It’s been a year since we filmed videos for the My Chemical Romance album “Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys”, and I’m feeling a bit nostalgic. Let’s look back!

The troops rally while Gerard checks a shot. On the left, Stunt Gerard is ready for action.

ART IS THE WEAPON: I was originally hired to help the band write a few short vignettes that would find the Killjoys in a series of adventures. Gerard and I came up with some cool ideas, but the realities of filming what were essentially half a dozen scripted short films forced us to consider another approach. So we decided to take all the best stuff from those vignettes, alongside some of Gerard’s original inspirational imagery, and make an extremely potent and fully-realized vision of this world.

Also, we REALLY wanted to see that Trans-Am tear ass through the desert.

After seeing the early footage from that day, it took about 5 seconds to make the decision that we should head back out to the desert to tell more of the story. So with more locations, car chases, explosions, and our fantastic crew we filmed the “Na Na Na” video.

Those few days we spent in the desert were some of the best of my life. I not only got to participate in the writing, but had the opportunity to help out the art department (headed by the wonderful Jason Fijal), and even got to contribute to some of the filming. The spirit of collaboration was alive and well on this project, I don’t think there was one person didn’t go above and beyond their “role”. If you ever have the chance to run around the desert with your friends, shooting laser guns, I suggest you take it.

Here are a few photos and notes from behind the scenes: