Last week, Mikey Way debuted a new single from Electric Century, his side project with David Debiak, ahead of their forthcoming album. Notably, the record was produced by his MCR bandmate, Ray Toro. When asked what the collaboration was like, Mikey unsurprisingly had nothing but positive remarks.

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“All bias aside, I think that Ray Toro is a musical genius,” he explained. “We both speak this different language and know what each other mean at all times in the studio. He’s at the top of his game and in a league of his own.”

As standout as the response seems, we can’t help but assume the band members all have similar sentiments toward one another. After all, they’re pretty entangled in one another’s independent projects.

Read on for 10 times the My Chemical Romance members collaborated on projects separate from the band.

Mikey Way on Gerard Way’s “Millions”

Hesitant Alien may have been Gerard Way‘s first release independent of the band, but that doesn’t mean he was going to do it entirely without his brother. Mikey contributed backing vocals to the track “Millions.” You can hear him clear as day around the 1:52 mark, singing, “It was really me.”

Mikey and Gerard Way on The Aquabats! Super Show!

The Way brothers’ collaborations aren’t limited to music, either. You may remember Mikey starring in an episode of The Aquabats! Super Show! titled “The Anti-Bats!” in 2013. Did you know, however, that Gerard had actually co-written and co-directed that episode?

Mikey on Gerard’s “Baby You’re A Haunted House”

Have you ever gotten a vague undercurrent of brotherly love from Gerard’s 2018 single, “Baby You’re A Haunted House“? Well, that’s because Mikey’s contributions to his brother’s solo discography weren’t confined to a single song. Rather than lending his vocals, however, he took over the bass for this one. The song also included the Aquabats‘ Ian Fowles on guitar.

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Mikey and Gerard on Andy Black’s “Louder Than Your Love”

Who would have expected the Way brothers to collaborate on a track that didn’t “belong” to either one of them? Andy Black, clearly… The duo teamed up on “Louder Than You Love” for Black’s debut solo album, The Shadow Side. Gerard walked away with a writing credit, while Mikey (surprise, surprise) was attributed to bass.

Mikey’s Collapser under DC’s Young Animal

 

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We already knew that the Way brothers’ talents transcend beyond any one medium. Case in point: their involvement in the comic book industry. Mikey first stepped into this particular area in 2019 with his series, Collapser. The comics were released under Gerard’s DC Comics imprint, Young Animal. They were also notably co-written by Shaun Simon, who worked with Gerard on The True Lives Of The Fabulous Killjoys. Simon went on to team up with Mikey again for the Electric Century graphic novel that’s releasing Feb. 23. 

Toro on Gerard’s “Into The Cave We Wander”

Think of Gerard’s “Into The Cave We Wander” and your mind probably goes to the frustration of not being able to get your hands on the physical release. Unless, of course, you were among the lucky 5,000 who did. The single has more context than that, though. It was Gerard’s first collaboration with Toro following My Chemical Romance’s split in 2013. Toro co-wrote the song and provided the backing instrumentals.

Read more: 10 things you never noticed about your favorite emo songs

Toro on Gerard’s “Getting Down The Germs”

Thankfully for fans, the collaboration between these two wasn’t just a one-off. Toro also contributed his talents to Gerard’s 2018 single, “Getting Down The Germs.” In addition to co-writing the song, the My Chemical Romance guitarist was credited for playing bass and drums on it. We’d like to say we were surprised, but we already knew his skillset was far-reaching.

Gerard and Toro covers for The Umbrella Academy

If you’ve seen the first season of The Umbrella Academy, then you no doubt remember the montage to the Turtles‘ “Happy Together.” Did you realize that this was actually a cover done by Gerard and Toro, though? The pair also did a collaborative rendition of Simon & Garfunkel‘s “A Hazy Shade Of Winter” for the show’s first trailer. It played during the end credits of season 1, episode 10, as well.

Frank Iero and Toro in Reggie And The Full Effect

The My Chemical Romance members have so many side projects that it’s difficult to keep them all straight. Reggie And The Full Effect make things a bit easier, though, because it’s featured both Toro and Frank Iero at one point. The duo hopped on James Dewees‘ solo project for a brief stint circa 2013, contributing their talents to No Country For Old Musicians.

Read more: 10 ‘Umbrella Academy’ theories about Sparrow Academy that just might work

Toro on Frank Iero And The Future Violents’ acoustic sessions

Iero was notably the most removed from collaborative efforts following My Chemical Romance’s split, busying himself with a solo career. However, when Frank Iero And The Future Violents released their One On One City Winery recordings in 2019, a familiar face worked behind the scenes. That’s right: Toro mixed the session.

What are your favorite collaborations among the My Chemical Romance band members? Let us know in the comments below!

It turns out that 1999 was a pretty great precursor for indie-pop, the seeds of emo and the excavation of new horizons in technical metal and pop punk. Synthesizers were also made cool again. We understand some of these records are older than some listeners who visit this website. The main takeaway here is (as always): If you haven’t heard it, it’s new to you. If you were on these records the day they released in 1999, we’re glad to help you reconnect with them. Now then: sound up, eyes forward…

Read more: blink-182 have a punk-rock pep rally in “Darkside” video

1. A New Found Glory – Nothing Gold Can Stay

By the time a brash gang of South Florida teens called A New Found Glory (later shortened to New Found Glory) released their full-length debut, Nothing Gold Can Stay, in 1999, the high-velocity West Coast skate punk that had dominated the pop-punk scene for the past decade was primed for a makeover. As part of a burgeoning East Coast revival that also featured Saves The Day, Midtown and the Movielife, NFG instantly became a permanent car stereo fixture for scenesters, thanks to the band’s innovative and entirely irresistible fusion of punk melodies and hardcore breakdowns. For many, Nothing Gold Can Stay is the album where it all began.

Originally pressed in limited quantity early in the year by Eulogy Recordings before being reissued en masse by Drive-Thru that fall, Nothing Gold Can Stay captures the band at their hungriest and most raw; subsequent releases offer vastly improved sound quality, but the spirit and energy of the record set the gold standard (no pun intended) for everything that’s followed. After opening with the original version of the breakout single “Hit Or Miss,” Nothing Gold Can Stay rarely lets the listener take a breath, much less quit head bobbing, throughout its 12 tracks. As testament to its staying power, cuts such as “3rd And Long” and “2’s And 3’s” still work their way into NFG’s live set. 

Read more: Every New Found Glory album ranked worst to best by guitarist Chad Gilbert

Although the group didn’t perfect their sound until 2000’s self-titled follow-up, the classic NFG hallmarks were already present: particularly guitarist Chad Gilbert’s ever-abundant riffage and singer Jordan Pundik’s earnest, unschooled vocal delivery which makes it one of his most endearing performances. Lyrically, the album is just as sincere—its tales of teenage romance gone awry could’ve been pulled straight out of any young punk’s life—yet it successfully walks the line between being emotive and cheesy. 

