CONCERT REVIEW: Rat Attack! My Chemical Romance’s Final Night At Milton Keynes

Milton Keynes got their third and final show of the tour, and it might be their best one to date. Before the band even hit the stage, a clip from a National Geographic video titled Rat Attack! was played on the big screens. The video detailed the swarm of rats that descends upon Mizoram, India every 48 years. As facts including, “One female rat can have 200 descendants in 6 months,” flashed upon the screens, the sounds of laughter, cheering, and confusion could be heard coming from the crowd.

This could only be followed up, of course, by My Chem themselves emerging from thick smoke to perform their newest track The Foundations of Decay. Tonight’s show was packed full of hits from all of their albums, including fan-favorites Cemetery Drive, House of Wolves, Cancer, and Headfirst for Halos.

The band seemed to be in an exceptionally playful mood tonight, with smiles all around. While getting ready to perform I’m Not Okay, Gerard Way joked about it being, “The song that keeps my therapist driving a Lexus.” At one point he saw a fan struggling in the audience and said, “Point at where the problem is… Oh that guy just pointed at me.”

Perhaps the most iconic moment of the night was the outfits the guys wore onstage. Mikey wowed the audience in his classic MIKEY FUCKIN WAY t-shirt, while Frank and Gerard strutted about in shirts with PISS and VINEGAR written on them. Frank had posted a picture of the two shirts on his Instagram earlier today, and Gerard mentioned that he’d had the idea for these shirts since before the reunion. “That would’ve been good if we were a band,” he’d told Frank at the time.

There were serious moments as well, including Gerard taking a moment to check on fans who appeared to not be feeling well. “Your friend, your neighbor,” he told the crowd, “they go down—try to make some space, try to pick them up.” Before performing the emotional ballad Cancer, Gerard stated, “We didn’t do it at the Shrine ‘cause it was too hard. But we’re gonna do it right now, for you. For us, for you.”

He also took a moment to talk about Thursday night’s blood-soaked outfit, saying, “People saw me coming with the weird outfit and thought, ‘He’s crazy, he’s insane, he’s unglued.’ And that might be the case, but I am free. Embrace the world, embrace the plague, embrace the uncertain!” For those that missed it, this outfit also included a white face mask with the word “Meta” written on it, alongside the infinity symbol logo for Mark Zuckerburg’s Metaverse. Tonight he made the statement, “We deserve to live in a world with real people and real faces. We don’t want your Metaverse!” We’re definitely sensing a theme going on here…

Hmm are we sensing a theme here? 😏 https://t.co/LOFXbO6seL pic.twitter.com/0WvhkRxVPe

— My Chemical Romance Updates 🪰 (@MCRupdates1) May 22, 2022

Of course, the night would not be complete without a little dancing, led by the one and only Rowan Way, Mikey and Kristin Way’s five-year-old daughter. Her sister Kennedy could also be seen on stage showing support for her father’s band.

The incredible night was ended by Gerard blowing a kiss to the audience, telling them, “Goodnight MK3, thank you so much. Muah!” This was followed shortly by an encore performance of Headfirst for Halos and I’m Not Okay (I Promise).

It’s safe to say that this week’s shows have been non-stop fun for both the band and fans, new and old. For many in the audience, it was their first time seeing My Chemical Romance live, as they’ve recently returned after being broken up since 2013. The energy in this stadium reflected the apparent excitement on Gerard, Frank, Mikey, and Ray’s faces.

We can’t wait to see what else My Chem has in store. Did you attend this show? We’d love to hear your thoughts and favorite moments. For those of you attending future shows—let us know what songs you’re hoping to hear live!

INTERVIEW: Getting To Know Up-and-Coming Artist Teknokai

I had the chance to sit down with rising artist Brenden Fowler this week, the musical genius behind Teknokai. Brenden, a genderfluid artist hailing from West Tennessee, is gearing up to bring us his debut album, and we’re more than excited to hear it.

Brenden, who amusingly mentioned the name Teknokai came from mispronouncing a video game, is the picture of calm-before-the-storm. Despite his easy-going and charming personality, it’s easy to see that anything from making music to talking music is what makes him buzz.

He stated that his biggest influence would have to be the 90’s grunge era, drawing much of his vocal and lyrical inspiration from Chris Cornell. But what truly makes Brenden a unique artist in a world full of aspiring musicians?

He’s doing it all by himself, from writing the lyrics, to producing the tracks.

To hear him explain his production process is to bear witness to someone who is incredibly passionate about their craft. He mentioned that he starts with a few pre-recorded samples and from there, the sky is the limit for Brenden. One listen to any of his songs shows that he knows his way around a studio. “Production is really my thing. I’m not a good song writer,” he laughs, “but I like to think I’m pretty good at the studio side of things.”

Lyrically, his songs are created in a similar fashion. “I take a phrase and build on it and say it in a bunch of different ways,” Brenden told me. His most popular song, Faith, was originally titled Trust with the concept being, “I wouldn’t trust me if I were you.” Brenden faces songwriting in a head-on fashion, stating, “Whatever makes me sad, I just start singing into the microphone.”

His favorite song that he’s put out so far is actually a cover of Utada Hikaru’s Simple and Clean, stating that he loved working with Harmony Engine to create a stacked layer effect on the vocals. With as much work as he put into covering this song, one can understand why he says that the highlight of his music career so far was seeing that song hit 1000 streams on Spotify. A snippet of this track can be found below.

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When asked what artist he would like to go on tour with as their opening act, Brenden’s face lit up as he told me about another local band from West Tennessee called Music By KOTA. The indie group, best known for their single Lucy, recently played a show in Atlanta for the first time. “Another inspiration really,” Brenden says, “having friends that are at that level.”

Growing up, Brenden could be found with a guitar in his hand from the age of two. He credits his love of music to his father, who works in radio. “It’s my identity,” he says.

What can we expect from Teknokai going forward? Brenden was happy to share that his album will be titled A Million Faces, and he expects to be putting in a lot of work over the summer. The musician also regularly works on projects with other groups, and has been in the music program at The University of Memphis Lambuth Campus which he cites being a “really small, but really powerful program.”

For the time being, Brenden is happy to be working on new songs and enjoying the sense of accomplishment in doing what he loves. “I recently found my high school journal, and found a list of things I wanted to do before I turned 21. Well I’m 21, and I’ve done ALL of them.” He’s put out several singles, played live shows, and hit his streaming goals.

It’s safe to say that we’re more than excited to hear what Teknokai has next in store for us. In the meantime, you can listen to all of his released on Spotify, Apple Music, and more.