Nicotine Dollsmake the kind of music you can’t hide from. The storytelling isfront-and-center, beckoning your attention like a dusty old novel you can’t putdown until the last page. The vocals are gritty and honest, holding nothingback in fits of joy, regret, and sadness similar to a phone call from one ofyour best friends at 3am. The instrumentation is equally punchy and nuanced,grafting rafter-reaching hooks on top of rich soundscapes. The moment the NewYork alternative quartet—Sam Cieri [vocals], John Hays [guitar], John Merritt[bass], and Abel Tabares [drums]—plug in, it’s as if a rush of collectiveemotion floods through the speakers. Nicotine Dollsofficially emerged in 2019 at the crossroads between its members’ respectivepaths. As the story goes, Sam met John Hays in 2015 during a Broadway tour. “Iended up there because I was getting evicted from my apartment, and my friendtold me to try musical theater since you get a consistent paycheck,” herecalls. They instantly became best friends. By this time,Sam’s journey had already twisted and turned from “leaving high school to be amusician, living in motels, playing Las Vegas, going to South Florida, andamassing all of these crazy ass stories.” Nevertheless, his newfound musicalbond with Hays eventually attracted Merritt and Abel to the fold. The guysgained traction with the likes of “What Makes You Sad” which has received morethan 13 million Spotify streams. The band’s cover of Tina Turner’s iconic “TheBest” has surpassed 12 million streams. Collectively, music released to date,is nearing 50 million streams on Spotify alone. Impressively,they attracted north of 1.7 million followers on TikTok, and nearly 900k onInstagram as well. Nicotine Dolls have released aseries of self-penned and produced singles and EPs, including the 2024 live EPNicotine Dolls on Audiotree Live. After signing with Nettwerk Music Group, theband have been hailed by SPIN for their “vulnerabilityand determination,” calling Cieri a “charismatic, gravelly-throatedpowerhouse with the rasp of Bruce Springsteen and the emotion of Lewis Capaldi.” Nicotine Dolls debut full lengthalbum (set for early 2025) is already gaining serious attention. “This album has been my own internal attempt to be OKwith wanting to love, and be loved in return,” he explains. “I wanted to be dumb and nervous and brave and scaredand everything that you drown in when someone looks at you in that way thatderails the whole plan you had for your life. I live alone with my dog and I’m not saying Idon’t adore thatlife, because I do (my dog is my sweet big boy Indiana). But I miss laughingwith someone in the kitchen or falling asleep watching trashy TV. I pridemyself on my independence, but I think I made this record as a way to admit tomyself that having someone there…would be nice.”