“Nothing on it was premeditated,” Gilbert says. “Nothing Gold Can Stay was 100%, without a doubt, the most honest, simple, pure record. We were a bunch of kids who grew up in the suburbs, dating girls and talking shit about each other behind [each other’s] backs. We never thought we’d get anywhere, and I think that’s why people are drawn to it. The lyrics are very simple and honest, and the music is, too, and it’s not recorded that well. It sounds more real than a lot of other records.” —Brendan Manley

2. The Dillinger Escape Plan – Calculating Infinity

It’s hard to comprehend in our present era of genre-cross-pollinating information overload, but when the Dillinger Escape Plan recorded Calculating Infinity in the spring of 1999, making a hyper-technical metal album still seemed like a novel idea. As the only quintet of short-haired, middle-class suburban dudes on Relapse Records, Dillinger had to play that much harder, tighter and faster to earn the respect of underground metal’s cognoscenti. But after Calculating Infinity’s release, no one was questioning the band’s veracity—or velocity—anymore.

With Calculating Infinity, the band smashed the hardcore barriers of their early EPs with a vocabulary whose frenetic, quick-changing violence would set the tone for 10 years’ worth of other bands’ best ideas. Arguably ground zero for contemporary math-metal, Calculating infinity opens with the surgically precise thrashing of “Sugar Coated Sour” and continues its assault through the harrowing movie samples that close the album. You can still hear a tenuous line to Dillinger’s hardcore days in then-vocalist Dimitri Minakakis’ roar, as well as in the longtime live staple “43% Burnt” (the closing of which houses one of the most complicated breakdowns in heavy-music history), but it’s the metallic filigree that filets your brainpan.

Read more: The Dillinger Escape Plan crush the first of their three final shows—watch

“[Metal] was a smaller subculture back then,” guitarist Ben Weinman remembers. “It was very hard to get accepted. We had to create a niche for ourselves—even our peers at the time didn’t sound like us. I remember going into Calculating feeling like I was about to define what I was going to do for the rest of my life.

“We had so much less technology at our disposal than we do now,” he continues. “There was no Pro Tools, no punch-ins. I remember both me and Chris [Pennie, former drummer] pushing each other; him being like, ‘I can’t play this any faster,’ and me going, ‘We have to play it faster,’ because not only did we want to be clever and technical, [but] we wanted to have energy and emotion. So by the time we got in the studio, it was twice as fast, and by the time we got onstage, it was twice as fast as that. [Laughs.] It really was an exercise in pushing ourselves and realizing that anything we set our minds to do, we can program into our limbs.” —Aaron Burgess

3. The Dismemberment Plan – Emergency & I

The Dismemberment Plan were already five-year veterans of the Washington, D.C. music scene when they signed with Interscope Records in 1998. But after releasing just one promotional EP on the major, the band became victims of a corporate merger and were dropped—even though they had a J. Robbins/Chad Clark-produced full-length, Emergency & I, completed and ready to go. 

Musically, Emergency was the perfect bridge between the math-rock whirlwinds of 1997’s Is Terrified and the subdued atmospherics of 2001’s Change, finding cohesion in sonic chaos. Emergency proved that D.C. bands could transcend the city’s post-hardcore reputation, and it directly inspired Q And Not U, Enon, So Many Dynamos and Les Savy Fav. The Plan even influenced early Death Cab For Cutie (the two bands famously shared bills on 2002’s Death And Dismemberment tour). However, the biggest testament to Emergency’s legacy is its fans: You’d be hard-pressed not to bond instantly with anyone who loved the album, saw the band in their heyday or had a riotous bedroom dance party to their tunes.

Read more: Death Cab For Cutie drop tribute to 1999 pipeline explosion victims

“I remember how excited we were [making it],” frontman Travis Morrison says. “[Recording Emergency] was an experience of actually putting in a large chunk of time to make a record, which was a first for us. Our previous record, [Is Terrified,] had been made in four days. We felt like we’d gotten very, very close to what we wanted to do with our previous record, but didn’t quite get it right. And [we] also had a little bit of a chip on our shoulder.”

Morrison confirms that while Interscope kept their part of the deal, he played “the artist” card. “We had a two-record guarantee deal, [and] they actually came through with their side of the bargain and gave us the money for the next record that was never recorded,” he says. “Part of our legend is that we got screwed over by this major label. I went with it for a while, because it sounded good to the press. [Laughs.] But it was good to us.” —Annie Zaleski 

4. The Get Up Kids – Something To Write Home About

Following a few endearingly lo-fi seven-inch singles and the promising (if hurried) debut full-length Four Minute Mile, no one could have predicted that a year spent in major-label limbo would lead a group of unassuming Lawrence, Kansas, punks to a genre-defining classic. 

Read more: Watch the Get Up Kids perform a full set in 1999

Something To Write Home About is the record which, along with Jimmy Eat World’s Clarity, brought emo to the peak of underground success, carrying it past the post of its hardcore roots and combining it with an aggressive power-pop drive that would be copied for years to come. It was also the band’s first album with full-time keyboardist James Dewees, who did double-time as the drummer in influential metalcore group Coalesce—and who earlier the same year released Greatest Hits ’84-’87, the just-as-essential debut album by his alter ego, Reggie And The Full Effect. It’s impossible to imagine “Ten Minutes,” still one of the Get Up Kids’ best-loved songs, without Dewees’ memorable keyboard-led rave-up or the gentle “Long Goodnight” without its subtle piano accents. If you’re looking for an album to fall in love, break up and fight the man to, you probably already count this as one of your favorites.

“I don’t really listen to any of my records,” frontman Matt Pryor says. “But when we started doing these Get Up Kids [reunion] shows, I had to go back and listen to it again. Some of the stuff was a little more creative than I remember it being. I don’t think it’s the best thing any of us have ever written. I think there’s some great stuff on it, but it’s like, ‘Oh, that’s the one you like? OK, cool.’” —Sam Sutherland

5. Hot Water Music – No Division

When Hot Water Music emerged from the swamps of Gainesville, Florida, in the mid-’90s, no one knew what to expect. Sporting epic beards and brandishing battered Les Pauls, the band—equally influenced by Chicago punks Pegboy and literary icons such as Charles Bukowski (the group got their name from one of his collections of short stories)—combined elements of punk, rock and early emo to forge a completely new sound on their early albums. Just as it looked like they would transcend the underground scene, the group broke up in 1997. Thankfully, it didn’t take: The band reformed shortly afterward and began work on their third proper album, No Division, a disc that saw this rejuvenated band of brothers fully realizing their melodic potential.

