The Black Parade

23rd October 2006 | Album 3

September 11 2001, Gerard Way witnessed the horrific events of this day while heading to work as an intern at Cartoon Network.

"I didn’t see the planes hit. I did see the buildings go down, from I’d say fairly close. It was like being in a science fiction film or some kind of disaster film—it was exactly that kind of feeling. You didn’t believe it. You felt like you were in Independence Day. It made no sense. Your brain couldn’t process it. And for me it was a little different. I’m very empathetic and I’m kind of a conduit emotionally, so I pick up a lot of stuff in that way. There was about three- or four-hundred people around me—and I was right at the edge. All these people behind me, they all had friends and family in those buildings. I didn’t. So when that first building went, it was like an A-bomb went off. It was like just this emotion and it made you nauseous.”

The attic demos or "Dreams Of Stabbing And/Or Being Stabbed" were the first 3 demos the band ever recorded. Played in Matts attic before the band even had a name, the only members were Gerard, Matt and Ray. [Ray having joined after Gerard and Matt because Gerard could not sing and play the guitar simultaneously.

"My attic had no walls, it was a wooden run-down piece of crap. I had a really cheap 16-track board, and we had a bunch of crappy mics. I basically had the drums and guitars playing upstairs and ran the mics downstairs and had Gerard sing in the bathroom." - Matt Pelissier

"You could hear that it was something really new, and it was kind of a weird idea, but for some reason, as poorly as it was coming together, it really worked." - Gerard Way

"It sounded really crappy." - Ray Toro

Gerard showed his younger brother, Mikey the demos and he was so impressed he took up bass and joined the band.

"Gerard came to me with a demo that became My Chemical Romance and I heard it and I was like, ‘Wow, he’s fucking got it, you know, like, his voice has just made leaps and bounds." - Mikey Way

The demos were sent to the owner of Eyeball Records, Alex Saavedra, where despite how poor the quality was, ended in the band getting signed to their first label. Future guitarist Frank Iero's band at the time, Pencey Prep had also signed. Frank heard the demos and was inspired to join the band after listening to the demos with his band to get 'psyched up before performing.'

"Not together– nothing’s in tune, but there’s just something about it where you can already imagine what it would sound like put together and it was really good." -Frank Iero

Frank officially joined the band afew days before the recording of the album. They recorded the album only 3 months after getting the gang together [haha]

The album was produced by Geoff Rickly [frontman of the band Thursday] and Frank played guitar in 2 of the tracks [Early Sunsets and Honey, This Mirror]

The first song properly recorded for the album was Vampires Will Never Hurt You. As the band was recording in their friends basement, Gerard had a really bad toothache and no painkillers [the band had hidden them] and had to be taken to an emergancy dentist because he "wouldnt stop bitching aand moaning." the owner of Eyeball Records Alex punched Gerard in the face.

"He had a terrible earache and this pain in his head, We couldn't figure out what was going on with him. The dude was really in major pain, but we needed to finish this fucking record. We kept bringing him to the ER and they were like, 'There's nothing wrong with you!'So i punched him in the face,i thought I knocked him out at first. It shocked the shit out of him. In hindsight, it was very jockish, but at the time it made sense. I think the masochist in him really enjoyed it. It definitely hurt, but it amped him up. It was a different kind of pain. i told him 'now go sing'. He slayed that vocal take right after that." -Alex Saavedra

“Gerard was red in the face, he wanted to kill because he was so mad, he went and sang and it was so intense. He was on fire. He did it in one take and it sounded like venom. It sounded like someone wanting to tear himself apart.” - Geoff Rickly

“The punch was motivational. It was an act of love, I think, i was very jittery and real nervous, there was a really crazy atmosphere and I knew I only had about an hour to do the song. He came up and gave me a hug, then he punched me in the mouth. I was fucking riled. I went up to the mic and nailed it the first time." - Gerard Way