My Chemical Romance Team With O'Brien for "Best Record Yet"

Confirming what Gerard Way told Rolling Stone at Comic Con, My Chemical Romance announced today that they are currently recording their follow-up to 2006's The Black Parade in Los Angeles with producer Brendan O'Brien, who recently worked with Bruce Springsteen, Aerosmith and Pearl Jam (on their upcoming Backspacer).

"At this point, the best way to describe the new album is My Chemical Romance being the purest, most distilled version of itself," Way said in a statement. "No bells and whistles, as the focus has been on melody and songwriting. If it doesn't work in a room with just the five of us, we aren't trying to make it work in the studio with effects and string sections." The group began writing songs for the new album in 2008 about a month after their massive tour in support of The Black Parade had ended.

Rolling Stone caught up with Way at this year's Comic-Con, where he told us about one new song, "Death Before Disco," that he was especially excited about. "It brings back, lyrically, some of that wonderful fiction from the first album. I think we wrote our 'Born to Run,' and I'm so amped about that," Way told RS. "It's a completely different sound for the band — it's like an anti-party song that you can party to. I can't wait for people to hear it. To me, it's the greatest song we've ever written — it's my favorite MCR song." My Chemical Romance debuted "Death Before Disco" live Friday, July 31st during a concert at Los Angeles' Roxy (YouTube has the video of the performance).

As for recording with O'Brien, Way said the producer's fast pace has been bringing out the best in the band. "Brendan is the kind of producer who really likes a lot of things going on at once, so we're tracking and he's going right across the hall and mixing. It's a process that always keeps everyone involved the whole time," Way said.

Over on My Chemical Romance's official Website, guitarist Ray Toro has been posting short videos from inside the studio. "What we're bringing from Black Parade to the new album is that sense of creative spark, where anything can feel possible, except distilled into a three minute, 30-second song," Toro said. "I can say, hands down, this is our best record yet."

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Song Stories

“Smells Like Teen Spirit”

Nirvana | 1991

"Smells Like Teen Spirit," named after a brand of deodorant marketed to girls, was Kurt Cobain's attempt to "write the ultimate pop song," he said, using the soft-loud dynamic of his favorite band, the Pixies. Cobain "had that dichotomy of punk rage and alienation," the song’s producer, Butch Vig, told Rolling Stone, "but also this vulnerable pop sensibility. In 'Teen Spirit,' a lot of that vulnerability is in the tone of his voice." Sadly, by the time of Nirvana's last U.S. tour, in late '93, Cobain was tortured by the obligation to play "Teen Spirit" every night. "There are many other songs that I have written that are as good, if not better," he claimed.

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