My Chemical Romance – Life On The Murder Scene (2 DVD)
Since the release of their second LP 'Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge', My Chemical Romance have enjoyed phenomenal success, selling over 1.9 million records to their exponentially expanding, adoring worldwide fan base. On 21st March, the New Jersey quintet released this two disc DVD 'Life On The Murder Scene' – something to keep the fans satisfied until the next studio record, which will be underway "shortly".
The first DVD is an on-the-road video diary, mixing various live interviews with live footage. We get the story of the 'Early Years', in which Gerard Way reflects on his more youthful days. From the 'Influences' section, we learn that it was the influence of Black Flag which first set MCR onto the concept of revenge. The 'Dawn of MCR' section explains how the band got their name: Mickey Way (Bass) was reading Irvine (of Trainspotting fame) novels, found the blurb "Five Tales Of Chemical Romance", stuck the possessive pronoun "my" in front of it and voila! Whilst I'm sure fans will enjoy such tasty titbits of MCR trivia (check it out: alliteration!), the highlight has to be the explanation of Gerard Way's drug and alcohol addiction, and his subsequent recovery. Brian Schechter, MCR's manager, tells an emotional story about an intense telephone conversation in which he had to talk a suicidal Gerard Way out of harming himself. From that moment, it took Gerard only 17 days to get clean – an inspiring story. The second DVD is a compilation of videos, live footage and making-of documentaries.
The DVD gives us an excellent insight into the personalities and the inner-workings of the band, and, unlike most so-called 'revealing and up close and personal' music DVDs I've seen, you actually feel like you know the band better after watching it, and this adds a new dimension and intensity to their songs. The honesty and humility of the MCR musicians is striking, and it's always nice to see a band not too obsessed with their own fame. Both DVDs are lengthy and in-depth, and with an accompanying live CD, this is certainly value for money.
However, I have the same question to pose whenever I see one of these inter-album releases – is it really necessary? Do MCR's fans really need to know all about the free Nintendo merchandise the band got on their 'Nintendo Fusion' tour, or that drummer Bob Bryar likes to punch cameras? What's the point? Well, if the point is to produce a unique, essential DVD with never-before-seen, ground-breaking revelations, then 'Life On The Murder Scene' falls short – there's nothing here you couldn't have figured out from MCR's music and numerous interviews. However, if 'Life On The Murder Scene' is just meant to be an entertaining, cleverly compiled, and watch-able catalogue of the band's career to date, it works well. For fans only – good, but unessential.