By Paulie Maturo and Tate DeCarlo

Local Seattle four-piece Swamp Wife have only been around for just over a year, and already have a well defined, distinctive sound. Their first EP, Swamp Wife, came out in October, and is sure to be the predecessor to many more releases. They came down to the station on Wednesday, March 27th for an early afternoon performance and interview. We spoke with the band about their songwriting process, upcoming shows, future releases, social media, the post-pandemic music scene, and most importantly, their values and goals as a group. Enjoy the conversation.

Tate: Could you start by introducing yourselves with your names and the instrument you play in the band?

Abby: I’m Abby, I sing and play guitar.

Lola: Lola, I play bass.

Campbell: Okay, well I’m Campbell, I play lead guitar.

Emma: I play drums.

Tate: Nice, so how did you guys feel on stage today? What was it like playing here?

Abby: I had a great time. I haven’t played in this sort of environment before. It was so much more intimate, so it’s kind of harder for me to break out and do the silly things I usually do so I was thinking about it for a really long time before I did it. But it was a really fun time.

Tate: Good, we enjoyed it. It was really fun seeing you walk around and dance on stage. It was perfect and it didn’t feel pre planned at all, it felt very natural. So, as we get to know you guys, we’re curious. Where are y’all from and how did you begin playing together? What is the Swamp Wife origin story? 

Emma: I am from San Diego but I’ve lived in Seattle for a while and when I moved back to Seattle a couple of years ago I started posting these drumming videos because I really wanted to find a band. And I met Abby through her Tik Tok.

Abby: Yeah it was like a paramore drum cover or something wasn’t it?

Emma: I think it was Paramore actually, yeah. 

Abby: Yeah, I was like posting singer songwriter acoustic stuff on Tik Tok and Instagram and then we were just mutuals for a long time before you DM’d me and we jammed.

Emma: Yeah and that was cool. Me and Campbell had already been jamming for a bit but just like very loosely. We would jam for like 5 minutes and then sit and talk for three hours.

Abby: I met Lola on Bumble. I actually did my very first show at her house. I’m from Tampa. Well,  I was a military kid but I spent most of my time in Tampa and I moved out here, and Lola and I matched on Bumble and she had like a house show or a house venue.

Lola: I lived at a house venue, yeah. I was booking a show and I thought of Abby.

Abby: I played my very first show at Lola’s house before we were close, that was like 20 dates in I think. 

Lola: Yeah.

Abby: But then I just kept her in mind because I knew she played bass and then I just reached out to her online and then hit up Campbell and then, yeah.

Emma: We jammed for the first time, the four of us, in March of last year. So we’ve only been around for a year and a few weeks.

Tate: Wow that’s incredible I would have bet a lot longer, you guys definitely sound like you’ve been playing together for a lot longer. I’m so curious. How did you guys come up with your band name? Swamp Wife is pretty unique.

Emma: It’s fun. So originally, Abby had the idea of Wife Swamp to play on Wife Swap, but that’s taken by some metal band in like, what like tennessee or something right?

Lola: They were like sludge punk.

Emma: Or like sludge punk yeah. So we just swapped swamp and wife instead.

Tate: That’s beautiful. So how would you describe your sound, and maybe what are some of your sonic influences?

Emma: We definitely love to pull from a range of influences. I would say whenever we talk about our influences there’s always a bit of contrast in there. For something like say “Swamp Wife,” slow ballad, it’s very Mazzy Star influenced. I would say “The Spit” is very influenced by the Cure. You [Abby] said that you love Liz Phair and that influenced your performance?

Abby: Yeah. Emma and I, I think Emma’s like the only person I know who likes pop punk and emo as much as I do so there’s definitely influence there. And Lola’s kind of the glue that holds all of our influences together like she has this really great music taste. 

Lola: Thank you.

Abby: But yeah, she’s really why it kind of comes together in the way that it does, when it does.

Emma: Campbell has a lot of like fringy influences that helps inform our freak guitar player.

Campbell: Because I’m always writing or something and i’m like; how can I make this weirder and less listenable?

Tate: Every band needs a campbell.

Emma: Literally yeah. Or we would be boring, maybe. I have no idea what we would sound like without you.

