Comments | bandfandom_ref: Frank Iero's Tattoos

spritesam in bandfandom_ref

Frank Iero's Tattoos - A Catalog

Mar 01, 2008 13:01

I have been attempting to compile a comprehensive catalog of Frank's tattoos with photos, explanations or meanings, dates, designs, tattoo artist, fandom reaction, etc. Here is the information (without pictures) that I have compiled to date with separate sections for his back, left arm, hands, right arm, waist, legs, neck, chest, other, and a ( Read more... )

frank iero, my chemical romance

Comments 68

sunqist March 1 2008, 19:46:45 UTC

Henry Rollins's "Search and Destroy" tattoo on his back is a direct reference to The Stooges song "Search and Destroy" and really, I would be shocked if Frank were unaware of that particular connotation, not that he's necessarily quoting Iggy Pop, or even Rollins, but I don't know if that's the kind of thing you'd want to be aware of. Also, the "F.T.W." tattoo might be a reference to a tattoo one of the members of X gets on screen in the movie Decline of Western Civilization, in which case it would stand for Fuck The World, but also it could have nothing to do with that in which case never mind!

spritesam March 1 2008, 20:04:03 UTC

Yes - thank you! This is exactly the type of thing that I want to include, as well. I think many of the tattoos may not (should not?) be explained or directly talked about by Frank. However, I think it is interesting to see all the possible connections, and things that might have influenced his tattoos. (Can you tell that Miami Ink and its off-shoots totally engrossed me when I had cable?) As for Henry Rollins and his tattoo, like you, I would be surprised if Frank didn't know the connection. Thanks for the F.T.W. possible reference. I wasn't totally sure where in modern culture it might have come from.

sunqist March 1 2008, 21:01:09 UTC

If you want to compare F.T.W.s, here's that section of the movie on YouTube. It might become glaringly obvious one way or the other.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0q-b08RxOnM

spritesam March 1 2008, 21:32:59 UTC

They are not obviously similar (other than the initials and location - on the arm). The tattoo from the Decline of Western Civilization appears to be hand (not gun) tattooed in fairly plain text. Frank's is in gothic text and looks to be done by a tattoo gun. That doesn't mean that the tattoo from the movie or the movie itself (philosophically speaking) didn't inform his tattoo. Of course, there is a possibility that the movie didn't have anything do with anything, and Frank just thought the phrase "fuck the world" was particularly apt for that period in his life or for something that happened. Or the tattoo could be "for the win" which is what my first reaction to the tattoo was! (Possibly a sign of too much time on the internet) Still, without further evidence (asking Frank himself) it is a perfectly valid interpretation of the tattoo.

Thread 8

myorangecrush March 1 2008, 20:17:05 UTC

The shin one is a misfits tattoo...

http://www.misfits.com/

myorangecrush March 1 2008, 20:18:42 UTC

ah, shit...

wrong shin, sorry!

spritesam March 1 2008, 20:28:36 UTC

No problem.

Yeah, the one on his left shin is definitely some variation on the Skull Fiend although I haven't found one with the cawl on it like Frank's. It is that damn right shin that is giving me problems. There is a tattoo there, IMO - there just don't seem to be any clear pictures of it, and besides one picture with no comments on buzznet, I can't find any reference to it on the internet. I am hoping to eventually find someone who has seen the tattoo in real life or took a picture of Frank in shorts - both of which seem like a long shot.

myorangecrush March 1 2008, 20:34:23 UTC

It looks sort of like a heraldry crest, but I'm grasping at straws.

Thread 5

wax_jism March 1 2008, 20:32:30 UTC

Source for quote about Frank & Dewees's matching tattoos is CosmoGirl, of all things. Got a scan here.

spritesam March 1 2008, 20:35:52 UTC

hahahahahahahahahaha!

Of course the source is CosmoGirl. I would have never thought to have checked that magazine. Thank you so much and thanks for the scan!

enimsaj_2 January 16 2011, 23:30:51 UTC

lol, they spelled Iero with an L. so it's Lero. lolol. CosmoFail.

(The comment has been removed)

spritesam March 2 2008, 16:03:32 UTC

Thanks for the information. It seems like the Clark County records has Mikey's marriage down as 07 March 2007 according to most people making wikipedia right. (I can't currently check as I keep getting error messages.) I wonder where mtv.com got their information on the date.

dzurlady March 2 2008, 03:22:20 UTC

I don't know if FTW is on his guitar picks, but it's certainly been on his guitar. Photo. I think this is from Project Rev, but I'm not sure.

spritesam March 2 2008, 16:24:51 UTC

Thank you for the picture. I hadn't noticed that before although I definitely have a picture of that guitar saved to my hard drive. I actually haven't seen the his guitar picks, but someone on chemical romance mentioned it here that Frank's picks are yellow with a wolf's head on one side and F.T.W. on the other. However, I can't find any pictures of the picks. I might trawl through buzznet again to see if any fans have posted there.

(The comment has been removed)

spritesam March 3 2008, 05:53:22 UTC

Thank you so much. How much do I love that Ray has a transformer on one side of his pick and that Frank has The Banner wolf. They are such fanboys!