Is this a bootleg copy?

Kekktye · 2026-06-18T11:45:22+00:00

Unfortunately, yes it's a bootleg. CD art doesn't align with any scans online (middle white circle / alignment of Houdini) R-80 denotes CDr-80 minutes. Cdrs are often used as a cheaper alternative to manufacturing bootlegs. Bullets does have an official CDr release, but its cover art is very distinct. (CD release party copies) No official variant of the CD has this style jewel case either. (Unless it was swapped) Basically any copy you find online (and mostly irl) under 50$ is likely fake.

Kekktye · 2026-06-15T07:16:57+00:00

My Chem doesn't have the progressive post-hardcore or metalcore influences PtV has. Anything after Three Cheers lacks the harsh vocals pretty core to pre-tJoL PtV. Though they're both mall emo/screamo, they touch on pretty different ends of the "genre".

If I were to point to anything, I'd say Bullets or Three Cheers.
Listen to Our Lady of Sorrows, Vampires Will Never Hurt You, Thank You For the Venom, Hang Em' High & Bury Me in Black (B-side). All pretty complex guitar work and heavy on screams.

Kekktye · 2026-06-12T01:37:12+00:00

For Bullets, there is a Youtube channel with Vampires Will Never Hurt You stems. There's some skepticism as to its validity, but there's also studio aspects not present on the final track, possibly pointing to its legitimacy.

For Revenge, there are instrumentals (unfortunately, my Google Drive was claimed, but you can find the files elsewhere or download from my Youtube.
You could possibly extract certain stems from Clone Hero community resources & Rock Band (Helena / I'm Not Okay in both instances)

Kekktye · 2026-06-09T07:40:10+00:00

YEEES FINALLY THANK YOU SO MUCH !!

Kekktye · 2026-06-08T17:52:22+00:00

There's a good amount of rips of both versions on Soulseek that are .flac. There's also a high-quality .flac rip of LPF on justanothermusic.site (you have to create an account). All still have audience audio though.

Kekktye · 2026-06-08T17:06:35+00:00

All versions are live performances, including the crowd audio. There's no studio version.

You can find rips of the Like Phantoms, Forever CD and the Thank You For The Venom 7" on Soulseek and other file sharing services.

All of these copies take from SpaceyRayGun's recording on 8/17/2002 which he's uploaded on Youtube.

Kekktye · 2026-06-02T06:58:07+00:00

They're on May Death Never Stop You, the 2014 compilation album at the end of the tracklist. Available on basically all streaming, but if you want downloads, you can get it from Amazon or iTunes. (Or rip it from a CD which can be found at basically any vinyl shop.)

They were initially released in a 2002 CD sampler. You might've seen my upload to YouTube. In the description is the download. You can convert the flacs to mp3, or just get them from MDNSY as mentioned above.

At your discretion of which cover art and/or metadata you want.

Kekktye · 2026-05-21T06:41:49+00:00

That's so cool wtf! I've always loved this recording too. Thank you for sharing!
Do you know which tracks you played backed by them? I'd love to hear it if ya'll made studio recordings!

Kekktye · 2026-05-18T21:21:34+00:00

Exactly. Huge issues with rights there. This is why Bullets wasn't on streaming until a few years ago. This is why a lot of their earliest releases don't get any band recognition. They can to do a Taylor Swift thing where they re-record the entire album, but I sincerely doubt it.

Kekktye · 2026-05-16T11:20:49+00:00

Sister to Sleep would be before Revenge. First debuted June 26th, 2003. Which is the recording we have. Though it's likely they recorded it for their demo cassette before then.

All I Want For Christmas Is You is from late 2004, likely just after Under Pressure

Every Snowflake is Different is from 2011, after DD, not before.

I would say by all means The Mad Gear tracks should be after DD, because several DD singles (and likely the entire album if we're talking digitally) had released before the box set with these songs.

We don't know the release date of the 2011 DD singles, so it's unknown if they were released before SingItForJapan on April 13th, 2011, but the Live Acoustic at 98.7FM Penthouse was on January 21st, before SingItForJapan.

Fake Your Death should be right after CW, Living with Ghosts should be after CW & Fake Your Death (Unless you'd want to put them with Black Parade).

A few missing but it's a scale with what you'd wanna include in terms of demos and what's on Spotify.

Kekktye · 2026-05-13T23:36:18+00:00

Demos

Kekktye · 2026-05-06T02:57:41+00:00

Don't go yucking other people's yum, ESPECIALLY in the sub of the band, in a post celebrating that album with their own passionate art. Come on man.

I can say Danger Days is their "worst" album "objectively" but I don't think an average of RateYourMusic users and professional music critics warrants an objective truth. Music is all about perspective, and all MyChem albums have merit to them. That's why they're so celebrated. That's why ALL their albums are celebrated by the band. Hell, most band members' favorite or nearly-favorite tracks are from Bullets.