Tate: Have you guys ever had any big clashes or any moments where you disagree on what the sounds that you’re making should be?

Abby: I feel like it comes together pretty organically.

Emma: Yeah I would say we, from the start, made it pretty clear with each other that we want our friendship to be a priority. And also any time there’s competing ideas and stuff we just make sure that everybody’s thoughts are heard. I don’t know, that’s at least how I feel. I feel like we’re pretty good at getting along.

Campbell: We’re usually pretty good about like, if one of us has an idea to say, “hey, maybe can we try it this way and compare it?” It’s pretty democratic.

Abby: yeah there hasn’t been a situation yet where it’s been split down the middle and we’re all so young too that I don’t think there’s been anything that has divided us half and half before.

Emma: Yeah, we also don’t feel like we know what we’re doing. So there’s really not enough ego in the room to make that kind of conflict. So we’re like “whatever you say babe.”

Abby: Yeah it’s a good system right now.

Tate: That’s awesome. That’s really special too that you guys are so close outside of music. That’s really really awesome.

Emma: It’s sweet. We’ve all become closer friends through this band. We weren’t close before but over this past year, I would say this band has become my core friend group.

Tate: Really? That’s awesome.

Paulie: So you guys just released your EP last october is that correct?

Abby: Yeah.

Paulie: Do you have any other stuff on the way? We just heard a couple new songs that you played for us. Any plans for a future release or other plans coming up?

Campbell: Yeah there’s two new songs that we’re recording this Tuesday actually. We’re releasing I think in May probably.

Abby: It will be like a split single kind of thing.

Emma: Yeah like an A side B side kind of thing. They’re called “Culture Crust,” which was the song we opened with, and then “Got Caught,” which was the second song.

Tate: Awesome. So how can people stay up to date with your music? What platforms and usernames do you guys use so people can catch those when they come out?

Emma: Yeah, our Instagram is @swampwifeband. Everything else like BandCamp and Spotify is just Swamp Wife.

Tate: Awesome.

Paulie: Have you had any favorite shows that you’ve played recently, or are you looking forward to anything coming up?

Abby: We played Cha Cha in Capitol Hill, which was super casual. It was a two band bill with The Bitter. We were really worried about the sound in there but honestly sound-wise it was the best show we’ve played.

Lola: It was more of a bar. They don’t get a ton of shows but I think it sounded great and the energy was really fun.

Emma: The Bitter are friends of mine, I played in a different band that went on tour with them last year so having those close pals be the opener was really sweet. And they’re so good. They’re really really good. You should look them up; they’re called the Bitter. They’re very similar to Rage Against the Machine, like rapping vocals and hardcore. Awesome band.

Campbell: It was also fun having a very very rowdy band open for us.

Emma: Cause we’re really noisy but only on some parts of our songs.

Lola: Music to sway to not mosh to.

Abby: Music to hold your crushes to.

Campbell: People have described us as music to cry in your car to.

Tate: My friend who just left right before we started this, said the exact same thing right after your show, that’s crazy.

Emma: Yeah no, “Your Turn” is definitely one where you’re like driving around aimlessly thinking about them. I would say though the show that I’m excited for, to get back to the question, would be Block Party. Which is kind of insane.

Tate: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So what’s that going to look like for you guys? Do you have any idea of kind of how that goes and what days you’re going to be playing?

Lola: They never told us what day. We know we’re playing Barboza.

Abby: Which we’ve played before and we like.

Tate: Good. You mentioned it being really cool playing with a band that you knew as the opener. Do you feel like you guys are pretty established in the seattle scene and know a lot of fans or are you still kinda working your way in?

Abby: Working our way in.

Emma: I would say all of us went to a lot of shows and knew plenty of people in the scene before we started, but I definitely don’t feel like we’re like core parts, or anything like that.

Abby: Yeah I agree. I think we’re still figuring it out, especially with this being a lot of our first projects. I’ve never been in a band before. So it’s kind of just a lot of learning.

Tate: So back to Capitol Hill Block Party. Is there anybody who you are excited to play with there?

Emma: We actually had a little band field trip over here last month. We all went and saw Cobrah. It was such a fun night and now we get to be on the same lineup as her which is bat shit.

