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Geoffrey William Rickly (born March 8, 1979) is an American musician, best known as the lead vocalist and songwriter of rock band Thursday. He 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 label Collect Records. In 2023, his debut novel, Someone Who Isn’t Me, was published by Rose Books.[2]

Personal life

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] In 2023, Rickly released his first novel, Someone Who Isn’t Me, via Rose Books. The novel is an autofictional account of his struggles with heroin addiction and experimental psychedelic treatment with Ibogaine.[12]

Rickly lives with his partner, Liza de Guia.[13][14]

Career

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.

Rickly performing with Thursday in 2004

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,[15] 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 2014, after Lostprophets disbanded following the conviction of frontman Ian Watkins for multiple sexual offences, the remaining members (Stuart Richardson, Lee Gaze, Luke Johnson, Mike Lewis and Jamie Oliver) formed a new band with Rickly, No Devotion.[16][17] The band have released two albums, Permanence (2015) and No Oblivion (2022).

Collect Records

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.[18]

Martin Shkreli controversy

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.[19] Rickly and Shkreli met when the guitar that Rickly used to make Thursday’s album Full Collapse was purchased by Shkreli for $10,000.[20] 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.”[19] 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.”[21] 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.”[21] 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,[20][19] without Shkreli’s significant financial contributions to Collect (estimated to be “somewhere around a million dollars”[20]).

Discography

As band member

Thursday

For a more comprehensive list, see Thursday discography.

United Nations

Solo

  • Mixtape 1 (2012, self-released)[22]
  • Darker Matter/// Mixtape 2 (2013, self-released)[23]

Strangelight

  • 9 Days (2013, Sacrament)[24]

No Devotion

As guest member

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” [25]
2002 This Day Forward Kairos “Sunfalls and Watershine” [26]
2003 Murder by Death Who Will Survive, and What Will Be Left of Them? “Killbot 2000” [26]
2003 Stretch Arm Strong Engage [26]
2005 The Blackout Pact Hello Sailor [26]
2005 My American Heart The Meaning in Makeup “We Are the Fabrication”
2008 Players Club “Coextinction” [26]
2009 Touché Amoré …To the Beat of a Dead Horse “History Reshits Itself” [26]
2012 Circa Survive Violent Waves “The Lottery” [27]
2013 Man Overboard Heart Attack “Open Season” [26]
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” [26]
2022 Gatherers “( mutilator. )” “Gift Horse” [28]
2023 The HIRS Collective “We’re Still Here” “So, Anyway” [29]
2023 triton. “Sundown in Oaktown” “alcatraz_” [30]
2023 Sharkswimmer “Serenity” “Demolition of a Childhood Home” [31]
2024 Common Sage Nostos | Algos “Edin”
2025 A Lot Like Birds “When In Love” ft. Geoff Rickly “When in Love” [32]
2026 Pelican Ascending – EP “Cascading Crescent” [33]

As producer/engineer

Year Artist Album Ref
2002 My Chemical Romance Like Phantoms, Forever [34]
2002 My Chemical Romance I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love [26]
2005 The Blackout Pact Hello Sailor [26]

