Tim McIlrath /

Timothy "Tim" James McIlrath (born November 3, 1979) is an American rock musician. He is the lead singer, rhythm guitarist, songwriter and co-founder for the American punk rock band Rise Against. McIlrath is known to support 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. Tim McIlrath was born November 3, 1979 in Indianapolis, IN. At a young age he read dystopia books such as Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell and Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, which would influence his later work. As a child he went to Our Lady of the Wayside, where he was taunted for having one brown eye and one blue eye, known as heterochromia. As a teenager, McIlrath's friends were interested in snowboarding, so he saved his money for a snowboard. But, as his interests swayed and he got into music more, he instead decided to spend the money he had saved on a Gibson SG guitar. In college (Northeastern Illinois University), McIlrath majored in English and Sociology. In his junior year, he met Joe Principe at a Sick of It All concert. Principe asked McIlrath to sing over a few tracks that he