Abby: yeah we don’t know who’s going to be playing the same stage as us though. But that and like Slow Pulp. It’s going to be really awesome.

Abby: I’m honestly excited to see Chappell Roan too.

Lola: and Mold Mom.

All: Yeah, Mold Mom!

Lola: Mold Mom are playing with us in portland. They’re a Seattle band but we’re playing with them in Portland and Olympia and now Block Party too.

Paulie: Mold Mom is the DJ from KEXP who does Audioasis right?

All: Yeah.

Paulie: Yeah I like them a lot, they’re super cool.

Tate: So we talked a little bit about your EP that just came out. I’m curious to know about the song writing process and how you guys come up with your music outside of writing that album. Where does inspiration come from for you all?

Campbell: I don’t know. Personally I just riff around and just find things and then I’ll usually show the band. I feel like every other week I’m calling and saying; What do you guys think of this riff? Do you want to try it with this rhythm? What do you think of this riff? Do you want to turn it into something? Just recording like silly little demos and Abby will record demos too and bring them to the band.

Emma: Yeah I was just going to say I’m very inspired by the demos. There’s a lot of drum beats that I wouldn’t have played. Like the one from “Got Caught” I learned from some fake drummer in GarageBand. Abby made it and I was like; “Damn I love that groove.” 

Abby: Yeah, a lot of our songs have an early pop demo version where I put a bunch of autotune on my voice because when I bring those songs I want everyone to do whatever they want with it. You know, like Campbell can do whatever they want with the lead and Lola too with bass but it’s just a way for me to get the general structure of a song down without needing to solidify anything. But yeah, “Closer “has one of those, “Got Caught” has one, a few others I can’t think of but yeah. It’s also a fun way for me to write on my own, because we can’t always write together.

Emma: It helps me to not write the exact same drum part for every song.

Abby: Totally. And then the songs that we’ve written together that would be “The Spit” and “I’m a Liar” and I think Campbell brought “Swamp Wife.”

Campbell: I had that chord progression from years and years ago and then we were just jamming on it.

Abby: Yeah like the stream of consciousness lyrics that have like the talkie type of lyrics. A lot of times I’d come up with something on the spot. But weirdly, I mean, I grew up outside of Tampa where everyone would freestyle rap for fun. Honestly that’s where it got really easy for me to come up with lines really quickly. You have to say something, it’s nice when it’s clever but first it just has to make sense. And honestly I would feel like, I don’t know, I’m a big Sonic Youth fan, I love Kim Gordon’s vocals, and she’ll say some things that make a lot less sense than a lot of freestyle rap, so it can be mysterious but that’s always fun for me. Campbell or whoever will be jamming and I’ll just kind of talk and say things that are nonsense but just start to rhyme and then that’s just a start and then I’ll try to build off of stuff like that with something that makes more sense.

Tate: So we should expect a Swamp Wife rap EP coming out soon?

Abby: Honestly yeah that will be out soon. Soundcloud vibe obviously.

Tate: Would you ever consider releasing any of those demos that you were talking about?

Emma: We should, that would be cool. I mean, you have a solo project that you use a lot of those demos for.

Abby: Yeah she’s kind of getting weaved into the Swamp Wife lore. We have a Zine that we’re actually finished with, it’s like a big newspaper of Seattle music. I have an alter ego, Molly Fox, and she now exists in there. I think there’s an article about her. But yeah, I have some demos on bandcamp under Molly Fox and I’m working on compiling them and getting them mastered so that I have something. I’m constantly inspired by MySpace music like hello goodbye. I really liked that kind of stuff growing up, like MGMT. I like how unserious a lot of that stuff is, and it’s a fun way for me to get a song out but not take it too seriously.

Tate: So you guys have been talking a lot about how you met through social media and connected through Tik Tok and dating apps and the way that other platforms are helping you guys not only meet but create music. This is such a college student question, but I am really curious. Do you feel like as technology changes, the way that music gets created is also changing?