References

  1. ^ “Geoffthurs”. AbsolutePunk. 14 June 2023.
  2. ^ Hussey, Allison (30 January 2023). “Thursday’s Geoff Rickly Announces New Book Someone Who Isn’t Me”. Pitchfork. Retrieved 14 July 2023.
  3. ^ Jordan, Chris. “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.”
  4. ^ Holahan, Catherine. “Generating emo out of real-life tragedy — Thursday singer recalls Dumont”, The Record (Bergen County), December 23, 2005. Accessed March 9, 2008.
  5. ^ “Rutgers to Riches”. Scene. 6 November 2002. Retrieved 28 April 2024.
  6. ^ “Thursday Frontman Says He Doesn’t Want To Exploit My Chemical Romance, But …” MTV. Archived from the original on 30 November 2005. Retrieved 7 September 2009.
  7. ^ Graham Hartmann (5 June 2013). “Thursday Frontman Geoff Rickly Robbed of Valuable Possessions at Gunpoint”. Loudwire. Retrieved 24 December 2014.
  8. ^ Tom Breihan (14 August 2014). “Serious Business: Geoff Rickly On The Rise Of United Nations, The Fall Of Thursday, And Working With The Former Members Of Lostprophets”. Stereogum. Retrieved 24 December 2014.
  9. ^ Pettigrew, Jason (27 September 2015). “Geoff Rickly poisoned, robbed outside show in Germany”. Alternative Press. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
  10. ^ “Thursday’s Geoff Rickly Talks Reunion, Martin Shkreli, More”. Spin. 9 June 2017. Retrieved 18 December 2017.
  11. ^ “Thursday’s Geoff Rickly Opens Up About Heroin Addiction”. exclaim.ca. Retrieved 18 December 2017.
  12. ^ Heller, Jason (25 July 2023). “In ‘Someone Who Isn’t Me,’ Geoff Rickly recounts the struggles of some other singer”. NPR. Retrieved 31 July 2025.
  13. ^ Sacher, Andrew (28 July 2023). “5 takeaways from Geoff Rickly’s live Q&A in CT celebrating new book ‘Someone Who Isn’t Me’“. BrooklynVegan. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
  14. ^ DiNicola, Juliann (14 April 2017). “Exploring Williamsburg with Liza de Guia”. Brooklyn Magazine. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
  15. ^ “Thursday’s Geoff Rickly”. SuicideGirls.com. 6 March 2009. Archived from the original on 9 March 2009. Retrieved 10 March 2009.
  16. ^ “Introducing No Devotion: The New Band Featuring Ex-Lostprophets Members + Thursday’s Geoff Rickly”. Rock Sound. 1 July 2014. Retrieved 31 March 2016.
  17. ^ Lach, Stef (29 July 2014). “Gaze: How could we have known Watkins truth?”. Louder.
  18. ^ Costello, Carly (14 July 2014). “Former Thursday Singer Geoff Rickly Launches Collect Records on Its Own”. Artist Direct. Rogue Digital. Archived from the original on 20 July 2014. Retrieved 15 July 2014.
  19. ^ a b c Minsker, Evan (22 September 2015). “Geoff Rickly Explains Collect Records’ Relationship With Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli”. Pitchfork. Retrieved 24 September 2015.
  20. ^ a b c Coscarelli, Joe (23 September 2015). “Record Label Severs Ties With Embattled Pharmaceutical C.E.O. Martin Shkreli”. The New York Times. Retrieved 24 September 2015.
  21. ^ a b McDermott, Patrick D.; Ihaza, Jeff (22 September 2015). “Geoff Rickly Says Collect Records Is Severing All Ties With Martin Shkreli”. The Fader. Retrieved 24 September 2015.
  22. ^ Kraus, Brian (18 November 2012). “Geoff Rickly (Thursday) releases ‘Mixtape 1’ for free download”. Alternative Press. Retrieved 15 July 2014.
  23. ^ Kraus, Brian (23 June 2013). “Geoff Rickly (Thursday) releases second mixtape, ‘Darker Matter’“. Alternative Press. Retrieved 15 July 2014.
  24. ^ Ozzi, Dan (7 October 2013). “Listen to the debut EP from Strangelight (Featuring Geoff Rickly and members of Made Out of Babies)”. Noisy. Vice. Archived from the original on 9 October 2013. Retrieved 15 July 2014.
  25. ^ Blistein, Jon (4 September 2014). “Watch My Chemical Romance Record Their Debut Album”. Rolling Stone.
  26. ^ a b c d e f g h i j “Geoff Rickly – Credits”. AllMusic. All Media Network. Retrieved 15 July 2014.
  27. ^ Tate, Jason (26 July 2012). “Geoff Rickly Does Guest Vocals On Circa Survive Album”. AbsolutePunk. Spin Media. Retrieved 15 July 2014.
  28. ^ Sacher, Andrew (18 November 2022). “Gatherers break down every track on new LP ‘( mutilator. )”. brooklynvegan.com. Retrieved 8 September 2023.
  29. ^ “The HIRS Collective are bringing the spirit of collaboration back to punk rock”. altpress.com. 26 June 2023. Retrieved 17 November 2023.
  30. ^ “triton. – “alcatraz_” (Feat. Geoff Rickly & Tim Payne)”. stereogum.com. 19 January 2023. Retrieved 17 November 2023.
  31. ^ “See Sharkswimmer link with Thursday’s Geoff Rickly on “Demolition of a Childhood Home”“. Alternative Press. 3 October 2023. Retrieved 17 November 2023.
  32. ^ “When in Love, by A Lot Like Birds”. Youtube.
  33. ^ “Ascending EP, by Pelican”. Pelican. Retrieved 23 January 2026.
  34. ^ “Drinking Souls » Like Phantoms, Forever”. Drinking Souls.