LJ Beckett, who performs as TheFifthSister, is a self-described multi-instrumentalist and “nerd rock warrior” from Leicester, UK. Beckett has always written songs about vampires and monsters but first found interest in Nerd Rock when they started listening to Nerf Herder and Weezer as a young teen, later on becoming a fan of Jonathan Coulton and exploring the genre further. TheFifthSister came about when Beckett (17) was studying music at University and they would support a friend as an opening act on a regular basis. Their release “Shattered Past” and “Clean Slate” explored the themes of mental health, family and overcoming obstacles. In 2022 they released two albums back-to-back, exploring their love of all things nerdy and geeky, the follow ups to the 2021 release “Hero In Me.” To date, they have released 7 EPs and 8 albums, with two more scheduled for a 2023 release. 

I’m always curious about stage names. What does “TheFifthSister” mean to you?

TheFifthSister began life as a username for message boards and Myspace. Long before Facebook, when no one or least almost no one used their real names online. When I got a little more confident in the songs I was writing, I’d share poorly recorded demos done with a laptop microphone and an acoustic guitar and that was the name that I attached to them. When I started playing solo gigs at University I wasn’t comfortable using my real name and decided to keep using TheFifthSister. I was just joining the nerd music community online at that time and everyone had weird and wonderful names so I felt that fight right in.

It’s a Charmed reference. But I get asked all the time if it’s a Star Wars reference. No, it pre-dates Clone Wars but it always makes me laugh when I get tagged in Sixth Sister memes.

I’m struck by the phrase “nerd rock warrior.” How do the “nerd rock” and “warrior” elements of that tag relate to each other? I’m particularly curious about the “warrior” piece of the puzzle.

I’m realising right now how pompous that sounds. It’s actually a moniker a friend gave me. She started using it to describe my music and I really loved it. It made me feel special. It has a powerful tone to it and it kind of set me apart from the rest of the community I was in. I assume she used it because of my tendency to address mental health in my lyrics and try to have a “kick its ass” mentality. I just know I felt really honoured the first time I read those words and I stole it haha.

I’d be honoured, too! I know that your songs are inspired by TV, movies, comic books, superheroes, video games, nerd life, love, mental health, and sexuality (among other things), but I notice a similar split. That is, some parts of life you draw inspiration from are more firmly rooted in the world of entertainment, whereas others are more serious. How are the two extremes in dialog with each other?

Like I said, I have a tendency to talk about mental health, especially over the last five or six years and for a long while I really was only comfortable doing that through the lens of a character or storyline. I turned to stories for distraction. But nerdy and serious often overlap for me.

For instance, my records Shattered Past and Clean Slate? Those were inspired by my favourite show Absentia. But I can admit now that most of those songs are also autobiographical. I was going through a really rough time when I made those album and that show was the perfect comfort for me and a release, despite being so dark.

But then sometimes I just have ideas for silly songs about ex’s that I set in the Star Wars universe or breaking up with a novel or whatever weird thing pops into my head. I think it’s just fun to explore an idea, to tell a story or express how something has made me feel. Sometimes that’s a movie or a book or a video game responsible for the initial concept and sometimes it’s a disagreement with a client at work or writing about how amazing my little niece is. Music is the best way I know to express myself. It doesn’t always work. I’ve got several notebooks with unfinished lyrics and a folder with something like 40 unused instrumentals. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.

Believe me, I know what you mean! Your bio mentions that you used to write songs about vampires and monsters as a child. What was it like for you to discover an entire genre—Nerd Rock—devoted to similar subject matter?

I was 12 the first time I heard Nerf Herder play anything other than the Buffy theme song and it blew my mind. Here were songs that I related to? I was into Sum 41, Linkin Park and Nirvana when I started out exploring music and all those other kinda bands and while I love their music, I didn’t always connect on a deeper level lyrically. But there were bands like Nerf Herder and Weezer, talking about being nerdy outcasts and other experiences I was having. “Mr Spock” and “In My Garage” were what I was trying to write but I’d only just started playing drums so I had no idea how to write those kind of songs and make them good. Another really cool artist that still has a huge influence on me is a Canadian artist called Bif Naked. She would write these amazing pop punk anthems that were about her dating life or touring or her parents’ divorce one minute and then the next song would be about dating astronauts, vampires, a love affair with her bicycle. Like, music could be funny and unserious as well as have deep meaning? Those kinda artists just sounded fun but when they were serious, it packed a punch.