Emma: For sure, I mean, something that we have talked about too is, since there is so much of that, we have kind of decided what some of our band values are, what kind of music we want to make. We recorded the EP in a live room, kind of a little more in the old school style, and I feel like we have tried to have as minimal social media presence as we need to get the job done. I think there’s definitely a lot of benefits to the changes in the music industry, but I also feel like a lot of the purity in it has died. So we’re just trying to find a balance that makes sense for us. Being perceived is hard.

Cambell: Yeah, also running social media. It’s four of us running the instagram, and it’s literally only one platform and all of us are like; “Oh my god.” It can be really overwhelming.

Emma: I once had to let down a bunch of people about shows they offered us ust all at once, like copy and paste the same message and it was hard because I would love to talk to each of these people and meet them but they’re just faceless messages and we just have to say “Sorry we cant play these shows.”

Abby: Yeah it’s a lot of pressure to be constantly available through your phone.

Emma: I kind of wonder what it would have been like in the 90s, you know, if we had to just talk to other bands and be like, “Hey, you want to play a show?”

Abby: And post pandemic too I feel like there’s a lot of rebuilding that’s happening in the community that we’re in. It’s interesting too being in such a new band and feeling like you’re part of the groundwork that’s happening. 

Tate: On the subject of community, I’m curious to know. Are there any spaces or organizations that you feel really connected to in Seattle?

Campbell: Yeah. KEPX we love and feel very supported by and Vera Project does a lot of good work too putting on and making sure that all ages shows happen.

Emma: The Stranger too. They did a little interview with us in January that got us feeling so honored. The little bit of attention locally is just very gratifying. We’ve all read The Stranger for a long time so it was very cool.

Tate: A second ago you were talking about band values and kind of figuring out what you all want to be putting out with your music. Is there a certain message that you have that you’re trying to send or a certain audience that you’re trying to reach with your music?

Emma: No. We talked about this a while last night and like, no. I think a lot of what we do we want to just leave listeners with and let them take what they want out of it.

Abby: Yeah I think a lot of it is just us kind of getting our energy out, you know, like social energy, creative energy.

Emma: More for us than for y’all.

Abby: If people take something away from it that’s so sick but that’s not the goal. The goal is for us to have fun.

Tate: I feel like that definitely translates in your music. I was sitting there and I was like “cool im having fun.” Maybe y’all’s message is fun.

Paulie: Okay. Who would be your guys’ celebrity swamp wife?

Campbell: So the wife of our swamp?

Paulie: Yeah!

Abby: Probably Fiona Apple because we were talking about Fiona from Shrek.

Emma: We had a joke about all of us answering somebody named Fiona. I’ll stick with you on that one yeah.

Campbell: If we’re talking someone who I think has the same energy as a swamp and would fit in perfectly in that environment, I think Bjork.

Tate: Yes, very swampy.

Emma: Different vibe but also swampy, I think Missy from Mannequin Pussy.

Paulie: Haha yes.

Lola: I feel like Hope Sandoval is pretty swampy.

All: Yes!

Abby: She was such a huge inspiration for the song “Swamp Wife,” so yeah.

Tate: That’s a perfect answer. All those were really good. I feel like not only did you answer but you justified your answers which is impressive. So outside of music what do you all like to do?

Campbell: I was thinking about this. I was like, what hobbies do I have besides music? I’m embarrassed by this because it feels very chetty, but I got into weightlifting this past year.

Emma: You collect VHS.

Campbell: Oh I collect VHS yeah. Well that’s consumption I don’t know if consumption counts.

Lola: I feel like it does.

Campbell: Then okay yeah, I collect VHS.

Lola: I dont know its hard to think of something that’s not Swamp Wife. I feel like just music is my hobby. I work at a record store. That’s really fun. I collect records.

Emma: you’re also an amazing ziner.

Lola. I am a ziner. I love zining.

Campbell: I also will say music is absolutely your hobby because whenever I ask you “do you know this person” you’re always like “oh yeah I love them.”

Emma: Yeah I’m always like, “Lola I think you’d love this band “and you’re like, “yeah I know I do.”

Campbell: You’re like the Library of Alexandria of music.

Abby: I really like painting. I took a break from music, like I’ve been writing music since I was a kid but I stopped writing music for a while and learned how to paint and I love doing it. I mostly do portraits and stuff. I’m also a picture framer so I really like having a hand in the visual art world. It’s really fun.

