Geoff Rickly#Collect Records

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.Jordan, Chris. [https://archive.today/20130104125404/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/app/access/1779886651.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Dec+23,+2005&author=CHRIS+JORDAN&pub=Asbury+Park+Press&desc=Thank+God+it's+Thursday+Kings+of+emo+took+a+much-needed+break+instead+of+breaking+up&pqatl=google "Thank God it's Thursday Kings of emo took a much-needed break instead of breaking up"], Asbury Park Press, December 23, 2005. Accessed February 28, 2011. "'When we did that cover, it was sort of riding the line of we don't want it to be too much of a Buzzcocks song but rather our interpretation of it,' said Rickly, originally from Dumont."Holahan, Catherine. [https://web.archive.org/web/20121025133128/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-116696704.html "Generating emo out of real-life tragedy -- Thursday singer recalls Dumont"], The Record (Bergen County), December 23, 2005. Accessed March 9, 2008. He attended Rutgers University until 2000 before dropping out to pursue music.{{cite web|url=https://www.clevescene.com/music/rutgers-to-riches-1480847#:~:text=An%20English%20major%20at%20Rutgers,hardcore%20shows%20in%20his%20basement|title=Rutgers to Riches|publisher=Scene|access-date=2024-04-28}} Rickly is a diagnosed epileptic, which has affected his ability to tour.{{cite web|url=http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1510427/20050927/thursday.jhtml|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051130001224/http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1510427/20050927/thursday.jhtml|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 30, 2005|title=Thursday Frontman Says He Doesn't Want To Exploit My Chemical Romance, But ...|publisher=MTV|access-date=2009-09-07}}

In early 2013, Rickly was mugged in New York City, where his cell phone, iPad, wallet, credit card, rent money, and medication were stolen.{{cite web|url=http://loudwire.com/thursday-geoff-rickly-robbed-at-gunpoint/|title=Thursday Frontman Geoff Rickly Robbed of Valuable Possessions at Gunpoint|publisher=Loudwire|date=5 June 2013|author=Graham Hartmann|access-date=24 December 2014}}{{cite web|url=http://www.stereogum.com/1693003/serious-business-geoff-rickly-on-the-rise-of-united-nations-the-fall-of-thursday-and-working-with-the-former-members-of-lostprophets/franchises/interview/|title=Serious Business: Geoff Rickly On The Rise Of United Nations, The Fall Of Thursday, And Working With The Former Members Of Lostprophets|publisher=Stereogum|date=14 August 2014|author=Tom Breihan|access-date=24 December 2014}} 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.{{cite web| last = Pettigrew| first = Jason| title = Geoff Rickly poisoned, robbed outside show in Germany| work = Alternative Press| date = September 27, 2015| url = http://www.altpress.com/news/entry/geoff_rickly_robbed_poisoned_after_show_in_germany| access-date = September 27, 2015}}

In a 2017 interview with Spin, Rickly spoke of battling a heroin addiction that began shortly after Thursday's breakup in 2011.{{Cite news|url=https://www.spin.com/featured/thursday-reunion-geoff-rickly-interview/|title=Thursday's Geoff Rickly Talks Reunion, Martin Shkreli, More|date=2017-06-09|work=Spin|access-date=2017-12-18}} Following Thursday's reunion in 2016, Rickly was inspired to quit using the drug.{{Cite web|url=https://exclaim.ca/music/article/thursdays_geoff_rickly_opens_up_about_heroin_addiction|title=Thursday's Geoff Rickly Opens Up About Heroin Addiction|website=exclaim.ca|language=en|access-date=2017-12-18}}

Rickly lives with his partner Liza de Guia.{{Cite web |last=Sacher |first=Andrew |date=2023-07-28 |title=5 takeaways from Geoff Rickly's live Q&A in CT celebrating new book 'Someone Who Isn't Me' |url=https://www.brooklynvegan.com/5-takeaways-from-geoff-ricklys-live-qa-in-ct-celebrating-new-book-someone-who-isnt-me/ |access-date=2023-10-18 |website=BrooklynVegan |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=DiNicola |first=Juliann |date=2017-04-14 |title=Exploring Williamsburg with Liza de Guia |url=https://www.bkmag.com/2017/04/14/liza_staycation/ |access-date=2023-10-18 |website=Brooklyn Magazine}}

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.