Read more: Trailer for Cole Sprouse’s first movie since 1999 will make you emotional

Produced by hardcore legend Walter Schreifels (who was a partner in the band’s new label, Some Records), the disc was Hot Water Music’s first serious studio recording. While the group’s rhythm section had a tendency to show off in their early days, “Free Radio Gainesville” and the title track are jaw-droppingly technical without being superfluous and proved to be the perfect backdrop for the band’s motivational musings. On paper, lyrics such as “Live your heart and never follow” (from “It’s Hard To Know””) may seem cheesy, but when you hear the passion inherent in every note of No Division, it’s impossible to doubt the band’s sincerity—and that’s probably why the album still sounds as relevant today. 

Vocalist/guitarist Chuck Ragan credits the band’s hiatus with giving them the clarity to make No Division. “I think when we took a step away from everything, we really were able to reevaluate a lot more about why we were doing this, so I know we were all a hell of a lot more focused going into No Division,” he points out. “You can really tell just by listening to it.” —Jonah Bayer

6. Jimmy Eat World – Clarity

After a commercially disappointing major-label debut, Arizona-based Jimmy Eat World returned with a brilliant album, the likes of which the scene had never experienced before. On 1996’s Static Prevails, guitarists Tom Linton and Jim Adkins split vocal duties and delivered brash, aggressive songs influenced equally by early-’90s pop punk and first-wave emo. But when writing the follow-up, Clarity, the band opened themselves to a whole new world of sounds, from lush string sections (“Just Watch The Fireworks”) to delicate bells (“A Sunday”) to drum loops (“Lucky Denver Mint”) to esoteric electronic programming (“12.23.95”)—things none of their contemporaries were even contemplating at the time. Adkins also assumed the mantle of frontman, penning and singing 12 of the album’s 13 songs. (However, Linton’s lone contribution, the powerful “Blister,” remains one of the band’s best-loved songs.)

Read more: Watch Jimmy Eat World’s full 1999 Warped Tour set

In the months following Clarity’s late-winter release, modern-rock radio was dominated by Sugar Ray’s “Every Morning” and Lit’s “My Own Worst Enemy”—simple songs suited for mass consumption. In retrospect, Clarity, with its complex arrangements (“Your New Aesthetic”) and so-earnest-it-hurts lyrics (“For Me This Is Heaven”), never stood a chance with the mainstream. But like Weezer’s Pinkerton before it, the album has gone on to serve as the birthplace of emo’s third wave: The 16-minute closing track “Goodbye Sky Harbor,” with its organic breakdown/electronic buildup, has been often imitated but never duplicated, proving once more that it’s far better to test your own limits than rely on the parameters of others—which is the exact reason why Clarity resonates with tens of thousands of people, a decade later.

“Our A&R person at the time, who was the only liaison between us and the label, came down once to listen to stuff,” Adkins recalls. “He didn’t stick around very long, and we didn’t really get into talks at all. At the time, I thought it was kind of a sign of them not being interested, but now I’m thinking that was kind of smart—what you would hope for in a label. We were left totally alone to do whatever we wanted. There was no conversation about making something catchier to get on the radio or trying to conform to whatever else was popular at the time.” —Scott Heisel

7. Poison The Well – The Opposite Of December: A Season Of Separation

When Poison The Well started writing The Opposite Of December: A Season Of Separation in early 1999, their goals were incredibly simple. The band wanted to play shows outside Florida and sign to Trustkill Records, lofty ideals considering that four-fifths of the band were still in high school, and they only had an EP to their name.

With clattering breakdowns, collapsing bridges and a metallic slant, the band replicated some of their peers’ DNA, but the romance, heart and soul thrown chaotically into their raging hardcore soon separated them from the scene’s repetition. The ethereal, anguished yet hopeful lyrics elevated “Nerdy,” “Artists Rendering Of Me” and “Slice Paper Wrists” from songs to anthems. Poison The Well’s emotive, melodic tendencies were embraced by many who were desperate for what the band had to offer. The lush interludes, spoken-word sections and actual singing demonstrated creativity, ambition and fearlessness that alerted larger labels to the potential of the young Floridians. (They would eventually become one of the first modern metalcore bands to sign with a major label.) Without intending to, Poison The Well forever changed the face of hardcore. 

Read more: Apparently an 11-year-old Skrillex stage dived at Metallica’s 1999 symphony performance

“At the time, we just wanted to sound different and really heavy, but not lack in any sense of melody or romance,” guitarist Ryan Primack says. “We still wanted those things to be present in what we did. I look back and think of it as a very positive experience of us not knowing what the hell we were doing but doing it anyway. I’m proud that I helped make a record that had an impact in any way. I’m also proud of the fact that we made something that maintained its innocence.

“Nobody really knew it was going to do anything or work in any way, but it just did. We were five kids from the hardcore scene existing in the hardcore scene. We were just regular dudes.” —Andrew Kelham

8. Saves The Day – Through Being Cool

Once they got through the growing pains of their shamelessly Lifetime-saluting debut, 1998’s Can’t Slow Down, Saves The Day were able to redefine modern pop punk with 1999’s Through Being Cool. Thanks to the discovery of more midtempo-minded bands such as Jawbreaker and Foo Fighters, frontman Chris Conley learned to explore his youthful concerns with subtle hints of restraint and greater atmosphere while delivering his heartfelt admissions in a supremely melodic form. Producer Steve Evetts, having then worked primarily with hardcore bands such as Deadguy, Ensign and Snapcase, coated the recording with the perfect mixture of grit and gloss.

Through Being Cool became an East—and eventually West—Coast manifesto, inspiring wave after wave of pop-punk and hardcore bands. It might have eerily foreshadowed the more radio-ready and girl-concerned pop punk that would spring up after the turn of the millennium, but it still ached and swelled just as sincerely as Lifetime’s Ari Katz and Jawbreaker’s Blake Schwarzenbach had throughout the maturing punk underground of the ’90s.

Read more: This ‘It: Chapter Two’ actor modeled on Saves The Day’s album cover

“I remember in the van at the time,” Conley begins, “driving between shows, we’d listen to Refused’s The Shape Of Punk To Come [and] Foo Fighters’ The Colour And The Shape pretty much nonstop. I think those two records are basically the reason that we slowed down. I don’t at all take offense when people say, ‘Those were your best years’ or whatever, because I understand that music that you grow to love when you’re younger just stays with you. It’s all perspective and opinion and taste.

