Ways to Love Your Brother
Life Styles of the Rich and the Famous
After officially moving in with Gerard, I went to school with a little more integrity, and with a new subject. Music.
Ever since I left Travis, I've been trying to change my ways, mainly to try and douse my leftover feelings for him, and because studying music really did look like the thing for me. And it was.
It took a month exactly for Trav to forgive me for what I had done, and a few weeks later, we were great friends. Thankfully, during his month or deep depression, the only thing he told everyone was that I had cheated on him, and that after he kicked me out, I went to live with my older brother on the art campus. He never said anything about me cheating on him with my older brother.
When Derrick found out about what happened, he shrugged off the cloak of friendship and made it his number one goal to make my life a living hell.
Not a day went by, I don't think, where Derk the Jerk forgot to say something a bit too loud in the hallways about what I had done. It did make people whisper to their partners when I walked by, sometimes even loud conversations went suddenly soft when I entered a room, but I dealt with it like I had in highschool.
Jason on the other hand, was finally stepping out of Derricks black shadow. He did burn a few bridges after he found out what I had done, but once Trav forgave me, so did he. Sure, he got shit form Derk for it, but it's nice to know that we really did have a friendship.
Living with Gerard was great. This was the plan that we had when we dated in highschool. Sharing a place of our own, where there were no adults to call us sick, or gross. A place where we can just be ourselves.
But things shifted after Gerard graduated.
The year was 1997, I had just completed my first year of college, and Gerard was now finished with it. He had a bachelor in fine arts.
Gerard wanted to move out o the apartment, saying that he felt like he was in the way of my studies, and that he felt uncomfortable leaving early in the morning to go to work. I told him he was being silly, but he didn't listen.
The next thing I knew, I was alone, and Gerard moved into the basement of our parent's house, acting like a guest, paying electric bills, food bills, rent, whatever else my parents thought he had to pay.
I visited my parents on the holidays, at Christmas my parents were well known for the Christmas party that they held. Our Grandmother Elena and Grandpa Way came, along with Linda Iero and Frank, who was no dating a girl named Jamia, showing he was bi, Mr. and Mrs. Pilisser, Matt's parents came along, with Matt of course, and Ray and his family came as well.
It was good to be with everyone again. We try to spend as much time as we can laughing and catching up on things.
Ray got his guitar that he wanted and was a claimed, by us as we listened to him play, te best guitarist we've ever heard. He was looking at joining a band who needed one more member, so we were excited for him.
Matt was playing drums for various bands who's drummers couldn't make it, getting paid to learn beats before a show, mainly last minute, he also worked several jobs, getting fired for being late, or quitting out of boredom.
Frank too got a guitar, and after Ray, showed off his skills. He was in a band called, I Am A Graveyard, which was a metal band. It's something he's always wanted to do, and it's also how he met Jamia. She's the drummer's sister.
Gerard announced that he had his Bachelor in FA, and that he was working on a mini show that he would take with him to his job interview at the Cartoon Network building in New York.
Jaws dropped, but what do you expect? It's my brother.
I'm still in college, as was Frank. I had quit my job at the bookstore where Trav and I worked because I was offered a position at Barne's and Noble by a close friend who was manager. I was working in the cd's again, but I was also trying to get a job for Gerard, seeing he's jobless at the moment.
The first time Gee and I got our invitation from mom and dad, we were shocked. Just the fact that mom was letting Gerard back into the house was enough to bring tears back into his eyes.
During the time in between Gerard's graduation, and the unscheduled meeting with Cartoon Network, I did manage to get Gee that job. He was working in books, lucky him.
The years went on, Gerard and I tried more collaborations, but nothing solid. My manager friend and I have conversations, one of them being about Scottish bands, which lead to authors. He went in the back and came out with a pile of Irvine Welsh books.
We looked through the books, and I found on that really stuck out. The book was called Ecstacy, and on the inside was a little subtitle that read Three tales of chemical romance, and the term 'chemical romance' stuck in my head. I continued to think about it all day, and it was on the way home that I know why it bugged me.
The term would make a killer band name! I mean, if I added 'my' to the beginning of it and made it 'My Chemical Romance' why that would be the most killer name.
When I got home, I ended up calling Gerard and told him all about it. He was as excited about the name as I was. I'm so lucky to have a lover partner brother like Gerard.
So now, after four years out of college, Gerard was finally going to see Cartoon Network about a new cartoon they wanted. He was on a ferry heading to New York from Jersey, when suddenly, two planes crashed into the World Trade Centers. On the phone, he told me he saw the bodies falling from the too high floors.
He ended up quitting his job at CN and went home. The next thing anyone knew, Gerard had called Matt, recruited Ray, and then me, and gave starting a band another try.
Matt wasn't drumming anymore at the time, and practically tackled Gerard when asked to join. Ray, we found out, had been playing drums in a band, wasting his talent as a guitarist.
