Geoff Rickly | |
---|---|
![]() Rickly performing with Thursday in 2012. | |
Background information | |
Birth name | Geoffrey William Rickly |
Born | [1] Providence, Rhode Island, U.S. | March 8, 1979
Origin | Dumont, New Jersey, U.S. |
Genres | |
Occupation(s) |
|
Instrument(s) |
|
Years active | 1997–present |
Labels | |
Member of |
|
Geoffrey William Rickly (born March 8, 1979) is an American musician and author, best known as the lead singer and songwriter of rock band Thursday. Rickly is also a member of hardcore punk band United Nations, and the alternative rock group No Devotion with former members of Lostprophets, and is the founder of the record label Collect Records.
In 2023 his debut novel, Someone Who Isn’t Me, was published by Rose Books. [2]
Rickly was born in Providence, Rhode Island and raised in Dumont, New Jersey, into a Catholic family, and attended Dumont High School, where he was a member of the band and played the tenor sax. [3] [4] He attended Rutgers University until 2000 before dropping out to pursue music. [5] Rickly is a diagnosed epileptic, which has affected his ability to tour. [6]
In early 2013, Rickly was mugged in New York City, where his cell phone, iPad, wallet, credit card, rent money, and medication were stolen. [7] [8] In 2015, Rickly was poisoned and robbed in Hamburg, Germany, while touring with No Devotion to play at the Reeperbahn Festival. Rickly was hospitalized, causing them to cancel their concert, but recovered for a scheduled show in Paris the following day. [9]
In a 2017 interview with Spin, Rickly spoke of battling a heroin addiction that began shortly after Thursday's breakup in 2011. [10] Following Thursday's reunion in 2016, Rickly was inspired to quit using the drug. [11]
Rickly has contributed guest vocals to many songs, including My American Heart's "We Are the Fabrication", Murder by Death's "Killbot 2000", This Day Forward's "Sunfalls and Watershine", Circa Survive's "The Lottery", and My Chemical Romance's "This Is the Best Day Ever". He also occasionally performs solo, most recently in Anaheim, California, at Kill Iconic Festival on March 23, 2024, performing his band, Thursday songs "Understanding in a Car Crash" and "This Side of Brightness" acoustically.
Lyrically, Rickly has been known to draw from a wide variety of influences, many of them being authors and poets. In a March 2009 interview, [14] he cited the works of Denis Johnson, Martin Amis, Roberto Bolaño and David Foster Wallace as being among his influences for the lyrics of Thursday's Common Existence album, which was released in February 2009. A tattoo on his forearm reads "love is love", a lyric from the band Frail; Rickly adopted these lyrics into Thursday's "A Hole in the World." The band's song, "Autobiography Of A Nation" is clearly influenced by poet Michael Palmer's "Sun."[ citation needed ] Rickly has also written, recorded and played for United Nations, an experimental powerviolence collaboration.
In 2009, Rickly formed Collect Records, a record label which in its early years only co-released various albums, including releases by Touché Amoré, United Nations and Midnight Masses, but in 2014, the label announced plans to be the primary label behind albums by Black Clouds, Vanishing Life, Sick Feeling and No Devotion. [15]
During the 2015 public scandal of hedge fund manager Martin Shkreli and his controversial monetary inflation of toxoplasmosis-related pharmaceuticals, it was revealed that Shkreli was a silent investor in Collect Records, while still allowing Rickly to retain creative control. [16] Rickly and Shkreli met when the guitar that Rickly used to make Thursday's album Full Collapse was purchased by Shkreli for $10,000. [17] Rickly said he was completely shocked by the scandal, stating: "I've seen the guy give away money to schools, charities, and frankly, our bands, who if anyone really knows the industry, is a hard sell. I am struggling to find how this is OK." [16] Due to the controversy, Shkreli's relationship with Collect Records angered several artists signed to the label. One of the artists, Sick Feeling, said in a public statement: "One thing is clear; as long as he has a part in the label, we, Sick Feeling, cannot. Our experience with Geoff, Norm, and Shaun has been nothing but positive, however, we cannot continue to work with Collect as long as Martin Shkreli has any part in it." [18] Dominic "Nicky" Palermo of Nothing, who had just recently signed a two-record deal with Collect Records, expressed interest in ending the contract and said: "I'm hoping that we can just get out of this with someone else and not have to go down whatever ugly road that could lead to." [18] Within two days of the controversy, Rickly put out a press release stating that the label had severed its relationship with Shkreli, and that the amount of money he currently had in the bank could not cover Collect Records' outstanding invoices, leaving its future uncertain, [17] [16] without Shkreli's significant financial contributions to Collect (estimated to be "somewhere around a million dollars" [17] ).
