My Chemical Romance Fire Drummer for 'Stealing'

News Article
SPIN.com
September 6, 2011
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My Chemical Romance has fired drummer Michael Pedicone from the band over an alleged theft, the New Jersey rockers announced on their website.

Pedicone "was caught red handed stealing from the band and confessed to police after our show last night in Auburn, Washington," guitarist Frank Iero wrote. "We are heartbroken and sick to our stomachs over this entire situation." As The New York Times' Arts Beat blog points out, what exactly Pedicone stands accused of stealing remains unclear. The band said it has no plans to press charges.

Pedicone was MCR's third drummer, joining the group late last year after the band parted ways with previous drummer Bob Bryar. "What happened is more complicated than it sounds but I did make a mistake," Pedicone responded on Twitter. "It was never my intention to hurt this band or all of you...It was an error in judgment based on a whole other situation that's way deeper but this does not define me." Original drummer Matt Pelissier left in 2004.

As of MCR's show Saturday in Utah, the band had already replaced Pedicone with Dead Country's Jarrod Alexander, MTV reports. The band has yet to reveal whether Alexander will replace Pedicone permanently or only on tour. Alexander's former bands include Death by Stereo and Suicide File.

MCR is currently on a tour with pop-punk vets Blink-182 that runs into October. "Blink is one of the bands we've looked up to and always respected. There are a lot of similarities in how we came up," MCR bassist Mikey Way recently told SPIN. "We both came out of scenes that we didn't really fit in, but we all came into our own and did our own thing." MCR kicked off the tour with a set that was heavy on older material.