But once asked to join, he gave up drumming happily.
I was recruited as a bass player. When I fist joined, we didn't have a name yet, and I almost didn't let them have 'My Chemical Romance' when they asked.
Almost....
The first song by My Chemical Romance was called Headlines and Turnstyles which is about 9/11. It's Gee's was of getting over it.
We ended up sighing with Eyeball Records, and in John Neclario's basement, we started to record.
Nothing really special went on, we had to stop every now and then because John's mother would be vacuuming upstairs, or Gerard would have trouble singing sometimes because of something wrong with his tooth.
After a while, we decided we needed a new guitarist, Frank.
He was in a failed band called Pency Prep,who actually 'found' us in a what, and he came to us when that didn't work. We of course welcomed him with opened arms.
Frank ended up playing on two tracks on our album called I Brought You My Bullets And You Brought Me Your Love, and we played several shows.
After a while, we hired a manager, Brian Shecter, went on a few more tours, then we signed with Warner Brothers Record, and record on Reprise. On Reprise, we worked with a producer named Howard Benson, who helped us work and write as a band. We can all agree that he is the reason for the success of our album.
Our next album, Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge came out in 2004 and we literally blew up. Kids knew who we were, we went to Europe and there were kids with home-made My Chemical Romance shirts in Spain.
We toured with great bands like The Used, Killswitched Engaged, Astatic Lullaby, and my personal favorite, Green Day.
The Used and My Chemical Romance became great friends, but something happened during the time where my brother was getting over his drug and alcohol problem (which brought us all down because we couldn't do anything about it) and becoming sober, and the relationship we had built turned instantly sour.
Once we got a break from touring, we spent sometime to work on our next album while staying in the Paramour house, which was once owned by a silent movie star whos buried in the back yard.
I'd rather not talk about the time we spent there, but the experience created some of our best songs, in my opinion, on our new ablum, titled The Black Parade.
We produced the album on Reprise again, only this time we worked with Rob Cavallo, who's produced almost all of the Green Day albums. It was a thrill working with him.
When we finally finished our third album, we once again went on our. This tine we had bands like Rise Against, Muse, Linkin Park, Taking Back Sunday, and Placebo. All amazingly nice people.
We toured for a while, then finally we took a break to hang out with old friends, family and other people we were close with. Frank had gotten married to Jamia during our Black Parade tour, and they're now expecting a little girl named Missy.
After a while, we were itching to write songs and make a new album, but something wrong happened.
Ever since I left Travis, I've been trying to change my ways, mainly to try and douse my leftover feelings for him, and because studying music really did look like the thing for me. And it was.
It took a month exactly for Trav to forgive me for what I had done, and a few weeks later, we were great friends. Thankfully, during his month or deep depression, the only thing he told everyone was that I had cheated on him, and that after he kicked me out, I went to live with my older brother on the art campus. He never said anything about me cheating on him with my older brother.
When Derrick found out about what happened, he shrugged off the cloak of friendship and made it his number one goal to make my life a living hell.
Not a day went by, I don't think, where Derk the Jerk forgot to say something a bit too loud in the hallways about what I had done. It did make people whisper to their partners when I walked by, sometimes even loud conversations went suddenly soft when I entered a room, but I dealt with it like I had in highschool.
Jason on the other hand, was finally stepping out of Derricks black shadow. He did burn a few bridges after he found out what I had done, but once Trav forgave me, so did he. Sure, he got shit form Derk for it, but it's nice to know that we really did have a friendship.
Living with Gerard was great. This was the plan that we had when we dated in highschool. Sharing a place of our own, where there were no adults to call us sick, or gross. A place where we can just be ourselves.
But things shifted after Gerard graduated.
The year was 1997, I had just completed my first year of college, and Gerard was now finished with it. He had a bachelor in fine arts.
Gerard wanted to move out o the apartment, saying that he felt like he was in the way of my studies, and that he felt uncomfortable leaving early in the morning to go to work. I told him he was being silly, but he didn't listen.
The next thing I knew, I was alone, and Gerard moved into the basement of our parent's house, acting like a guest, paying electric bills, food bills, rent, whatever else my parents thought he had to pay.
I visited my parents on the holidays, at Christmas my parents were well known for the Christmas party that they held. Our Grandmother Elena and Grandpa Way came, along with Linda Iero and Frank, who was no dating a girl named Jamia, showing he was bi, Mr. and Mrs. Pilisser, Matt's parents came along, with Matt of course, and Ray and his family came as well.
It was good to be with everyone again. We try to spend as much time as we can laughing and catching up on things.
Ray got his guitar that he wanted and was a claimed, by us as we listened to him play, te best guitarist we've ever heard. He was looking at joining a band who needed one more member, so we were excited for him.