Year | Artist | Album | Song | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|
2002 | My Chemical Romance | I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love | "This Is the Best Day Ever" | [22] |
2002 | This Day Forward | Kairos | "Sunfalls and Watershine" | [23] |
2003 | Murder by Death | Who Will Survive, and What Will Be Left of Them? | "Killbot 2000" | [23] |
2003 | Stretch Arm Strong | Engage | [23] | |
2005 | The Blackout Pact | Hello Sailor | [23] | |
2005 | My American Heart | The Meaning in Makeup | "We Are the Fabrication" | |
2008 | Players Club | "Coextinction" | [23] | |
2009 | Touché Amoré | ...To the Beat of a Dead Horse | "History Reshits Itself" | [23] |
2012 | Circa Survive | Violent Waves | "The Lottery" | [24] |
2013 | Man Overboard | Heart Attack | "Open Season" | [23] |
2020 | Cremation Lily | "Light Gathers in the Corners of the Room, Pt. II" | "More Songs About Drowning" | |
2022 | Vein.fm | This World Is Going to Ruin You | "Fear In Non Fiction" | [23] |
2022 | Gatherers | "( mutilator. )" | "Gift Horse" | [25] |
2023 | The HIRS Collective | "We're Still Here" | "So, Anyway" | [26] |
2023 | triton. | "Sundown in Oaktown" | "alcatraz_" | [27] |
2023 | Sharkswimmer | "Serenity" | "Demolition Of A Childhood Home" | [28] |
Year | Artist | Album | Ref |
---|---|---|---|
2002 | My Chemical Romance | Like Phantoms, Forever | [29] |
2002 | My Chemical Romance | I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love | [23] |
2005 | The Blackout Pact | Hello Sailor | [23] |
Thursday is an American post-hardcore band formed in New Brunswick, New Jersey in 1997. The band consists of Geoff Rickly, Tom Keeley, Steve Pedulla, Tim Payne (bass), and Tucker Rule (drums).
Lostprophets were a Welsh rock band from Pontypridd, formed in 1997 by singer Ian Watkins and guitarist Lee Gaze. The group was founded after their former band Fleshbind broke up. They later recruited Mike Lewis on guitars, Stuart Richardson on bass and Mike Chiplin on drums.
Full Collapse is the second studio album by American post-hardcore band Thursday. It was released on April 10, 2001, through Victory Records, to whom the band signed after leaving Eyeball Records. With the addition of guitarist Steve Pedulla, recording sessions for the album were held in November 2000 at Big Blue Meenie Recording Studios in Jersey City. Sal Villanueva, who served as the producer, the production team and members of different bands contributed additional instrumentation to the recordings. Full Collapse is considered a post-hardcore and screamo album.
Waiting is the debut studio album by American rock band Thursday. The album was produced by Sal Villanueva and released on Eyeball Records in 1999. The photography throughout the album's artwork, with the exception of live shots, was done by Tom Keeley's uncle, Dennis Keeley.
Lee James Gaze is a Welsh musician. He is the lead guitarist, and one of the founding members, of the Welsh/American alternative rock band No Devotion, and a former member of the Welsh rock band Lostprophets.
Drive Like Jehu was an American post-hardcore band from San Diego active from 1990 to 1995 and later from 2014 to 2016. It was formed by rhythm guitarist and vocalist Rick Froberg and lead guitarist John Reis, ex-members of Pitchfork, along with bassist Mike Kennedy and drummer Mark Trombino, both from Night Soil Man, after their two bands disbanded in 1990. Drive Like Jehu's music was characterized by passionate singing, unusual song structure, indirect melodic themes, intricate guitar playing, and calculated use of tension, resulting in a distinctive sound amongst other post-hardcore acts and helped to catalyze the evolution of hardcore punk into emo.
