Categories > Celebrities > My Chemical Romance
The Kids From Yesterday
6 reviewsGerard thinks back on the good old days... [For Music and Words] *TO BE REWRITTEN*
2Original
Sitting alone in my empty house, I was bored out of my mind.Lyn-Z was shopping and Bandit was at preschool, and nobody else was around. I reached over for the TV remote, and clicked on the TV. To my surprise, the My Chemical Romance documentary, “Life On the Murder Scene” was on. I didn’t even know that could be aired.
The band had been on hiatus since we had released Danger Days, none of us having the drive to make music anymore. But watching us way back right after we had released Revenge, I saw that spark in us that had since disappeared. I saw that longing in us to do something more, to affect people we couldn’t reach except through music. As I sat watching that show, so many memories came racing back...
I was riding the train to New York to get to another day of my dead end job at Cartoon Network on September eleventh, 2001. Then just as we were passing the Twin Towers, the first plane hit. And then the building was burning, and people were jumping from the top floors in desperation and I could do nothing but sit and watch with shocked eyes. I would never had been able to make a difference in those people’s lives, and at any point it could be too late to try.
In those moments, watching those towers crumble and those people die, I decided I wanted to do something worthwhile in my life. I wanted to help people live, and get through the times that tested their strength. An I would do it the only way I knew how. Through music.
That was why the band had started in the first place. My Chemical Romance. A little baby in the New Jersey music scene. The we played our first show...
We got on the stage, and everything from that moment on was a blur. Thinking back on it now, it’s a miracle I can remember anything, since I was piss ass drunk. As it is, the only thing I remember is as we were playing and I was singing, kids were jumping, dancing, and screaming with looks of pure joy on their faces. It was the most amazing feeling in the world.
That was the beginning of something beautiful. But then the bottles started piling up...
I was in love with the liquids that took away all the pain and doubts. I was drinking morning, noon, and night. I would stumble around, perfectly happy and miserable at the same time. The drinks brought pure bliss, and even more pain all at the same time. The bliss came during the intoxication, the pain when I came back down and saw the looks of disappointment on my friend’s faces. And that just made me want to get drunk again.
Eventually, drinking just wasn’t enough. It didn’t take enough of the edge off. I was already on antidepressants as well, thanks to my suicidal thoughts, and then I got my hands on some cocaine, and God, I was flying. But as I lay there, high as fuck, the thoughts and obsessions of death came to the surface. I wanted to die...I NEEDED to die. I went crying to our manager, Brian, who talked me back down. And thank God he did....
After that went down, I got clean pretty quickly. Then we got to recording our next album, The Black Parade...
We were at the Paramour Mansion, recording our new album, pushing our limits. It was stressing us all out. I wanted to drink again, Frank wasn’t sleeping, Ray’s hair was starting to fall out, and Bob...well, Bob was just Bob. Nothing fazed him. Mikey, however, is not good with pressure. It was getting to him, I think we could all tell. He was just my baby brother, he wasn’t supposed to feel this stress. And then he snapped.
He came to me in the middle of the night, near tears. “Gerard,” he said quietly, “I can’t do this. I think I need a break.” We stayed up all night talking, and came to the decision he needed to leave for a while. So the next day, he packed up his stuff and moved to a nearby friend’s house. Eventually, he got back the mental stability to come back, but we were always careful not to let him get too stressed again.
Even after I had overcome my addictions and that Mikey drama, there was still one more problem...
Frank and I had always been close. We were best friends, how could we not be? But at some point, I don’t know when, we started wanting something more from each other. It was more out of sexual frustration than anything else. Frank had Jamia back at home, but during tours...well, a guy has needs.
It started as a show, nothing more than kisses for the audience. But we enjoyed it far too much for it to stay that way. We began to grow even closer physically off stage as well, at first just hugging, then stealing secret little kisses. Eventually, those little kisses grew into full on make out sessions, and then those lead to something more.
This sort of thing went on for a couple of years, but there was an issue. Frank loved Jamia. The guilt over our activities was eating away at him, and it just got worse every time he would see her. He wouldn’t admit it, but I could see it in his eyes. So I had to end it. We both cried, but it was for the best, and I knew that as he went walking out the door to go propose to Jamia. And then I met Lyn-Z.
