Geoffrey William Rickly (born March 8, 1979) is an American musician, best known as the lead singer and songwriter of

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band

Thursday Thursday is the Names of the days of the week, day of the week between Wednesday and Friday. According to the ISO 8601 international standard, it is the fourth day of the week. In countries which adopt the "Sunday-first" convention, it is the fi ...

. Rickly is also a member of

hardcore punk Hardcore punk (also known as simply hardcore) is a punk rock music genre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. It is generally faster, harder, and more aggressive than other forms of punk rock. Its roots can be traced to earlier punk ...

band

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

, and the

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...

group

No Devotion No Devotion are a Welsh-American 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 ba ...

with former members of

Lostprophets Lostprophets (stylised as lostprophets) were a Welsh rock band from Pontypridd, formed in 1997 by singer and lyricist Ian Watkins and guitarist Lee Gaze. The band was founded after their former band Fleshbind broke up. They later recruited Mike ...

, and is the founder of the

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

Collect Records.

Personal life

Rickly was born in Providence, Rhode Island and raised in

Dumont, New Jersey Dumont is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 17,479,Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

family, and attended

Dumont High School Dumont High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school that serves students in ninth through twelfth grade from Dumont, in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States, operating as the lone secondary school of the Dumont Public School ...

, where he was a member of the

band Band or BAND may refer to: Places *Bánd, a village in Hungary *Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania *Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, I ...

and played the

tenor sax The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while th ...

. He was raised Catholic, Rickly is a diagnosed

epileptic Epilepsy is a group of non-communicable neurological disorders characterized by recurrent epileptic seizures. Epileptic seizures can vary from brief and nearly undetectable periods to long periods of vigorous shaking due to abnormal electrical ...

, which has affected his ability to tour. In early 2013, Rickly was

mugged Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take anything of value by force, threat of force, or by use of fear. According to common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the perso ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, where his cell phone,

iPad The iPad is a brand of iOS and iPadOS-based tablet computers that are developed by Apple Inc. The iPad was conceived before the related iPhone but the iPhone was developed and released first. Speculation about the development, operating s ...

, wallet,

credit card A credit card is a payment card issued to users (cardholders) to enable the cardholder to pay a merchant for goods and services based on the cardholder's accrued debt (i.e., promise to the card issuer to pay them for the amounts plus the o ...

, rent money, and medication were stolen. In 2015, Rickly was poisoned and robbed in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, 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 Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

the following day. In a 2017 interview with ''Spin'', Rickly admitted to battling a heroin addiction that began shortly after Thursday's breakup in 2011. Following Thursday's reunion in 2016, Rickly was inspired to quit using the drug.

Musical career

Rickly has contributed guest vocals to many songs, including

My American Heart My American Heart is an American rock band from San Diego, California, formed in 2001. Originally named No Way Out, the band released two studio albums through Warcon Enterprises and toured the world before disbanding in late 2009. They reunited ...

's "We Are the Fabrication",

Murder by Death ''Murder by Death'' is a 1976 American comedy mystery film directed by Robert Moore and written by Neil Simon. The film stars Eileen Brennan, Truman Capote, James Coco, Peter Falk, Alec Guinness, Elsa Lanchester, David Niven, Peter Sellers, Ma ...

's "Killbot 2000",

This Day Forward This Day Forward was a Philadelphia-area band active from 1996 to 2003 whose style varied from metalcore to post-hardcore with indie rock influences. History The band was formed in 1997 in the Philadelphia suburbs by brothers Mike and Gary ...

's "Sunfalls and Watershine",

Circa Survive Circa Survive is an American rock music, rock band from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that formed in 2004. The band, led and founded by Anthony Green (musician), Anthony Green, consisted of former members from This Day Forward and Taken. Circa ...

's "The Lottery", and My Chemical Romance's "This Is the Best Day Ever". He also occasionally performs solo, most recently in

Hoboken, New Jersey Hoboken ( ; Unami: ') is a city in Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 60,417. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 58,690 i ...

, at the

Eyeball Records Eyeball Records is an independent record label originally established in NYC out of Apartment 4C on 14th St at Avenue A by Alex Saavedra and Vincent Li. The label later moved to Kearny, New Jersey. Eyeball has released albums by artists such as ...

holiday party, performing his band,

songs "Autumn Leaves Revisited" 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, he cited the works of

Denis Johnson Denis Hale Johnson (July 1, 1949 – May 24, 2017) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and poet. He is perhaps best known for his debut short story collection, '' Jesus' Son'' (1992). His most successful novel, ''Tree of Smoke'' (2007) ...

Martin Amis Martin Louis Amis (born 25 August 1949) is a British novelist, essayist, memoirist, and screenwriter. He is best known for his novels ''Money'' (1984) and ''London Fields'' (1989). He received the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his memoir '' ...