Stuart Richardson is a Welsh musician. He is the bassist for the rock band No Devotion, formed by former members of Lostprophets with Geoff Rickly of Thursday. He is also the touring bassist for Thursday.
"Last Train Home" is the second single from Start Something, the second album by the Welsh rock band Lostprophets. This single was the band's highest charting single in the UK up to that point, later tied with "Rooftops " off of their follow-up. It quickly became their most successful single in the United States, reaching number one on Billboard's Alternative Songs chart. "Last Train Home" was released to radio on 27 December 2003.
United Nations is a hardcore punk supergroup whose roots go back to at least 2005. Due to the nature of the band, it is unclear who exactly is a member of United Nations at any given time. Early promotional images of the band depicted four people wearing Ronald Reagan masks, and all original contributors were contractually obligated to remain anonymous. The only member not under contract at the time was Geoff Rickly of the band Thursday.
United Nations is the debut from supergroup United Nations. The band features members from numerous prolific bands, such as Geoff Rickly of Thursday. Due to contractual obligations of other members, the official lineup of the band is not known.
Common Existence is the fifth full-length album from rock band Thursday.
Luke Anthony "Jocko" Johnson is an English rock musician, drummer and songwriter. He is most commonly known as 'Jocko'. Johnson began his music career in the late 1990s drumming for a spree of small local West Midlands- punk and metal bands. In early 2003 Johnson was approached by California punk band Amen to join the ranks. After his departure from Amen in 2005, Johnson formed Beat Union as drummer and songwriter with Dave Warsop, Dean Ashton and Mark Andrews. Johnson joined the Welsh alternative metal band Lostprophets in 2009 until their disbanding in 2013. Johnson has also been involved in other musical projects, including working alongside Producer John Feldmann and has performed session work for a variety of bands, including The Wonder Stuff and Foxy Shazam.
Touché Amoré is an American post-hardcore band from Los Angeles, formed in 2007. The band consists of vocalist Jeremy Bolm, guitarists Clayton Stevens and Nick Steinhardt, bassist Tyler Kirby, and drummer Elliot Babin. Among other releases, they have released five studio albums: ...To the Beat of a Dead Horse in 2009, Parting the Sea Between Brightness and Me in 2011, Is Survived By in 2013, Stage Four in 2016, and Lament in 2020.
No Devolución is the sixth studio album by the American rock band Thursday. The record was released through Epitaph Records on April 12, 2011, and it was Thursday's final album before their five-year breakup from 2011 to 2016 and their most recent album to date. The musical style on No Devolución is a departure from the more traditional post-hardcore sound on Thursday's earlier records, and instead explores darker and more atmospheric tones.
Nothing is an American shoegaze band that formed in 2010. The band self-released several EPs before signing to Relapse Records. They released their debut studio album, Guilty of Everything, in 2014. The follow-up album, Tired of Tomorrow, was released on in 2016. Nothing's third studio album, Dance on the Blacktop, was released in 2018, and their fourth studio album, The Great Dismal, was released in 2020.
The Next Four Years is the second studio album by the American rock band United Nations. The album was released on July 15, 2014, through Temporary Residence Limited. Prior to the release of The Next Four Years, United Nations released "Serious Business" and "Meanwhile on Main Street" for online streaming.
No Devotion are a Welsh rock band formed in Pontypridd and Cardiff in 2014. The group is currently composed of American vocalist Geoff Rickly of the band Thursday, along with Stu Richardson and Lee Gaze, former members of the Welsh band Lostprophets.
Permanence is the debut studio album by rock band No Devotion. It was released on 25 September 2015 through Collect Records. It was reissued on 6 June 2022 through Velocity Records after the collapse of Collect Records.
Cyclone Static is an American punk rock band from New Jersey.
No Oblivion is the second studio album by rock band No Devotion. It was released on 16 September 2022 through Velocity Records. It is the first album from the band to not feature previous members Luke Johnson, Jamie Oliver and Mike Lewis, who all departed the band. It is also the first of the band's releases not to be released by Collect Records, which folded after the company severed ties with Martin Shkreli who was revealed to be a silent investor in the label.