Frank Anthony Iero, Jr. is a musician who was the rhythm guitarist and backup
vocalist of the alternative rock band My Chemical Romance as well as the vocalist
of the post-hardcore band Leathermouth and electronic-hardcore act Death
Spells. He has a solo punk rock project titled FrnkIero And The Cellabration
with an album titled Stomachaches that was released on August 26, 2014. The
first single off the album, called "Weighted", premiered on BBC Radio One
on July 8, 2014. Early life
He 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 attended a Catholic school
as a child. He went to Rutgers University on a scholarship, but dropped
out to go on tour with My Chemical Romance.
Iero's parents split when he was young and he grew up living with his mother,
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
= Early bands and Pency Prep= Frank started playing in local bands on
the New Jersey punk scene at age 11. Before joining My Chemical Romance he
served as frontman 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. = My Chemical Romance=
Iero joined My Chemical Romance in 2002 and was featured on two tracks on their
debut album I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love. My Chemical
Romance released their second album Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge on June
8, 2004. My Chemical Romances third album The Black Parade was released on
October 24, 2006. My Chemical Romances fourth and final studio album Danger
Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys. The band announced their
breakup on March 22, 2013. = LeATHERMØUTH, Solo and Side Projects=
Iero is also the frontman of hardcore punk quintet Leathermouth, who released
their debut album XO in January 2009, on Epitaph Records. He is 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. His first
solo song 'This Song Is A Curse' was released as a bonus track on the
official soundtrack to the Tim Burton film, Frankenweenie. He later posted an
anti-Xmas track he recorded as a joke in 15 minutes, and followed that up with a
cover of the song 'Be My Baby', originally made famous by The Ronettes.
In early 2013, Iero and James Dewees announced that they were working on a
new project, an electronic-hardcore band called Death Spells. They also announced
a tour supporting Mindless Self Indulgence and a performance at the
Skate and Surf Festival in New Jersey. They're also working on a full-length
album and have posted demos on their website.
He later performed new solo songs live and posted others to his Soundcloud,
then implied he had a full album worth of songs wrote with more content being
created on a continuous basis. This was confirmed to be for a solo album.
On November 28, 2013, he announced via his official website and his Twitter
account that a two-track release entitled For Jamia... would be released
digitally and via limited vinyl on December 10. After his former band broke
up, Frank began writing songs in his home studio. Throughout the rest of 2013
he started playing a couple of songs live at events, posted a demo of
"joyriding" and recorded a full-length album. Frank plays everything on the
album except for drums which were handled by former My Chemical Romance
drummer Jarrod Alexander. He also assembled a touring band composed of
Evan Nestor, Rob Hughes and Matt Olsson. In June 2014 he announced his signing to
Staples Records and his debut album called Stomachaches due out August 25.
This was followed up with tour dates and a debut single called "Weighted". On
August 4, 2014. he released the music video for this song. A second single and
accompanying video for the song "Joyriding" was released. The band
opened for Mallory Knox in the UK in November 2014 on their first overseas
run. The band announced headline dates for 2015 in Mexico, the US and Europe
and are playing Reading and Leeds festivals.
He was a judge for the 7th annual Independent Music Awards to support
independent artists. On December 7, 2010, Iero parted ways
with the record company Skeleton Crew that 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, and co-running
a business at the same time. = Equipment=
In the earlier days of My Chemical Romance, Iero mainly used Gibson SG's &
Epiphone Les Paul guitars and Marshall amps. He has since switched to using
Gibson Les Pauls 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. He also uses the Orange
Rockerverb MKII 100 head and Orange 160 Watt Guitar 4x10 Vintage Cabinet.
Personal life and political views Iero has many tattoos including logos
for the bands Black Flag and The Misfits, symbols of his love for his
home state, New Jersey, a matching 'revenge' tattoo with James Dewees and
others by acclaimed tattoo artist Kat Von D: a Frankenstein's monster and
portraits of his grandmothers and grandfather, all of which were featured
in Von D's book High Voltage Tattoo and the latter of which was done on an
episode of her reality show LA Ink in which Iero was featured. In the
aforementioned book, Von D states that she was present at Iero's wedding
indicating that the two have remained close 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 favourite. 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.
On February 5, 2007 Iero married his long-term girlfriend Jamia Nestor after
proposing on May 25, 2006 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 Jamia had become parents of twin girls named Cherry and
Lily. On April 6, 2012, he announced via his official Twitter account that his
wife had given birth to their son, Miles.
Discography References
External links My Chemical Romance official website
Frank Iero at the Internet Movie Database
Frank Iero on Twitter