot of different permutations, and finally we settled on this vibe that took us to new territory. We then got into a song called "The Only Hope For Me Is You," and that's where things really starting clicking with Rich. What was great was each song would just sound better and bigger than the last. As some of you had guessed from a twitter thing of mine (I refuse to call it a tweet), David Campbell did a bit of work on the record, and that's one of the songs he arranged for. Costey did this crazy effect with the strings going into the last chorus that blew me away. One of my favorite tracks.

"Trans Am" and "Death Before Disco" came next. "Disco" you may have heard at the Roxy shows or from Youtube videos of Summersonic. So happy with the way that mix turned out. I have to drive REALLY FAST when I listen to it. I think that's a hallmark of a great rock song. "Trans Am" is an epic take on "Born To Run" in 4 minutes. When we wrote this song, it was HUGE for us. Really opened our hearts and ears during the writing process. Frank, thanks for noodling and G, good ear to make a song out of it. You guys will love this song. Another favorite. Looking forward to more mixes, we got coming up "Kiss The Ring," which we also played at Roxy. I really can't wait for "Black Dragon Fighting Society," our ode to Misfits punk. Song kinda shreds!

Mixing is a great thing. The ideas continue to flow, and like they say, writing is never done.
FYI any of the song titles mentioned are still tentative, you know how we like to change things up!!!

Ray

@темы: news

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Video of Gerard at the Hello Kitty 35th anniversary celebration.

[kukolnica]

Gerard appears at 1:05.

@темы: media. video

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Some in-studio pics

[kukolnica]

posted by Ray on Oct 08, 2009 4:33pm

+4

Hey all! Hope everyone is good. Quick update on the happenings here in MCR land.

We're almost done tracking the record, and then moving on to mixing. This process has been really different and enlightening. When we went to Tokyo for the Summersonic shows, we came back recharged and remotivated, wanting to better what we had done before we left. What resulted was us writing some of our best songs on the record. Lesson learned? Sometimes you have to step back to get to the real heart of things...

Photo-shoot today, and damn't none of my old clothes fit! Either time to go shopping, or time to hit a gym. Neither are choices I like...

Mine and Christa's dog Bauer, who I posted a picture of a few weeks ago, has been diagnosed with CRF - chronic renal failure - which is insane for a dog his age. He's three, and very sick. Unfortunately, its something that you wouldn't pick up on until its too late. We decided to bring him back home to Jersey where he can run in the grass and play, and luckily that seems to be making him feel better. The doctors out here are surprised at how well he looks considering the severity of his condition. He's a tough little guy.

Putting some pictures up from in studio. Enjoy!

@темы: news, random pictures

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Чудо-семейка х)))

[Chemical Charlotte]

Джерард и Лин


Лин: "Лэди Б. с каждым днем становится все прекрасней. Как это выходит? Должно быть это она получила от отца."
Наконец-то они её показали)) Пусть даже замаскированнной...


Я тащусь от этой семейки х))) Креатив во всём!

@темы: random pictures

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Fresh Ink Online: Gerard Way

[kukolnica]

part two

Part Two


Gerard’s Fresh Ink Online guest hosting gig from a few months ago.

@темы: media. video

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[Aubrey!]

My Chemical Romance at The Roxy, 31.07.2009

Новые песни:

Death Before Disco [video]
Kiss the Ring [video]
The Drugs [video]

Полный сет-лист можно найти здесь

@темы: media. video, media. audio

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[Aubrey!]

A History Of... My Chemical Romance.

даже если вы всё это видели и знаете (обращайтесь ко мне, я на вас подпишусь и достану разговорами, окей?) всё равно сайт полезный и интересный, потому что всё удобно собрано в одном месте.))

@темы: link

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кхм... новости (какие есть)

[Aubrey!]

Keep it secret, keep it safe

posted by Mikey on Jul 09, 2009 5:25pm

Sorry about my recent lack-of-blogging. We have been trapped inside of an honest to goodness rock and roll vortex. These past few weeks, we have been hammering away at our fourth album in a "secret" "underground" "subterranean" studio. Part of me wants to spill all the details, song titles, subliminal messages, blazing solos etc etc but that would be no fun at all. Where's your sense of adventure? I think that if you wait just a little bit longer that you'll thank me for it in the end. Just a little bit longer..


**
жалко конечно, что они решили молчать, а потом сбросить на нас всё сразу, но факт, что они усердно работают, радует уже сам по себе.)

@темы: news

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Picspam

[KCAHDP]

Капля креатива по комиксу Umbrella Academy, может, кому что приглянется.

@музыка: Sensor-The Freaks Shall Inherit the Earth

@темы: umbrella academy, art, stuff, random pictures

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MCR's Venganza Vest

[kukolnica]

xDDDDD

@темы: media. video

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Голосование на the-top-tens.com

[Avant Garde]

Голосуем за My Chemical Romance как за Лучшую группу:
www.the-top-tens.com/lists/greatest-rock-band-o...

за Майки Уэя в номинации Лучший бассист:
www.the-top-tens.com/lists/best-bassists-ever.a...

в номинации Лучшей песни (welcome 2 the black parade):
www.the-top-tens.com/lists/top-ten-songs-of-all...

за лучшего солиста Джи Уэя:
www.the-top-tens.com/lists/most-unique-singing-...

за Френки Аэро в номинации Лучший гитарист:
www.the-top-tens.com/lists/greatest-guitarists-...

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[kennelm chillingly]

@темы: news

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Миксап

[KCAHDP]

Ни с того, ни с сего сегодня сделал микс из двух песен: My Chemical Romance - Heaven Help Us и Hide - Psyche, ах-да, я заметил, что чем то они похожи, правильно.

Предпрослушка:

Скачать в кач-ве 128 kb/s:тут

@музыка: ничего, кроме этого, в голове уже нет))

@настроение: ничего нет))

@темы: my chemical romance, hide, миксап, media. audio

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[Aubrey!]

In the next few weeks, My Chemical Romance will head into the studio to record their fourth full-length album with producer Brendan O’Brien. He has previously worked with AC/DC, Mastodon, Bruce Springsteen, and Pearl Jam, among others. He’s good.

(информация с оф.сайта)

@темы: news

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[real angel]

Кто из Украины, голосуем, м..

View all Kiev events on Eventful

@темы: news

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[Лиза_на_белых_тапках]

извините, не знаю было ли это видео тут уже выставлено, либо видели вы его уже....вот наткнулась, решила поделиться

@темы: media. video

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[Aubrey!]

Gerard and Lindsey in Chris Anthony's "Venice"

@темы: random pictures

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[kukolnica]

Hi hi hi hi, guys!

кто-нибудь может залить мне куда угодно все выпуски The Umbrella Academy,

пожалуйстапожалйстапожалуйста? ><

@темы: search/request