Kneel For No One: An Interview With Lukretia from Brooklyn’s tricktheriddle

By Staff | February 14, 2026

John, Lukretia and Niko. Photo credit: Allison Ramnarine

Lukretia, the trans frontwoman of the Brooklyn-based witch punk band tricktheriddle, is a prolific multi-disciplinary artist whose work spans music, literature, and visual arts. Leading a queer and POC-friendly power trio active in the New York scene, she writes all the band’s music and designs its visuals—including their website—alongside managing a solo folk project and a hyperpop moniker, troubledyuth. Her creative output includes pitching fiction novels, exhibiting paintings in galleries, and recently producing the political punk track "Don 2025," which she paired with a video featuring a mix of self-filmed and sourced protest footage. Beyond her musical and digital work, she is an active model and actor with experience in short films and well-attended stage plays. Lukretia is also a dedicated music educator and advocate for underserved communities, currently teaching songwriting and guitar to students at a transfer school in East Harlem, with a teaching history stretching from East New York to the Lower East Side. As tricktheriddle prepares a Green Day cover for an upcoming tribute compilation, she is currently overseeing the band's new distribution deal and the release of their latest full-length album.

Welcome Lukretia! You're a painter, actress, novelist, and musician. When you are sitting down to write for tricktheriddle, do you find that your visual art or your fiction writing bleeds into the lyrics, or do you keep those creative areas strictly separated?

Thanks for having me! Personally, my art is very interconnected. I don’t claim to compartmentalize like some others might, and in fact I think my strength comes from the many places I draw from. For example, my storytelling strength is applied to our new concept album and its narrative. My acting aids my performance. My songwriting strength aids my poetry and prose. To be clear, it’s very rare that I ever sit down to write something “specific”, more common is that I create something with no specific intention of where or what it will be, and then based on how it feels once it gains life or gets pushed towards one thing or another. Maybe it’s a song, maybe it’s an aspect of my fiction series, maybe it turns into one of my solo projects, or maybe it’s just prose that sits on the very crowded notes app on my phone.

Your latest single "Don 2025" utilizes a mix of personal and found protest footage. In an era where political art can sometimes feel performative, what was the specific moment or breaking point that compelled you to release such a visceral, political punk statement right now?

I love how you mentioned the performative aspect of it. To me, in this current climate, being self aware is our greatest weapon. One of my more respected mentors and collaborators who just mixed our album shares a great dialogue with me about finding ways to do something that feels real, even if it is performative or whatever. At some level, I’m a performer, it’s going to appear performative. If you don’t have the ability to discern what is real or authentic, you will join the masses that don’t engage with what they experience and simply consume the media. I can’t battle with them. I’ve been at the protests, it’s my own footage, we did the Don video in a single take, at a DIY show with all sorts of badass New Yorkers. It’s real. It’s there. You can see it in the footage. If you find that performative or fake or trying to benefit off a tragedy, you likely aren’t something who has a real engagement with content in general, you probably sit back and name call and then keep scrolling. I don’t care about those people. I do care about being upfront with my beliefs, and always have been. In 2016 we released the first version of Don in reaction to the election, and this time around, I felt beyond compelled. The new second verse bled out of me. I finished the entire song in a few hours, and then spent most of the time setting up the video shoot with my wonderful collaborator Niko who films all of the bands content when I’m not doing it. He’s the best. 

You’ve described the band as "witch punk" and "POC friendly." How does the Brooklyn queer/queercore scene influence the energy of your live shows compared to the more traditional rock circuits in New York?

Traditional rock circuits? Ew! That made me gag, and not in the good way. (Editor’s note: We’re not sure whether to laugh or apologize. We’ll do both). New York, in my experience, is filled with many folks who are not in “it” for a reason other than gaining fame. That’s totally ok. But that’s not where I’m at, and where our energy fits. Those folks do NOT like us. The queer spaces, crowds that aren’t just white nepo-babies or transplants, those spaces are where we feel at home. We aren’t better than anyone else, and so when I’m in a diverse crowd of many backgrounds, it feels like real unity is happening. We aren’t paying for a spot, the rockers are cheap, there’s rarely pretentious people. Although, even in the queer spaces, I’ve found a lot of folks who end up doing exactly what they criticize others for; they are cliquey, they clout chase, they want you to kneel before them before you can get an opportunity. They miss the point; we kneel for no one. And no one kneels for us.

