Tim McIlrath (born November 3, 1978) an American singer, songwriter and musician. He is the singer, rhythm guitarist, and main songwriter as well as co-founder with bassist Joe Principe for the punk rock band Rise Against. McIlrath is known to help animal rights and actively promotes PETA with his band. He follows the straight edge lifestyle, along with Rise Against bassist Joe Principe and guitarist Zach Blair.

Personal life
Tim McIlrath was born November 3, 1979 in Chicago, Illinois. At a young age he read books such as 1984 by George Orwell and Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, which would inspire his later work. As a child he went to "Our Lady of the Wayside," where he was made fun of for having one brown eye and one blue eye. This is known as heterochromia. As an early teenager, all of Tim's friends were into snowboarding, so Tim saved up money until he had $400 to buy a snowboard. But instead of buying a snowboard, he bought a Gibson SG.

In college, Tim majored in English and Sociology. In his junior year he met Joe Principe at a "Sick of it All" concert show. Joe asked Tim to sing over a few tracks that he and Mr. Precision had taped. That is when Rise Against was formed, and Tim left college.

On the reverse of McIlrath's white Les Paul guitar are the words Out of Step. This is a reference to Minor Threat's album Out of Step. Tim is now married and he and his wife Erin have two daughters, Blythe and Scarlet. They live with him in Arlington Heights, Illinois.

Baxter
Tim McIlrath began his musical career in his teenage years. Tim was very active in the Chicago local alternative rock/punk scene. His first band was the post hardcore band Baxter. They formed in 1995 along with future The Lawrence Arms drummer Neil Hennessy and future Killing Tree and Holy Roman Empire bassist Geoff Reu.
Their first release was a full length, self released, cassette, Troy's Bucket, which was released in 1996. Troy's Bucket was met with good reviews from reviewers, and Baxter became a popular band in the Chicago underground scene. 

In 1997 they released a 7" EP Lost Voices on Static Station Records. After some local touring, the band split up. Tim played bass and sang backup for The Honor System. He sang on their demo and on some songs on their first album Single File. He and drummer Neil Hennesy could also be found in a brief lineup of the grind band Yellow Road Priest, whose members went on to form Pelican. Following the band's breakup in 1997, Tim formed metalcore band Arma Angelus, along with singer Pete Wentz, who was to become bassist in mainstream pop punk/emo band Fall Out Boy. McIlrath played bass with the band until 1999 when he quit to form Transistor Revolt, which would soon become Rise Against.

Rise Against
In 1999 Tim formed the band that would become Rise Against with former 88 Fingers Louie bassist, Joe Principe, guitarist Dan Precision (Mr. Precision), and drummer Toni Tintari under the name Transistor Revolt. Drummer Brandon Barnes did not come into the picture until 2001 along with the band name Rise Against. They recorded their first album The Unraveling on Fat Wreck Chords in 2001. 

In 2003 guitarist Mr. Precision left, and Todd Mohney filled in. Later that year they released their second album Revolutions Per Minute which was greeted with great success. They toured the United States a lot that year, though by the end of it, Todd left. In order to replace him, former Reach the Sky guitarist Chris Chasse joined in 2004 and they released their first album on Geffen records, Siren Song of the Counter Culture.

With the release of the singles "Give it All", "Swing Life Away", and "Life Less Frightening", Rise Against became more popular with fans, but still kept their underground feeling. After more touring (like a European tour and spots on the Vans Warped tour), the band went back to the studio and recorded their fourth album The Sufferer & the Witness, which had eight singles ("Ready to Fall, "Prayer of the Refugee", "The Good Left Undone", "Behind Closed Doors", "Drones", "Survive", "Injection", and "Under the Knife".)

They had ended their tour and were back in the studio in the process of making their next album, when Chris Chasse left the band to start a family life.

Rise Against recorded their latest album Appeal to Reason with the help of guitarist Zach Blair, who is now a member and has known the band for many years. Appeal to Reason was released on October 7, 2008. The band recorded it at The Blasting Room in Fort Collins, Colorado with Bill Stevenson and Jason Livermore, who helped make Revolutions Per Minute and The Sufferer & the Witness.

References

Rise Against
American guitarists
Singers from Chicago
American composers
Musicians from Chicago
American punk musicians
1979 births
Living people
People from Arlington Heights, Illinois