Cross Me Twice is the debut full-length from the nu-metal band Sicksense, formed by Vicky Psarakis (ex-The Agonist) and Robby J. Fonts (Stuck Mojo). I spoke with Psarakis about the new record, some lineup changes and other topics.
Chad Bowar: How did your newest members, guitarist Agent Phil and bassist The Gothfather (Richard Regier) come to join the band?
Vicky Psarakis: Honestly, it was I wish it were under better circumstances, but it all happened in the middle of creating this album. So we weren’t even done with the process of finalizing all the songs and recording everything and it just became very apparent that with the distance and priorities and all that it wasn’t gonna work with our current lineup. So we had to find new members and We found our guitar player Phil. I found him through streaming on Twitch. Someone requested a video from his other band and I really liked the video and at the time we were looking for possible videographers to work with for the future and so I contacted him and I found out that he also plays guitar. He wanted to work on videos together so I was like, well it lines up that you also play guitar and I presented the idea to him and we made it work.
Our bass player Rich was a little stressful to find because it was two weeks before first music video shoot and our bassist basically quit on us so we had to find a new bassist. We had a few different options on the table, but there was the the idea of maybe just getting a hired gun to be in the videos, but not be a part of the band. But that wasn’t really what I was looking for, I was looking for someone that could fill the spot at the time and potentially be a permanent member of the band as well. And so I reached out to a few friends and specifically Werner from Monuments. Because he’s a bassist and teaches bas and just knows all the bassists out there he recommended Rich as one of his students as someone that has been playing bass for not so long but has improved tremendously. That was what we were looking for and the stars just aligned I guess and he hopped on board and he’s here today as well.
Was the songwriting process for Cross Me Twice similar to the EPs?
It’s definitely different. With the EPs We just received the instrumentals as as they were and we just threw our vocals on there and boom, here’s a song. This time there was a lot of deconstructing and reconstructing involved from the first demos that we had to the second phase. Now that we have the vocals what can we change with the arrangement and the structure and then a lot more sound design and a lot of different people involved because the old members were involved, now the new members are involved too, so it was really a stressful album to complete in all honesty. But I think it’s special because of that, too. In no way could I have foreseen any of these events happening. I think we just captured a moment in time because of all that.
What role did you play in the production process of the album?
I wrote all of my vocal melodies and half of the lyrics. I co-write lyrics with my husband Rob. So I did that which I always do, but most of the sound design and production on there as well alongside our new producer Joey. When we got him on board to mix he mentioned that he also has a background in production and sound design. So I did 90 percent of what I could and then I sent it over to him and then he added that extra 10 percent to really make it pop.
What inspired your lyrics for the album?
It’s a very introspective album. It’s very feeling based on emotions and oddly enough a lot of the stuff that we wrote about ended up happening afterwards It’s funny now that we’re releasing stuff people might be like, oh this song is about the lineup changes or whatever like and I’m like, no, we wrote it before that. But I think that’s a testament to the songwriting and the themes that when you’re able to to approach a theme and put your spin on it, but make it open to interpretation. I think a lot of people can relate to it. There’s a lot of conflict in the lyrical themes. There’s maturity as well like realizing that we’re not on the same page and we just should each go our own path and that’s okay. It’s very introspective and very much about human relationships and how how we how we should respond. So quite different from our EPs, but I think that’s what we were feeling in the moment, that’s what we had to put out there.
How did you decide on the album title Cross Me Twice?
It’s a lyric in our song “Follow Me.” Robby sat up one night and went through all the lyrics and he jotted down lyrics that he liked that weren’t the song titles necessarily. So we had a list of 20 potential album titles and it was between Cross Me Twice and Fever Dream. And then we were like, okay, do we want to go a little more balls to the wall? Cross Me Twice, it’s more impactful, more aggressive. Or do we want to go a little more dreamy and poetic with Fever Dream? And we went with the first one, it just felt right. But what ended up happening was we have an interlude on the album that also needed a title and that that became “Fever Dream.” I feel like Cross Me Twice represents it more from a lyrical standpoint, with the themes that I was talking about earlier.
You’ve filmed multiple videos for the album. Are they something you enjoy creating or are they a necessary evil for promoting an album?
