Late 2004 Touring

After Matt left, Bob joined, and Gerard got clean and sober, My Chemical Romance’s shows got a lot better. Although the first few shows were a bit rough, their act gradually got tighter, and they were able to have fun onstage again. Gerard started to realise that he didn’t have to be drunk to be a crazy frontman, and so My Chemical Romance went from a band on the brink of imploding to a band ready to take on the world.

After the Face To Face tour, My Chem went on a short UK tour in mid-September. They then joined the Nintendo Fusion tour with Story of the Year, Lostprophets, Letter Kills, Amberlin, and Autopilot Off. The people running the tour gave the band a Gamecube with Mario Kart and Donkey Konga. After this tour finished in mid-November, My Chem played a whole bunch of radio shows until the end of the year. On November 13, 2004 they played a show sponsored by KROQ-FM in a Best Buy parking lot in Orange, California. Because of the venue’s proximity to residential areas and a hotel, the band wasn’t supposed to swear, but the guy who was supposed to tell them forgot. The police also threatened to pull the plug on the show because the crowd was too amped-up. They also got in trouble for trying to meet with fans outside of their allotted time slot. At the end of the day, My Chem were told they were banned from playing in Orange County ever again. On December 5, 2004, My Chemical Romance played a show as part of the 97x Next Big Thing concert series. Unfortunately, Gerard lost his voice on this day, so Adam Lazzara (Taking Back Sunday) sang in place of him.

My Chemical Romance also contributed a song to Kevin & Bean's Christmastime in the 909, a compilation of bands covering Christmas related songs. On one of the band’s first tours they weren’t able to get home in time for Christmas, which was a wake-up call as to what touring was really like. However, All I Want For Christmas Is You (Mariah Carey) came on the radio, which cheered everyone up. Gerard got so excited about it he started swinging the knife they kept for protection around. When they were asked to contribute a song for Kevin and Bean’s CD, they decided that instead of covering a classic or writing a new song they decided to see what they could do with this ridiculous song. The song was re-released on Gift Wrapped - 20 Songs That Keep On Giving! You can download it from iTunes by clicking on the album cover.