Welcome to Gaia! ::

An announcement blared over the PA. It is a voice of a sultry British woman that says: “Unfortunately, My Chemical Romance will not be performing this evening due to unforseen circumstances. They apologize deeply for this inconvenience. In their absence, they asked their good friends to fill in for them.”
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The energy in the crowd has now grown so fierce you could power a city with it. We can’t se them but we can feel them. In the dark I see Ray standing vigilant on his side, focused. Bob begins to count out a temp and Frankie strums the first bars of “The End,” which is ironic because it isn’t the end at all . . . just the beginning.
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I turn to Mikey, who looks almost as nervous as me and I say: “I love you, Mikey.”
He says, “I love you too.”__________________________________________________________________________


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Page27 = art of the band




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Flash Backwards. Taste of chaos two years ago marked the infancy of what is now known as The Black Parade. At the time, the album was co-named The Rise And Fall Of My Chemical Romance. This was a definite foreshadowing of what the album and each of us would become.____________________________________________________________________________

Three Cheers had only been out for about six months and we were already itching to start writing for the third LP. Hints of the record burst about at many a sound check and odd hours of the morning. It was always someone in the back (we had constructed a make-shift studio therein) lounge of the bus yelling, “Hey guys, you have to listen to this.” “This is How I Disappear “Heaven Help Us,” and “Dead ” were ultimately born, along with a few different songs that have either become memories or parts of other songs. As the band started to rise, the workload followed. We found it difficult to breathe, let alone think of new material. While we were out with Green Day, we wrote another chunk of songs in the porta-studio in the back of the bus. The vibe of the record was beginning to take shape. Oddly enough, we came out of that tour and into The Warped Tour with surprisingly optimistic songs. This struck us as completely odd. “I guess we are all really happy now?” a lot of us asked ourselves. “Where’s all the gloom and doom?” A voice in the back of our heads surely said, “”Be careful what you wish for.” Before our headlining tour. We were so excited S.I.R. studios in New York City to start rehearsals for out headlining tour. We were sp excited just to be able to hang out and play music together. We hadn’t been able to in forever due to the busy-ness that was afoot. What came out of this session was one of my favorite tracks, “Disenchanted.” I had always wanted the band to have a Journey-esque power ballad, and low and behold it had arrived. Through the U.S. headlining tour, Europe, and Australia, we did a run of shows that would be the “goodbye” to Three Cheers cycle. This would mark the first break any of us had received since almost day one of the band (except for a few days here and there). Some other fragments of songs, and then untitled tracks were born on that tour in the back of the bus as well. When we finally got home, we took a much-needed month of decompressing. Everyone in the band got a healthy dose of real life, which took adjusting to. After the month, we entered S.I.R. studios in New York once again for what is known in the industry as “Preproduction for the third record.” A lot of people think we only had one record out, when there was actually another album released a few years back on Eyeball Records. As we began writing, stress and strain had dawned on us. “How are we ever going to follow Revenge?” “What is people hate this?” These are the thoughts every band has when writing material as a follow-up to a hugely successful record. From January through March 1st, we diligently wrote. There were streaks of excitement in the air, as we churned out song after song. Songs such as “Welcome To The Black Parade” (at the time names “The Five Of Us Are Dying”), “I Don’t Love You,” and “Mama” were born from this. On March 1st we began the process of moving to Los Angeles to continue with preproduction. We left NYC because we felt that we needed a change of scenery. When we arrived in Los Angeles, we moved into an extremely haunted mansion called “The Paramour.” This house has a huge history of odd and mysterious things occurring inside. Some of us laughed it off; others (cough, cough, me) found the house frightening. As luck would have it, I would end up in the scariest (and later found from past residents) and most haunted room. To add to it, there was a single blue light bulb hanging from the ceiling that didn’t provide light, but an eerie glow. Dogs barking at thin air, doors slamming in front of people (Frankie and Gerard) and bathtubs filling with water when no one was home (Bob). We set up shop in a huge ballroom, chock full of creepy paintings, furniture, and statues. The material started to flow and coincidently, the songs became more sinister, and the riff and lyrics more biting. Songs such as :This Is How I Disappear” and “mama” had these booming sinister sections. Songs such as “Sleep” and “Famous Last Words” poured out. “I Don’t Love You” became even more biting and sorrowful (as if it wasn’t already)/ Song after song was painted beautifully and painfully. We took out every frustration, screamed for every hope, and spoke out of our minds, night after night. Song after song we transformed into something else. We would never be the same again. We were the Black Parade... literally. During the writing process in L.A., we were joined by a gem of a man named Rob Cavallo. He acted as mentor, advisor and motivation. I remember all the fires he lit under me, and words of encouragement that he told. He was sort of like an uncle to some of us. He helped us in our ultimate vision to create a record that would make the earth shake... or so we hoped and believed with all of our hearts. We entered the studio in April of 2006 to be gin tracking. We were introduced to so many more friends and co-workers that made going into the studio fun and productive. There was such an amazing feeling going into the studio every day. From the first day of recording we knew er had something special. We recorded “The End” and “Dead ” first and upon finishing were in awe. The first time listening to them knocked me straight off of my feet, and I had not a single doubt in my head that it was out time. Every single song that was tracked was like opening the most amazing Christmas present for two months. I felt a shot of adrenaline and pride from every note that left those speakers. I remember the first time hearing “Disenchanted,” that I was moved and speechless. I spent a five-hour span listening to it on repeat in the lounge. Two songs that became near and dear to me were written in the studio: “Cancer” and “The Sharpest Lives.” Most people can’t listen to “Cancer” without getting chocked up. No matter who you are and wherever in the world, the melody and lyrics just get you. Absolutely everyone on the planet can relate to either. We completed tracking and mixed the record in July 1006. During the mixing session, the songs that we fell in love with transformed into something unworldly and earth-shattering. Our jaws collectively dropped daily from the mixing of the tracks. After the mixing came sequencing and mastering. When all was done, we were all able to finally sit down and soak the final product into our skulls. We were beyond proud of the songs and each other for making what we believe to be the ultimate My Chemical Romance album. Every single one of these songs is a culmination of our blood, sweat and sorrow over the past few years. Without my four best friends in the band, I could have never held it together. Without my big brother, I probably literally wouldn’t be here. Without my second mother, Stacy Fass, I would be in a white coat in a circular room. Without Brian Schechter, I wouldn’t have all of these white hairs. Awwww...just kidding buddy. You’re the other brother I never had. Without my parents’ undying support I wouldn’t be here. I love you all and owe you all my life. So, all of the lives in the fuzzy box that you are holding in your hand. The album of my dreams. I can only hope that you will all be touched and shaken. We are the Black Parade and so are you.

