Brooklyn’s THICK on Their Debut Album, Internet Trolls, and the DIY Punk Scene
Interview by Nikki Sisti, Shari Page and Kate Black
Photos by Devon Bristol Shaw
THICK started in 2014 when Nikki posted an ad on Craigslist looking for a drummer who loved blink-182, enter Shari. After a few years of playing together and seeing each other at various DIY punk shows, Kate joined the band in 2016 and the current iteration of THICK was formed.
5 Years Behind is a collection of songs that we've written together throughout the years. When we were thinking about the album title, it was the most all-encompassing sentiment of the songs we included— the feeling of being five years behind the expectations of the world around us, navigating an evolving sense of self, making light of the attitude towards women in music... No matter what the subject, our writing has always encompassed a hopeful tone, a reminder that no matter what happens we can get through it together with a sense of humor and resilience. Our band is like a family and we hope we can extend and convey that support to people who come to shows and listen to our album.
Bandmates Nikki, Shari and Kate talk their new album 5 Years Behind, gender equality in music, and balancing your passion with reality.
Shari: Who wants to get hit with a question first?
Nikki: Me! I wanna get hit first.
Shari: Nicole, what were your weakest and strongest moments while writing the album?
Kate: Oooo.
Nikki: Umm, you mean writing or recording the album?
Shari: Both.
Nikki: The hardest part for me was recording the vocals. We rely so much on the energy of each other and the live performance and the audience that I found it difficult to capture that same authentic energy in a studio. I also feel self-conscious about singing, and struggle with “imposter syndrome,” so being in a room with a bunch of people who have lifelong musical experience was intimidating. The easiest was writing and recording the guitar parts. I love writing little catchy riffs and it always feels good to play them.
Kate: It's funny, Joel tried to hack that insecurity by putting us all in the same room with a divider, which I thought was brilliant.
Nikki: That definitely helped! I guess I couldn’t hide behind my grunge tone or my yelling or distortion pedal, so it was really vulnerable.
Shari: Ok, now I’m going to hit Kate with a question. What motivates you the most in terms of writing? The world around you or the emotions inside of you?
Kate: I think it’s a combination of both. It’s mostly about how the world around me affects my sense of self and existence. I tend to write about how I feel about things that go on around me rather than things that happen in my personal life. For this record especially, a lot of the lyrics are about how to deal with the macro world and the emotional toll it takes on me, like “Bumming Me Out.” But even “Mansplain” is a reflection of how the world has an effect on our mental states vs. a personal diary. Overall, every song I write is moody and emotional cause I feel all the feels.
Nikki: I have a question for both of you, Do you have any fears about the release of the album? If so, what are they?
Kate: My biggest fear was internet tolls, but now that we have lived through that it’s like, “Ehh, it’s cool.” We can get through it.
Shari: I got so bored reading those comments haha. My biggest fear is the album coming out and nothing happening. No buzz. But I also love the sound that we got and how far we have come, so I am really proud about that. I just can’t believe we have a full length album coming out!
Kate: What are you both most excited about this year for THICK?
Shari: I am so excited for this tour! I’ve been thinking about it every day. I’m excited to see what it’s like to be on tour for more than two weeks and play larger venues. I like this feeling of the “unknown” when you are on tour, every day is different, every day is an adjustment.
Kate: I agree. We usually hit our stride at the end of the first week, so it will be cool to continue and have more time on this tour.
Shari: Ya the “moof” doesn’t hit you until day five.
Nikki: Trueeee. For me I am excited to see what happens when I quit my nine to five job and focus full time on THICK. It’s definitely a little scary but I really want to see what happens when I don’t have another full-time passion pulling me in another direction.
Kate: Which also leads into the question I was going to ask about balance, what you find to be the biggest struggles when it comes to balancing your work life and band life. What are your mechanisms to balance them out?
