We Could Take To The Highway

After making Bullets, My Chemical Romance went on tour a lot, as they wanted to primarily be a touring band. Gerard and Mikey’s grandmother bought their first van, which they drove until it broke down and caught fire. They didn’t have very much money, and so had to survive on very little food. They lived on top of each other in their crappy van, didn’t shower, and were constantly sick. Various tour injuries from this era include Ray getting hit in the face with Frank’s guitar, Frank breaking his wrist, and Gerard slipping a couple of disks in his back. Their first tour was with Northstar, and was 2 weeks long. On their second tour, Frank got his scorpion tattoo. He deliberately got it high up on his so that no collar would cover it so that he couldn’t get a real job. He and Mikey also dropped out of college to go on tour. Frank’s parents freaked out when they found out, as they wanted him to have something to fall back on if MCR didn’t work out.

With their growing success, the band needed a manager. Brian Schecter was originally the tour manager for bands like The Used, but after hearing My Chemical Romance he knew that they were the band he would get off the road for. He saw them live at Maxwell’s in New Jersey, 4 days after hearing their demo. When he met them they already had 2 booking agents after them. He courted them for a while before becoming their manager on February 17, 2003.

In the beginning MCR would open for whoever would take them. Despite their later labelling as ‘emo’, they didn’t fit into the genre enough and would have to open for hardcore Christian bands. However, as they gained popularity MCR began to open for bands like Thursday, Murder By Death, Taking Back Sunday, From Autumn To Ashes, Underoath, and Reggie And The Full Effect. Because they were so poor, MCR would ask for food and clothes from the bands they were opening for. Most of the money they earned came from merch sales, because distribution for their record was so bad. They took Shaun Simon from Pencey Prep with them on tour to sell merch, but he was dyslexic and didn’t do a very good job. These early tours were described as being like “eating raw life”.

In March 2003 they went on tour in Europe with The Used, playing in the UK, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain. They didn’t have enough money to pay for it themselves, so Brian paid for it with his savings. In Madrid there were signs all around saying “Go home Yankee trash” in protest of the war in Iraq. While in Amsterdam, Ray lost his wallet. My Chemical Romance finally played their first headlining show on March 22, 2003, at Stingray’s in Old Bridge, NJ. They also played a couple of Christmas shows with Mindless Self Indulgence in December 2003.

My Chemical Romance got their first “big break” when they were asked to fill in for Coheed And Cambria at a Jimmy Eat World show on August 31, 2002. The band rented a van and drove up to Allentown, Pennsylvania, a venue that filled about 10000-12000 people. They played the show like they would play a small show. The show was their introduction to major league stuff like input lists and monitors and people who load bands’ gear onto the stage.

Gerard was also featured in SPIN magazine in 2003. SPIN was doing a fashion feature about up-and-coming singers in the New York City area. They had a friend working at SPIN who suggested the band, so the magazine flew Gerard out to the West Coast to do the photoshoot by himself, while the rest of the band had to drive out in the van. It was his first shoot alone, so he didn’t really know what to expect, but Terry Richardson, the photographer, made him feel really comfortable. They called him speed stick (a brand of deodorant) because he hadn’t showered in a while and smelt bad. Gerard couldn’t fake singing, so Richardson got him to karaoke Blag Flag, and while he was singing sprayed him with water until he was soaking wet.

Even before all of these big things were happening for MCR, major labels were interested in signing them. The band had gotten calls from major labels when they still in the practice studio, before they had ever played a show. They once played a basement show in Philadelphia for five people, one of whom was a homeless bootlegger. One of the other people at the show was a representative of a major label. Despite this interest, My Chemical Romance were hesitant because they didn’t want to be exploited or manipulated. They waited 9 months before deciding who was right for them and signing to Reprise/Warner Brothers on August 31, 2003. Their A+R guy was Craig Aaronson. In mid-2003 they started writing new material for their 2nd album.

In early July 2003, MCR did a very informative radio interview with WSOU, in which they talk about playing live, Freddy Krueger, and voodoo. You can download it here.

Here are two live shows from this era:

The Knitting Factory show from June 26, 2003

The Orangevale, CA show from October 8, 2003