Tate: That’s awesome and it seems like you all kind of lean that way with visual art as well as music.

Abby: Yeah we like incorporating it into the band a lot.

Campbell: We like to think of Swamp Wife as a multimedia project.

Abby: Definitely. We do all the merch ourselves. I designed the T-shirts, Emma did the hats, I did the buttons, Emma did the bumper stickers, I did the holographic stickers.

Emma: Campbell did a lot of the new Zine.

Campbell: Yeah I wrote so many silly stupid articles. There’s one pop culture reference in the zine that no one will appreciate that I am so proud of. There’s a fake gossip column and I made a pun. I combined the names of Hedda Harper and Louella Parsons who were like two feuding gossip columnists in Hollywood and I made a poppers joke out of it. And I don’t think anyone will ever read that and go “oh yeah that’s funny.” 

Emma: You should explain this to everybody who buys the zine.

Campbell: Yes I should. I’m really funny and clever actually, I don’t know if you were aware. I’m so sorry.

Tate: No no that’s beautiful. We’re nearing the end here, but I’m curious as you are a group who’s kind of recently come together. Do you have any advice for young people looking to get into music or start their own band, anything they should know, anything they shouldn’t do?

Abby: Don’t be afraid of sounding bad. It is guaranteed. You have to sound bad for a while until you sound good.

Campbell: No literally. I would say that especially, because for every good song you write you have to write like fifteen bad ones. And also something that has really benefited us has been just swinging big.

Abby: Yeah don’t be afraid to get freaky.

Campbell: Asking for opportunities and being like “yeah, we’re going to apply for that” or whatever it is.

Emma: Yeah if you think it’s too early, no it’s not.

Campbell: A little bit of delusion helps.

Abby: I would say don’t take advice from people who don’t make the same kind of stuff that you’re making, because I had some close friends for a really long time and I made completely different stuff from them. They were my only friends that made music and I took to heart a lot of their advice and they were just not really actually trying to help me. So I would say reach out to people in your community if you have them or even people online who have similar music taste to you and build a connection. One thing I punch myself for is not reaching out to people sooner. I was so nervous to reach out to Emma. I thought Emma was so cool but she was afraid to come up to me at a show too.

Emma: Yeah I saw Abby at a show after we followed each other but before we had jammed or anything and I whispered to my boyfriend, I know that person. And he was like, “why don’t you go say hi?” And I’m like “no, I think they’re really cool actually.”

Campbell: Okay another good piece of advice; no one is as cool as you think they are.

Abby: True and everyone’s nervous. 

Emma: Just go say hi to people, tell people what you play, ask people around if they play an instrument and are looking for a band. Just literally tell everyone that you talk to at a show, I play drums, or I play bass, I like this kind of music, because that is how you will find a band.

Abby: Yeah and if people are rude to you then that tells you a lot about them, and those aren’t people you want to be around. I found a group of people that are really nice and kind and patient with me and were all patient with each other and I feel really, really, really, really, lucky. So yeah I would just say talk to people. 

Emma: Lola do you have advice?

Lola: What y’all said definitely resonates. Just being okay with not knowing what you’re doing and not taking yourself too seriously. Nobody knows exactly what they’re doing, everybody’s learning as they go and I think that’s really important because music and making music can seem so intimidating and obviously so gatekeepy.

Abby: Like what cables are called and stuff? Don’t sweat that kind of stuff because we didn’t know anything about that when we first started and anybody who was mean to me because I didn’t know what something was called was an asshole.

Emma; Yeah, fuck them specifically.

Tate: Well, wrapping things up. Is there anything else you’d like to say about your experience playing here about the music that you have coming up? Any thoughts and opinions that you just think need to get out there?

Lola: Thank you.

Tate: Thank you guys! This has been incredible. Thank you so much for coming out.

Lola: Do y’all work at the radio station?

Tate: Yeah.

Lola: Cool, I was a DJ at U-Dub’s radio station. Being here reminds me of that experience. It was my favorite part of college. 

Tate: This is definitely my favorite part of it too.

Paulie: Yeah me too, I love it here.

Tate: Well thank you guys so much, we really appreciate it.

All: Thank you guys.