page 28 - 29 < blurry picture of Mikey and “Stage Entrance” door>



For me . . . The Black Parade started when I finally realized I was going to be recording a real record. It has always been a dream of mine and the opportunity was never there for me in the past. I had joined this band to play drums. I had been playing parts that I had not written, for almost two years, Now it was time to actually create and record things that would be saved forever.
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I started this process on The Warped Tour. We had a studio set up in the back of our bus. We didn’t have any room to hang out, but we could practice and play all day if we felt the need to. I think this was a big factor in how well the record came out. We didn’t end up keeping much of the material from the bus, but it was the best way for me to start feeling things out. There was no pressure and I just tried to get in a groove. The last thing I had recorded was about seven years ago, I was very nervous.
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A lot of the time was spent with Toro playing some different things together. I was noticing I kind of overplayed everything. I would play the most complicated and awesome thing I could think of. It was not working for me. After a while, I then started to play for the song. There is definitely a point where any person overplaying can ruin a song. I now know that a good song is only about the song and not any one thing being more important.
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The process in the studio was very different than any other I have seen. We decided to take a studio where I could leave my drums set up during the entire recording process. Usually drums are done in the first few weeks anf the drummer is done. We kind of worked song by song. If I decided to change a part that was already recorded I could do it at any time. This was also another big pressure reliever. A good example is the song “Cancer.” I was playing right on the beat the whole time. After listening to it over and over again I tried just laying back a lot. It was a minor change but made such a huge difference.


