the aftermath is secondary: part two.

"Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys" - My Chemical Romance's latest offering - is officially in my possession.

After what seemed like decades without knowing what my musical heroes have been up to, (aside from concentrating on their personal lives), I finally have some new auditory candy to fill my head with. The mission now is to fully memorize every single lyric by the time 2011 rolls around... or maybe I can do it by the end of November?? At the frequency I've been listening to these songs, I should have no problem.

For anyone who's a complete stranger to the stylings of this band, the first thing you should know is that each album they put out has a different story line to it that, in a way, is a fantasy created out of  band members' real life events. They're always jam-packed with honesty, and  realness that you can't get from any other band. The world was first introduced to a tragic tale of two star-crossed lovers whose only hope of a reunion in the afterlife consisted of making a deal with the devil: "I brought you my bullets, you brought me your love" and "Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge": pain of loss, gunfire, and plenty of screaming, (maybe a therapeutic release of sorts, for lead singer Gerard Way, after dealing with the grief of losing his grandmother)... most of us fell in love on the spot.  Next up came a story of.. well, more death. The big difference, however, being that it was meant to give one hope as opposed to despair, and a friendly reminder to celebrate life itself. Told through the eyes of an imaginary cancer patient and his childhood memories, "Welcome to the Black Parade" revived not only fans' spirits, but their wardrobes as well ;)

And finally, we have "Danger Days..." 

It seems that once upon a time, in a not-too-distant future, (that strangely feels like the present), a heartless corporation known as Better Living Industries is out to destroy every last shred of humanity that exists.  A band of rebels known as Killjoys spends their waking moments fighting against all it's brainwashing evils... no matter the cost.  Because as Gandhi once said, it's up to us to "be the change you want to see in the world".
When a little girl gets kidnapped by the Scarecrow Division of B.L.I., all hell breaks loose.

(Could this be symbolism referring to Gerard Way's real life daughter, and how his only mission in life now is to protect her from all he sees, and all he knows??)

It's always refreshing to get a glimpse into his current life through the lyrics and imagery that he creates.  The standout tracks on this album for me are "Bulletproof Heart", "Planetary (GO!)", "S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W", and "Summertime".  Oh, and I should probably mention that, yes, I'm well aware of how the internet works these days, making artists' new songs available instantly, often days before the actual 'album release', whether through bootlegging, or crappy live videos on youtube... but I choose not to be a part of it. It kills all the magic that used to once come with the excited anxiousness of waiting for that album to be made available in stores, and that first time you play the thing in its entirety the way it's meant to be played: with your ears open wide to each new track that you are hearing for the VERY FIRST TIME. 

Granted, I *did* choose to download the free version of "Save Yourself, I'll hold them Back", when MCR themselves offered it through their website, but I ignored everything else.  I wanted to experience this cd the same way I've always experienced them.  And, believe me, it's so much more worth it.  "Danger Days" sounds better every time you play it. I kid you not, kids.

"Bulletproof Heart" makes me want to sing along with tears in my eyes. Something about it is clearly meant to inspire hope and courage.

"Planetary (GO!)" is different from any other MCR song I've ever heard. It experiments with dance/electronic  sampling, and it's my current favourite to blare in the car while driving. It's energizing and fun and it rules.

But if I had to choose just ONE (current), ABSOLUTE FAVOURITE track, it's definitely "S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W".  For any seasoned fans like myself, who remember the song "Early Sunsets over Monroeville", off of their first album, we can be taken back to the same sort of twisted, gorgeous irony created by that song about a zombie horror movie with this one, told through soothing guitars and dreamy singing. It's probably the most 'mellow' song on this album, and it's beautiful, to say the least. Hide from the Scarecrow, kids. He is pure evil.

"Summertime" is a love song.  And I think it's Gerard's homage to his wife.  (Whom he just so happened to meet and marry in the 'summertime' of '07... 

"This planet's ours to defend"

Enough with the reading. Buy this cd now and thank me later.

<3

the aftermath is secondary: part one.

 If I stop to think about what my life was like before I found My Chemical Romance, I don't seem to remember much. Seriously. It all seemed so monotonous. Uninspired. Forced. And while saying something like that might just make me sound like another pathetic fangirl, I just really don't know how else to explain it.

Everyone has that one band/artist that defines their life at any given moment. Or, in my case, sometimes there's more than one band to define more than one moment.. But MCR stands alone in being that ONE special act that CONTINUES to fill new voids in my life. To put it simply, it feels like I grow with them, rather than apart from them... does that make sense??