“I think it’s cool that a band like Fall Out Boy literally started as two separate Saves The Day cover bands, and they auditioned Patrick Stump to be [the] singer of Fall Out Boy by having him play Through Being Cool in its entirety. That is a crazy thing, right? The biggest emo band in the world started as a Through Being Cool cover band. I’m very proud of that.” —Brian Shultz

9.The Faint – Blank-Wave Arcade

The Faint, Bright Eyes and Cursive made Omaha, Nebraska, hallowed musical ground, but only one of the three acts revived keyboard cred in the process. After 1998’s Media, the Faint’s straight-ahead indie-rock debut, the group took stock of the scene. Hardcore wasn’t moving forward, and guitar-based avant rock seemed played out, so they added keyboardist Jacob Thiele to begin a new approach cloaked in pre-millennium machinery. What emerged was Blank-Wave Arcade, a glitzy, stylized idea of punk with its backbone in crushing synth melodies; and Todd Fink (né Baechle)’s distorted voice and pulsating drums and bass—courtesy of Todd’s brother Clark and Joel Petersen—as its flopping appendages. The band’s updated new-wave aesthetic paired with a live presence (complete with fog, strobe lights and even priest collars) forced hipsters and punks alike to uncross their arms and shake their asses.

Read more: Good Charlotte release never-before-seen live footage from 1999 show—watch

Fleshed out from an EP of strictly sex-themed synthesizer tracks, these nine songs leave no room for filler in a fast-paced, dystopian-meets-Dionysian 25 minutes. Fink is at his most clever in “Worked Up So Sexual,” a song about strippers tucked into a pink G-string of pole-dance pop. On the other stylistic coast is the minimalist industrial piece “Sealed Human” (drawing its whirring influence from the 1978 English post-punk single “Warm Leatherette” by the Normal) which depicts the bleakness of modern public transit. Guitars weren’t completely scrapped on Blank-Wave, and “In Concert” is better for it with Petersen’s hook leading an ode to the ramshackle house shows the Faint would soon outgrow. 

“We found out what we were after making [Media],” Fink explains. “We felt too similar to all of the bands we were playing with, and we didn’t really like those bands. We were under the impression that any sound could be created on a synthesizer. Since they weren’t cool at all at the time, that made it even better. We were sure to sound like no other band. We never thought of ourselves as making dance music. More like we stopped making boring music.” —Reed Fischer

10. The Stereo – Three Hundred

These days, Fueled By Ramen may be a breeding ground for stars, but in the late ’90s, the label was home to a handful of underground punk and ska bands. When two of three bands—Animal Chin and the Impossibles—split up and their songwriters—Jamie Woolford and Rory Phillips, respectively—were gearing up to work on solo records, FBR co-founder John Janick suggested that they team up instead. Less than 24 hours later, Woolford was on his way from Minneapolis to Austin, Texas, to meet up with Phillips, and the Stereo (named after the two representing the left and right sides) were born.

Mere months later, Three Hundred was released. It may have been recorded in a basement that reeked of cat piss, but it sounds ready for an arena: The yin of Woolford’s unabashed love of ’80s radio hits plays off the yang of Phillips’ geek-rock songwriting to make a power-pop record with surprising staying power. After the bizarre drum patterns of “Dance To This!” comes the simple driving beat of “Drop Everything.” When the big hooks of “Ramona” start to feel too oversized, the tiny falsetto vocals and droning piano dissonance of “Problems” swings the pendulum the other way.

Read more: 10 Slipknot tracks that don’t fit in with the rest of their catalog

Although their musical styles seemed to mesh perfectly, their clashing personalities caused the duo to split up shortly after Three Hundred’s release. The Stereo continued Phillips-free for two more full-lengths before imploding in 2004. But in 1999, it was uniquely inspiring to see two small-city punks swinging for the fences and hitting their mark without studio trickery or clever marketing—only with great songs.

“It was a piss-poor relationship at the time,” Woolford says. “We’ve since become friends again, but man, it was lame. It was not fun. It’s never fun to be stuck in a car with someone who you don’t like and you know they don’t like you. I wanted to kind of bail out, but I felt obligated to John [Janick]. He had taken a chance on this idea. We were probably very quick to do all the stuff we’d done. By the time we had agreed to do the project and by the time the record actually came out, it couldn’t have been more than three months.”

The duo even had their own indie mythology, purportedly turning down a million-dollar deal from Interscope. Woolford laughs. “Not at all,” he says. “But, if I were to say that was true, that would make me so much more punk, wouldn’t it? I did accept a very, very expensive salad from Grand Royal Records.” —Luke Jaxon

This feature originally appeared in AP #254 with cover stars A Day To Remember. The issue is available now here.

In case you missed it, Joe claimed in an interview last month that MCR were rehearsing right next to the brothers in New York.

Read more: Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp users report outages worldwide

The realistic side of the fanbase chalked it up to a possible Future Violets practice session, along with other theories. However, many were convinced this was finally word of the reunion we’ve all been waiting for.

Sadly, though, Iero became the latest former MCR member to squash rumors in an interview with the Asbury Park Press ahead of Atlantic City Warped Tour.

When asked about My Chemical Romance, Iero denied Joe’s report of the shared practice space.

While Iero denied that anything was currently in the works, he left the door cracked for a victory lap someday.

“I survived a bus accident, so anything is possible,” Iero said.

While some think the band is keeping plans under the radar, every shred of hope is met with denial from the band’s former members.

Joe Jonas’ comments seem to be setting off a renewed interest in an MCR revival.

Read more: Mark Hoppus jokes My Chemical Romance are next after Motion City Soundtrack tour reveal

Late last month, former MCR member and current member of Reggie and The Full Effect James Dewees reportedly teased some inside news on the band.

While on tour with Frank Iero and the Future Violents, Dewees allegedly brought up the band at various shows and told fans “they might be working on something.”

It may have seemed like a strong bet for an actual leak, a representative of James Dewees’ team reached out soon after to clarify his onstage comments were concerning work with a project not related to My Chemical Romance.

While another reunion denial does sting, rest easy knowing that it’s not completely out of the question for the future.

See more: 10 surprising artists you won’t believe appeared on AP’s cover

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A representative of James Dewees’ team reached out to clarify his onstage comments are concerning work with a project not related to My Chemical Romance.

ORIGINAL STORY: JUNE 20, 2019, 2:57 P.M. EST

James Dewees, former My Chemical Romance member and current member of Reggie and The Full Effect, may have been teasing some forthcoming news regarding MCR.

Currently on tour with Frank Iero and the Future Violents, Dewees has allegedly been bringing up the band at various shows and telling fans “they might be working on something.”

Our hearts can’t handle this kind of teasing.

Read more: Taco Bell hotel unveils booking info for its taco-themed paradise

According to a Reddit thread started by user lodi_, Dewees was teasing some possible MCR in the future at Amos’ Southend in Charlotte Tuesday night.

