Andy Hurley

Andy Hurley is a hardcore vegan from the age of 16 and for a long time held on to the belief that human beings have ruined the planet and that we shall live the way our ancestors used to live 10,000 years ago from now. When media questioned about why isn’t he not following the lifestyle of primitive humans, he said that he had to make a living one way or the other.

He currently owns a mansion in Oregon and has kept his very first drum set safe there.

Andy Hurley was born Andrew John Hurley in Wisconsin on 31st May 1980 and lost his father when he was just 5. His mother took care of him for the rest of his childhood and teenage. Andy had saxophone as his very first musical instrument that he learned playing well and along with that, he also played percussion in his school’s marching band.

He studied anthropology and history in college as making a serious career in music wasn’t on his mind at that time. Ever since he was a kid, he followed the belief that humans are supposed to live the way they used to live thousands of years ago, in their primitive state, but as he grew up, most of his beliefs faded.

Andy’s introduction to professional music happened back when he was in the high school and was slowly gaining interest in playing drums. The year was 1996 and Andy was searching for opportunities to play with some big bands and in the pursuit of his dreams, he became part of several hardcore punk and heavy metal bands such as Killtheslavemaster, Racetraitor, Project Rocket and The Kill Pill. He was unable to find his true calling and kept trying different bands during this time.

The hardcore metal was getting popular in the late 90s and Andy’s drumming skills got him gigs here and there but nothing concrete was coming across his way. However, things changed for the best in the year 2003, when one of his best high school friends Pete Wentz invited Andy to be a part of their band which was called the Fall Out Boy as they were in dire need of an additional drummer due to some troubles with their previous one, and it didn’t take Andy much time to become a regular with Fall Out Boy.

His association with the band was extremely successful and despite the fact that this was the fourth band Andy was in, he got the fame in such a short time which he wasn’t able to achieve through his previous stints in more than 5 years. Andy recorded the album ‘Take This To Your Grave’ with the band Fall Out Boy in 2003 to a mega universal success which helped Andy to become one of the hottest drummers around.

It was the first album by the band which was considered to be an actual hit and the band was reported by the media outlets to be the next big thing. The success continued with their next album titled ‘From Under the Cork Tree’, which climbed at the 9th spot in the Billboard 200 chart and the band spent the year 2005 touring around with their new found success. The album later went on to earn a Grammy nomination for the best New Artist.

The next two studio albums by the band titled ‘Infinity on High’ and ‘Folie a Deux’ also went on to achieve mega success in their concerts and digital downloads. However, Wentz faced severe emotional trouble during that time which also included a failed suicide attempt. It was being said that he is unable to handle the new found success the band was having and that, among several other things, led the band to take a break for some time in 2009.