Pretty Handsome Awkward

After filming Helena, My Chemical Romance appeared on Total Request Live (TRL) in New York. They decided to do it to say that bands like My Chem could do things like that and make them look cool. It was the first time they had gotten a police escort, which made them feel “Ghostbuster famous”. On the show, Frank jumped up on top of Bob’s drum kit and knocked over the bass drum. Bob had to improvise, and he ended up using his tom as a bass drum. After this, MCR toured Europe with Taking Back Sunday from the 18th of January to the 4th of February. They then went on a short tour of Japan from the 7th to the 9th of February.

In late winter 2005, My Chemical Romance went on the first ever Taste Of Chaos tour with The Used, Avenged Sevenfold, Thrice, Story of the Year, and Underoath. After Taste Of Chaos, My Chem went on another short UK tour with Mini Hand, then went on tour with Green Day from the 15th of April until the 15th of May. The two bands had a lot of fun together on this tour, and they went to movies and waterparks together. Green Day also played several pranks on MCR, such as emptying popcorn on them while they were playing and setting off loud bangs to scare Gerard.

During the Taste Of Chaos tour, the friendship between The Used and My Chemical Romance (and in particular Gerard and Bert) was at its highest. The Used are a rock band from Utah, and Bert McCracken is their extremely classy lead singer.

My Chem and The Used first met through Brian Schechter, MCR’s manager. He had just become really good friends with Gerard, and Bert was like his little brother, so he introduced the pair. They met for the first time in a pizzeria, and quickly became firm friends. The first show they played together was Skatefest in 2002. The Used then took My Chem on tour in February 2003, and they went to Europe together from early March to late April in 2003. The two bands were also together on Warped Tour 2004, during which they became notorious for drinking and partying together, becoming known as the Toxic Twins. Bert also became friendly with Gerard’s mom, and she gave Bert a framed picture of him and Gerard for his birthday.

The Used and MCR became big influences on each other. Bert said “I can’t say enough good things about those guys. They write honest music. They’re my favourite new band, by far. They just kill. Gerard Way has been such a huge support for me in so many strange ways.” In the liner notes for Revenge, Gerard thanks Bert for being his “cellmate”. The Used name-checked MCR in their song Take It Away in the line “And I've lost all doubt In a chemical romance”. In the I’m Not Okay music video, one of the text screens reads “If You’ve Ever Felt Used”, and it lingers on the screen slightly longer than the other lines of text. Bert also claims to have inspired You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Prison, saying “One night [Gerard and I] were making out for so long it almost wasn’t funny anymore – even though it was. That’s what he wrote the song about, whether he wants admit it or not. We were way wasted.” The Toxic Twins seemed inseparable, wearing each other’s merch, doing interviews together, and appearing in their respective video diaries.

My Chem and The Used also collaborated on a duet for charity. Bert picked Under Pressure (a collaboration between David Bowie and Queen) for the bands to cover, as he is a huge Bowie fan and MCR like both Bowie and Queen. Bert sang Bowie’s part, while Gerard did Freddie Mercury’s part. They recorded the song in Niagra Falls, NY for the MTV2 $2 Bill Show on March the 1st, and released it on April 12 2005. The proceeds from this song went towards relief for the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami. It was re-released on The Used’s 2nd album, In Love And Death.

Unfortunately, this whirlwind friendship collapsed very suddenly. In November, Kerrang! published a very short article in which Bert revealed that the pair was no longer talking. He said that while the rest of The Used was still in contact with My Chem, he was no longer on speaking terms with them. In January 2006, Blunt magazine published an interview with MCR in which Gerard said that Bert making up the conflict. In response to this, Bert spoke to an interviewer about what had happened, saying, “What happened was – it was maybe like a year and a half ago I saw all their heads blow up and after their heads blew up their heads kinda went up their arses as well. And I just thought ‘Fuck that, I don’t need friends like that and I don’t even need acquaintances like that.’ As far as the whole thing goes now, I wish them the best with their touring and their record, but it’s over. It’s definitely not a publicity stunt.” MCR did not respond to this.

The Used’s 3rd album, Lies To The Liars, includes a song called Pretty Handsome Awkward is supposedly about Gerard. Quinn Allman (guitar) said, “It’s about someone with short blonde hair, but I’m not sure who it is.” When asked what this person would think about the song, Bert said “I think he will love it… [He’ll] wish he wrote it.”

A recent interview with The Used mentioned that the two bands were friends again and that the whole episode had been exaggerated. My Chemical Romance has not made any comment about the situation since the article in Blunt magazine.