“When he was opening for the Future Violents tonight he said he was in ‘Death Spells and Leathermouth and another band’ with Frank and sort of trailed off/whispered that they ‘might be working on something’ (neither of those are actual quotes, just as close as I can remember)

It probably doesn’t mean anything, especially since he seems to joke around a lot during his sets, but I thought it might be worth some baseless speculation :)”

James Dewees teased something about possible MCR in the future from r/MyChemicalRomance

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Obviously, none of us want to get our hopes up, but fans reveal Dewees has made multiple MCR comments throughout the tour.

ALSO tonight I met @FrankIero, he took a pic of my meme @MCRofficial shirt (which he will hopefully share with the rest of the band), and @shitdeweessays hinted at an @MCRofficial reunion (probably joking) but still WHAT A NIGHT.

— ?corpse dad? (@XdablackparadeX) June 19, 2019

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This isn’t the only MCR reunion rumor to circulate recently. Earlier this month, the Jonas Brothers claimed the band were rehearsing in New York right next to them.

“I’ve got some dirt,” Joe Jonas said in the interview. “My Chemical Romance apparently were rehearsing next to us in New York recently, which I thought they broke up, so I don’t know.”

Holy Mother Mary pic.twitter.com/HFp7oHGHgm

— CD – F|P|E (@Clique_Dad_CD) June 8, 2019

As usual, fans remain skeptical until some hard evidence can convince their emo hearts that a reunion is finally happening.

Do you think a My Chemical Romance reunion could be in the works? Sound off in the comments below!

See more: 11 most emo snacks of all time

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We’re here to chime in on the latter, listing off arguments why this isn’t the right time to reunite. From the former members being engrossed in their respective personal lives to successful solo careers, here are 10 reasons My Chemical Romance shouldn’t get back together.

Read more: Billie Eilish credits cult horror flick as “main inspiration” for album art

1. FRANK IERO. PERIOD

It’s one of the most forthright quotes in AP history, and we’ll repeat it again. During the The Black Parade era, someone from AP had the nerve to ask what would happen if that album flopped horribly, causing the band to be dropped and perhaps disintegrate. Frank Iero put it all on the line right there: “I don’t give a shit: If I had to work at McDonald’s for the rest of my life to play shows and ride in a shitty van on tour? I’ve done it. I’ll do it again.” Iero has made three proper albums as a band leader, is one-half of Death Spells with James Dewees and has a fair amount of other singles and projects under his belt. He was the first MCR member to get music out into the world post-breakup and is moving full speed ahead with his dream band, the Future Violents. If rockers like “Young And Doomed” and “Moto Pop” doesn’t get your arm hair to stand on end, maybe you should Google “personality transplant” and see what comes up.

2. THE CASUAL GERARD WAY

It’s been five years since the release of Hesitant Alien, the debut LP from Gerard Way that was accompanied by a relatively brief spate of touring across the States. Since then, Gerard’s attitude toward making new music could be best described as cavalier, using the immediacy of the internet to issue one-off songs (“Baby, You’re A Haunted House,” “Getting Down The Germs,” “Dasher”) as he sees fit. Dude won’t make an honest-to-God second solo record: How could you possibly expect him to dedicate the amount of time to recalibrate four other dudes’ schedules to make music?  

Read more: 10 post-My Chemical Romance songs that prove life’s not so bad

3. THE WAY BROTHERS GETTING COMICAL

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With the recent revival of Gerard’s DC comics imprint, Young Animal, we should be seeing a few more original series from the rock star/author. Mikey’s first comic, Collapser, is already in the works under his brother’s imprint, meaning both Way brothers will most likely be wrapped up in the quest to become the reincarnations of Stan Lee. Nonetheless, be prepared for more editorial content from the pair in the near future (and hopefully another on-screen series, fingers crossed).

​4. The Umbrella Academy TV show​

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The Umbrella Academy: Apocalypse Suite introduced comic fans to Sir Reginald Hargreeves and his seven adopted children in 2007. Since then, Gerard and illustrator Gabriel Bá have fulfilled two more volumes, Dallas and Hotel Oblivion. Gerard’s world was also brought to the screen by Netflix earlier this year, hitting major streaming numbers in its first month and being renewed for a second season. Between the show’s major success and Gerard recently rejoining the cast and crew on set, it would definitely make balancing a full-blown reunion quite difficult. Plus, he’s having way too much fun teaming back up with Ray Toro for cover songs as soundtrack offerings such as “A Hazy Shade Of Winter” and “Happy Together.”

Read more: Frank Iero acoustic set marks first music collab with Ray Toro since 2013

5. DON’T FORGET ABOUT RAY TORO

Don’t be fooled by radio silence: Toro is still working hard. We haven’t had much solo work since Remember The Laughter in 2016, but the guitarist seems to still be in contact with his former My Chemical Romance bandmates. Toro is still scheming behind the scenes with music projects, most recently with mixing duties for an Iero acoustic session as well as joining Gerard in a score for Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy series. These efforts still may not be enough for fans looking to fill the MCR-sized void left in their hearts, but it should be enough to keep the reunion rumors flowing, however stretched and sad they may be.

6. IT’S ALL IN THE FAMILIES

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It’s strange to see our favorite rock stars be thrust into the adventure of parenthood, and MCR are no exception. As it goes with age, musicians tend to settle down and have families just like the rest of us. The band are already responsible for seven children between the four of them, with Mikey recently adding one more to the total. As it goes with the addition of offspring, other things fall to the wayside, including wild touring schedules. Unless the guys plan on packing up their families for the road or studio, a reunion would cut into the ever-important activity of parenting. But hey, maybe a few of their offspring will take a liking to music and form a mini-MCR.

Read more: 19 reasons 20ninescene is actually alive and well in 2019

7. MIKEY FUCKING WAY

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Mikey’s life has already been addressed in previous points on this list. But there’s a whole new album from Electric Century, his partnership with Dave Debiak, that’s in the final stages of tweaking. By mixing familiar elements of respected musical genres, the duo come off like a retro-fitted futurist manifesto worthy of soundtracking something reminiscent of the sequel of Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow. The duo are onto something that few bands are starting to take notice of, so why would he leave the laboratory to reinvent the wheel?

