Categories > Celebrities > My Chemical Romance > The My Chemical Romance Story

Brian Schechter

by Moonshyne 5 reviews

Brian hears a demo after a show and wants not only to meet them but manage them.

Category: My Chemical Romance - Rating: PG-13 - Genres: Drama - Characters: Frank Iero,Gerard Way,Mikey Way,Ray Toro - Published: 2008-11-11 - Updated: 2008-11-12 - 1870 words

0Unrated
“C’mon guys let’s get on the van, we need to get moving,” said a tall lanky man with a lip piercing, tattoos that covered his arms and knuckles, short curly brown hair and striking blue eyes.

“So Brian, where are we going next?” asked singer Vendetta Red singer Zach Davidson.

“Pheonix,” said Brian.

“Getting closer to home,” smiled Zach.

“Bert come on get in your van.”

“But Bri I want to go with you!”

Brian rolled his eyes at the young singer of the Used. “Get in your van with Jeph, Quinn and Branden.”

“Ahhh, you’re no fun. Just watch out Schecter, you’ll be our tour manager soon enough,”

Brian laughed he loved Bert like a little brother, and like all little brothers he can be annoying as hell sometimes, but he kept the tour interesting.

They arrived in Phoenix five hours later, everyone slept in their appropriate vans before getting up late morning finding a place to go to the bathroom and shower. It had been three days since any one did and the smell was getting rancid.

The show started at eight and everyone was a tad wasted before taking the stage. Only Brian and The Used tour manager seemed sober. The kids in the crowd loved the show especially The Used. Brian could see great things happening for this band and especially Bert. The show ended around quarter to one by the time everything was broken down and they were on the road again it was close to two, this time they were heading out to L.A. Brian liked going to L.A. because he got to see a few friends that weren’t musicians they were like him, tour managers and such. Behind the scenes guys, guys that made it all happen. Brian loved his life as a tour manager and would never give it up for anything in the world. Who would know later that night all that would change?

They had the night off and stayed at a cheap hotel five rooms, four to be split between the bands and one for the two tour managers. That night Brian was meeting an old friend of his who was a DJ for a independent radio station. They were meeting at a dive in West Hollywood.

“Brian!!!” yelled a short man with long brown hair, beard, mustache and like Brian tattoos covering his arms.

“Hey George what’s happening?”

“Same old, same old, and you?”

“Finishing up a tour with Vendetta.”

“Who you touring with this time?”

“A band from Utah called The Used.”

“Decent, they’re getting a lot of airplay.”

“When the tour ending?”

“A few more days. Then back to another one.”

“You must love the touring life?”

“Absolutely, I get to meet all these new bands and watching the crowds react is such a rush.”

“Hey I get to see new bands all the time, and I don’t go anywhere. Come on let’s get out of here.”

Brian and George left and drove out to the valley where George was renting an apartment.

They got in the door and was greeted by George’s white and brown spotted pitbull Snookums.

“Hey Snookums,” George said as he patted the excited dog. Brian also patted the dog as he jumped all over him starving for affection.

“Down girl,” said George and the dog immediately got off of Brian and lay down in her bed in the corner of the living room.

Brian noticed some cds by the state of the art stereo but one caught his eye, all it said was Demo.

“What’s this all about?”

“Band from Jersey.”

“Like there aren’t enough of those.”

“This one’s different.”

Brian threw it on and listened to the opening drum beat and then the bass coming in and finally guitar. He liked the sound of it, it was kind of slower pace then what he normally liked. He smiled at when the vocals came on and liked the singer’s voice, then he noticed at about one minute into the song the tempo changed and became a little more upbeat and then bam it him from nowhere as the singer sang the chorus and he could see in his mind the crowds going crazy for this. He listened to the many tempo changes and how the instruments all worked together and knew there was something different about this band. He loved the road and touring but he also knew if this band was managed properly they could be one of the biggest things to come out of Jersey.

“So what’s the name of the band?”

George got the original packaging it came in, “My Chemical Romance and that particular song was ‘Vampires Will Never Hurt You’.”

Brian couldn’t help but smile at the name. A band after his own heart. He loved horror movies especially those with vampires. The next song started with drums then the guitar and bass Brian started bopping his head to the beat and closed his eyes and again picturing a crowd going wild and surfing all over a mosh-pit. He knew no matter what he had to manage this band, he only hoped they didn’t have one already.

“So George who sent you this, their manager?”