Matt was playing drums for various bands who's drummers couldn't make it, getting paid to learn beats before a show, mainly last minute, he also worked several jobs, getting fired for being late, or quitting out of boredom.
Frank too got a guitar, and after Ray, showed off his skills. He was in a band called, I Am A Graveyard, which was a metal band. It's something he's always wanted to do, and it's also how he met Jamia. She's the drummer's sister.
Gerard announced that he had his Bachelor in FA, and that he was working on a mini show that he would take with him to his job interview at the Cartoon Network building in New York.
Jaws dropped, but what do you expect? It's my brother.
I'm still in college, as was Frank. I had quit my job at the bookstore where Trav and I worked because I was offered a position at Barne's and Noble by a close friend who was manager. I was working in the cd's again, but I was also trying to get a job for Gerard, seeing he's jobless at the moment.
The first time Gee and I got our invitation from mom and dad, we were shocked. Just the fact that mom was letting Gerard back into the house was enough to bring tears back into his eyes.
During the time in between Gerard's graduation, and the unscheduled meeting with Cartoon Network, I did manage to get Gee that job. He was working in books, lucky him.
The years went on, Gerard and I tried more collaborations, but nothing solid. My manager friend and I have conversations, one of them being about Scottish bands, which lead to authors. He went in the back and came out with a pile of Irvine Welsh books.
We looked through the books, and I found on that really stuck out. The book was called Ecstacy, and on the inside was a little subtitle that read Three tales of chemical romance, and the term 'chemical romance' stuck in my head. I continued to think about it all day, and it was on the way home that I know why it bugged me.
The term would make a killer band name! I mean, if I added 'my' to the beginning of it and made it 'My Chemical Romance' why that would be the most killer name.
When I got home, I ended up calling Gerard and told him all about it. He was as excited about the name as I was. I'm so lucky to have a lover partner brother like Gerard.
So now, after four years out of college, Gerard was finally going to see Cartoon Network about a new cartoon they wanted. He was on a ferry heading to New York from Jersey, when suddenly, two planes crashed into the World Trade Centers. On the phone, he told me he saw the bodies falling from the too high floors.
He ended up quitting his job at CN and went home. The next thing anyone knew, Gerard had called Matt, recruited Ray, and then me, and gave starting a band another try.
Matt wasn't drumming anymore at the time, and practically tackled Gerard when asked to join. Ray, we found out, had been playing drums in a band, wasting his talent as a guitarist.
But once asked to join, he gave up drumming happily.
I was recruited as a bass player. When I fist joined, we didn't have a name yet, and I almost didn't let them have 'My Chemical Romance' when they asked.
Almost....
The first song by My Chemical Romance was called Headlines and Turnstyles which is about 9/11. It's Gee's was of getting over it.
We ended up sighing with Eyeball Records, and in John Neclario's basement, we started to record.
Nothing really special went on, we had to stop every now and then because John's mother would be vacuuming upstairs, or Gerard would have trouble singing sometimes because of something wrong with his tooth.
After a while, we decided we needed a new guitarist, Frank.
He was in a failed band called Pency Prep,who actually 'found' us in a what, and he came to us when that didn't work. We of course welcomed him with opened arms.
Frank ended up playing on two tracks on our album called I Brought You My Bullets And You Brought Me Your Love, and we played several shows.
After a while, we hired a manager, Brian Shecter, went on a few more tours, then we signed with Warner Brothers Record, and record on Reprise. On Reprise, we worked with a producer named Howard Benson, who helped us work and write as a band. We can all agree that he is the reason for the success of our album.
Our next album, Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge came out in 2004 and we literally blew up. Kids knew who we were, we went to Europe and there were kids with home-made My Chemical Romance shirts in Spain.
We toured with great bands like The Used, Killswitched Engaged, Astatic Lullaby, and my personal favorite, Green Day.
The Used and My Chemical Romance became great friends, but something happened during the time where my brother was getting over his drug and alcohol problem (which brought us all down because we couldn't do anything about it) and becoming sober, and the relationship we had built turned instantly sour.
Once we got a break from touring, we spent sometime to work on our next album while staying in the Paramour house, which was once owned by a silent movie star whos buried in the back yard.
I'd rather not talk about the time we spent there, but the experience created some of our best songs, in my opinion, on our new ablum, titled The Black Parade.
We produced the album on Reprise again, only this time we worked with Rob Cavallo, who's produced almost all of the Green Day albums. It was a thrill working with him.
When we finally finished our third album, we once again went on our. This tine we had bands like Rise Against, Muse, Linkin Park, Taking Back Sunday, and Placebo. All amazingly nice people.
We toured for a while, then finally we took a break to hang out with old friends, family and other people we were close with. Frank had gotten married to Jamia during our Black Parade tour, and they're now expecting a little girl named Missy.
After a while, we were itching to write songs and make a new album, but something wrong happened.