After a number of years away from the music scene, the Black Parade is set to march again: My Chemical Romance have dusted off their eyeliner and finest black clothes for a much-hyped reunion show.
Needless to say, this has galvanised My Chemical Romance fans everywhere while reawakening the teenage emo many thought they had buried in a coffin years ago.
This reunion has brought up one big question though: What exactly have My Chemical Romance been doing during all this time (besides sleeping in coffins)?
Since this is a very important question that literally someone in the GOAT office asked (it may or may not have been me), I’ve decided to do some digging into what each My Chemical Romance member got up to during the band’s break-up prior to them rejoining the Black Parade.
Gerard Way
Gerard Way has kept himself busy by sticking his fingers in a number of creative pies. He released a solo album, Hesitant Alien, appeared on a bunch of other people’s singles (including those from his My Chemical Romance bandmates), wrote a Spider-Man comic, continued writing his own original comic-book series The Umbrella Academy, and helped make a live-action adaptation of The Umbrella Academy for Netflix.
Oh and he’s also Joe Rogan’s cousin. Not really related to what he’s been up to but it’s such a weird, newly unearthed fact that I simply had to include it.
Mikey Way
The band’s bassist (and Gerard’s younger brother) went wandering in the wilderness for a year before forming a new band called Electric Century and collabing with other bands and musicians such as Good Charlotte, Andy Black, and Waterparks.
Outside of music, Mikey has taken a leaf out of his big brother’s book by co-writing a comic-book series called Collapser.
Ray Toro
Unlike the Way brothers, My Chemical Romance’s lead guitarist and backing vocalist has kept himself firmly in the music scene. He’s released some solo tunes to his SoundCloud, dropped a solo album called Remember the Laughter, formed a band with his MCR bandmate James Dewee, and provided guitar parts for Voltaire’s album, Raised by Bats.
Frank Iero
The band’s rhythm guitarist decided to work on various music-related projects, such as a digital hardcore act called Death Spells with his bandmate James Dewees, released a number of solo albums, and toured with various backup bands he put together.
Unfortunately, Frank also had to spend some time recovering from a freak bus crash when he was in Australia in 2016.
James Dewees
And finally, we get to James Dewees, who’s come up quite a few times already across has various My Chemical Romance bandmates’ projects.
In addition to all his bandmates’ creative thingys, James has kept performing and releasing new music through a number of other bands, such as The Get Up Kids and Reggie and the Full Effect.