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There were a lot of things that I thought I knew about recording but were proved wrong. One thing is that we could go in a studio and bang out an awesome record fairly easy and fast. Wrong. This was probably one of the weirdest times of my life ever. I actually remember Gerard saying that The Black Parade tried to kill us. It really felt like that at some points. We had a lot of personal and medical things going on with us. Those problems in addition to five guys determined to make the best piece of music that they are capable of made for some trying times. To help deal with this we had a thing called the heavy room. Actually we had three heavy rooms. The heavy rooms were places we went to discuss the most heavy of the heavy. This s**t had to be talked about in a smaller, quieter, more private room. It had to be private. If people heard the s**t we talked about we would all be thrown in the hospital. It all sounds crazy now that we look back on it, but at the time it was the end of the world. Here is one example of a heavy room blowup. I am blaming this all on me being tired because now we all look back at it and I was wrong. During the recording of The Black Parade, I had to play a marching snare. I played what I thought was good, but everyone else thought was overplaying. I, for some reason, turned into a d**k and started to argue. Long story, short: I ended up in the heavy room. We talked for hours, and stuff not even related started to come out. That’s why every heavy room meeting was soooo long. One thing would lead to another and another and another. In the end, every heavy room meeting would end up good and everyone would be happy and smiling.
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I ALSO WANT TO TALK ABOUT THE PEOPLE THAT MADE THE RECORD EASIER FOR ME.
I WILL LIST THEM, THEN TELL YOU ABOUT THEM:
Rob Cavallo, Doug McKean, Chris Steffen, Mike “Sack” Fasano, and Hans.
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Rob was hard for me to figure out at first. He is suppose to be this big shot producer, but he never acted that way. He would take us out to dinner and talk to us like people, and not a band he was trying to make huge. He didn’t have much to say about the actual drum playing but he gave me a lot of encouragement. He was also always there to talk about anything. Even if it had nothing to do with the record, he could make any one of us feel great and be able to not let it affect us in any negative way. He is definitely the only person that could have produced this record.
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Doug is also another guy that could have been a hotshot a-hole if he had wanted to. He has a Grammy. These days if you have a Grammy, you are untouchable. I would bullshit with Doug on iChat all day and then come in to the studio and realize that a nice guy is also the best engineer in the business. Doug, right off the bat got awesome drum sounds. He has his ways of placing mics and certain gear he uses that he takes along with him. He makes tweaks according to each band and gets the best s**t ever. He made the process fun and not like a machine. He let me take my time and would let me redo parts as many times as I wanted. Doug also was the only guy for this record.
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Chris Steffen was the assistant engineer on this record. He looks like a hippie, but sounds like a computer. He is super smart and from Nebraska. He made the studio run smoothly and made us feel at home. He also had to deal with Doug and me asking for Coffee Bean every 10 minutes, staying up until morning, and fixing our personal stuff because he was the only one that knew how. He made us all happy and kept all of the gear working. Chris rules.
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Sack was doing drum teching on the record. This process was way harder than I ever thought is could be. He had to change heads and tune drums for each song. There were a lot of times when I thought they sounded great, but Sack and Doug didn’t. They would listen for stuff, which I didn’t even know about. But when they got them perfect, the drums sang. It was all of Sack’s great ideas and constant supply of high fives that really helped me along.
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Those are the main highlights of The Black Parade for me. I am glad we actually finished it and I can’t wait to tour and play it live. This is the best and craziest thing that has happened to me and I thank the other four dudes for that. I owe them.

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((Note: In the booklet there are two columns: Ray on the left and Frank on the right. Also the numbers and song titles are in boxes.))

TRACK BY TRACK ALBUM COMMENTARY

COMMENTARY PROVIDED BY
FRANK IERO

No.01
THE END

Hmm, I remember when this song was called”Intro.” “The End” is a piece of music inspired by one of Gerard and my favorite David Bowie songs... it’s a song that I’ve included on plenty os mix tapes for people I’ve cared about over the years and mostly every “pysch-up play list” I’ve made for the pre-show warm-up. There are a few songs that are always what you call staples for these play lists: “Mother” by Danzig; “Oliver’s Army” by Elvis Costello; “All The People Who’ve Died” by Jim Carrol; and of course, “5 Years.” So for us it makes sense to start this record with a piece that pays respect to a song that makes us feel like we are indestructible. I feel it sets that stage for the journey the listener is about to take. I remember fumbling with the chord progression with Gerard at first to make it just right. I think I even had to invent a chord or two... but at the end of the day everything we all hoped it could be was blaring out of the speakers in Rob Cavallo’s house... job well done.

No.02
DEAD!

I remember “DEAD!” coming to the table very early on. We were on tour in the states, I wanna say Buffalo, NY or something but I remember G and Toro coming up with a song in the bus that really took the great elements of “Headfirst For Halos” and capitalized on them. As soon as I heard it I knew they had something. I think I wrote a chorus melody that night, but then the song was put on hiatus and the current tour took over once again. But I fo remember even back then Gerard saying that “Dead!” was going to be the first song on the new record. When we got to New York City to write, “Dead!” was one of the first songs we really worked on, and it just came together, it just clicked and we really ******** ran with it. It had a Beatlesque bounce to it, up strokes on the second verse... it sounds simple enough but it’s not, it’s risky stuff that’s hard to pill off. Y’know how many bands get “really into the Beatles” and end up sounding like garbage. But I really think we did a good job with it, the end melody of the “LA Las” hits me so hard. It hit me the first time I ever heard it and it still gives me chills...I really love this it and it still gives me chills...I really love this song. Oh and P.S.- I pushed for that tuba part in the bridge from day one, so if you hate it, come see me about it. s**t’s tough. I don’t care what you think.

No.03
THIS IS HOW I DISAPPEAR

When did we do this song? I don’t really remember. To tell you the truth from the beginning I wasn’t sold on it, I liked some parts of it but as a whole... I wasn’t thrilled. But, I’m an idiot, ‘cause I love this song now. I think the night at the haunted a** Paramour, ray and I were smoking cigarettes and dying them out in some old urn, we channeled the ghost of SINGLE NOTE MOSH...’cause that was the night we worked out the heavy section into the faster B section. Ray just hit this rhythm that is my favorite part of the song. This song was the first time Ray and I both wrote chorus melodies that were completely different from each other and then smashed them into one part. I think it came out amazing, it was a real collaboration. Looking back that really was a great night, the song took on a life of it’s own. There was a velvet painting guitar of some girl’s boobs in the room, we played guitar and ate a lot of snacks... cookies and Cheetos make the world go ‘round I guess.

