TROHMAN
Joseph

• 1. Early life
• 2. Musical career

Joseph Mark Trohman is an American musician, singer, and record producer. He is best known as the lead guitarist and backing vocalist of the American rock band Fall Out Boy, as well as the lead and rhythm guitarist for heavy metal supergroup The Damned Things. Fall Out Boy began as Trohman and Pete Wentz's side project from the hardcore punk scene they were involved with, and the band has scored four number one albums on the US Billboard 200, as well as numerous platinum and multi platinum singles in the US and abroad.

In February 2013, Fall Out Boy announced a comeback with a new album, tour and single.

Early life

The son of a cardiologist, Trohman was born in Hollywood, Florida. He was raised in South Russell, Ohio before his family moved to the Chicago area. His family is Jewish, although he noted to JVibe, "I think we were more Jewish culturally than we were religiously because after my brother's bar mitzvah, we stopped going to synagogue entirely." Trohman attended New Trier High School in Winnetka, Illinois, and played bass with fellow Fall Out Boy band member Pete Wentz in a band called Arma Angelus.

Musical career

Trohman became involved with the Chicago hardcore punk scene, with his first band being Voices Still Heard he formed with friends. At the age of fifteen he taught himself how to play guitar, and at age sixteen, he joined local band Arma Angelus and spent a summer touring as the group's bassist. He developed a friendship with the group's singer, Pete Wentz, and the pair discussed forming a more melodic band influenced by groups such as Green Day. Trohman then met Patrick Stump in a Borders bookstore, and recruited him to join the band, which was subsequently named Fall Out Boy.

With bassist Pete Wentz as Fall Out Boy's primary lyricist and vocalist Patrick Stump as the primary composer, Fall Out Boy reached mainstream success with its major label debut, From Under the Cork Tree. Released in 2005 by Island Records, the album debuted on the US Billboard 200 at No. 9, won several awards and achieved triple platinum status after selling more than 3.5 million albums in the United States. The album spawned two top 10 hits; "Sugar, We're Goin Down" which reached No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 and has sold more than 4.5 million copies in the US as of 2019, as well as "Dance, Dance" which peaked at No. 9 and certified triple platinum. To support the album, the band headlined tours around the world in 2005 and 2006.

In 2007, the band released the follow-up album Infinity on High, to major chart success, debuting No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with first week sales of 260,000. The album was certified platinum one month after its release. Infinity on High's lead single, "This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race", reached No. 1 on the defunct-Pop 100, No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, and later certified platinum. The second single, "Thnks fr th Mmrs", sold more than 2 million copies in the US.

In 2008, the band released their fifth studio album, Folie à Deux which debuted at No. 8 on the Billboard 200 with 150,000 first week sales and was later certified gold. The band opened for Blink-182's 2009 reunion tour and shortly released their first greatest hits compilation album, Believers Never Die - Greatest Hits in November 2009 before announcing an indefinite hiatus. Patrick Stump embarked on a solo career and Pete Wentz created the DJ duo Black Cards. Trohman and Fall Out Boy bandmate Andy Hurley started a band called The Damned Things with Anthrax members Scott Ian and Rob Caggiano and Every Time I Die vocalist Keith Buckley and bassist Josh Newton. They released their debut album in 2010, Ironiclast. Trohman then began work on a new band With Knives with Newton, releasing a debut EP, "Schadenfreude" in April 2012.

On February 4, 2013, Fall Out Boy unexpectedly announced their return and became Trohman's primary music focus. April 12 of the same year, the band released a new album entitled, Save Rock and Roll, a new song, "My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark (Light Em Up)," and dates for a new tour. The band played their first show in over three years on the night of February 4 in Chicago. 'Save Rock and Roll' peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, selling 154,000 copies in its first week, becoming the band's 4th consecutive top 10 album. The band toured heavily throughout 2013 and 2014 on the album, selling out arenas worldwide with bands like Paramore and Panic! at the Disco In October 2013, they released a new EP, PAX AM Days which was an homage to the classic punk music the band grew up on. The entire EP was recorded in two days with producer Ryan Adams.

Their sixth album American Beauty/American Psycho was released in January 2015, preceded by the 4× Platinum top 10 single Centuries. Uma Thurman was released to mainstream radio on April 14, 2015, and peaked at 22 on the 'Billboard' Hot 100, and was certified Double-Platinum. The third single from American Beauty/American Psycho "Irresistible" also landed on the 'Billboard' Hot 100 and peaked at number 48, while also later being certified platinum in the US.

In April 2017, Fall Out Boy released Young and Menace, the lead single for the seventh studio album. The band's seventh album Mania was officially released January 19, 2018 and debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, making it the band's third consecutive and fourth chart-topping debut overall.

In 2017, Trohman guest starred, with his bandmates, in Cartoon Network's Teen Titans Go! playing himself in the first, third and fourth parts of "The Night Begins to Shine". Their cover of the title song from the special was commercially released.

In 2018, Fall Out Boy headlined Wrigley Field in the band's hometown of Chicago, marking a milestone in their career as their first headline show at a stadium.