Just when I start to despair and believe that no one really cares to dream or to save anyone in this world anymore, in comes this (now red headed) super hero. Like something straight out of a comic book -  perhaps the very last of his kind on this planet:  here is someone who lives and breathes his art.  And unless you happen to devote your life to any kind of creative field, you might not understand it completely... how empty it feels when you're in a mental block. How frightening your way of thinking becomes when you worry about what others will think or say about your abilities. How exposed you feel when you share a part of who you are.

Your art is always something that you're crazy with, but crazier without.
It's The Weapon.



Gerard Way is the only person that shows me how to use it, time and time again.

*locked and loaded*

Watch out world. 

He's back.

And this time, he's taking me with him.

(And I hope we never return).

*photos taken from: "Na Na Na" (Official music video), conceptualized and co-directed by Gerard Way.

*costumes designed by: Colleen Atwood and Gerard Way.

If you care enough to be further enlightened, visit mychemicalromance.com right now to receive a FREE download of the song "Save Yourself, I'll Hold them Back", and mark your calendars for November 22nd, when their new album "The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys" comes out. 

Magazine Hoarder: guilty as charged.

current fave: May 2010 issue of NylonGUYS, with cover star Gerard Way.




Ok, so this issue has actually been on shelves for a good month, now. I bought it back in April, and I'm just now getting around to blogging about it.

Check it out, kids. Your favourite MCR singer is all grown up and looking hot as ever in this sexy pictorial shot by Nylon's own infamous Marvin Scott Jarrett. Major props go to stylist Marjan Malakpour, (who by the way, has actually worked with MCR before, styling the "Helena" music video, no less), for the awesome designer clothes Gerard was wearing: Ksubi jeans, Junya Watanabe, John Varvatos, a CLASSIC Burberry trenchcoat (!!!), as well as borrowed vintage pieces.


Glad to see them finally out of hiding... I've never been more pleased with a My Chemical Romance magazine shoot than I am with this Nylon one.







My fave shot, (if I HAD to choose!), is the one of him in the black Gstar jacket and tie, with his ruffled up hair, paired with the ghostly face. It reminded me of Edward Scissorhands :)





<3

Stay out of the light, or the photograph that I gave you.

HAPPIEST OF BIRTHDAYS TO
GERARD
FREAKING
WAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Remember, Brian Molko and Ella Anarchy LOVE youuuu!!

Hope he has an amazing day <3

Crazy with it. Crazier without. Never certain. Never full of doubt. Now you feel it. Now you don't. Do you know what you're feeling?

As Karen O once said: "Get your leather, leather, leather ON".

I SPY: STYLISH ROCKSTAR OF THE WEEK - WEEK THIRTEEN - GERARD WAY (MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE)

So there I was last night- sifting through my countless emails, when the fashion universe decided to send a true gem my way.

I got the latest notification from the MCRmy newsletter informing me of the confirmed cover shot for the upcoming January 2010 issue of AlternativePress magazine, featuring MCR themselves. The band with the most anticipated album of 2010.

Mr. Chemical-Frontman Gerard Way has always been a silent fashion assassin. He's always been able to stop an obsessive fashion-freak like myself dead in her tracks because he's never afraid to push the envelope or bore anyone to tears. He is the master of reinvention. He comes out with fresh, new, complete head to toe looks and ideas every. Single. Time. He NEVER blends in, ALWAYS marches to the beat of his own drummer...

and more importantly? He NEVER GIVES A F**K WHAT ANYONE THINKS.

Classic example: remember when all the girls the world over had heart attacks when he decided to chop off his gorgeous raven locks for the "Ghost of You" WWII-themed music video? I'm sure all the MCR agents/managers/whatever tried to convince him against doing so... "why mess with a good thing", right? Did he care? Nope. He needed to do everything in his power to make sure the vision he was going for was accurate. Like a professional. (And he was to repeat the process for his transformation as the sickly, dead front man of The Black Parade, by bleaching his hair platinum blonde).


When My Chem first burst onto the mainstream scene in 2004, we were introduced to this pale, pretty face with a big voice wearing the darkest shade of pure black from head to toe, (the top part in the form of a leather jacket).


(Remember, kids, this was 2004 when leather jackets were nowhere near becoming a huge trend yet).


Another example of his fashion worthiness: If you were to look up the word "trend" in some kind of awesome fashion dictionary, you would see this story. Some time after the release of their second single, "Helena", off of Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, I noticed that all these other rockstars were wearing a similar look consisting of solid black, button down shirts paired with bright red ties.

Billy Armstrong from Green Day... uh, where did you get the idea for this look?




Oh nevermind. I thought I recognized it from this guy:



I'm telling you. The bright red tie with a solid black shirt look was HUGE at this time. I remember seeing shiny red ties in the men's departments of all the stores. I remember seeing high school boys (who weren't necessarily MCR fans), wearing this look to their proms. Nobody ever gave Gerard Way credit for starting this look!!