That was both the end and the beginning of an era. Me and Lyn-Z dated for a while, and got married backstage after a show. Then came our little miracle...
“Gerard,” Lyn-Z said, coming up to me in our house we had gotten together after we had gotten off tour. She had tears in her eyes, threatening to spill over,and she quietly said, “I think I’m pregnant.”
I brought her head into my chest, embracing her as the tears spilled out of her eyes. “Shh,” I whispered into her ear, “It’ll be okay. We’ll raise this kid, and they’re gonna be wonderful.”
Ly-Z pulled back slightly to look at me, and said, “You want this? I know you’re busy with your band...”
I shook my head at her, and responded, “How could I not want this? It doesn’t matter how damn busy I am, I am going to help through this, and we are going to have a child together, and that child is going to be the most loved child ever.”
Nine months later, our beautiful little daughter Bandit Lee Way was born. By that point, Danger Days was well on its way, but I took a break to spend some time with my two favorite girls. I couldn’t believe that I had made such a perfect human being. I still can’t.
That’s my story, I thought to myself, clicking off the TV, Now we’re just the kids from yesterday. I made my way over to the coffee machine, needing a little of my one last vice. Then I remembered one last incident...
It was one of our first CD signings after releasing Revenge, and also one of the few times where I wasn’t drunk or high. We were going through fan after fan, them passing us by saying little else but “thank you”. Then one particular girl came up.
She handed over her CD, tears brimming her eyes. As I signed it, she said, “Thank you so much. Not for the autograph, but for the music. Before I heard about you guys, I was on the brink of suicide. I self-harmed, and I hated the world. You guys saved me from myself.”
That was the first time I really knew I had done what I set out to do.
Thinking back on that time, I pulled my phone out of my pocket. I dialed a number quickly and when the other person picked up, I said, “Frank, I think it’s time the band got back together...” We hadn’t taken our last ride just yet...
A/N: Erm, hey. I posted this yesterday, but I just read it over, and wow, it stinks. I think I'm gonna rework it, add more flashbacks and shit. I'll leave this version up until I get the new one done, but just know that it will be rewritten. I was just really rushed the first time around, as well as tired. Sorry for that load of crap you just read.
The band had been on hiatus since we had released Danger Days, none of us having the drive to make music anymore. But watching us way back right after we had released Revenge, I saw that spark in us that had since disappeared. I saw that longing in us to do something more, to affect people we couldn’t reach except through music. As I sat watching that show, so many memories came racing back...
I was riding the train to New York to get to another day of my dead end job at Cartoon Network on September eleventh, 2001. Then just as we were passing the Twin Towers, the first plane hit. And then the building was burning, and people were jumping from the top floors in desperation and I could do nothing but sit and watch with shocked eyes. I would never had been able to make a difference in those people’s lives, and at any point it could be too late to try.
In those moments, watching those towers crumble and those people die, I decided I wanted to do something worthwhile in my life. I wanted to help people live, and get through the times that tested their strength. An I would do it the only way I knew how. Through music.
That was why the band had started in the first place. My Chemical Romance. A little baby in the New Jersey music scene. The we played our first show...
We got on the stage, and everything from that moment on was a blur. Thinking back on it now, it’s a miracle I can remember anything, since I was piss ass drunk. As it is, the only thing I remember is as we were playing and I was singing, kids were jumping, dancing, and screaming with looks of pure joy on their faces. It was the most amazing feeling in the world.
That was the beginning of something beautiful. But then the bottles started piling up...
I was in love with the liquids that took away all the pain and doubts. I was drinking morning, noon, and night. I would stumble around, perfectly happy and miserable at the same time. The drinks brought pure bliss, and even more pain all at the same time. The bliss came during the intoxication, the pain when I came back down and saw the looks of disappointment on my friend’s faces. And that just made me want to get drunk again.