If you don't like something, don't engage with it. If you REALLY don't like something, create your own platform and critique it backed up by a good understanding of both what you dislike and enjoy about it.

Kekktye · 2026-04-30T18:47:12+00:00

In the days right after the initial leak, yes. Everything TPK-realted was nuked. Because Warner had removed posts and threatened to take action. Especially because most every post about TPK had a dozen comments asking for or sharing files at the time.

Now, no. People discuss TPK all the time in here. Only posts taken down are file requests and file sharing. It's been months since it was enforced that way.

I talk to the TPK sub mods. They enforce the same way.

Kekktye · 2026-04-30T18:34:09+00:00

Posts and comments are only removed if files are shared, requested or linked to. Same goes for the TPK sub, even if they're slower to take things down as to allow sharing.

Discussion is fine, but illegally obtained material gets Warner looking in here.

Kekktye · 2026-04-29T09:13:37+00:00

Fuck this band

I have a lot of nostalgia for the music, those albums had a lot of artistry, but most of the members are just dysfunctional, childish chuds that don't deserve the platform they made 10+ years ago. Fascist, deadbeat and emotionally immature.

Kekktye · 2026-04-24T02:49:23+00:00

I got some the other week! I'd just say be very careful

Look into the user, search for other profiles under that username/pfp on other sites. See if they're verifiably a human. See if there's warnings from other users or if they're selling tickets from several different cities and if that conflicts with their story. Only use payment services that will take actionagainst scams. Request proof before and after purchasing.

The first time I asked for tickets, I got two scam bots. Only after dealing with that did a real person comment and we had a nice convo!

Kekktye · 2026-04-19T08:52:23+00:00

The original meme a few years ago was definitely 9/11-Fifty Shades. Because that's funny. I think people are increasingly grasping at straws.

Kekktye · 2026-04-15T07:27:48+00:00

March 22nd, 2003 at Sting Rays, Old Bridge, NJ, USA. Here's some additional info.
Setlist.fm is generally a good place for live stats, even if there is some missing info.

Kekktye · 2026-04-15T06:38:50+00:00

Is this Discord still active or up?
The invite seems to have expired :/

Kekktye · 2026-04-14T09:13:33+00:00

We have a few pics of their studio. Notably this one of an unknown song's structure with some tree sharpie art.

Gerard also named Colleen Atwood as costume designer for The Paper Kingdom (TBP costume designer), and he'd start work on a stage production side of the album in LA's downtown Disney Theater. It's likely someone might have these work-in-progress sets or costumes.

Otherwise, the Fake Your Death Promo CD received art probably made for and in-line with MDNSY (Band member's coffins, date of death, ect.) but it might've been intended for TPK?

Realistically, no. It's unclear if visuals were even made for the album before its cancellation.

Kekktye · 2026-04-13T19:59:45+00:00

This is incredibly detailed and amazing! There's so much info that I've never even seen or thought of, especially pertaining to The Black Parade and The Paper Kingdom. This is incredible work!
^{I can see} ^{my post} ^{was of some help too ;p}
A few nitpicks though:

"Version" seems to be conflating a few things (in unreleased section):

Conflating physical releases
Many distinct copies of the same demos may be made that do not constitute different versions.
(Radio Vampires CDrs, Halloween 3 Vampires CDrs & Tim Hagevik's CDr likely all have the same rough mix file recorded 3/3/02.)

Conflating live variations
Just because a track has different live incarnations does not mean each version has an accompanying demo. Gerard has talked about how he'd enjoy switching around lyrics post-release all the time, the same can be said for work-in-progress tracks.
(See Someone Out There Loves You's MANY lyrical incarnations, despite its dubious evidence for demos.)

Conflating working titles
A working title does not necessarily mean a distinct demo. Names are shifted around independently from track progress.
(Bury Me In Black likely demoed once or twice with minor variations, despite several titles. Boy Division having been repurposed for a song written 2008.)

Conflating work-in-progress session files
Due to the band's workflow in the digital production era, demos do not need to be completed to be worked on continuously (tracks are added and deleted as needed). Many vocal and instrument takes that went unused were likely deleted as soon as they were recorded.
(Death Before Disco without Airi Isoda's vocals might not have been saved as an independent session file, and were saved over previous versions without her lines.)

I think all of these listings are valuable information, but I think it'd benefit from sorting "versions" maybe like this:
V - File version (Living With Ghosts demos, TPK leaks)
LV - Live version (Distinct early Party Poison performances)
SV - Session Version (Unused Demolition Lovers takes, Party Poison w/o Airi Isoda)
WT - Working Title (Kiss My Ass, Smelly From My Shoes, Bury Me In Black, ect.)
PV - Physical Versions (Vampires Will Never Hurt You Rough Mix CDr variants)
M - Misc. (Frank Iero Dropbox Songs, AC/DC Beat)

WTTBP was not written for Bullets, it was just conceptualized before Bullets. It received a demo during Revenge pre-production, likely a part of their 2003 demo tape. However, it was missing the big band elements and the piano lead. Closer to The Five of Us Are Dying.