And I've blogged about how huge the marching band uniform was in 2007, (remember? click).I even used the example of this trend exploding all over the place in one of my classes. Kind of was a huge success.


But I digress.

Back to current times. I get this photo in my inbox:



It seems to me that Mr. Way might be going back to his roots. Obviously he's a firm believer that leather jackets are a true fashion staple. He's worn different variations of them throughout the years, but this particular one reminded me of the one in the first picture (above) that I posted.


And you know who else I couldn't help but be reminded of???




Johnny "Crybaby Walker" Depp:


Do you see the resemblance?!
I'm anxious to see the rest of the magazine's pictorial. AP always seems to put their cover models in fun, themed photoshoots for the inside article/interviews. I wonder if whoever shot/styled this was inspired by the Crybaby movie.

Everything from the standing collar to the hair in the eyes. LOVING IT.




Even in his studio downtime, Gerard seems to be looking like a 'throwback' these days:


In yet another style of leather jacket. How gorgeous is this one? The quilting detail on the back. I don't even know where to begin looking for a design like this.



I don't feel like searching.

Find your own awesome leather jacket and drink a caffeine-iated toast to this stylish trendsetter.

Read his comics while you're at it.

I can't wait to see what looks he comes up with in 2010. I'm positive I'll be mentioning him again in future "I Spy" posts to come.








<3


p.s. I'm still so elated that Johnny Depp is The Sexiest Man Alive. I mean come on now, did you have a doubt??

I want everything. I want to be perfect.

currently listening to: Innerpartysystem - self titled.


"For someone with grandiose dreams of shredding it onstage - but no real musical talent to speak of- the return of the band jacket is a godsend. Be it bright red, sequined, or DayGlo, the topper can make you look like a rock star... the jacket itself is reminiscent of military garb- no surprise, since early marching bands were associated with city-state armies, directing troops across the battlefield with various toots and honks. While modern incarnations of these bands still make use of martial traditions... the jacket has true rock'n'roll roots.

This is in large part thanks to the Beatles. It was 1967, and the Fab Four had commissioned famous theater costumiers Bermans & Nathans to make the coats featured on the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover. Withing days of that record's release, it seemed everyone on London's King's Road was covered in epaulets.



From there, the braided and buttoned combo went psychedelic (thanks, Jimi Hendrix)...



New Wave (here's to you, Adam Ant),



and pop (hello, Michael Jackson) **Ella's note: M.J. scares the crap out of me and I refuse to post a picture of him** :)

...before returning to it's rock core recently with appearances on the backs of Coldplay's Chris Martin and the Killers' Brandon Flowers (both courtesy of Dolce & Gabbana)".

ARTICLE: "FOLLOW THE LEADER" WRITTEN BY REBECCA WILLA DAVIS - NYLON MAGAZINE, JULY 2009 - THE MUSIC ISSUE.





OF COURSE... leave it to Nylon to leave out the most famous of these recent band jackets, yet:

Remember The Black Parade...???



Brandon Flowers and Chris Martin (or anyone else in the present day for that matter) didn't start wearing these kinds of jackets until AFTER Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance, appearing as The Black Parade, came onto the scene in 2006. He hired Colleen Atwood (the legendary costume designer behind Tim Burton movies including Sleepy Hollow and Sweeney Todd), to make him and his band black and gold marching band uniforms. Shortly thereafter, TrippNYC ripped off the look in a cheap way (like they always seem to do) and hawked it in Hot Topic.

And even more recently, Mat Devine of Kill Hannah wore a white military style jacket during the entire Hope for the Hopeless tour last year.





So where does Ella Anarchy come into all this? The other day, I realized I like layering vests over my tank dresses, and I saw a picture of a cool black denim vest, so seeing as how I don't own a black denim jacket (to cut the sleeves off of), I went thrifting for one. That's when the universe sent me this:



I mean SERIOUSLY. How Black Parade is this?!? The only problem however... was that even as cool as it is, it looked HELLA TACKY on me. Like, it had these gigantic shoulder pads, it weighed about ten pounds, and as much as I WANTED to like the fringe on the shoulders, I couldn't get past how "rodeo" it makes it look. So after careful deliberation and inner debating with myself, (and since I was unable to find another black denim jacket), I decided to attack it with my scissors.

I cut off the sleeves, removed the bulky shoulder pads... thought about leaving the fringe, but decided against it, and then suddenly got the idea to braid the strands into several little braids and turn them upwards. (Unfortunately, you can't see them very well in the picture unless you strain your eyes really closely at the shoulders). I took in the sides a little to give it shape, added my handmade medals, and VOILA.

Ella Anarchy's version of the band jacket for hot summer days:



Militaristic vests are just as cool as jackets. See??




