In August I got the opportunity to see My Chemical Romance in concert at Soldier Field and was absolutely blown away by the band’s musical talent, stage presence, and performance. All of these were things that I expected from the band yet still stood in astonishment at being able to witness it live. While I could go on and on about the performance aspects and musicality of the band there is a less spoken feature that I wanted to dive into: the storytelling and art.
Album cover art done by Way for Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge
Gerard Way is the lead singer and frontman of My Chemical Romance. It was his idea to create the band in response to the events of 9/11. Something special about Way that sets both himself and the band apart from others is his background in visual arts. Way attended the School of Visual Arts in New York City and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1999. Outside of the band, he is an accomplished comic book writer and artist with his most notable series being The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys and The Umbrella Academy, the former gaining a Netflix adaptation in 2019.
The band members as their characters
Way’s comic talent has played a huge part in My Chemical Romance from his illustration for their Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge album to creating a distinct storyline and visuals for their Danger Days album. Way has stated that he takes strong inspiration from comics such as Grant Morison’s Doom Patrol, Katsuhiro Otomo’s Akira, and Neil Gaiman’s Sandman. When creating the characters and storyline for My Chemical Romance’s Danger Days album, Way gave each of the members a character that tied into the world of his comic series The True Lives of Fabulous Killjoys making the album a kind of prequel to the events in the series. Way would create the sketches for costumes, props, and sets of the album’s photoshoots and music videos which would then be brought to life by a creative team. Even the songs of the album are coherent to the world that Way has created with the members having written the lyrics for the songs while consulting with Way’s creative vision.
Way's sketch for guitarist Frank Iero's character "Fun Ghoul"
Augustin Fuentes’s The Creative Spark discusses aesthetics and symbolism which is found all over Way’s art for My Chemical Romance. On page 9, Fuentes writes “We humans have the distinctive ability to think about times and places in the past and the future and to convey the information via language and symbol”. This ties in immensely to Way’s art and writing for Danger Days as it is a story set in a future dystopia where creativity is dulled by an overlord company called “Better Living Industries”. The concept provides commentary on creativity, self-expression, and humanity in a futuristic lens. Along with this there is heavy metaphorical and literal symbolism in the album as Way created distinct symbols to represent each of the band member’s characters. Way’s multidisciplinary approach enhances the band’s music and welcomes fans to a world where sound, story, and visual art collide.
It's so fascinating how Way incorporates his individual passions and skills into the group's creative world. I have found that the more involved an artist is with every step of the music industry (writing the songs, creating cover art, writing and directing music videos, etc.) the more the audience can understand their creative process and understand what they are trying to convey.
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