8. IF KEVIN LYMAN CAN’T DO IT, NOBODY CAN

MCR were only on one Warped Tour, and that was considered the stuff of legends. (Go visit Iero’s guitar at the Rock Hall’s Forever Warped exhibit this summer.) Naturally, Warped founder Kevin Lyman made some calls and offered a bid. It didn’t change anything, but he did get the Future Violents, so that was still a win. What we can tell you is that every year since MCR’s dissolution, there’s always been a pronouncement that someone who is “a reliable inside source” is telling us “this is the year that it’s going to happen.” (It usually stems from concert promotion companies with more bluster than gold bullion.) So let’s use one of MCR’s faves—British alt-rock band the Smiths—as a model. The iconic duo of Morrissey and Johnny Marr have turned down offers of $75 million to reform. Just let that sit right here and finish the rest of the list…

Read more: Gerard Way drops full ‘The Umbrella Academy’ cover featuring Ray Toro

9. HOW WOULD THEY EVEN DO IT?

Yes, we’ve all heard about how Gerard wished to model his band after his longtime faves, Smashing Pumpkins. If we’re going by that playbook, should we consider Hesitant Alien to be his version of Pumpkins’ founder Billy Corgan’s debut solo LP from 2005, The Future Embrace? (And if we’re really splitting all the hairs, what’s the MCR analog to Corgan’s first post-Pumpkins band Zwan?) With everyone so far along in their lives and powering their own destinies, they probably couldn’t even pick where their first reunion gig would be. A 107,000-strong stadium in Michigan? Or London’s venerable punk hang, the 100 Club (capacity: 350)?

10. WHAT ELSE WOULD WE HAVE TO OBSESS OVER?

We will gladly put ourselves on the altar of roasting if My Chemical Romance were to issue a press release saying they reunited “in an effort to stem the amount of conjecture-based lists appearing on music websites.” Now will you please shut up already? And tell that Jonas bro to stick some cake in his piehole somewhere off the Jersey shore…

I guess we’re all kids from yesterday.

— jason pettigrew (@ptgrw) March 23, 2013

While the demise of one of the planet’s most loved bands was most certainly a drag, what a couple folks surmised back then has actually come true: Fans now have a stack of records to discover, ponder and cherish. Yes, the Danger Days protagonist character Dr. Death-Defying did lie to you: The aftermath was most certainly not secondary, but crucial to maintaining the mindset of MCR into the future. They’re not all in the same room making music anymore, but a sweet collected playlist of where the members are now is the next best thing.

GERARD WAY – “Action Cat”

The first song unveiled from Gerard’s 2014 solo debut Hesitant Alien was an amalgam of Heroes-era Bowie, Pixies and the Jesus And Mary Chain. This track just feels like slicked-back hair, mirrored aviator shades and black PVC. Mikey Way once told this writer that when his brother first gave him the demo, he played it every morning to start his day. Funny, so did I…

RAY TORO, “Isn’t That Something”

MCR’s world-class guitar shredder threw all of us a massive curveball on his 2016 solo debut Remember The Laughter. This track leads off the LP, creating a vibe that’s one part ’70s classic rock and sprite ’80s new wave, yet not sounding completely like either. Everybody thought that Toro’s post-MCR output would be a Guitar Center wet dream orgy of six-string acrobatics that would land him gigs opening for Steve Vai or Joe Satriani. His ability to craft radio-ready hooks and measured doses of introspection was positively refreshing.

ELECTRIC CENTURY, “Someone Like You” 

The duo of Mikey Way and Dave Debiak (New London Fire) teamed up to make For The Night To Control, the best record of 1983. This writer isn’t throwing shade in the slightest: “Someone Like You” has an electronic-based, anthemic feel that’s a throwback to such ’80s radar blips as When In Rome and Fiction Factory—only without the stupid haircuts. This record doesn’t rock at all, and thank God for that.

FRNKIERO ANDTHE CELLABRATION, “.Smoke Rings.”

The first member to break out in two ways (post-MCR touring with Death Spells and releasing a record), Iero has always had an obsession with getting things done. You get the feeling that making him sit still for 20 minutes would be a massive Herculean effort. This track from his debut record Stomachaches is a grating slice of overmodulated art punk that’s simultaneously primitive and sophisticated, all frayed nerve endings and distortion pedals set in the “kill” position.

REGGIE AND THE FULL EFFECT, “Karate School”

A lot of fans don’t realize that by the time they were making the abandoned Danger Days follow-up, The Paper Kingdom, James Dewees was an official member of My Chem. He’s still doing time as a member of Gerard Way’s band (the Hormones) as well as the Get Up Kids, but it’s his solo vehicle Reggie And The Full Effect that brings the rock, the laughs and more than a few alter egos. On his new album, 41, Dewees mixes a killer riff with memories of going to college at Hogwarts and learning martial arts. Probably. As you read this, he is on tour opening for Senses Fail. So close this screen and wind down your car’s window to the gig, OK?

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Read more: Frank Iero and James Dewees bring catharsis with Death Spells’ debut LP

The single is taken from their upcoming album Nothing Above, Nothing Below, set to drop July 29.

Until now. Released on July 29, the duo's debut album, Nothing Above, Nothing Below, is the kind of throat-punch the music scene needs right now. Iero and Dewees decided last December to bear down and give their corrosive outlet its day, working on tracks in Iero's home studio and at longtime friend/mentor Ed Auletta's North End Studio in New Jersey. The 12 tracks range from atmospheric spoken-word and atmospheric interludes to uzi-fire tempo hardcore (“Where Are My Fucking Pills?,” the first single, “Why Is Love So Disastrous?”), and some lugubrious moments (“End Of Life”) which will resonate with people who collect movie posters of psychological thrillers. With the arrival of Nothing Above, fans of old-school industrial rock (Ministry, Skinny Puppy) and vicious breakcore (Alec Empire) will have their tinnitus reactivated once again, while a new gen of listeners can ready up for some severe devastation via Dewees' programming skill and Iero's straitjacket-fitting vocals. “I did most of the vocals on my own, late at night in the dark,” Iero says. “And I think it sounds that way.”

The duo chatted with Jason Pettigrew in advance of their new song premiere today about the intentions of the band since its inception four years ago, how darkness is a relative thing, and whether fans will ever get to see that upside-down cross the duo wanted to take with them on their first tour.