What do YOU think? do you think I butchered an awesome jacket or is the vest cooler? Thoughts and opinions, pleaaaase :)

Find me never, never far gone. So get your leather leather leather on.

currently downloading/listening to: Recent Kill Hannah radio interview, Yeah Yeah Yeah's song "Zero", Nylon summer music playlist (lots of random stuffies I've never heard of so I'm excited).

I hadn't come across a good music video in a while until today. I saw the latest Yeah Yeah Yeah's video (how late am I on this?) for their song "Zero" and I couldn't tear my eyes away. It was adorable and fun and made me want to step into my television and dance on top of cars in Chinatown next to Karen O in that GORGEOUS studded leather jacket. I want that jacket very badly.



I tried to capture a good still of her from head to toe to show off the awesome turquoise vinyl dress and tights/leggings she's wearing but the best I could do was this:


Why is she so freaking cool?! And if you haven't seen the video yet, please do so. There's a cute part in which all three of them push each other around in shopping carts like little kids. So fun.

In other music news...

-I am still so elated about Gerard and Lindsey's new baby girl! (I made the mistake of thinking it was a boy at first, but then I was corrected... that NAME just threw me the hell off, though!) The latest in weird celeb names: "Hi my name is BANDIT." Haha. Whatever. It's kinda cool sounding when you get right down to it. Like a secret agent/superhero name. Rock it out, little lady, rock it out.

-I am very sad to report that it's officially official that Jonny Radtke will no longer play in Kill Hannah :( But he's moving on to different things and I know he's ganna rock it out no matter what he does because he has a tremendous amount of talent. I can't wait to see what he does. I wish him all the best and I will miss those gorgoeus blue eyes next time I see KH live!! I never got to meet him. But we'll see what happens. I still plan on getting him to model my clothes for me in the future... hear that, Radtke?!







I think he heard.

<3

HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY, MR. BURGAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*this is my 100th post!! cupcakes all around!!*

Yesterday was Hunter Burgan's bday and I missed wishing him a happy day yesterday so I'm doing it today!! Happy Happy Belated Birthday, Hunter!! Bass/saxophone players rock my socks!!

"Coffee should be black as love, strong as hell, & sweet as death." -Hunter Burgan

If/when I ever meet him, I will buy him coffee and a vegan burrito. He loves those things.



In other news...

-My fashion and clothing inspirations/desires are all backwards. It's getting to be summer, which means sweltering hellish madness down here in Texas, yet all I've been wanting to wear lately are black tights and hoodies. And when it starts getting colder in the winter, I immediately start feeling like I want to wear nothing but tanks and short dresses!! What is wrong with me?!
I need to go shopping for more breezy, comfortable summer clothes, I think. I want pretty cotton dresses and short shorts.

-School is finally done with! Recieved an A on my final exam and project! Whoo! (oh and thank you to everyone who liked my designs from my last post.. that made me happy! I plan on posting about stuff I design more often, so stay tuned).

-I'm verrrry excited about the new IAMX album that comes out in FOUR days!! (May 19th). And new Placebo album in June!! New AFI and Kill Hannah and MCR albums!! And Gerard and LynZ Way's baby is due in June/July also!!

This is going to be one fun summer, I think :)

I want to I want to be someone else or I'll explode Floating upon this surface for the birds The birds The birds

For this Lazy Sunday edition, I'm posting pics of 10 things I loved about this past week, in no particular order: (and okay, I kinda cheated. The last two items are videos and not pictures, haha).

10 - Latest issue of the Gothic&Lolita Bible - Wedding Edition
9 - Newest issue of Nylon with Kat Dennings and Olivia Thirlby on the cover... so colourful!
8 - My new phone :) You can't see very well but I have a cute picture of cupcakes as my background.
7 - FINALLY found a copy of Romeo + Juliet on dvd. This one is the "music edition", which features a cool virtual music box with each song that plays during the movie. It also came with a cute postcard. But the one thing that bothers me is the doctored picture on the cover. Romeo was wearing a knight costume during the time he spent kissing Juliet in the angel costume at that masquerade party... the horrible hawaiian print shirt didn't come into play till later... someone has mad photoshop skills.
6 - finally finishing up one of the hardest parts of my 5 part project for my Textiles class. I got a good grade... more info coming soon.
5 - Cute raccoon hoodie that I ordered off ebay finally arrived all the way from Hong Kong.
4 - I stumbled across the cutest website ever and I want to spend money on it very badly.
3 - Listened to this last night.

2 - Loving this cover of Muse's "Time is Running Out" done by Amanda Palmer at Coachella. I love her outfit too.

1 - And finally... I'm loving this video/song featuring Gerard Way for an upcoming Final Fantasy 7 soundtrack: