Тим МакИлрэт: Биография и музыкальная карьера

American rock musician (born 1978)

Timothy James McIlrath (born November 3, 1978) is an American rock musician. He is the lead singer, rhythm guitarist, songwriter and co founder of the punk rock band Rise Against. He is vegan and straight edge.

McIlrath was born in 1978 to Jim and Michelle McIlrath. He attended Rolling Meadows High School in Rolling Meadows, Illinois. This was also the set for the music video, "Make It Stop (September's Children)." It was at this time that Transistor Revolt was formed. McIlrath left college after Transistor Revolt was signed onto Fat Wreck Chords in 1999. McIlrath has a condition called heterochromia, where his left eye is blue and his right eye is hazel.

McIlrath began his musical career in his teens and was active in the Chicago local punk rock scene. His first band was the post hardcore band Baxter, 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 warm reception from the scene, and Baxter became a popular band in the Chicago underground scene. In 1997 they released a 7 inch EP Lost Voices on Static Station Records. After some local touring, the band split up. McIlrath played bass and sang backup in the first incarnation of The Honor System. He sang one song on their demo. He and drummer Neil Hennesy were also in a brief lineup of the grindcore band Yellow Road Priest, whose members went on to form Pelican. The band broke up in 1999.

McIlrath joined the band Arma Angelus, a Chicago metalcore band fronted by Pete Wentz, who would later be bassist in the pop punk band Fall Out Boy. McIlrath played bass in the band until 1999 when he quit to form Transistor Revolt, which became Rise Against, and The Killing Tree.

In 1999, Tim McIlrath formed the band that would become Rise Against with former 88 Fingers Louie bassist, Joe Principe, guitarist Dan Precision (A. K. A. Mr. Precision), and drummer Toni Tintari under the name 'Transistor Revolt'. Drummer Brandon Barnes did not join until 2001; it was at the same time the band was renamed Rise Against. They officially recorded their debut album The Unraveling on Fat Wreck Chords in 2001. In 2002 guitarist Mr. Precision left due to arguments with the band, and Todd Mohney filled his role. Later that year they released their second album Revolutions per Minute which was greeted with warm success. They toured the U. S. steadily that year, though by the end of it, Mohney left. In order to replace him, former Reach the Sky guitarist Chris Chasse joined in 2004 and they released their Geffen debut Siren Song of the Counter Culture. Schambra also contributed backing vocals on Rise Against's album The Sufferer & the Witness for the songs "The Approaching Curve", "Roadside", and the b side "But Tonight We Dance".

When the band first began, McIlrath stated how they weren't seeking to gather such a large audience in their pursuit for originality and social justice that defined them as the "black sheep" of punk rock. The original goal of the band was only to create music, never seen as a long term group until the band came to a realization of similar activist beliefs that led McIlrath to describe music as a vessel for change. These beliefs started to get integrated into the music most prominently after the release of The Sufferer & The Witness, when McIlrath said that he sought to make a difference in the world he lives in as opposed to being one of the bands in the punk/hardcore scene today that are[n't] saying anything important".

Having not grown up in a political family, McIlrath says that he was never particularly involved until he began playing punk rock. After entering the music scene, though, he began to feel a strong connection towards his convictions, specifically animal and human rights. While not all of Rise Against's material is political, songs such as "Swing Life Away" and "Make It Stop" have risen to prominence as McIlrath seeks to speak to a generation that he believes is lacking conviction towards their world, as explained throughout the storytelling narrative of the band's albums. The band has begun to seek after more politically and socially challenging lyrics as time progresses, responding to current events such as the song "Help Is On The Way" and its use of support for victims of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.

McIlrath became a vegetarian at the age of eighteen as a result of his own understanding of the meat industry as opposed to having it "shoved [ ] down my throat". The realization of PETA, an animal rights support group, came through the music scene and McIlrath's own realization of the events that occur within meat processing and inhumane conditions that animals are forced to live in. As time went on, these beliefs got integrated into his lyric writing such as Rise Against video for the single "Ready to Fall" contains footage of factory farming, rodeos, and sport hunting, as well as deforestation, melting ice caps, and forest fires. The group has called the video the most important video they have ever made. In February 2012 the band released a cover of the Bob Dylan song "Ballad of Hollis Brown" as part of a benefit for Amnesty International. After the release of the film Black Fish, McIlrath worked with PETA to create a video in support of releasing animals in captivity, exclaiming how "I make a choice every time I go out on stage, I choose to perform. Animals in captivity don't get to make that choice".

McIlrath, along with most of the rest of Rise Against, follows the subculture ideology of "straight edge", a belief that promotes refraining from using alcohol, tobacco and other recreational drugs, in a reaction to the excesses of punk subculture.