File:Geoff Rickly performing with Thursday, February, 27, 2022.jpg

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,{{cite web |url = http://suicidegirls.com/interviews/Thursday%27s+Geoff+Rickly/ |title = Thursday's Geoff Rickly |publisher = SuicideGirls.com |date = 6 March 2009 |access-date = 2009-03-10 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090309212716/http://suicidegirls.com/interviews/Thursday%27s+Geoff+Rickly/ |archive-date = 9 March 2009 }} 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|date=January 2013}} 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.{{cite web| last = Costello| first = Carly| title = Former Thursday Singer Geoff Rickly Launches Collect Records on Its Own| work = Artist Direct| publisher = Rogue Digital| date = July 14, 2014| url = http://www.artistdirect.com/entertainment-news/article/former-thursday-singer-geoff-rickly-launches-collect-records-on-its-own/11050450| access-date = July 15, 2014| archive-date = July 20, 2014| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140720235305/http://www.artistdirect.com/entertainment-news/article/former-thursday-singer-geoff-rickly-launches-collect-records-on-its-own/11050450| url-status = dead}}

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. Rickly and Shkreli met when the guitar that Rickly used to make Thursday's album Full Collapse 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, 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").

{{main list|Thursday discography}}

• Waiting (1999, Eyeball)
• Full Collapse (2001, Victory)
• Five Stories Falling (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 (2008, Temporary Residence)
• Common Existence (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)

• Mixtape 1 (2012, self released){{cite web| last = Kraus| first = Brian| title = Geoff Rickly (Thursday) releases 'Mixtape 1' for free download | work = Alternative Press| date = November 18, 2012| url = http://www.altpress.com/news/entry/geoff_rickly_thursday_releases_mixtape_1_for_free_download| access-date = July 15, 2014}}
• Darker Matter/// Mixtape 2 (2013, self-released){{cite web| last = Kraus| first = Brian| title = Geoff Rickly (Thursday) releases second mixtape, 'Darker Matter'| work = Alternative Press| date = June 23, 2013| url = http://www.altpress.com/news/entry/geoff_rickly_thursday_releases_second_mixtape_darker_matter| access-date = July 15, 2014}}

• 9 Days (2013, Sacrament){{cite web| last = Ozzi| first = Dan| title = Listen to the debut EP from Strangelight (Featuring Geoff Rickly and members of Made Out of Babies)| work = Noisy| publisher = Vice| date = October 7, 2013| url = http://noisey.vice.com/blog/Strangelight-9-days-EP-debut-stream| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131009230254/http://noisey.vice.com/blog/Strangelight-9-days-EP-debut-stream| url-status = dead| archive-date = October 9, 2013| access-date = July 15, 2014}}

• Permanence (2015, Collect)
• No Oblivion (2022, Velocity)

{{Reflist|refs=

{{cite web| title = Geoff Rickly – Credits| work = AllMusic| publisher = All Media Network| url = http://www.allmusic.com/artist/geoff-rickly-mn0000165887/credits| access-date = July 15, 2014}}

{{cite web| last1 = McDermott| first1 = Patrick D.| last2 = Ihaza| first2 = Jeff| title = Geoff Rickly Says Collect Records Is Severing All Ties With Martin Shkreli| work = The Fader| date = September 22, 2015| url = http://www.thefader.com/2015/09/22/martin-shkreli-collect-records-nothing-geoff-rickley-sick-feeling| access-date = September 24, 2015}}

{{cite web| last = Minsker| first = Evan| title = Geoff Rickly Explains Collect Records' Relationship With Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli| work = Pitchfork| date = September 22, 2015| url = http://pitchfork.com/news/61324-geoff-rickly-explains-collect-records-relationship-with-turing-pharmaceuticals-ceo-martin-shkreli/| access-date = September 24, 2015}}

{{cite web| last = Coscarelli| first = Joe| title = Record Label Severs Ties With Embattled Pharmaceutical C.E.O. Martin Shkreli| work = The New York Times| date = September 23, 2015| url = http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/09/23/record-label-severs-ties-with-embattled-pharmaceutical-c-e-o-martin-shkreli/?_r=0| access-date = September 24, 2015}}

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• [http://geoffrickly.bandcamp.com/ Geoff Rickly] on Bandcamp
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20080501232906/http://www.buzznet.com/tags/geoffrickly/ Geoff Rickly Community on Buzznet]
• [http://collectrecords.org/ Collect Records]

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Category:1979 births

Category:Living people

Category:American rock singers

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Category:Dumont High School alumni

Category:People from Dumont, New Jersey

Category:People with epilepsy

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Category:21st-century American singer-songwriters

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Category:United Nations (band) members

Category:No Devotion members

Category:Musicians from Providence, Rhode Island

Category:Writers from Bergen County, New Jersey

Category:Musicians from Bergen County, New Jersey