No.04
THE SHARPEST LIVES

I heard Gerard kicking this melody around for a while, but it wasn’t the kind of thing he was all about working on. When you know him you can tell what he’s feeling and what he’s storing for later. If he’s feeling something, someone’s getting on a guitar with him... no question, his moments of inspiration are infectious. But this one was different, he would say, oh I got this thing, sing the melody and then keep working on other things. So it took until 3/4 of the way through recording the record for this song to see the light of day... I guess it was just the right time. So we really wrote it as we recorded it, which was a whole new experience for me. Ha, I remember Gerard telling me there had to be a spy guitar part in the pre-chorus and I was the guy to do it. And I was automatically like, ********, yeah I am the guy to do it. ‘Cause that’s what you say to a dude that you love and respect who tells you he’s so into your vibe that you are the only one for the job. Of course when he left the room I realized I had to write a spy guitar part for an electro-rock-dancey song... ********. I swear I’ve never seen a 007 movie- I was pretty screwed. Anyway I practiced all night what I thought spy guitar should be, and the next day Rob and I tied down the part. I’m really happy with it now, but I remember shitty razorblades about it. My favorite part of the song is the bridge. Jamie, your sampled opera singers may be the raddest thing ever.

No.05
WELCOME TO THE BLACK PARADE

Damn, talk about going through the ringer, this song was rewritten four times. Its earliest incarnation was a melody that was written while getting ready to record “I Brought You My Bullets”... yup that long ago, I remember I had just joined the band and that was our punk rock “My Way” (like the Sid Vicious version but in key) and a favorite at our rundown dump of a practice studio. Friends would come by the studio drunk or whatever to watch practice and put in requests- I remember “The 5 Of Us Dying” was always mine. Any way the song never got quite finished for the Bullets session and was left beaten, unfinished and ultimately forgotten. “5 Of Us: was brought up again while writing in New Jersey for Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge... we tried to relearn what we had... kind of pick up where we left off... but we had a lot of songs we were working on and it never got finished. The melody did make it to L.A. however and was played for them producer Howard Benson, mostly because I remember liking it so much, I wouldn’t let it fo away and would bring in up every time we were writing. Bit Howard ultimately didn’t find it special enough to continue working on and it was abandoned for Revenge. Two years later we find ourselves in NYC writing out new record and of course because I am a man of habit I said about “The five Of Us Are Dying”... we ******** around with what we remembered, and it actually got transformed in to a finished song. It was slow and off-time, but had an unmistakable power to it... like a “when Mu Guitar Gently Weeps” or “Big A Pony” (my personal favorite). From there it was taken to preproduction to L.A. and we decided to see what would happen it we sped it up, changed the chorus and ripped it. Basically what would the Ramones do? Bang, it hit us, and we loved it...we loved it so much we recorded it; finally it was finished and was making the record. And then we listened to it, and listened to it some more, and questioned it. Mostly if it was the best we could do, did the chorus speak to us enough? Gerard felt that we could do better, he and Ray tried a different chord progression on the chorus, and it allowed him to find a different melody. But by changing this, it changed the entire song. Everything had to be rewritten. I was very skeptical, I still loved the version we had done and feared that yet again this song would not see the light of day. But I remember the day we tried a newer version Gerard asked us to have faith in it and make this version our own. I won’t lie, the first run-through, I was so unhappy with it. But then we worked it, and reworked it some more, and Gerard sand his heard out, and it all started to make sense. This song was the longest, hardest road I have ever traveled on a song. But I truly feel that every word and every note of this finished version is worth it. I am so very proud of everyone in this band, they all stepped up incredibly on this record and I think this song really shows that. P.S. Listen closely for my dad on this track.

No.06
I DON’T LOVE YOU

This song came together rather quickly and didn’t ever really change from the first time we played it in NYC. I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for this song. It reminds me of a classic oldie, something Otis Redding might like to have a crack at. It’s definitely one of my favorite tracks on the record... and I don’t think I’m noodling at all, so there.

No.07
HOUSE OF WOLVES

This song came later on in the L.A. preproduction. It was a rough spot in the writing process: some personal turmoil was going on and kind of made everyone not feel like playing. I remember thinking, s**t, this is no fun. Someone better get inspired and write a song soon, we needed to get everyone psyched again. I was getting nervous. So I remember I sat down and tried so hard to write a song, to write something really good... that was a mistake ‘cause as soon as you say, oh I’m gonna write a song, nothing seems to come out. So the next day I tried a different approach. I picked up this bid red acoustic Rob always left at the house and decided to just riff around on stuff my dad might like. And what came out was the basis for “House Of Wolves.” I showed it to the guys and we started working again. It makes me smile knowing a song I wrote for my dad got the record going again.

No.08
CANCER

This is my favorite song we have ever written. I cannot just superficially listen to this song. I feel it deeply ever time I hear it, and I have to try my best to hold back tears. Gerard’s vocal performance is probably one of the best I have ever heard. It’s strong, yet frail, sad, hurt, and honest. I am in my favorite band.

