August 25th, 2006
Today should, really, be a day off for New Jersey quintet My Chemical Romance : the night before they played Hammersmith Palais, tomorrow they’ll play second-fiddle to Muse’s ambitious prog-rock in Edinburgh before then entertaining muddied attendees at the Reading and Leeds festivals. But there’s no rest to be had: a new album’s on the horizon, and there’s press to attend to. For an entire day.
Gerard Way – the band’s vocalist, whose glossy black locks have now been shorn, almost military style, and bleached white-blonde – yawns after only five minutes in DiS’s company. He apologies immediately, explaining that the band’s promotional work began at 10.15 in the morning. It’s now gone eight-thirty in the evening. His bandmates sit around him in a west London hotel room: Gerard’s brother, bassist Mikey Way, remains silent throughout, and drummer Bob Bryar curls up on a sofa, visually shattered. Only guitarists Frank Iero and Ray Toro can mu