Photo credit: Niko Stycos

As a trans musician, how does your story, your personal struggle and a life that may sometimes make you feel unaccepted influence your music and your general outlook on life?

I love how you framed that. You described the my experience as far back as I can remember. I’ve never been accepted; even as a white person going to an all white school. But, I was from the town over, a town very much lower class than the rest of my classmates. My house was the smallest, my clothes different. I dressed in girls clothes since middle school and was completely ostracized for it. As it turns out, every community has those they shun, even at the smallest and perhaps more proceeded levels. It’s been my single burning fire, the hurt in my soil that gets me going and pushes me. I’ve always had a “chip on my shoulder”, beyond the bullying and unacceptable. I came into this world with a fight in my chest and that’s why I do what I do. We all need someone to fight for us, even if it’s us.

As a music educator working with students who struggle to graduate, how has teaching songwriting in underserved communities changed your own relationship with music? Do your students’ perspectives ever find their way into your own compositions?

It’s the most cheesy, but truly, I learn from them. They show me how much I’ve given my life to this and how powerful art and how freeing. While I wouldn’t say educating is my passion, inspiring and expressing with others IS, and so being able to do that regularly with underserved communities has given me so much insight into both the world and myself. It’s such a privelege to be able to affect their lives and in turn have them affect mine. So many strong bonds can be formed by listening to someone and actually making them feel heard. It’s a tough world out there and a lot of these kids have simply not been given a fair go. The least I can do is be there for them and with them and give them a way to express the emotions that travel through the body of a young person in this terrifying world.

Artwork by Lukretia Wintres

Moving from the witch punk power trio of tricktheriddle to a hyperpop project like troubledyuth is something of a sonic leap. What part of your personality does hyperpop allow you to express that the grit of punk doesn't?

it’s just another way of expressing; tricktheriddle has a few genres to play with, so it’s less “I can’t express this with ttr” and more “I want to express this with THIS particular vocabulary”. Troubledyuth is the classic Xbox gamer tag I’ve had since a young one and always knew it was going to be some poppy cunty thing where I could totally bypass all the bias of being put in this body. I love many types of music and there’s nothing like being on stage singing over your own song, alone, instead of performing with a band. You feel on top of the world in a way where you can sing, dance, move around without an instrument and not worry about the “song” behind you. It plays with or without me, and I can flex my AWFUL dancing ability. 

Congratulations on the tribute compilation! Green Day is a cornerstone of political pop-punk. Which track did you choose to cover, if you're allowed to say, and how did you "tricktheriddle-ify" it to make it fit your specific sound?

Thank you - I chose the song by them that helped completely inspire me to want to be a performer when I was very young. Boulevard is THE song, and it changed my life when I heard it. Still does. There was no question; somehow, no one else chose it, and so it was open and shut. I learned the song for the first time and immediately just played it “tricktheriddle” style and it was there. Done. The demo finished in an hour and I was already hitting up my dear friend/producer/engineer about when to record it. I did everything on the track in half a day, and it was done. I believe it to be one of the best things I’ve ever recorded, and that’s because of all the things I’ve learned through the struggles I’ve been through up to here. It’s pretty special, I think. You’ll hear it and know what I mean.

Photo credit: Niko Stycos

You built the band’s website and created all the visuals yourself. In an industry that often tries to package trans and POC artists into specific boxes, how important is it for you to maintain total 100% control over your digital and visual narrative?

