My Chemical Romance's hit single Welcome To The Black Parade was their first UK number one. When we caught up with drummer Bob Bryar before a show in London's Wembley arena, he was kind enough to play it for us.
The song, with its distinctive marching drum rhythm, came about when the band were in the studio. Bryar explains: "It was four o'clock in the morning and we were in the studio doing the record. Just out of being really tired and kinda bored and a little bit loopy I saw a big drum kit in the corner. It was all these drums, a marching drum, stuff like that, and I thought 'Hey let's set this up.' We ended up recording a song which became the first single off the record."
When playing live, Bryar famously plays this song on a different kit from his usual four-piece, using a 12-foot-diameter rotating riser to facilitate an easy changeover. But while this may seem like an overly-grandiose luxury, Bryar says that it is more for comfort than for his ego: "We have to play the song at every show. But when I added all the extra drums, my cymbals and hi-hats got further away and I was really uncomfortable. I played five months of touring where I played this kit for the whole set, but I was annoyed with it and I didn't want to do it anymore. So I came up with the idea of having a rotating riser with two kits on it. It's come off as "this guy's a jerk, he's got this big rotating riser", but I just did it so I could have my kit that I feel comfortable with, but when I have to use all the extra drums, I can use the other kit."