Roberto Bolaño Roberto Bolaño Ávalos (; 28 April 1953 – 15 July 2003) was a Chilean novelist, short-story writer, poet and essayist. In 1999, Bolaño won the Rómulo Gallegos Prize for his novel ''Los detectives salvajes'' (''The Savage Detectives' ...

and

David Foster Wallace David Foster Wallace (February 21, 1962 – September 12, 2008) was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and university professor of English and creative writing. Wallace is widely known for his 1996 novel '' Infinite Jest'', whi ...

as being among his influences for the lyrics of

Common Existence ''Common Existence'' is the fifth full-length album from rock band Thursday. Recording In March 2008, the band spent sometime recording at Big Blue Meenie Recording Studio in Jersey City, New Jersey. On August 13, 2008, the band announced that ...

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." Rickly has also written, recorded and played for

, an experimental

powerviolence Powerviolence (sometimes written as power violence) is an extremely dissonant and fast subgenre of hardcore punk which is closely related to thrashcore and grindcore. In contrast with grindcore, which is a "crossover" idiom containing musical ...

collaboration.

Collect Records

In 2009, Rickly formed Collect Records, a

which in its early years only co-released various albums, including releases by

Touché Amoré Touché Amoré is an American post-hardcore band from Los Angeles, California, 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 ...

, 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

, the new band formed by the ex members of

, featuring Rickly on lead vocals.

Martin Shkreli controversy

During the 2015 public scandal of

hedge fund A hedge fund is a pooled investment fund that trades in relatively liquid assets and is able to make extensive use of more complex trading, portfolio-construction, and risk management techniques in an attempt to improve performance, such as sho ...

manager

Martin Shkreli Martin Shkreli (; born March 17, 1983) is an American former hedge fund manager. Shkreli is the co-founder of the hedge funds Elea Capital, MSMB Capital Management, and MSMB Healthcare; the co-founder and former chief executive officer (CEO) of ...

and his controversial monetary inflation of

AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...

-related pharmaceuticals, it was revealed that Shkreli was a silent investor in Collect Records, while still allowing Rickly to retain creative control. Rickly and Shkreli met when the guitar that Rickly used to make Thursday's album ''

Full Collapse ''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, ...

'' was purchased by Shkreli for $10,000. 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." 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." Dominic "Nicky" Palermo of

Nothing Nothing, the complete absence of anything, has been a matter of philosophical debate since at least the 5th century BC. Early Greek philosophers argued that it was impossible for ''nothing'' to exist. The atomists allowed ''nothing'' but only i ...

, 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." 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, without Shkreli's significant financial contributions to Collect (estimated to be "somewhere around a million dollars").

Discography

As band member

Thursday

* ''

Waiting Waiting, Waitin, Waitin', or The Waiting may refer to: Film * ''Waiting'' (1991 film), a film by Jackie McKimmie * ''Waiting...'' (film), a 2005 film starring Ryan Reynolds * ''Waiting'' (2007 film), a film by Zarina Bhimji * ''Waiting'' (20 ...

'' (1999, Eyeball) * ''

'' (2001, Victory) * ''

Five Stories Falling ''Five Stories Falling'' is a five-song EP released by Thursday in 2002. The first four tracks are live versions of songs from '' Full Collapse'', recorded while the band performed on the Vans Warped Tour. The fifth track, a new song named "Jet B ...

'' (2002, Victory) * '' War All the Time'' (2003, Island) * ''Live from the SoHo & Santa Monica Stores'' (2003, Island) * '' Live in Detroit (2003, Island) * '' A City by the Light Divided'' (2006, Island) * '' Kill the House Lights'' (2007, Victory) * ''

Thursday / Envy ''Thursday / Envy'' is a split EP by post-hardcore bands Thursday and Envy. It was released exclusively in a package containing the album on both 180 gram 12" vinyl and on CD — individual CDs or vinyl have not been made available. Three limite ...

'' (2008, Temporary Residence) * ''

'' (2009, Epitaph) * '' No Devolución'' (2011, Epitaph)

United Nations

* ''

'' (2008, Eyeball) * '' Never Mind the Bombings, Here's Your Six Figures'' (2010, Deathwish) * '' The Next Four Years'' (2014, Temporary Residence)

Solo

* ''Mixtape 1'' (2012, self released) * ''Darker Matter/// Mixtape 2'' (2013, self-released)

Strangelight

* ''9 Days'' (2013, Sacrament)

No Devotion

* '' Permanence'' (2015, Collect) * '' No Oblivion'' (2022, Velocity)

As guest member

As producer/engineer

References

External links

Geoff Rickly
on

Bandcamp Bandcamp is an American online audio distribution platform founded in 2007 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with headquarters in Oakland, California, US. On March 2, 2022, Bandcamp ...

Geoff Rickly Community on BuzznetCollect Records
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rickly, Geoff 1979 births Living people American rock singers American male singer-songwriters Record producers from New Jersey Singer-songwriters from New Jersey Catholics from New Jersey Dumont High School alumni People from Dumont, New Jersey People with epilepsy Rutgers University alumni 21st-century American singers 21st-century American male singers United Nations (band) members No Devotion members