How do you think the “nerdy and geeky” are essential not just to popular culture or entertainment but to culture writ large—or society in general?

For me? It’s the experience. I can explore the Universe, see whole worlds, and I know that’s not realistically gonna happen for me. I’m a big science fiction fan and I learned a lot from watching stuff as a kid. You know, I watched Leia being a leader, taking the reigns. I saw myself reflected better in nerd culture growing up and figuring things out then I did in other places. A gay kid? A introvert kid? A goth kid? I always felt like I never fit but I wanted to be these badass ladies I saw on TV. I grew up with Xena, Seven of Nine, Captain Janeway, Buffy, the Charmed sisters, Aeryn Sun, Samantha Carter. I thought I felt like a badass just pretending to be them. I think it empowers and empowered so many people in a really rare way. You could be yourself. And I made so many friends because we were the weird kids that liked all this stuff.

A thing that I also find special is that if it’s done right, nerd culture can be timeless. I watch Babylon 5 today and sadly, it’s still relevant, but it also has so many lessons to teach. I’ve been watching a lot of old Trek recently and just this week watched the Deep Space Nine episode where the bar staff form a union and the messages in that episode are so powerful and still relevant. They completely went over my head as a kid but now as an adult I get it and seeing some of the stuff going on, that is a mirror of the modern world, seeing how these characters handled it gives me some comfort and courage.

It can expose you to new ideas, new cultures, adventure, escape, life lessons. I think it offers a different perspective and it’s so broad now. I was bullied so much as a young kid for loving all this stuff and now I have clients come in and they just wanna talk about the latest Star Trek episode or ask my thoughts about the latest Marvel movie. It’s a conversation starter so much of the time now.

Speaking of unions, on Twitter a little while back, you wrote, “No AI. Not in art. Not in TV. Not in movies. Not in music. Fair contracts for writers, actors, directors, musicians. Streaming needs to work for everyone, not just CEOs.” Can you unpack that a little bit?

I guess I got a little zealous over with this. I’m just seeing the arts get hit from all side. You’ve got cuts happening at schools. My nieces don’t get the opportunities with music, drama, art that I remember having as a kid. Everything is streaming and it’s made the cost of producing physical CDs, DVDs much more costly because people are less likely to buy them. And there’s even snobbery happening with it. I didn’t put my music on Spotify until about five years ago and I got a lot of “wow, you’ve finally made it” messages. Like the previous ten years didn’t count. I hate seeing this mentality around music – you’re only a real artist if I can find you on Spotify or Apple? It costs me more money to stream than I make back from it. I feel sorry for a lot of young artists who don’t have that opportunity. Musicians can’t earn a living from selling music so they turned to touring and selling merchandise, except tickets are so expensive now because of all these hidden fees and now venues are taking up to 40% of merchandise fees. Like, when will it stop? We’re back to paying for exposure.

I see the strike going on in the US for better residuals, better work experiences and I know people in that fight. I feel like entertainment has been so devalued. It’s seen as frivolous, yet everyone wants new music, wants new movies and TV but they don’t wanna hear about how the sausage gets made? How bands need funding? How writers and actors don’t get great pay, work unreasonable conditions? I feel like if they make any kind of inch, it’ll hopefully spill into other areas where artists are exploited. I feel like if streaming could just be fairer, you know how they all talk about record profits, yet people providing the music, the shows have to work other jobs to make a living then have fans all over social media demanding more? It gets a little stifling. And then all these studios talk about their amazing profits, their CEOs’ raises. There’s a really great interview from Snoop Dog where he talks about how music has changed. It’s from a few months ago. I’m not gonna quote it because I can’t remember his exact words but I recommend checking it out. Whatever you think of the guy, he’s been in the business a long time and he’s seen all the trends and the new technology come in.

