Emily Nokes

Emily Nokes is a writer, artist, music critic and musician.[1] She has been the singer of the feminist pop-punk band Tacocat since 2007.[2] She is also the music editor for Bust Magazine, and the former music editor at The Stranger[3] from 2012 to 2015.

Early life

Nokes is from Butte, Montana[4][2] and started writing songs when she was a child.[5]

She moved to Seattle when she was 19 to become a graphic designer.[4] She attended The Seattle Art Institute where she met the bandmates who would later form Tacocat.[4]

Career

Music

Nokes is the lead singer, tambourine player and a songwriter for Tacocat. Her creative process involves writing down snippets of ideas in a notebook and workshopping them with other bandmates into full songs.[5]

When it’s time to start making new music, my bandmates usually get together and hash together instrumental ideas that they’ll show me via phone recording or practice jam. I then just start thinking about melodies and seeing if any of the lyrics fit, keeping the feeling of the music versus the feeling of the lyrics in mind, though I don’t mind (and sometimes prefer) sad-sounding music paired with silly lyrics or upbeat music paired with darker lyrics. It’s a fun little jigsaw puzzle for each song! Sometimes it snaps together right away, sometimes you have to tinker with it for weeks.[5]

As part of Tacocat, Nokes has received recognition from peers and critics alike, including The Seattle Times, Pitchfork and the AV Club.[6][7][8] La Sera's Katy Goodman has called Tacocat "the best band in the world."[9]

Politics

Nokes identifies as a feminist[3][10] and her songs address topics from catcalling to menstruation.[11] She is an activist for queer, anti-racist, and anti-transphobic causes, especially with regards to art:

We need to demand more from everything all the time — for women, for queer folks, for trans folks, for people of color, and for everyone else who lives outside of the standard-issue, mostly-white/mostly-male representation across all platforms of expression.[3]

Personal life

She is a Libra,[1] has a grey cat named Tinsel, [1] and lives on Capitol Hill,[2] a neighborhood in Seattle, Washington.[12]

She has said that if she weren't in a band, she would want to be a candy taster.[13]

References
  1. "Emily Nokes". Talkhouse. Retrieved 2018-03-10.
  2. "About A Band: Tacocat - Urban Outfitters - Blog". blog.urbanoutfitters.com. Retrieved 2018-03-10.
  3. "Tacocat's Emily Nokes Is BUST's New Music Editor!". Retrieved 2018-03-10.
  4. Pentilla, Annie. "Original Fest to feature Seattle band fronted by Butte native". Montana Standard. Retrieved 2018-03-10.
  5. Emily Maxwell (2016-04-04). "Tacocat". American Songwriter. Retrieved 2018-03-11.
  6. "TacocaT: Goofball punksters are enjoying the ride". The Seattle Times. 2008-07-04. Retrieved 2018-03-11.
  7. "Tacocat: NVM Album Review | Pitchfork". pitchfork.com. Retrieved 2018-03-11.
  8. Mincher, Chris. "Tacocat is too fun for forced classifications". Music. The A.V. Club. Retrieved 2018-03-11.
  9. "TacocaT". SXSW Schedule 2012. Retrieved 2018-03-11.
  10. "Tacocat's Emily Nokes Talks The X-Files, The Powerpuff Girls And Stage Anxiety: BUST Interview". Retrieved 2018-03-10.
  11. "Emily Nokes - The A.V. Club". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 2018-03-10.
  12. "SXSW Music: An Interview with Emily Nokes of Tacocat". anonmagazine.com. Retrieved 2018-03-10.
  13. "A Fiendish Conversation with Tacocat's Emily Nokes". Seattle Met. Retrieved 2018-03-11.
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