No.09
MAMA

Man, I don’t really know what to say about “Mama,” she’s mu second favorite song on the record. I guess she went through some changes from her original form, but the changes came very naturally. The song grew more into itself than we actually worked on it. We went back and forth on out opinions of this song... we always loved it. But wondered whether an audience could stomach it. Would they understand the story? Could they follow the journey we wanted to take them on? Would they think we were crazy? My answer was. I don’t give a s**t. Trust me I mean this in the best possible way. But we had to write this song for us, and only us. If we over thought it, or tried to dilute it, we would have ruined it. Ultimately I think that was the best decision that we never compromised what the song wanted to be. And in the end our moms got to sing with Liza Minnelli, and I found out my mom sings like a gypsy, which is the coolest thing in the world.

No.10
SLEEP

I really really like this song. It was written later on in L.A., around the same time as “Famous Last Words.” It just hits so hard when it comes in, I really love the mood it created. The idea behind it is pretty straight forward, highly inspired by nerd movies, and a haunted a** house in the Hollywood hills. I love the tape recorder thing Gerard did, creeps me out.

No.11
TEENAGERS

Oh jeez, I remember the day Gerard sang this to us in NYC, people thought he was insane, ha, I guess people still do. Anyway, I think this is a great song, I really love the lyrics. I had my reservations about including it on this record because I wasn’t sure if people would really look into what Gerard was saying (plus; hambone didn’t like it)... but I guess this is my chance to address that concern. If you get it and like it, good, perfect. But if you don’t get it, READ THE LYRICS and pay attention. (Hambone, you’ll come around.) Thank you that’s all.

No.12
DISENCHANTED

We wrote the original idea for this song when we were supposed to be practicing for our U.S. headlining tour. But it had been so long since we just go together and written, that it was like an itch that needed to be shot in the face. So we ended up writing what was then called “Shut Up And Play.” But by the end of the tour and the beginning of the Black Parade writing process I think we were collectively over that song, so we abandoned it and worked on other things. But close friends, colleagues, and Mikey Way would not let us rest until we revisited it. So we put it off until the last minute, literally the day before drums were broken down. Gerard and Ray had an idea for an alternate arrangement and played it acoustic in the control room, it really was beautiful. We made a few tweaks that day and recorded it. This song has one of my favorite likes in it: “Spent my high school career...watch all my heros sell a car on TV.” Haha. Pure bitter gems, times like these are when I like to tell Gerard he’s drunk off genius pills.

No.13
FAMOUS LAST WORDS

Again written towards the end of the L.A. preproduction, Sleep’s sister song. However the chorus didn’t take real shape until Gerard layed down vocals in the studio. He kind of surprised us with it. We went out to get coffee and when we got back he said, hey check this out... fully knowing he was gonna lay some journey s**t on us. I was so caught off guard, it was completely different then what I thoughts he was recording, that I don’t even know how I reacted. I don’t think I was entirely sold on it on first listen, and I’m not sure why. But now I can’t imagine it any other way. The melody and words rally put this song over the edge. To me it is the perfect ending to this record.

COMMENTARY PROVIDED BY
RAY TORO

No.01
THE END

All big things start from smallest of ideas don’t they? G brought this piece to the S.I.R. practice space, where the first stage of writing for the record took place. It’s a great strummed progression in 3/4, very simple but very effective. I remember immediately getting into it because of the words G was singing. Where “Intro” really takes off is when those huge toms come in and change everything you thought the piece was going to be. The goal was to get this to sound epic, absolutely larger than life. Back in New York, it sounded like that, but the work that everyone did on this in the studio took it to a new level. Rob came up with the idea of playing the main riff in every octave possible on the guitar, which added this menacing, but beautiful symphonic sound. Pink Floyd’s The Wall was a great influence on this piece. That larger-than-life attitude began to coarse through everyone’s blood, and was then the goal for the entire record.

No.02
DEAD!

Getting away a little from the moodiness in “Intro,” the energy on “Dead!” is definitely tongue-in-cheek black humor. We first started work on this song on tour in late 2005. The main influence on this one is an Electric Light Orchestra song that has a fun vibe but also has this great straight pulse throughout the entire track. This song immediately made us bounce our heads in time, so we tried the same thing with “Dead.” The song really came together when the outro stomp got written. Bob’s fill leading into that section sets it up so well. The “la, la, la, la, la” melody is an incredible hook. And is great fun to sing. The best part was that G, Frank and I got to sing it in unison, so it’s a moment I always looked forward to during practice and now forward to when we play live. The solo was also fun to write. I wanted to try a mix of Chuck Berry and Brian May, so there are definitely licks straight from “Johnny B. Goode” and the doubling and harmonizing of “May.” Okay, and somehow Wood Woodpecker crept in as well... Frank’s got a great, great run in the pre-chorus. I wrote a complimentary part but it ended up just clouding it up. We stripped it for some chunky power chords, and it sounded better that way. His part gets room to breathe, and is one of my favorites on a long list of favorite parts on the record.

