For My Chemical Romance's Frank Iero, fame didn't come with a platinum record, but with the local paper.
For any star, fame is an intangible thing that can’t easily be quantified. For Frank Iero, a down-to-earth musician who was never all that hungry for the spotlight, it’s an almost alien concept. Even as the guitarist for emo-punk megastars My Chemical Romance, Frank saw himself as a musician first and foremost, relishing his ability to give up the frontman role of his previous band and just focus on playing killer riffs.
“I always wanted to be in a band, and I always wanted to write songs, but I didn’t necessarily want to be in the face of it,” Frank said when he sat down with us for our latest In Conversation event. “I wanted to be in the background somewhere and just thrash around the stage and have a good time. So when My Chem came around, I was like, ‘This is perfect! I can just smoke cigarettes and do this? This is great!’”
Photo by Nathaniel Shannon.
That said, even Frank began to notice that his band was doing better than your average crew of swoop-haired kids from New Jersey. But that fact didn’t come to him with the band’s first platinum record, or their first onscreen appearance, or the millions of adoring fans who began attending My Chem’s shows. It was a call from grandpa that sealed the deal.
“I don't remember a definitive time in my mind, but I do remember getting a call from my grandfather,” said Frank with a laugh. “This was like -- we had gotten a platinum record, and we had been on TV, and we had done all these things. And then he called me one day and was like, ‘Oh my God, you’re in The Trentonian,’ which is the local Trenton, New Jersey, paper! And The Trentonian had said, ‘Famous Birthdays,’ and they had listed my name.
“He was like, ‘Frankie… you made it.’”
If you want to try and get your copy of The Trentonian signed, make sure to catch Frank at one of the dates on his UK tour:
August
26 Glasgow St Lukes
27 Edinburgh Liquid Room
28 Manchester Academy 2
29 London Scala
30 Bristol Academy
31 Birmingham O2 Institute2
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