Death Spells was something you two created during sessions for My Chem's doomed project, The Paper Kingdom. Four years later, how has the project's intention changed?
FRANK IERO: Everyone in the band had moved to LA, except for me and James. We were living in a North Hollywood apartment complex that was kinda sketchy. Not dirty, but definitely seedy and shady. Twenty-somethings looking to “make it,” dance crews, some porno-movie type stuff. You've got two guys locked in this room with a studio across the street that [they weren't] allowed to go in and do anything. We were stuck in this apartment building and we’re starting to wig the fuck out. James, remember when you went to that garden center and bought all those plants and wound them all over the patio so no one could see us?
JAMES DEWEES: Yeah. Hawkeye was there.
IERO: Yeah, the second Jason Bourne! (Jeremy Renner—movie reconnaissance ed.)
DEWEES: Yeah, he was there shopping for plants and we fuckin' schooled him. [Iero laughs.] He was getting a stupid palm and I ended up getting eight gigantic tropical plants. We were on the ground level. There's so many people that come to North Hollywood to “make it,” They build these apartment buildings right next to each other where as soon as you walk outside, you're on somebody else's patio,  And all those millennials were annoying: Kids who have moved from [wherever] whose parents gave them $20,000 and said, “Here Ricky, here's your year before college. You wanna be a twerk dancer? Here's your year to go do it.” Thinking about it now and remembering the conversations… [To Iero.] That Russian girl that lived upstairs from us was fucking amazing. I don't know what kind of pills she was taking; she would just sit out there and yell. Yell shit that made no sense and invite people over.
IERO: [Laughs.] So James had created this jungle on our floor. [To Dewees.] And I feel you were just bubbling over and you started creating [music] that sounded like the Locust cutting up Ministry samples. And that was blaring out of this Peruvian jungle setting. It was essentially our attack on everything and everyone that was around us.
DEWEES: We had a guy that lived upstairs that only listened to house music. It's like, “Get the fuck out of there with this.” I mean, house music with Soundgarden  would be great. [Laughter.]

But you're in much nicer homes right now and you don't need the pressure valve release. So how does this music fit in your lives right now?
IERO: When that period ended and we moved back to the East Coast, in my head, I was done doing bands and making music. A few months later, James got a call from Jimmy [Euringer, lead vocalist of Mindless Self Indulgence] saying, “We're going to do this tour. Are you doing anything or do you know anyone who would be cool to open?” James sent him some tracks and we did that tour. And on that tour, we're doing these experimental things. Meantime, he's writing Reggie [And The Full Effect] stuff, I'm writing Cellabration stuff.

Over the past four years, I came to the realization that music isn't something I do like a pastime—regardless of what I do, it is who I am. Knowing that, I got to the point where I was writing the second Cellabration record and I couldn't go any further without having this project that kinda started everything see the light of day. The realization of who I am and what I do came flooding out.

Death Spells was a bridge from where you were at the end of MCR that needed documentation, as opposed to merely being “Frank's Lost Year.”
IERO: Absolutely. A year ago, somebody asked me how old I was going to be. I mistakenly said 35. My birthday came and I mistakenly realized that I skipped an entire year. I'll be 35 this year, and I thought, “If I skipped that year, there would be this missing hole in my life.” And that's how I felt about DS: I got to where I am now because of this, and no one's really properly heard it. It's never had its time past that Mindless tour. No one knows how we got to where we are because of it. I felt I cheated myself out of that year, and I'm just realizing it now.

The new record is pretty full-on in its attack, recalling the halcyon days of furious electronic-based artists like Ministry, Skinny Puppy and Alec Empire. The title Nothing Above, Nothing Below feels violent and bleak. The most commercial thing on it (“Fantastic Bastards”) still feels like some dude hanging out under the bleachers during high school football practice, huffing non-stick cooking spray out of a grocery bag and loading automatic weapons. It achieves a vibe that's really dark and totally hardcore. I'm wondering if it could be too dark.
IERO: Let me jump in right now and say that I see the complete and total opposite of what you are saying. The title of the record implies, what if there was nothing else? And all we have is right now? I thought about how we treat each other and how we treat people who are different from us, all in the name of “love” and what happens to us after this world and how much we give a shit about what we believe in. I'm taking the position of fuck what’s above us, fuck what's below us—let's talk about how we treat each other right now.

In that particular song “Fantastic Bastards,” the bruises given to you by the person who is supposed to love and take care of you do not define you. And in that song, the people end up taking their revenge on that abuser. I want to keep things vague and keep it open to listeners' interpretation.

For me, when we first created [the album], it was all aggression, but at the same time, trepidation. I wasn't sure of myself. Now, I feel confidence in it, and that’s where my fuel is coming from. There's validation and from that there's finding new strength in the other projects I'm doing.

Does Death Spells create a psychic fuel that somehow informs everything else?
IERO: I think everything fuels each other. I don't feel DS is an interim or side project. I think it's part of my whole. It's like breathing, something I need to do. I've been in bands since I was 11 years old, but for now somehow, I feel there's a new importance to it, because I've come of the ownership of what it means to me. It's such an integral part of everything that I'm doing, I needed for it to have it's day to shine.
DEWEES: I do a lot of goofy music for a career. [Laughs.] But that's not to say that I don't have things that make me angry or frustrated. Having music as a vehicle for venting is a good thing, whether it was me playing drums in Coalesce, programming for Death Spells or playing keyboards for MCR, Reggie or Get Up Kids. I'm not a bad-news person, I'm definitely a good-news person. But as adults, you have to deal with the bad news—loved ones dying, divorces—the things that make life life. You're never really ready. I think it's necessary to have an outlet to get that stuff out, through music, writing or whatever. Let it happen and when you get to the end of the journey, you're better for it.

So DS is an outlet for personal catharsis, as well as a viable aesthetic development.
DEWEES: When I went to rehab, I made that Reggie record Last Stop, Crappytown,

That's a great record.
But it's not a Reggie record. It should've had a big Frankie Goes To Hollywood logo on it that read REGGIE GOES TO REHAB. [Laughter.] That's a situation that's super-personal and super-private [about] trying to get your shit back together. People weren't thinking, “We hope you get your shit back together.” They were thinking, “This is waaay too heavy. We liked it better when you were on drugs because you were funny.” Fuck you, assholes! I promise you that we're not going to have girls in fluorescent body paint, bikinis and Eskimo boots holding up glow-in-the-dark wristbands at Death Spells concerts. It's not that kind of electronic music.

There's been so much crazy shit happening [in my life]. My mom passed away and my mother-in-law passed a month later to the day. And I sat there watching it happen for months. So when I put on the Death Spells record, it kinda captures the way I felt the last couple of months. But it's weird: I didn't feel that way when I was writing it. It's such a bizarre thing.

Death Spells are doing a lightning run of dates in August after the record is released. The last time you went out on tour, Frank was looking to bring a huge upside-down cross onstage. It didn't happen, obviously. Will it happen this time?
IERO: [Laughs.] Here's the thing: It was never supposed to be upside down, just neon.
DEWEES: I totally forgot about that until you mentioned it. Frank just wants to keep it after the touring is done. [To Iero.] You'll have it on the front of your house for the neighbors to see.
IERO: [Laughs.] I still want it, man. alt

As the reactivated TOC begins its next chapter with a touring lineup of Dashboard Confessional, Taking Back Sunday, Saosin and many others, we'll be starting this weekly special “Taste Of Tuesday,” where we'll look back at the bands participating at the point of their original zeitgeist. This week, we’re rewinding to 2005, when REGGIE AND THE FULL EFFECT held nothing back in our interview. Frontman James Dewees talks everything from tattoos to divorce—and, of course, the music.