No.03
THIS IS HOW I DISAPPEAR

This song goes back at least a year and a half, if not more. The opening riff was written in the parking lot of a San Francisco venue, then the dressing room where it quickly began to take shape. G had a cool melody in the verse, very classical sounding. There was also a great chorus where he was getting up really high. Writing songs in minor keys is always good for us, especially D minor, where G has his best range. I began recording the basic arrangement on this Boss digital recorder, and also came up with a nice, airy bridge. On the Boss we had programmed drums, so it was great to see Bob shredding when we played it live for the first time. It had good energy, but there was definitely something missing. The song was too boring. Nothing really exciting happened, and the chorus progression was the same as the verse, so it got very monotonous. Frank suggested trimming the chorus progression, which ended up being what the song really needed. The line, “How you disappear,” was originally over G major, but with the chord trimming, the line was now over A major, and it took on a whole new life. I had been listening to a lot of Smashing Pumpkins, especially “Zero,” continuously amazed at how a few mutes and an octave could be so heavy. I tried writing a part like it, and the little tags before the choruses came out. The guys loved them so much, they wanted to hear it to a half-time beat. It sounded heavy as hell, but I was definitely against it at first. Thank God Frank and Bob were so adamant about that section. Over time it grew to be my favorite part of the song. With all this in place, the song finally felt complete.

No.04
THE SHARPEST LIVES
((Nothing was typed here))

No.05
WELCOME TO THE BLACK PARADE

“Welcome To The Black Parade”: “Parade” is a great example of a song that went through many forms before it got to where it is now. Back in New York, it started out as a collection of parts and different movements, similar to what Green Day did with “Jesus Of Suburbia.” There were a few cool parts, but it never gelled as a great song, which is always more important than some cool bits and pieces. When we got to L.A., we sped up the tempo and kept the good parts, and the song started to take shape. It filled a nice gap because at the time, we were writing mid-tempo songs, and this one had great, fast energy. Starting out with piano and vocal, it moved into this fast-driving punk song. The bridge was this great, half-time, classical progression (“Canon in D”) that we’d been wanting to use for a long time, and it fit in great with what we had going on. Near the end of the song, we changed keys, which we’s never done before, and it added an ever more dramatic finish to the song. The song was begging for a huge harmonized solo (I swear!), so I wrote one and recorded it on my trusty Mbox and crappy laptop. Feeling the song was complete, we actually tracked it in this form.
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We lived with it for a few weeks, and Gerard brought up the idea of revisiting it and trying some new things with it. It was definitely a shock at first, because it was one of the favorite songs so far, but he felt the song could be better. While at first everyone was apprehensive, we pushed ourselves to make a great song even better. New ideas starting forming, and as that happened, so did “The Parade,” the namesake of the record. The old piano intro was scrapped for a new one where each instrument was slowly introduced after each repeat, until finally a huge explosion happens where horns, guitars, and drums collide. Frank wrote a great melody that I harmonized when everything comes crashing in. It’s a really moving melody, and one of his best.
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The verse music stayed the same as the old version, but Gerard came up with much better lyrics and melody. We changed one chord in the chorus, and again, the smallest change had the biggest impact, The “We’ll carry on” hook fit perfect over this new progression. The old solo section got changed into a re-introduction of “The Parade” feel from the intro. It was really tough losing the old solo. I was able to keep the best parts of the old solo, and in the new key the section was in, it carried even more weight and was more moving. The last run in the solo was taken directly from a demo I had recorded on my laptop the night before in my apartment. I was so nervous in the studio. I couldn’t hit the part right! It was the final piece I tracked for the record, I guess I just didn’t want it to end...
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The song finishes with a huge half-time section, with G holding these long, long notes over the top of everything. Chris Lord-Alge, our mixer, surprised everybody by adding a snare roll to the very end. We all loved it. What happened on this song was really special. Everyone pushed themselves to their limits, putting aside their attachment to waht was already a great song and taking it to another level.

No.06
I DON’T LOVE YOU

This is one of those songs that writes itself. The verse and chorus were written on tour last year, so it came together really quickly when we started writing in New York. The whole song has this hupontic quality, from G’s vocals to Frank’s runs in the verses; the best way to describe it is that it flows like water. This song is a great example of Frank’s playing style, where he’ll weave counter-melodies in and out of the holes in the music. The slower tempo created even more space for him to play with. We tried to capture the feel of CCR’s “Who’ll Stop The Rain” and “Have You Ever Seen The Rain?” so we added a B3 and a Wurlitzer to fill out the sound. I wrote a really simple solo for this that ended up being one of my favorites on the record. There’s a mellow breakdown after the solo that sets you up for the huge outro chorus. Gerard did some great stacked harmonies that really shine in that final chorus, and the lyrics are so true and honest that you can’t help but be moved.

