My Chemical Romance: Behind December 2010's SPIN Cover Shoot

SEE ALSO
REPLAY

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

0 of 10
November 16 2010, 2:38 PM ET

My Chemical Romance: Behind December 2010's SPIN Cover Shoot
by SPIN Staff

For My Chemical Romance, a new LP isn't just music — it's a full on art project. That's certainly the case with their November 22 concept album Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys. And it was the same with their recent photo shoot for SPIN's December cover.

The band — singer Gerard Way, 33; bassist Mikey Way, 30; guitarist Frank Iero, 29; and guitarist Ray Toro, 33 — met up with SPIN photo director Michelle Egiziano and photographer Ture Lillegraven at L.A.'s Pink Motel, a '50s joint often used in movies and music videos (like Cee-Lo's latest).

The idea was to continue the concept of the album, which is about a post-apocalyptic, Mad Max-like gang called the Killjoys who fight an invading army of vampires. The tale unfolds like the comic books Gerard grew up on, and also takes cues from Japanese animation. "Gerard said he discovered Japanimation when the band was on a tour of Japan. He was really inspired by that imagery and it influenced the album, videos, and photo shoot," Lillegraven says.

Click through the gallery to see our exclusive photos and read commentary from Lillegraven.

Photo: (Left, clockwise from top left: Mikey Way, Gerard Way, Ray Toro, Frank Iero. Right: Gerard)