Frank Iero

**Frank Anthony Iero Jr** (born October 31, 1981) is the rhythm guitarist, co-lead guitarist, backup vocalist, and burger flipper of My Chemical Romance & Prency Prep as well as the vocalist of the bands LeATHERMOUTH, Death Spells, and Frank Iero and The Future Violents.

## Early life

Iero was born in Belleville, New Jersey and grew up in Kearny, New Jersey. As a child he suffered numerous bouts of bronchitis and ear infections which meant he spent a lot of his childhood in the hospital. Frank is also lactose intolerant and has other various food allergies.  He went to a Catholic school growing up, and later went to Rutgers University on a scholarship, but dropped out to go on tour with My Chemical Romance. He is also 3/4 Italian and 1/4 Polish.

Iero's parents separated when he was young and he grew up living with his mother, Linda, who lent out her basement to her son's many band practices; his father and grandfather were musicians and both were big influences on Iero when he was young. His father urged him to play drums, but Iero later began playing the guitar.

## Music career

Frank started playing in local bands on the New Jersey punk scene at age 11. Before joining My Chemical Romance he served as vocalist for the punk band Pencey Prep. The band released an album, Heartbreak in Stereo, on the independent Eyeball Records before disbanding. Whilst playing with Pencey Prep, he became friends with Gerard Way and the other My Chemical Romance members, became a fan of their original demo and helped them get their first shows. After his band broke up, Frank played in several bands, including I Am A Graveyard, Hybrid, Sector 12, and American Nightmare before being offered the slot of rhythm guitar in My Chemical Romance. Iero is also the vocalist of the more hardcore band LeATHERMOUTH, who released their debut album XO in January 2009, on Epitaph Records. He was involved in a tribute band to The Cure named The Love Cats, after the song of the same name, and played bass with Reggie And The Full Effect on their farewell tour.

He was a judge for the 7th annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists.

On 7 December 2010, Iero parted ways with the record company Skeleton Crew he and his wife co-founded years earlier in order to concentrate on his family and his music with My Chemical Romance stating that, although he would have loved to carry on, he could not juggle his career with the band, the new additions to his family (newborn daughters) and co-running a business at the same time.

After My Chemical Romance's breakup, Iero started to make music on his own as a form of therapy, to distract from his at the time severe stomach pain. This solo project, originally not made to release, became Stomachaches, his solo debut. It was released 2014 under the name Frnk Iero andthe Cellabration. Also in 2014, he contributed a cover of Green Day's song "Extronary Girl" as part of Kerrang's 10-year tribute to "American Idiot". Following Stomachaches, he released Parachutes in 2016 under the name Frank Iero and the Patience. During the Australian leg of the tour promoting this album he, his bandmate and brother in law Evan Nestor and his manager were part of a near-fatal car accident. In May 2019 he released Barriers with the band Frank Iero and the future Violents.

On March 22nd, 2013, the band officially broke up, but 6 years later on October 31st, 2019, it was officially announced by the band via Instagram, Facebook, Twitter etc. that they were officially reuniting (minus former drummer Bob Bryar, who will be replaced on drums by former MCR touring drummer Jarrod Alexander) for their first show together on December 20th, 2019 in Los Angeles, California at the Shrine Expo Hall.

### Equipment

In the earlier days of My Chemical Romance, Iero mainly used Gibson SG's & Epiphone Les Paul (guitar)|Les Paul guitars (most notably his white Les Paul nicknamed 'Pansy' which proved popular among his fans but has since been broken while onstage) and Marshall amps. He has since switched to using Gibson Les Pauls (with the Neck Pick-up removed) and occasionally uses a Gibson SG. He also used a Fender Stratocaster in the Desolation Row video. He has recently collaborated with Epiphone to design the Wilshire Phant-O-Matic guitar which he used onstage for the My Chemical Romance 'World Contamination' Tour, the Honda Civic Tour and for the Reading and Leeds festivals.

## Personal Life

On March 9, 2008, Iero married his long term girlfriend Jamia Nestor after proposing during the recording of The Black Parade. On September 7, 2010, Iero announced on the My Chemical Romance official website that he and his wife had become parents of twin girls named Cherry and Lily. On April 6, 2012, Iero announced on his personal Twitter account that his wife had given birth to their son, Miles. He has also been claimed the Best Dad Ever. He also as a dog name Lois.

Frank has many tattoos, including the word "HALLOWEEN" tattooed on his fingers, a Jack O Lantern on his back, "Keep the Faith" on his upper back, the letters "N.J." inside his lip standing for New Jersey, "I wish I were a ghost" around his right wrist, a dove on his left lower chest, an anchor on the lower part of his right bicep with an "N" and "J" on either side, a large chest piece, a scorpion on the right side of his neck, portraits of his grandparents on both arms, logos for the bands Black Flag and The Misfits, a matching 'revenge' tattoo with James Dewees, and a Frankenstein monster. Frank revealed in Life On The Murder Scene that he got the scorpion tattoo as high up on his body as he could once he decided that he didn’t want a real job. Most of the tattoos were done by L.A.Ink's Kat Von D, and Frank even appeared on her reality show. In her book High Voltage, in which some of his tattoos are featured, Von D states that she was present at Iero's wedding indicating that the two have remained friends.

Iero has expressed his pro-gay rights stance on numerous occasions, including wearing a pro-gay marriage t-shirt on tour and his home-custom red 'Homophobia is gay' t-shirt which has become a fan favorite. During the earlier years of MCR, he and Gerard had kissed several times on stage and briefly in their music video I'm Not Okay (I Promise) arguably as a pro-gay statement. He also revealed to Rock Sound magazine that he voted for Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election.

He has been a vegetarian since childhood after discovering the mistreatment animals endure in slaughterhouses and rearing farms and in 2008 PETA dubbed Iero one of the World's Sexiest Vegetarians, alongside Alyssa Milano.

In the making of 'Helena' video,he stated that he could not carry the coffin because he was too small. Jokingly he said he is 4"9. He is actually 5'6.

## Quotes

* "This is a band that will save your life."

* "I can't imagine any other bands having better kids than ours, and if they do at least I know our kids can beat up their kids."

* "I'm totally f-in' bummed about the 'Ghost of You' leak. If you see a site with a link to the video, please don't watch it. Don't send it out. Don't look at screencaps. It's NOT FINISHED YET!"

* "If I revealed my secret identity, the world would go to shit."

* "Oh, one time we got held hostage!”

* "We've mutilated, killed and disemboweled rock 'n' roll clichés!”

* "My biggest addictions have been chocolate cake, mashed potatoes, and butter sandwiches.”

* "I burn everything and call it Cajun.”

* "Really I don't know anything other than Jersey. I like the dirtiness of it. Now I'm getting to see the world, and it's great, but it's not better than Jersey"