No.07
HOUSE OF WOLVES

No.08
CANCER

I remember Gerard coming to me with this song late at night, a time when the best stuff is usually written. We were talking about the direction of the record, emotions that songs made you feel, and what emotions were missing. “I got this song...” he says. There was no music for it, just a vocal melody and lyrics. He started singing it, and ******** was it great. I grabbed a guitar and we started writing the chords for it, finding what worked best behind the melody. It was challenging because I had to play chords I wouldn’t normally play. My fingers were stretching in ways they shouldn’t have been. After an hour or so, we were happy with what we came up with, but ultimately knew the song needed to have piano.
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The next day we showed it to Rob and the rest of the guys, and they loved it. It was so different from anything we had written before. It was really stripped down, which let the pure emotion from the melody and lyrics shine through. Rob played the piano and added these great chromatic descents in the verses that killed. Every time I hear them, I feel something in my gut.
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Bob added a really simple beat behind it all, and just at the right moment built the tension by altering his beat very slightly. This is one of a handful of songs I played bass on for the record, and had a great time writing lines that played off of what the vocal melody and piano were doing.
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As great as the song was, I had a hard time coming to grips with the subject matter of the song. Would it be too upsetting to people? Would it hurt more than help? I struggled with that for a few days, but someone I love who was affected by cancer helped me realize that this song was a tribute to those who had passes, and would help family members in the healing process.

No.09
MAMA

This song ended up being the most experimental song on the record, where we really tried to have fun and be as creative as we could be. We also tried to be very cinematic with this one, having different sections conjure up images of war and death. The verses are your standard Russian polka progressions, but G’s vocal melody makes it feel new. The guitar tone in the verse was tricky to get because we wanted it to feel very jangly and very classic, almost as if you were hearing a sample of a guitar recorded a century ago. After a few tried, Rob nailed it by mixing a small amount of room and the right amount of reverb.
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With the verses feeling so different, we wanted to bring more of a rock feel to the choruses. After a small break where the vocals get to breathe, the choruses slam in with a huge hit and just fly from there. Frank wrote some great turnaround riffs that add this dark metal energy to the progression. Bob plays great tom fills at the turnarounds, making it feel like you pressed reset and you starting fresh at the top of the chorus.
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In verse 2, Gerard has some fun by singing in different voices (naother tribute to The Wall) that gives new life to a section you’ve heard before. On one version, we added these twisted horn parts, but they ended up being too much. We did keep a guitar line that I played on a guitar synthesizer. When it pops in, you feel like you’re on some bad trip and just got sucked into “A Clockwork Orange.” That’s a good thing right??? After the second chorus, we play a heavier version of the verse. Frank added this great rythmic part that gave it a completely different feel and made it groove more. From there we go into the heaviest part on the record.
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There are about six guitars playing the same riff, all with different tones that add up to this huge wall of sound. One of my favorites is a tone that probably only dolphins, dogs and whales can hear. It’s in there, and you feel it more than you can actually hear it. This section had a bunch of war sound effects in it, but ended up being too chaotic and you almost couldn’t hear what the hell the band was doing! We ended up keeping the air raid siren though, and Gerard ended up matching it with what I can only describe as a banshee wail. It’s ******** sick.
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This breakdown after this is like the calm before the storm, before s**t gets really crazy. That’s if having Liza Minnelli sing on a track isn’t crazy enough. Liza ******** Minnelli. She was amazing, sweet, and did us the hugest biggest favor ever in life. She tracked from New York, and was coming up with her own ideas and just ripping it. Having the honor of listening to her while she tracked to one of our songs? Umm, one of the best moments of my life.
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After this breakdown, we built into the final movement. We got together as many people as we could, crammed into the vocal booth, and sang the outro barroom style with out-of-key notes and everything. The guitars are cranking, the drums and bass are booming, and it’s absolute chaos. We end the song with a little tribute to Metallica’s “One” with machine-gun picking and snare and tom rolls, and follow with violin and something that sounds like an accordion but isn’t. Liza did this amazing thing when she started laughing and then started crying and it’s one of the most spontaneous awesome things ever. Listen closely for it.

No.12
DISENCHANTED

((That is correct from 9 to 12))

Before we got to L.A., this song was called "Shut Up And Play." We wrote it while rehearsing for our U.S. headline tour, so we decided to add it to the set. It always got a great response, and it was very different from the rest of our songs, which is always a plus. In the studio, it ended up going through a pretty big overhaul lyrically, but the music stayed very close to the original. This is the first song that we thought of to put strings to, and they worked out beautifully. What I like about them is that they are unobtrusive. They add a subtle layer that almost goes unnoticed unless you are really listening for them. It's also our first song where there is a featured acoustic guitar part. It's fingerpicked, and I was really nervous playing it. When you're recording acoustically, you can hear every little mistake. If you listen closely, you can hear the chair I was sitting on squeaking when I tried to shift my weight to get more comfortable. It took a bunch of takes before I finally got it right. Rob really crafted this song to what it is now. As each layer of guitar, each new tone was added, the song just got bigger and bigger. He is a genius with guitar tones and this is one of the many tracks that shows this.