I know many friends and peers, work with lots of bands at my day job, who have big numbers, book big tours, are well connected but work side jobs, have always got a side hustle going because the money has gotten less and less and less, and I mean some of these artists started out 20 years ago before streaming, and they just have to find a way to make rent, fund the next album.

I get a little passionate about fighting for the arts. It’s been so important to me my whole life and I see so many people enjoying it – but someone’s hard work created that. There should be fair compensation.

I support the strike because as a Nerd Rock artist, I’m often inspired by other people’s work and I feel I need to acknowledge that by showing solidarity to fellow creatives.

Absolutely! Outside of issues of fair employment practices for creatives, how do you feel about AI in art? Philosophically, I mean, or even aesthetically?

It’s not something I’ve used but I’ve seen it. It mostly just looks unappealing to me. Some of the AI videos are terrifying. I know it’s mostly a joke for a majority of people but there are real jobs at stake. AI has the potential to be a great tool. I’ve seen a few organisations talk about applying it to combat climate change and trying to work out how to use it for cleaning up the environment. I know people who use it for the business side of art. I’ve considered using ChatGPT to write my bios and work up promo text for new releases for me. I have a hard time talking about myself so this is actually kind of uncomfortable for me. There are some great uses for it that aren’t art. I struggle with this whole “content” thing. I want to post about the weird thoughts that pop in my head, new Star Trek, Absentia, what I ate for dinner, the random musicals I end up obsessed with on a weekly basis. Being a weirdo used to be my brand, but now you’ve gotta post videos, photos and all the websites hate links now and you can’t get your YouTube viewed? I think AI could be helpful for that aspect of the business now. It would help my stress and anxiety come release time, for sure.

In another tweet, you wrote, “My brain is braining in away I don’t want it to but it might lead to an interesting EP so I guess I have no choice.” What’s it like inside your head when your “brain is braining away”? Do you feel like music is a compulsion for you?

Anyone that has followed my social media long enough will know I spit out music at a regular pace. I am constantly around, listening to or involved with music. I run a rehearsal studio for my day job and over the course of the pandemic I set up a home studio, so I’m always sitting down and putting down ideas. At most times I’m working on multiple projects, for example right now I’m juggling four projects with another starting in the next couple of months. So it’s become a sort of running joke of “I had another idea I have no time to work on but am going to do it anyway.” It’s always the way with me. Being creative makes me creative. I’m my happiest when I’m doing something musical.

As an artist, you’ve been incredibly prolific. What’s your approach to writing and recording music?

I am always surrounded by music. I love reading and gaming and watching TV series. I really love stories, especially ones that have some element of self-discovery and adventure. And they often inform my ideas for songs.

The biggest thing, and I’ve done this since I was a kid, is I carry notebooks with me everywhere. I’ve got two in my backpack right now. Whenever there’s an idea, in the notebook it goes. Sometimes it’s a fully formed idea and I’ll start immediately trying to figure out how to finish the song. Sometimes it’s a lyric, a drum beat or a guitar part. Sometimes I just jot It down to revisit when I’m in the mood to write but have no ideas and something will click. I probably work on music four or five days a week but I always have that notebook with me. And a good fountain pen. You can often find me in pyjamas with a cup of coffee sitting at the desk in my home studio in the morning jamming guitar or bass.

What’s on the horizon?

Two more releases, that I know of, for 2023.
I finished a horror rock album in January that I’m holding on to until Halloween. That’s called Scream Tonight.

When I wrote my last album, A Novel Idea, I wrote it as part of a song-writing event called February Album Writing Month or FAWM for short. I wrote about 30 songs and split them between two albums. So the second half of those will be out soon. I’m shooting for August for that album.

I’d really like to write a musical one day and I’m producing a friends solo album. I have a few demos for new songs written and I guess you’ll see another “guess who has a new album” post in the future. I’m always writing. I tried to take a hiatus once or twice. I never last more than two months.

Thanks for taking the time to talk to me!

Thank you for your time and a really interesting interview. I’d also like to say how great it is, the work you do with indie artists. Thank you!