“Nah got it directly from Eyeball Records, maybe they don’t have one.”

Brian was licking his lips and biting his lip ring. He had to, no needed to find out more about the band.

That night he went back to the hotel and had problems sleeping, his mind spinning around My Chemical Romance. They had one more date in San Francisco and then he had a break before the next tour.

He had enough. Since he couldn’t sleep he would look up the name on his laptop. He didn’t turn on the lights as not to disturb The Used’s tour manager but quietly took out his computer and turned it on. He quietly typed in my chemical romance and soon found their website. They were playing out in New Jersey at Maxwell’s in a few days.

The next few days flew by as The Used and Vendetta Red finished their tour. Brian said his good-byes and then hopped on a plane to Jersey. He had become obsessed with this band trying to find out everything he could about them. The images of kids going wild at their shows kept popping into his head.

He got to Maxwells early that hot summer night on August 16th and watched as they set-up. Excitement was running through his body as the place started to fill Brian stood back he wanted to watch and see if his visions would take form. The house lights went down and the drum gave a beat and the band started playing one of the songs he had heard on the demo. Twenty seconds into the first song he saw the crowd starting to go crazy, but not just the crowd the band was the same way too. The lead guitarist he knew as Ray, from their website, who was tall, with a small afro, was head banging and jumping around. The other guitarist was a much shorter and had dreadlocks, he was doing jerking movements as he played he knew him as Frank. The drummer was also tall with a goatee he knew his name was Matt. The bassist was average height and very lanky he knew he was Mikey brother of the lead singer. The lead singer was Gerard and Brian was mesmerized at how he took command of the crowd.

He watched how the crowd reacted to the band and thus the band feeding off the crowd. It was pure chaotic mayhem. This was nothing like Brian’s vision at all, it was ten times better. As he watched he realized something, as much as he loved tour managing and originally that was what he was seeing them for, he would leave it all to manage this band. He saw something that was going to explode and if not handled correctly could possibly self destruct. He wanted more for this band.

After the set he watched how the talked to the fans and then when everything seemed to die down he approached Gerard.

“Hi, my name is Brian Schechter.”

“Hi Brian, nice to meet you. Did you enjoy the show?”

“Immensely.”

Gerard smiled and swayed a little from having a little too much to drink.

“That’s great. We love to hear that shit.”

“So you guys have a manager?”

“If you want to book us for something just ask and we’ll check what we have open?”

“No what I want actually is to be your manager.”

“Oh you’re one of those. Listen we’re flattered really but we’re not interested.”

“I have these great visions for you, why don’t you at least hear me out.”

“How long have you been listening to us?”

“I heard you four days ago when I was tour managing for Vendetta Red. I flew out as soon as the tour ended.”

“Listen I’m really flattered, but we’ve had ARs after us before we even played a show and they’re still asking us to sign with them. We’re just not interested.”

“We ready to roll?” asked Matt.

Gerard looked at him, “Yeah.” He turned again to Brian, “It was nice talking to you, I’m glad you enjoyed the show and I’m sorry you flew out all this way for nothing.”

Frank approached Gerard as they were going towards the back entrance, “Who was that?”

Gerard took one last look back at Brian, “A fan.”

Brian now knew he had to work hard to earn their trust and knew the first step he had to take. He whipped out his cell phone and prayed the other party hadn’t gone to sleep yet.

“Hello,” answered the voice quickly.

Brian exhaled in relief that he was still up.

“Hey Dave, it’s Brian Schechter, I was wondering if there were any openings for Skatefest?”

“I only have one more slot for the 15th and it’s on stage two.”

“Perfect can you give it to a band by the name of My Chemical Romance?”

“Sure.”

“Do me a favor and call Eyeball and tell them the news.”

“Don’t you want to tell them yourself?”

“Not this time.”

Brian smiled, and thought ‘Here’s to the first step to the long road ahead.’

*A/N: I don't know how Brian listened to the demo he never says that in any interviews. Secondly I don't know if Brian set-up the Skatefest thing, but I thought it was cool that Vendetta Red shared the same stage as My Chem, and The Used also played the same night on Stage 1 along with Glassjaw (another band they liked). Also interesting facts are on Sept. 13th, Thursday was the headlining act and Taking Back Sunday also played that day. Not sure which stage. Check out these classic pics of My Chem September 2002.

http://www.returntothepit.com/concert.php?date=2002-09-15&band=my_chemical_romance
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