Nicotine Dolls singer Sam Cieri discusses 'America's Got Talent,' the band's name and Indiana Jones

Nicotine Dolls singer Sam Cieri appeared on “America’s Got Talent” in the summer of 2022 and made an immediate impression.

Judge Sofia Vergara’s jaw literally dropped as Cieri started singing, and fellow judge Heidi Klum described his voice as “if Rod Stewart and John Mayer had a baby.” But, after advancing to the next round, he walked away from the show.

“The show wanted a solo act to sing covers, and I refused to do the show under my own name and without a guarantee that I could sing one of our own songs and, if the audition went well, the full band would join in on the live shows,” Cieri said. “They agreed then proceeded to do the opposite. They kept trying to force me into doing a cover and ditching the band. That’s insane and not something I’m interested in at all.

“So we fought the whole way through the process. They didn’t expect the audition to do so well, and, when it did, all of a sudden they wanted the band. But I didn’t trust they wouldn’t pull something sketchy with us on the live show, so we said no to being a part of the show beyond that audition.”

Formed in 2017, Nicotine Dolls — Cieri, guitarist John Hays, bassist John Merritt and drummer Abel Tabares — have been releasing singles and EPs since 2019. So appearing on the talent show seemed to be a shot worth taking.

“None of us come from wealthy families or have any connections in the business. That puts us in the majority of bands waiting for that one-in-a-million break that happens to maybe 0.5% of artists,” he said. “We had already built a solid fan base, but we needed that bigger moment. And, when ‘AGT’ reached out, it felt like a risk (there’s a stigma to be taken seriously after being on a talent show) but a risk we needed to take to give us that possibility of a moment that could propel us up to that next rung, which it very much did.

“It didn’t teach, more remind, me that everyone in this business has an agenda. The show wanted a different thing from this band than we were comfortable giving.”

Nicotine Dolls will hit the Pittsburgh area Wednesday night for a sold-out show at Crafthouse Stage & Grill in Whitehall, with New York’s Abbie Roper opening the show. Since the “America’s Got Talent” appearance, they’ve had a song appear on ABC’s “The Good Doctor,” and their latest single, “Slip,” came out in September.

In an email interview — due to being placed on vocal rest earlier in the week — Cieri reflected on a few of the band’s songs, the band’s name, terrible jobs and Indiana Jones:

Q: If you had to pick one of your songs that best represents the Nicotine Dolls’ sound, what would it be and why?

A: “How Do You Love Me” represents musically/lyrically and aesthetically the broad strokes of what the band falls towards. You can hear the four piece and the live sound we carry into our shows, but there’s something internal and balanced within a soundscape of disjointed production that feels intimately cinematic. That’s how I’d describe our band in two words, intimately cinematic.

With “How Do You Love Me,” you dive into the paranoia/self-doubt/inner conflict that can creep into friendships. How often do you struggle with those type of thoughts?

Those thoughts are constant. My biggest fear is people. As hard as I try, it’s incredibly difficult to trust anyone. It’s constant reality reminding for me that, when people say they care about me, it’s honest. There’s very direct reasoning for this from when I was younger. But I always think I’m past it, then a song like that pops out and I’m reminded that all those thoughts are consistent mental passersby.

What can you tell us about your newest single, “Slip”?

There was a relationship that ended but also didn’t end. On one side of that situation, there is the tragedy of love that can’t work but still is being acknowledged in a physical way. The other side of that is the seduction and fun and chaos of throwing reason out the window when something feels good. “Slip” is the latter. It’s the pushing energy of being in the same room with an ex, knowing you should keep your distance but then one look and you’re in the back of a cab making out.

Before you were able to do this full-time, what other jobs were you doing to pay the bills? What was the worst of those jobs?

You name it, I have done it. This band has only paid bills in the past year or so, and I’m constantly nervous that it may stop and hugely appreciative that I have that privilege currently to do what I love as a job. In the past, to support that goal, I have sold motorcycles, cleaned houses, home repair, painted houses, Las Vegas piano player, bus boy, catering, carpenter and a handful of odd bits in between. It didn’t matter what I had to do as long as we could keep recording and creating. That said, I have cleaned enough toilets in my life where I’d rather not go back to that.

How did you come up with the band’s name?

We had a few other names as the band came together in the first year, but once the four of us (John, Abel and Merritt) locked in and found that special thing, we needed a new name. In high school, kids who went to house parties but spent the night outside smoking due to anxiety of large crowds but fear of missing out (me) were referred to as “Nicotine Dolls.” That felt appropriate to who we are as a band and what we represent. If you really connect to our music, odds are you are a Nicotine Doll.

What do you think the next year holds for your band?

We have a lot planned in terms of storytelling and creative projects that seem impossible but we are excited to tackle. There seems to be this energy building in our community, and the ability to watch that evolve and grow is what really excited me about this band and where we will go within the next year.

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If you’re stuck on a desert island, what three albums are you taking with you and why?

My mom was a big Top 10 pop fan, so I listened to a lot of pop records of the ’00s and love them. A record I can put on anytime or place and instantly get taken to being 16 falling in love for the first time is Snow Patrol’s “Eyes Open.” There is something that for me feels like cold air walking going to concerts with someone you love in that teenage full abandon way. Second would have to be “Born To Run.” It’s a perfect record that is so specific, (Bruce) Springsteen never did something so romantic in its sweeping arrangements. It’s a movie record that I heard for the first time when I moved to NYC at 19, and it was just right time right place to really affect me in a cellular way where I think you can always hear some of that record in our music. And lastly Bon Iver’s “22, A Million” sits as a record that stuck me right through the center first time I heard it. Justin Vernon is a master songwriter, and he put the genre of singer-songwriter in this wild place that feels so masterful in craft, production, and delivery. It’s a gold standard record.

Are you still collecting replica Indiana Jones jackets? How did that get started?

This is my favorite question. I grew up with a single mom who is a superhero person. But, being a young boy with daddy issues, I felt like I sort of gravitated to Harrison Ford and his roles as my constant father figure, and Indiana Jones was a big part of that. Knowing that you could put a jacket and fedora on and escape into adventure really helped me through some heavier stuff happening at that time in my life. So now being an adult with adult money, a hobby of mine is owning a screen accurate Indy costume and the constant hunt for the perfect jacket seems to be a never-ending chase. Currently I have two and am always on eBay looking for the next one. Only the coolest rock stars do cosplay.