Eventually, drinking just wasn’t enough. It didn’t take enough of the edge off. I was already on antidepressants as well, thanks to my suicidal thoughts, and then I got my hands on some cocaine, and God, I was flying. But as I lay there, high as fuck, the thoughts and obsessions of death came to the surface. I wanted to die...I NEEDED to die. I went crying to our manager, Brian, who talked me back down. And thank God he did....
After that went down, I got clean pretty quickly. Then we got to recording our next album, The Black Parade...
We were at the Paramour Mansion, recording our new album, pushing our limits. It was stressing us all out. I wanted to drink again, Frank wasn’t sleeping, Ray’s hair was starting to fall out, and Bob...well, Bob was just Bob. Nothing fazed him. Mikey, however, is not good with pressure. It was getting to him, I think we could all tell. He was just my baby brother, he wasn’t supposed to feel this stress. And then he snapped.
He came to me in the middle of the night, near tears. “Gerard,” he said quietly, “I can’t do this. I think I need a break.” We stayed up all night talking, and came to the decision he needed to leave for a while. So the next day, he packed up his stuff and moved to a nearby friend’s house. Eventually, he got back the mental stability to come back, but we were always careful not to let him get too stressed again.
Even after I had overcome my addictions and that Mikey drama, there was still one more problem...
Frank and I had always been close. We were best friends, how could we not be? But at some point, I don’t know when, we started wanting something more from each other. It was more out of sexual frustration than anything else. Frank had Jamia back at home, but during tours...well, a guy has needs.
It started as a show, nothing more than kisses for the audience. But we enjoyed it far too much for it to stay that way. We began to grow even closer physically off stage as well, at first just hugging, then stealing secret little kisses. Eventually, those little kisses grew into full on make out sessions, and then those lead to something more.
This sort of thing went on for a couple of years, but there was an issue. Frank loved Jamia. The guilt over our activities was eating away at him, and it just got worse every time he would see her. He wouldn’t admit it, but I could see it in his eyes. So I had to end it. We both cried, but it was for the best, and I knew that as he went walking out the door to go propose to Jamia. And then I met Lyn-Z.
That was both the end and the beginning of an era. Me and Lyn-Z dated for a while, and got married backstage after a show. Then came our little miracle...
“Gerard,” Lyn-Z said, coming up to me in our house we had gotten together after we had gotten off tour. She had tears in her eyes, threatening to spill over,and she quietly said, “I think I’m pregnant.”
I brought her head into my chest, embracing her as the tears spilled out of her eyes. “Shh,” I whispered into her ear, “It’ll be okay. We’ll raise this kid, and they’re gonna be wonderful.”
Ly-Z pulled back slightly to look at me, and said, “You want this? I know you’re busy with your band...”
I shook my head at her, and responded, “How could I not want this? It doesn’t matter how damn busy I am, I am going to help through this, and we are going to have a child together, and that child is going to be the most loved child ever.”
Nine months later, our beautiful little daughter Bandit Lee Way was born. By that point, Danger Days was well on its way, but I took a break to spend some time with my two favorite girls. I couldn’t believe that I had made such a perfect human being. I still can’t.
That’s my story, I thought to myself, clicking off the TV, Now we’re just the kids from yesterday. I made my way over to the coffee machine, needing a little of my one last vice. Then I remembered one last incident...
It was one of our first CD signings after releasing Revenge, and also one of the few times where I wasn’t drunk or high. We were going through fan after fan, them passing us by saying little else but “thank you”. Then one particular girl came up.
She handed over her CD, tears brimming her eyes. As I signed it, she said, “Thank you so much. Not for the autograph, but for the music. Before I heard about you guys, I was on the brink of suicide. I self-harmed, and I hated the world. You guys saved me from myself.”
That was the first time I really knew I had done what I set out to do.
Thinking back on that time, I pulled my phone out of my pocket. I dialed a number quickly and when the other person picked up, I said, “Frank, I think it’s time the band got back together...” We hadn’t taken our last ride just yet...
A/N: Erm, hey. I posted this yesterday, but I just read it over, and wow, it stinks. I think I'm gonna rework it, add more flashbacks and shit. I'll leave this version up until I get the new one done, but just know that it will be rewritten. I was just really rushed the first time around, as well as tired. Sorry for that load of crap you just read.
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