Check Out Nicole Boggs Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Nicole Boggs.

Hi Nicole, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I was born in Oakland, CA to an 80’s rocker and a meth addict. My parents were never married and shared joint custody for a brief time.

I’d spend every Friday night with my dad, the musician and we’d sit down at the keyboard with the german shepherd at our feet and sing, “It’s Friday night at Daddy’s house and we’ll have a-rockin’ good time.” I guess you could call that my first original song. He got full custody when my mom didn’t show up to the court date and moved us to Colorado to be closer to his family.

He got a job selling pianos at Elledge Music and we moved into the apartment upstairs with red shag carpets and piano lessons being taught across the hall. I don’t remember living a single day that wasn’t filled with music. When I was 12 we found a balloon in the backyard with a note attached that read, “This is a science experiment from The Denver School of the Arts.

Please write us back and let us know where this balloon has landed.” My dad responded and asked for information on the school. Two years later I was accepted into the voice department where I then spent the next 7 years (6-12th grade.) I feel like I’ve been trying to find my way back to art school ever since, where art was more like food than recreation. I wore neon tights and a mini skirt with Michael Jackson’s face painted on it and started writing misanthropic teenage songs about boys who didn’t get me.

I guess feeling misunderstood worked out in my favor because one of those silly, unrequited love songs got me into Berklee College of Music on scholarship. That’s when I really got serious about the craft of songwriting and found confidence in my voice. I could only be found in two places – the practice room or in the cafeteria debating anyone about anything over endless cups of coffee.

In my final year of college, I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease that continuously landed me in the hospital. It stopped making sense for me to be in school. My parents had moved to Nashville while I was in college and I moved in with them to get well. I never planned on coming or staying here. That was 11 years ago.

I have been many things in the last decade – the secretary at a Lutheran church, a dog-walker, a liquor store clerk, a wedding singer turned session singer turned faux philosopher and bonafide feminist – but nothing holds a candle to finding my musical family in Alex Kramer and Sam Gyllenhaal. Together, we’re known as a local Rock/Americana band, Nicole Boggs & The Reel. We’re releasing singles all summer long leading up to the release of our album, Dystopian Book Club, out on August 1st.

We’ve been collaborators and co-writers for nearly a decade and now we’re releasing our third record as a band. We’re old-school souls that grew up on the classics: The Beatles, Fleetwood Mac, Carole King, The Eagles, Motown, etc. We once called ourselves “Dad Rock” which isn’t technically a genre or format but it seems appropriate. We like song-centric rock ‘n’ roll.

We’ve got analog hearts in a cold digital world. We recently saw the amazing British artist, Yola coin the term “Genre Fluid” and we’re devastated that we didn’t think of it first.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I often remind myself that there’s nothing more rock n’ roll than having to get sober.

It’s been two years now and I’ve learned to find comfort in discipline and structure. I know that sounds antithetical to the picture painted of the flighty, free-spirited musician, but making my bed every day is like a mantra, guiding me towards being a more thoughtful person and a better leader.

Actually, the next single we have coming out, “Queen of the Dive” was written 9 days prior to making the decision to leave booze behind. I think it’s so easy for sensitive types in creative fields to fall prey to everything the bar scene has to offer: A place to belong and drown your inhibitions. So, instead of providing health care and therapy, we pay musicians for shots of tequila. I’m just one of many to get lost in the shuffle and one of the few to turn around in time.

I wrote a song that came out on our album, Scenes From Last Year back in 2019 that was the letter I had written a million times but never sent to my mom. I didn’t think she’d hear it, but someone sent it her way. She checked herself into rehab that week and has been clean ever since. I think standing on stage and telling that story forced me to hold a mirror up to my own reality and begin the slow process of questioning my relationship with alcohol.

There have certainly been other struggles along the way. In my 20’s I accidentally dated my manager. The US Marshalls showed up at my front door looking for him. That wasn’t the last time I fell in love with a red flag. I’ll just leave it at that.

Being a woman in the music business has often been a tough pill to swallow as well. It’s a never-ending quest to prove to yourself and others that you’re allowed to take up space and that what you have to say matters. I think I’ve gotten better at it in my 30’s. All of the women I know continue to get more interesting throughout the course of their lives. I hope to continue to challenge the status quo through my art.

I’m also grateful that the team I have around me brings so much levity to the table or it would look a lot like 10 Things I Hate About You around here.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Our band, Nicole Boggs & The Reel has made a habit of sharing uncomfortable truths. Rooted in three-part harmony and existential blues, we inject rock ‘n’ roll riffs and vindicated vocals into social commentary, holding a mirror to the absurdity of modern life.

We each bring drastically different personalities, philosophies, and influences to the table. We’ve crafted our sound by zeroing in on each other’s strengths and never shying away from hard conversations. On our upcoming album, I debut on the bass guitar which has centered the overall sound of guitars and voices.

This is the first collection of music that we’ve written almost entirely from the ground up as a vocal trio, with the addition of long-standing songwriting partners Connor Rand and KellyAnn Hocter.

The early days of the pandemic allowed us to use all that free time to develop a group of songs that marry each of our songwriting styles with our rock, soul, country, and pop music backgrounds (in no particular order!) in a more seamless way than ever before.

The themes explored in Dystopian Book Club evoke the times; Social isolation, civil unrest, navigating our virtual lives in the social media age, materialism, and mental health in an increasingly connected yet deeply fragmented world.

What does success mean to you?
Success? What’s success?

When I was a kid my dad constantly said, “You only got a minute. Only 60 seconds in it. Didn’t choose it. Can’t refuse, but it’s up to you to use it. Do it now. Do it now. Do it now.” I think that’s probably all you need to know about my feelings about success.

All jokes aside, I feel at my best when we’re in the middle of writing a song. The process of writing feels like catching a firefly in the dark. It’s the closest thing I know to magic and the only thing I truly believe in.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.nicoleboggsandthereel.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thereelnicoleboggs/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thereelnicoleboggs
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPa_WqSQsjQbkUXeVba4JsQ

Image Credits
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