waider | still hooked on that one band

I watched the two DVDs that come as part of MCR's "Life on the Murder Scene" over the weekend. I can't get over how young the band seems, even though they're in their late 20's; as B. B. King said to Bono, "you're mighty young to be writing such heavy lyrics". It's hard to couple the biting depth of some of the songs with the guys who sing and perform them; it's harder still to couple how world-weary they seem, even taking into account the whole instant world-wide fame thing. Watching Gerard Way telling the camera candidly that you know you're in trouble when your fallback plan, should things get worse, is suicide. And the guy is, I dunno, 26 or 27 when he's saying this. And there's no melodrama about it, he's not appealing for attention, he's just telling you how far down he'd fallen. Powerful stuff.

I'm also impressed that their live performances match the studio work so well - sure, the harmonies are more ragged because the guitarists have to concentrate on those blistering riffs as well as doing backing vocals, but it's still all there and it still really kicks ass. I'm kinda sorry I didn't know about them sooner or I'd have contrived to catch part of their European tour before other events caught up with me. Oh well, maybe next year.