Before Fame

Work Before My Chemical Romance

Before fame and the band, Mikey worked at Barnes & Noble. He worked there with his older brother who worked in the books section, whereas Mikey worked in the music section. During his time working here, he came up with the name for My Chemical Romance while looking at an Irvine Welsh book in the back.

Where did he go to school?

Mikey went to Belleville high school. He graduated from here in 1998, 3 years after his older brother. After he graduated, he went to Montclair State University. He never ended up finishing college. He dropped out to join his brother after his unsuccessful attempt to join Pencey Prep, the band Frank Iero (MCR's rhythm guitarist) was in at the time.

Why did he decide to start playing bass?

Mikey got hooked on wanting to do bass from the age of 3. In in interview, this is what he said about it, "My very first memory of the bass guitar - I was about three years old and heard Another One Bites The Dust by Queen on the radio. It was burned into my skull from that moment on, and became a benchmark for bass lines in my mind."

What did he look like?

In high school, he didn't look very different from how he did during the "Bullets Era". The major difference is his glasses. He had round glasses at this time. Pictured on the left is his school picture.