My Chemical Romance's Ray Toro Reveals "Album Secrets", MTV Posts 'Danger Days' Review
In the article, Toro explains that, with the band's reuniting with producer Rob Cavallo, they broke the rules they had set for themselves in the songwriting process and ultimately ended up creating music with a theme of "finding a sense of freedom and using creativity and art as the weapon, as opposed to worrying about the end result."
Toro and Spin give brief descriptions of four of those new pieces of music in the article:
"'Party Poison'
One of the salvaged songs from My Chem's earlier sessions, "Party Poison" may be the most straight-forward punk tune on Danger Days: buzzsaw guitar riffs, clattering beats, and Way howling over the chorus. There's even a shout-out to the MC5's 1969 proto-punk classic "Kick Out the Jams." (My Chem actually met with MC5 frontman Wayne Kramer to play him new material, although this track was written before that meeting.) "This was the cream of the crop of the stripped-down style we were going for," Toro says of the earlier sessions. "And just the spirit and energy of the MC5 — that fuels this song."
'Planetary (GO!)'
Blistering punk-funk that sounds like Franz Ferdinand at their fiercest. Over blippy electronic sequencing and slicing guitars, Way delivers a raucous call-to-arms, shouting phrases like 'Fame is now injectable!" and "We just get up and go!" The band found unlikely inspiration in the Rolling Stones for this cut. "Mikey, Gerard and I were listening to the Stones and we noticed how their songs are very repetitive but one guitar is playing throughout," says Toro, referring to the Stones' "Paint it Black." "And the way we built a lot of the record was by taking it eight or 16 bars at a time and used melodies that would work over an entire verse. Which is kind of strange."
'S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W'
On this sweet, mid-tempo tune, Way's vocals are treated with a liquid vibrato effect similar to John Lennon's vocals on "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds." Way sings about falling for a girl's "lip-gloss smile" over chiming guitars, layered vocals, and spacey effects. "This shows off the more artsy side of the band," says Toro. "The Beatles are a huge influence and with the backup harmonies and effect on Gerard's vocals, it's our best stab at doing a song like ["Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds"]. It takes a psychedelic journey." As for the unconventional, forward-slash-heavy punctuation, Toro says it refers to the police force that's out to get the Killjoys. "In the world of the Killjoys, S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W is almost like a defense force so that's the reason for the slashes," he says.
'Vampire Money'
My Chem wrote this hard-charging rocker — with a riff reminiscent of Elvis Costello's "Pump It Up" — after turning down offers to contribute a song to the Twilight soundtrack series. "We just kept saying 'No, no, no," says Toro. "Gerard wrote those lyrics to the song as if to say, 'If you want a song for the movie this is what's it's going to be.'" The phrase "vampire money" came when we were doing an interview and the guy asked us if we were going to get some of that "vampire money" that everybody wants. So that's what the song's about. I think songs for soundtracks can be cool but we don't really buy into the movie. We don't personally enjoy it but that's not to say it's bad."
Also posted yesterday was MTV.com's review of Danger Days... in which the author comments on the band's ambition, reinvention and the American-ness of the album.
The review also previews some lyrics from select songs:
"Summertime"
You can run away with me anytime you want
Bulletproof Heart
I've got a bulletproof heart/ You've got a hollow-point smile
The Kids From Yesterday
When we were young, we used to say/ That you only hear the music when your heart begins to break
XoXo
c.
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