Nikki: Self-care is huge, and positive self-talk. It got harder as we have grown as a band and have more responsibilities. Something that has helped keep the balance is taking a step back from partying. There is no way I could have maintained my job or my band life if I was still doing what I was doing when we wrote “Party with Me” hahaha.
Imagine a life without THICK, what would you be doing?
Shari: I would probably be playing in an all-male psych band at Alphaville. Or I would probably be a session drummer hating the music I make and have a lot of anxiety about practicing a song for the studio, if I had those opportunities.
Kate: I'm sure I would have kept doing music and have played in other projects. I'm an active person and have a need for a creative outlet so I know I would have done something creative, but I don’t know if it would have stayed in music or would’ve switched to something else.
Nikki: I would have been going to a lot of shows. If anything being in a band has made shows a little harder to attend cause it’s hard to enjoy the moment and think about what you can be doing better. It’s something I am still working on.
Kate: I pay attention to the production now and how the music works in a live setting. It becomes almost as much about the live production as enjoying the moment. It feels a little like you’ve seen the Wizard of Oz behind the curtain haha.
Shari: What is your favorite THICK lyric?
Nikki: “Tell me why your girlfriend has my nickname, infantilizing women like we’re all the same.” It feels so good to yell that!
Shari: Mine is, “I’ll grab my bike, you grab your board” I feel like we really changed lives with that one.
Kate: Uhh, “ I won’t back down.”
Shari: How do you feel when people place a gender in front of a genre?
Nikki: I think humans naturally categorize things. It’s interesting. I identify as a woman and I am proud to be a woman and I am proud to be in this band in our community. I think people used gendered terms like “female-fronted” as a way to unite and empower one another but it’s a fine line that can unintentionally exclude others. I used to love the term “girl power!” but I’ve learned that it is not about the gender it’s about the person and their values. Not all people identify as male or female and I want to make sure our community is inclusive regardless of gender.
“Female-fronted” wasn’t the norm when THICK started. Other communities might have had more inclusivity but speaking to the shows I’ve attended, women were not a big part of it. That being said, two bands that stood out to me during that time were Haybaby and Mannequin Pussy, they really inspired me and motivated me to start THICK.
Kate: I agree, it’s a hard balance, because at the end of the day, gender contributes to how society treats you. That’s why experiences like ours in “Mansplain” are still an issue. It can be perceived as biased or like we’re excluding some groups, including all the people (primarily men) who left hateful comments on the YouTube page. But, similar to what you were saying Nikki, those people do not share our values, so I don’t care if we piss them off. If you can’t step outside your own experience and listen to someone else’s perspective, you aren’t part of the conversation. There are so many other layers that are intersectional and it goes back to wanting to have an open dialogue with people and making sure we are building an inclusive community that’s accessible to all identities.
Shari: Ok, last question! What have you learned most about yourself and your band members from writing the album up to now?
Nikki: I’ve learned that we are all in this together! It has always been a fun project for me but I don’t think we could have gotten this far if we weren’t all on the same page or had the same vision. It’s so funny, when Kate joined the band she asked where we saw this project going and I never really thought about it. I guess I tend to stay present and only look a few feet ahead of me, but that question really made me visualize what I wanted and what I believed we were capable of doing. That type of visualization has transcended outside of the band. THICK has made me believe I can accomplish anything if I genuinely believe in it.
Kate: I’ve learned that everyone has something to bring to the table and that it is really possible to have a band with a collaborative writing process. When I first started playing music, my dream was to have a punk band with my best friends and have a little family that pumps each other up instead of tearing each other down and I really found that with THICK. One of the biggest things I learned is that it does get to a point where you can’t do it all yourself. Especially when you’re still juggling a full time job on top of ever-increasing amounts of managerial work and booking. It’s okay to ask for help. When it gets to that point, just make sure you’re working with people that align with your values.
Shari: I’ve learned to really understand everyone’s writing and communications style. We really devised ways on how everyone can contribute to the song writing process. The most important thing in a band environment is to be a team and have genuine friendships.