Get tickets to Taste Of Chaos festival here!

Divorce: The Final Frontier

Story: Cara Lynn Shultz // Photos: Jayme Thornton + Jonathan Weiner

“Grow up, puppy-boy: You listen to wussy ballads and weep into your SpongeBob pillowcase because you can’t get a date for the spring formal. James Dewees really lost out in love, and the new album from his band, Reggie And The Full Effect, makes your entire record collection sound like Nickelback in comparison.”

“On my right arm, it says ‘For every beginning, there’s an ending.’ And on my left arm, it says, ‘For every ending, there’s a beginning.’”

James Dewees is talking to AP about the Kanji tattoos that mark his forearms, as we sit at Life Café in New York City. Endings are something the Get Up Kids keyboardist and frontman for Reggie And The Full Effect has gotten to know intimately: It’s possible that the Get Up Kids, the seminal emo band who put Lawrence, Kansas’ music scene on the pop-culture map, may be gearing up for their final curtain call following this June’s live CD and brief tour. Furthermore, last spring, Dewees decided to split from Megan, his wife of a year and a half, whose name provided the titles to the more tender tracks from Reggie’s previous discs, Under The Tray, Promotional Copy and Greatest Hits ’84-’87.

“Try getting divorced. Everything came out, ‘cause when that happens, it’s just, ‘Man, what am I going to do with all this pent-up’–it’s not aggression; it’s like a pent-up what-the-fuck?”

But, true to the Kanji, out of those life-altering endings come new beginnings. Dewees hit the road as a member of New Found Glory (he played the keyboards on “Failures Not Flattering” from NFG’s recent Catalyst) during their fall tour with Green Day. And where Get Up Kids commitments kept Reggie firmly in place as a side project, this spring offers Dewees the first chance to tour in support of a new Reggie CD as it’s released. So he’s doing just that – opening for NFG before hitting Warped, and then embarking on a headlining tour. But apart from new travel opportunities, there’s also a new direction for Reggie’s fourth album, the bluntly titled Songs Not to Get Married to.

“I had my manager on one line and my attorney on the other,” Dewees recalls. “And my ex-wife’s best friend is telling me that I’m not getting shit in the settlement, so that’s the title I came up with,” he says, laughing. “I could have called them Songs To Get Divorced To. But [I called it] Songs Not To Get Married To. ‘Cause they’re not.”

Welcome to the Understatement City. Population: Dewees. In mid-2004, he scrapped the songs he had been working on for the new Reggie disc and switched tracks, unloading every emotion someone experiences during a divorce into a cathartic, brutally honest 13-track sonic diary. The weighty issues tackled on the disc might surprise those familiar with previous Reggie fare. After all, former Reggie offerings, admittedly about “girls running away,” were mixed with skits from drunken fans and epic songs about how much Dewees loves food. He even brought his alter egos (Euro-trashy synth-poppers Fluxuation, Finnish death metalers Common Denominator and alleged former “cellmate” Paco) along for the ride. But on Songs, Dewees’ emotions range from poetic (the stripped-down ballad “Playing Dead”)  to pensive (“Get Well Soon”) to straight-up pissed (“Thanks For The Misery”).

“[The record is] the complete work on the process of getting divorced from someone,” he says. “I was confused as fuck, so it was really bizarre for all of it to come together and make sense from start to finish. But it only took a week and a half to record. It flowed really easily. Try getting divorced. Everything came out, ‘cause when that happens, it’s just, ‘Man, what am I going to do with all this pent-up’–it’s not aggression; it’s like a pent-up what-the-fuck? [Even though] it was my voice and my [decision to get divorced], in that situation you’re in a panic moment. You don’t know what to do. [Bit] I’m not bitter. Everybody goes through those stages in their life. I just didn’t know I was going to have to move on from the Get Up Kids [at the same time].”

“At this point, I’m more worried about the pitch of my voice than what I’m singing about.”

But while the songs are darker lyrically, they still boast Dewees’ signature sound: lilting keyboards that tapdance across the stage built by chugging guitars, with more hooks than an elementary-school coat rack. The standout track, “Take Me Home, Please,” is a sunny confection about staying out a little too late with a good friend. (The genesis of the song comes from an actual late night in Miami, where Dewees performed at MTV’s Video Music Awards with New Found Glory. ) Elsewhere, Dewees nods to his roots in Kansas City metalcore legends Coalesce with the screamy vocal-cord ripper “The Trooth,” a hell-raising number about getting a tooth yanked. And, yes, both Fluxation and Common Denominator make a triumphant return on Songs.

But Dewees is a man who bounces back quickly. He jokes about getting served with legal papers while at a party in his honor, thrown by Get Up Kids bassist Robert Pope. (“You know the movie You Got Served?” he cracks. “Well, I got serrrrrved.”) But the best proof? Some of the verbal windows into Dewees’ traumatic divorce have darkly humorous titles that self-effacingly mock his own situation.

“There are songs called ‘What The Hell Is Contempt’ [and ‘What The Hell Is A Stipulation’] because I got woken up at 7 in the morning with a call from my attorney telling me I’m getting sued for contempt,” he says. “I don’t know for what. I still don’t know. And he’s like, ‘Well, if you don't do this, they can file for stipulations.’ What the hell is a stipulation? What have I done? I haven’t even done anything, She’s pregnant with someone else’s kid! I’m just trying to move on with my life.” For Dewees, “moving on” includes relentless touring. (“She’s got the house; I’m just going to stay on the road.”) It’s not a bad thing, if his tour with New Found Glory and Green Day are any indication. “After a show in Dublin, Billie Joe [Armstrong] took over the bar and bought us drinks. We [commandeered] the piano and they were playing Billy Joel songs. Billie’s singing and he jumped over a chair and started wrestling Jordan [Pundik].” And away from the NFG circus, Dewees promises the new Reggie live show will offer the same theatrical showmanship fans have come to expect, in spite of the heartending lyrics.

“At this point, I’m more worried about the pitch of my voice than what I’m singing about,” he says. “We still have costumes.” The infamous screaming bear (plushie alums include Gerard Way from My Chemical Romance and NFG’s Chad Gilbert) will return. And, as noted, Fluxation and Common Denominator are back. Just not Paco.

“I don’t know. It might be fun to dress up like Paco for one song,” he ruminates. “There will be 10 kids who will be like, ‘Yes! Paco made it!’ But I just want to be me for a little bit.”

He stops and laughs at himself again. “That sounds so Broadway. ‘I wanna be meeeee. I’m ready to be me!” Welcome back. alt