No.13
FAMOUS LAST WORDS

This song was written at our darkest period while in L.A. Of all the songs we had written up to that point, it was the mmost "rock." It has a medium tempo push, which we had never experimented with before; most of our stuff is either slower or at march speed. It let us have these great accents on the toms in the intro, and then build into bigger accents as the first riff is played. It's a really simple riff, but ends up sounding huge with the big stomps on the kick and crash. I'm really happy with the way the intro builds tension until the verse kicks in. The verse stayed the same in the studio as it was in pre-production, but the chorus went through ccome changes that really benefited the song. The chorus used to have a half-times fell, and it was Rob's idea to keep puching the song wiht the straight beat. At first I wasn't sure this was the right move because there was a moment of drama that happened when the chorus kicked in that was now missing. Was I ever wrong... keeping the straight beat allowed a new approch to the chorus vocal, and what was put down literally blew everyone away. I remember going out to get coffee and some other things, at most I was gone for an hour. I came back, and Rob and Gerard had put down this incredible chorus, which was completely new and different than what used to be there. I remember getting chills the first time I heard the chorus come in. Not only is the melody really beautiful, but the lyrics just spoke to me.
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Getting the tones for the chorus was a lot of fun . If you're familiar with Rob's work, you'll know he came up with possibly the most aggressive guitar tone ever called "White Hot." You can really hear it on Jawbreaker's "Dear You." Basically, whenever a guitar comes out of nowhere and knows you on your a**, that's the "White Hot." Well we wanted to push that even further. Rob got really excited and came up with all sorts of tones, and we were just laughing uncontrollably because s**t was just cranked and loud and dirty and beautiful. We were all shouting out names for the tones like little kids. He ended up coming up with "Nemesis" and "Black fire," which you can hear when the chorus blasts in. I had been listening to a lot of Blizzard of Ozz at the time we were writing this song in L.A. Randy Rhoades is one of my favorite layer, and I wanted a solo similar to his style on the record. This is where the inspiration for the solo came from. I wanted something shreddy, desperate, and emotional, so I listened to my favorite Rhoades solos and went to sleep. The next morning, the first thing I did was pick up my guitar, black a demo of the track and played whatever came to me. I always liked how Randy would double a few notes of the solo in a different rhythm, or add a harmony on one or two notes, so I did the same thing in the studio. You can really hear it at the last two hits of the solo. I'm very happy with this one because it was very spur-of-the-moment and really captured what I was feeling at the time.
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Frank put own this really great picked-out part in the breacakdown after the solo. It has this ethereal feel that takes you to another plave before the song kicks back in. What was cool was that he stumbled on the part by accident, and I don't think he realized how great it was when he first played it. When the band comes back in with the half-time, you're actually hearing what was the old chorus. It's funny how you'll end up re-using sections in other places, and oftentimes, they'll work way better than you originally intended. I had written a little tag for when the chorus kicks back inn, and I think it leads out the song nicely. Doug, our engineer, did a great thing at the outro by adding a fadde-out to the music and leaving just the vocal to finish out the song.
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When we first started writing this song, we wrote it to be the final track on a record, encompassing all you ahd heard before and eaving you wanting to go through the whole journey agian. I believe we succeeded in this goal.

B-SIDES
KILL ALL YOUR FRIENDS

Influenced by The Pixies and Weezer, this song has a different feeling from the rest of the record. It feels like a song you would listen to on a nice, breezy, Sunday drive. "Kill" is also a gret showcase for Bob. His drums on this track ******** rule. The song came together pretty fast while we were writing in LA. I was playing this picked-out part to another song called "All The Angels Say," and Frank started jamming with me on the bass. Right away it felt really good, so we all started playing it together. Mikey added a couple of flourishes on the bass, and once Bob got on the drums, we knew we had something great. The verses felt really nice and airy, very different from what we're used to doing. We also had a nice bridge that built really great. What we didn't have was a great chorus. It usually takes some time to fully figure out a song, this one was no exception. This was another song where the chorus was essentially the same as the verse progression. Sometimes that works, but on "Kill," it wasn't providing the lift that it needed. We changed the first chord of the chorus from G to C, and all of a sudden you could feel your spirit getting lifted when it hit. Music is funny like that sometimes. The simplest change makes the biggest difference.

((Okay that's it for the commentary. WOW I actually finished. The rest of the booklet is pictures and lyrics. And the rights page and all that.))

I would very much like to see these pictures.....for I have a feeling I will never hold in my hands the Limited Edition of this album....

Thanks for typing so much up!

Oh, wow. I bought the Limited Edition, but that's really nice of you to do that for people who didn't. 3nodding

ILU. heart

SRYSLY.

heart you all make me so happy blaugh

Anyway, I hope to get more typed out tomarrow. I was out all day today.

*Throws love at you*
I can't thank you enough.