Indie Rock Podcast Rock

Unwritten: Nicolle Swims of Black Ends

June 2020

Unwritten: Nicolle Swims of Black Ends June 29, 20203 Comments

Raised by a single mother in the suburbs of Detroit, Dan discovered an early passion for singing, songwriting, and the arts as a whole. She got her BA in English and music at the University of Michigan, where she reported for the school’s paper, The Michigan Daily. She worked as a Senior News Reporter on the government beat, transitioned to arts writing, and eventually became the managing editor of the social media department. She moved to Seattle in 2017. After losing her job during the COVID-19 pandemic and discouraged about the lack of press surrounding Seattle’s music scene, Dan made the decision to turn Dan’s Tunes, a fully fledged music journalism website focused on showcasing the Seattle area’s musicians, into its own startup. There’s so much music happening in the city that spawned Pearl Jam, Nirvana, and Jimi Hendrix — among others — and Dan’s Tunes is determined to find and expose those outstanding acts. The goal is to have satellites in every major US city, uplifting diverse and compelling voices and helping music communities thrive. In 2020, Dan was featured in the Seattle Times’s year-end music critic poll. Other than her musical endeavors (singing, playing ukulele, and auditioning for American Idol four times before the age of 24) Ray is passionate about food and education around the American food system, and she’s also a large proponent of eliminating the stigma around mental health. Ray loves cats, especially her own, who is named Macaulay Culkin (but she’s a lady).

Black Ends performs at Chop Suey in April of 2019. // Photo by Danny Ngan

Nicolle Swims is the frontperson of Black Ends, a Seattle “gunk-pop” trio. The group’s upcoming EP, Stay Evil, drops July 15, and the lead single off the four-track release, “Monday Mourning,” premiered on KEXP on June 17. In this episode, we chat with Swims about the upcoming album, her musical upbringing, and the Black Lives Matter movement.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/blackendsblackends/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/black.ends/

Bandcamp: https://blackends.bandcamp.com/music

KEXP premiere: https://www.kexp.org/read/2020/6/17/black-ends-premiere-monday-mourning-submit-honest-essay-about-being-black-america-kexp-premiere/

Charli XCX’s How I’m Feeling Nowhttps://open.spotify.com/album/3a9qH2VEsSiOZvMrjaS0Nu

Television’s Marquee Moon: https://open.spotify.com/album/630o1rKTDsLeIPreOY1jqP

Comments

Raised by a single mother in the suburbs of Detroit, Dan discovered an early passion for singing, songwriting, and the arts as a whole. She got her BA in English and music at the University of Michigan, where she reported for the school’s paper, The Michigan Daily. She worked as a Senior News Reporter on the government beat, transitioned to arts writing, and eventually became the managing editor of the social media department. She moved to Seattle in 2017. After losing her job during the COVID-19 pandemic and discouraged about the lack of press surrounding Seattle’s music scene, Dan made the decision to turn Dan’s Tunes, a fully fledged music journalism website focused on showcasing the Seattle area’s musicians, into its own startup. There’s so much music happening in the city that spawned Pearl Jam, Nirvana, and Jimi Hendrix — among others — and Dan’s Tunes is determined to find and expose those outstanding acts. The goal is to have satellites in every major US city, uplifting diverse and compelling voices and helping music communities thrive. In 2020, Dan was featured in the Seattle Times’s year-end music critic poll. Other than her musical endeavors (singing, playing ukulele, and auditioning for American Idol four times before the age of 24) Ray is passionate about food and education around the American food system, and she’s also a large proponent of eliminating the stigma around mental health. Ray loves cats, especially her own, who is named Macaulay Culkin (but she’s a lady).

3 comments

Comments are closed.