I am trans but not POC myself, our drummer is and he (John) actually makes some beats for troubledyuth. He’s a serious talent. He’s also a previous student, but that’s not why he’s talented. He was my student BECAUSE he’s talented. Don’t get that twisted. I think currently, from a trans perspective, the industry still doesn’t know what to do. Either it’s totally your gender, or they bypass your transness altogether. I don’t think there’s a right answer, except for what you feel for truth is. For now. As we gain momentum, I put my transness front and center as both a middle finger to hateful folks, and also as a banner for other trans people who are equally as terrified as I am. I have no qualms with admitting that. It’s my strength that allows me to stand with that fear, not allies, because I do feel alone in that. The trans communities of New York that I’ve experienced are very selective and that’s a conversation for another day. As for control over my art, it’s unquestioning. It’s been me ever since, and I do NOT compromise on anything, trans or not. When I die, that’s all I can hold onto; I did it my way, and my vision. The band is on board and they are the best boys I could ever hope for. And they know more than anyone to make way when I come through, because like I said, I kneel for no one.

You’ve been vocal about the "clique-y" nature of the NY music scene. Do you feel that being something of an outsider by way of your identity and your multidisciplinary approach gives you a competitive edge, or does it make the gatekeeping harder to bypass?

Oh well, great question. Of COURSE it gives me a competitive edge, and that is exactly why we get gate-kept. There’s this weird phenomenon that I like to call ”crab in a bucket” syndrome. It’s where everyone tries to keep everyone down; most above. If something is getting traction, they don’t support, they don’t share or show up. They don’t want you getting too big, I guess as a way of making sure they still have a chance? As if there isn’t room for us all? But I think there isn’t, really. Currently, it’s like there’s only room for one “trans punk band with fem singer” and everyone’s cutthroat. I personally do not believe this, but I’m on the outside a little bit. And I’ve tried, trust me; the bands know. I’ve been to the shows, stayed till the end, helped them move their gear from the second floor through the pouring rain to their van, asked them to play a festival I put together for trans artists called Genderfest, and guess what? “They’re on a hiatus,” they tell me. Meanwhile, they just made a post about their upcoming shows. It’s fine. I shrug. It’s going to sound awful and ego filled, but I know my worth now. It’s not in my transness or community or whatever. What sets me apart from them is the music. It just sounds better. The gate keeping can try all it wants, we’ve already surpassed it and meandered around the scene in that way. I wish it wasn’t the case, as I’ve wanted to add to their community, but they don’t want me. They are scared! How childish. And then they’ll curse me when I don’t ask them to open for us when we become big time rock stars. But I’ll still respond, and we won’t be on a hiatus. ;)

Logo by Lukretia Wintres

With your new distribution deal and a full-length album on the way, what is the central theme that ties this new body of work together? Is it a concept piece, or a collection of your journey through the Brooklyn scene?

This piece is a concept album about a serious moment that happened when I was kid, something really weird that showed me there is lore to things that I once thought. Ghosts, woo woo stuff, call it what you will. I always saw stuff, feel stuff, and very much still do. But the first real time was when I was biking with some kids in my neighborhood, and did something we weren’t supposed to, and everyone was ok and safe but it didn’t go like it was supposed to and I literally saw something come out of the darkness. It made me aware of stuff happening within me, trauma and mental illness and depression and a very dark part of my childhood that affected me so greatly. This album is the narrative accompanying that, the realization, the descent, and then the final return to a healing state, but with something missing. Everything is an exchange. In my opinion, and although I’m better than before, I’m missing a few pieces. But I wouldn't trade it for anything, I think. The new album is called “a chance encounter with the everpresent”. It’s pretty self explanatory, I think, and it’s being released in three acts.

Between the fiction novels you're pitching and the new album, 2026 looks like a big year for you. If you had to choose one statement you want the world to take away from your work this year, what would it be?

The statement is thus: watch, as someone completely gives themselves unto something.

Links

Official website: https://www.tricktheriddle.com/

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6dnmQ4udIe9k0YyX03PWSp

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tricktheriddle

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tricktheriddle?lang=en

Bandcamp: https://tricktheriddle.bandcamp.com/