Nicole Boggs & The Reel are questioning everything. Rooted in three-part harmony and existential blues, they inject rock ‘n’ roll riffs and vindicated vocals into social commentary, holding a mirror to the absurdity of modern life.
Nicole Boggs (bass, lead vox), Alex Kramer (guitars, vox), and Sam Gyllenhaal (guitars, vox) bring drastically different personalities, philosophies and influences to the table. The songwriting team has crafted their sound by zeroing in on each other’s strengths and never shying away from hard conversations. They build common ground through the tension and release of creating together; they don’t settle until everyone is satisfied.
As a sidenote, I’m personally a huge fan of the Sam Gyllenhaal Band‘s IG content.
But in this interview spotlight, I chat with Nicole Boggs & The Reel about the latest jams, adapting during a pandemic, technology and more.
Full Q&A along with links and music below.
Where are you from and how do You describe your style of music?
We’re a Rock/Americana band based in Nashville, TN. The crew is Colorado-raised Nicole Boggs, Sam Gyllenhaal from Raleigh, NC and Nashville native Alex Kramer. We’ve been collaborators and co-writers for nearly a decade and now we’re releasing our third album 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.
How did you get here? As in, what inspired or motivated you to take on this journey through music and the music biz?
We all grew up in musical families so in different ways, it’s been a pretty natural thing for each of us. Nicole went to arts high school and then studied at Berklee College of Music. Alex grew up playing in the family band at church, and Sam was a boy-genius savant grown in a government lab deep underground. Various gigs and odd jobs have always kept us going, but music is an innate language that we feel compelled to share. It’s a part of us.
How does your latest project compare/contrast with your previous release(s)? Were you setting out to accomplish anything specific, follow a specific theme, or explore different styles of creation?
Nicole debuts 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. Throw all that in with some good old fashioned heartbreak and you’ve got an album by millenials. It’s also fun to shimmy to!
Name the biggest challenge you faced as a creative during these unprecedented times? How did you adapt? How have you kept the creative fires burning during all of this?
Aside from the obvious obstacle of making a living, the biggest challenge has truly been not getting to play in front of real, live human beings. We missed the sweat and energy exchanged in a room full of strangers. The only feeling that comes close is the process of creating, but a song almost doesn’t feel real until you get to play it for someone else. We’re back on stage at this point, but every gig feels kind of like a revelation- a remembering of who we are. This video was actually one of our first nights back in front of an audience and probably the best day of the whole year.
We immediately jumped on the livestreaming train when everything locked down. We were streaming twice a week for the majority of the year and that’s how most of this album fell into place. We worked out the kinks and arrangements with the camera on and recorded the whole thing. We used those performances to build up what became Dystopian Book Club. In fact, there are pieces of the original performances woven throughout the album. Having so much uninterrupted time to make music together really helped to solidify our sound and find clarity in what we’re trying to say.
The creativity was kept alive out of necessity almost. Nicole reread a lot of classic dystopian fiction in 2020 and the themes worked their way into the writing room. Having writing sessions on the calendar not only gave us all something to do, but a place to talk about the fucked up shit going on. We believe in tough conversations and emotional transparency and the power of humor to guide us through it all. Stories have a way of silencing the inner critic and connecting people. Writing songs gave us all a place to land.
What was the last song you listened to?
Nicole: “Unwell” by Matchbox 20. A bass player friend of ours (S/O to Chris Croce) recently brought it up and it’s been on repeat in my car ever since. There’s something fascinating about looking at songs you grew up on through the eyes of an adult with a handful of heartbreaks and a stack of bills to pay. I love the dichotomy of the feel-good guitars with the depth of the lyrics. Rob Thomas’ makes me feel seen.
Alex: I had to sing “Hard Times” by Ray Charles yesterday for a gig. Similar feelings, it brought me back to my formative years. I love that feeling of time-travel that our favorite songs give us. I always feel like I should have some recently released music to recommend, but I spend most of my time rediscovering and studying the greats of the twentieth century. I’m a fuddy-duddy.
Sam: I hopped in my car about 10 minutes ago and my Prius likes to automatically shuffle through my old iTunes library, which hasn’t been updated since 2010. Jay-Z’s “Hard Knock Life” came on and I turned that shit up. Usually I immediately switch to Spotify but tonight I let that one play because it’s hot, hot fire. The chorus is a sample from the musical “Annie” so it doesn’t get any more badass than that.
Which do you prefer? Vinyl? 8-tracks? Cassettes? CDs? MP3s? Streaming platforms?
Alex: We have to acknowledge the convenience of streaming for the access it gives us to the wider world. We just wanna play shows and share stories with as many people as we can. But my vinyl collection is my prized possession. Now THAT’S time travel for real. We’re hoping we’ll eventually release this record on vinyl at some point if we can afford it! I’m a bit of a format junkie so I think each has their own distinct personality. Physical copies of music are now souvenirs as much as anything else so the inner packrat in me loves collecting records, tapes, and CDs of my favorite artists.
Nicole: I have benefited greatly from Alex’s vinyl collection. I don’t have one myself, but I’m pretty sure it’s every musician’s ultimate life goal to build up the quintessential record collection. I love the idea of cassettes coming back! Maybe that’s my next investment. I do most of my listening on streaming platforms these days- because I’m a masochist. I bet I log the most hours on Apple Podcasts though. I’m deeply obsessed with Marc Maron and find that a lot of song ideas are sparked from me listening to other creative people in conversation.
Sam: I too do most of my listening on Spotify these days, but CDs have a special place in my heart, especially mixes I burned. I was always attempting to make the BEST mix CD my mom’s car had ever ingested. My own personal “Now That’s What I Call Music 567”. It was always a super eclectic combination but track 1 was always “One Headlight” by the Wallflowers. There was usually some Fastball on there. I fucking love Fastball.
Where is the best place to connect with you and follow your journey?
Instagram @thereelnicoleboggs or Youtube as well as www.nicoleboggsandthereel.com for all latest releases and tour dates!
I really appreciate Your time. Anything else before we sign off?
The whole record will be out August 1st. The next single, “Queen of the Dive” comes out on April 28th. We’ve got more live videos like this one to come from a very special night at local studio, The Sanctuary with all of our friends and family. Give us a follow and share the music if you dig it!