A little bit of both. They’re a necessary evil, but at the same time I wouldn’t feel good about it if I was just phoning it in and just doing a typical performance video. I think that’s how a lot of us feel in the band. So we try to bring the best out of our videos that we can and a lot of it just goes by the song, like what emotion or visual am I expecting to see when I hear this song? So we definitely put a lot of time and energy into our videos for that reason, I think partially because we just love the end results seeing it completed and you’re like, whoa we did this as a team. We don’t want to compromise in doing a simple performance unless it fits the song. For example, we just filmed a live music video for one of our upcoming singles but it just fits perfectly. Whenever I hear that song that’s the only visual I see; I don’t see a storyline, I don’t see anything dark and eerie and mysterious, I just see a Fun performance video. So it just has to work with the song.
How did you come to sign with Earache Records?
That actually just happened through email. Our former guitar player reached out. At that point I think we were all just sending emails to whoever we could… labels, management, booking agents, anyone that would maybe open their inbox and give us a shot. And one of those emails that was sent out was to Digby, the owner of Earache who I think almost immediately responded and he was just very very excited. We sent the most recent music video that we had put out at the time which was “Feed Them To The Wolves” that really caught his attention and they just really wanted us on board. It took a little bit of back and forth and coming to terms but here we are.
Both you and Robby have joined bands that had reached a certain level of success. So when it comes to building Sicksense from the ground up, what did you learn from those experiences?
I’d say it’s always a learning process, it never really ends. You’re right, both of us joined bands that were already somewhat established so it’s a different dynamic compared to starting fresh. But prior to those bands we we had our own projects as well. So we knew what it was like and we knew that us coming from a band or working with people that that have some level of eespect in the industry honestly doesn’t really mean anything at the end of the day when you start a new project. There’s only so much you can xarry over from your former projects, especially when you’re shifting genres. For example, look at Halo Effect With members of Dark Tranquillity and In Flames. That one I think made a lot of sense and took off immediately because it’s in the same genre. So all the connections that you have all the people you’ve worked with for 20 years, they can come in and they can be like, oh you’re doing more of what I already like and what I can already help you with.
But with Sicksense, we just shifted entirely. We we went to a completely different genre, different fan base. We’re targeting different bands. It really was a fresh start and I think that’s been the biggest struggle where it’s new but you’re not new. I’ve been doing this for for 10 plus years. So the band is new, we’re treated as if we’re all new to this industry, but we’re not as individuals. So I think that’s the biggest hurdle to get over but the most important lesson in this is that what you should be doing is creating music that you enjoy and that you are proud of and that way no matter the outcome, whether it is successful on a global scale or not, it’ll still be successful for you for what you envisioned it being. So I think that no matter what happens with this band I think we’re always gonna be creating music and just making sure that we love it first.
You’ve done some voiceover work for video games. How did you get into doing that?
I haven’t done as much as it seems, but it happened through this company from Montreal, Quebec called Monster Factory. It’s made up primarily for metal vocalists. The president of Monster Factory, his name is Sebastian, and he’s one of the OG’s doing extreme vocals since the early 90s or late 80s. So he was in that world of voicing creatures for video games and I guess he had this crazy idea to get more people on board and train them and teach them how how to implement metal vocals, harsh vocals into voice acting and that’s how we met. I was in The Agonist at the time, and we all met that way and I auditioned for a few roles. Some of them I didn’t get, some I got and that’s how it all started.
Genres seem to cycle every 20 or 25 years. Having been around for the the early days of nu-metal, how do you think today’s version compares to the to the old days?
If you tell me this band is nu-metal I don’t know what to expect. If you tell me a band is power metal or thrash metal, I know exactly what to expect. I think that’s because there’s many different branches of nu-metal. There’s the darker style groove based but heavier and darker like Korn; then you have the more fun light-hearted jokey style with the rapping vocals like Limp Bizkit, and then you have the more emotional side to it which also has rapping but these big emotional choruses like Linkin Park. So many bands that all sound different, but somehow they’re all nu-metal. And I think that’s what’s happening with the renaissance of nu-metal now. You get all these newer bands that all say that they’re nu-metal and they’re all different, which I think makes a lot of sense in my head because which original branch of nu-metal is your inspiration first and foremost? And then you’re introducing other elements in that and a modern production and all that, so you get a result that just, I really don’t know what to call this so I’m just gonna call it nu-metal. I feel like that’s what’s happening
(interview published March 27, 2025)