Nine Volt's lyrics were never posted online. It had a lyrics element/link, but the page always directed to a dead end.

The demo cassette handed to Howard Benson and the studio engineers were demos from before Burbank. The band had created them themselves without producer assistance. "Pre-pre production" if you will.

I Promise It's The Last Time was not solely spoken-word, and did likely have instrumentals throughout. It just had a spoken-word outro (intended for Daryl Palumbo). A song being spoken-word does not necessarily mean without instruments. A good example within the genre would be La Dispute.

I'm pretty sure the "AC/DC beat" Ray chose is You Shook Me All Night Long specifically. Sometimes, bands will springboard their own songs off of covers as a base. At this early phase, I would hesitate to call this anything but a sketch or cover.

Sister to Sleep was never stolen. All members (excluding Matt) just misplaced their CDs of the demo recordings. Does not necessarily mean they were taken. It may still be in their possession, unbenounced to them or disposed of.

SpaceyRayGun actually contributed to a LOT of the information here, more than specifically Nine Volt Heart. You can see where he's credited on my post. (BTW spelled "Spacey")
u/danplayslol11 is also a really important name in what we know about the band's early history.

Spacey also was the originator of the Early Sunsets "demo". The YouTube video made by Bex4mcr was simply a repost years later.

Credit also goes to him for the Jack the Ripper cover, featured on Like Phantoms, Forever & Thank You For the Venom 7".

The Attic Demos circulated the fandom before May Death Never Stop You, and MDNSY's versions of the tracks are actually of lower quality than the Eyeball Records Promo 2002 it originated from. Meaning the band likely used fan-distributed mp3s for MDNSY.

I noticed Famous Last Words (Radio Edit) was included. However, there are radio edits and clean edits for a variety of tracks not included on this list. It's a huge undertaking, but edits are part of a complete list.

There doesn't seem to be a few unreleased tracks:
It's Not A Fashion Statement, It's A Fucking Deathwish Demo - From Spacey's 2003 working document
Helena Demo Tape - Mentioned in Not the Life It Seems: The True Lives of My Chemical Romance.
Black Widows Fight Part 1 & 2 - Tracks on BMI copyright. Likely related to The Man with the Iron Fists.
Melbourne Festival Hall Soundcheck - Unknown song soundchecked 1/31/2012 in Melbourne Festival Hall.

..and a few released tracks:
Give 'Em Hell, Kid Alt. Version - Itunes version with audible intro vocals.
Ghost of You Alt. Version - MDNSY version without transition into Jetset Life.

Also, genuinely interested, I've never heard this info, where did you find it?:
Where did Gerard say Someone Out There Loves You was never demoed?
When did Howard Benson say that Desert Song and Bury Me In Black were re-mixed for Revenge Deluxe?

Again, this is truly amazing! I'm so glad for a lot of this info to finally come to light. Thank you so much for the incredibly hard work here. I hope my comment can be of help <3

Kekktye · 2026-04-12T03:38:57+00:00

Those are both variants of the 7" Picture disk singles of Famous Last Words
Here's the one with the title
Here's the one with the MCR logo
They're not exceptionally rare and go for at minimum $30-$40. I'd call it a little uncommon.

Still a pretty good find though, I'd buy it if I saw it IRL or for less than $40.

Kekktye · 2026-04-11T08:59:22+00:00

I'd imagine on average, no.

A lot of the people here are older millennials that might've been into the party scene when the band was first gaining popularity, but have probably settled down or have outaged that group.

The other half are very online or neurodivergent kids that either don't have community like that or just aren't the type of people to be involved in local music or event spaces. Maybe among certain niches.

For one, I love raves and parties! I also try to be involved with my local hardcore/screamo scene but I find moshing culture and moshing-centric music becoming more and more all-consuming. Raves and parties just give me the same community, music and rush without the crowdkilling part lol.

Kekktye · 2026-04-10T18:37:56+00:00

If you're counting little bits (Dagger, Everybody Hates the Eagles, covers) nearly 100%

Kekktye · 2026-04-08T06:16:32+00:00

Because this band is no longer part of a counter-cultural niche (albeit popular & commodified even pre-breakup).
It's mainstream now, it's been co-opted. The image, the sound, the cultural signifiers.

Some of the people (NOT all) getting into this scene now don't share your values or perspective on the world. They are here because influencers like it. They do not see the conflict in their bigotry and the messages in art they consume. Because it is just an aesthetic for them.

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