In Nicola’s own words:

During the 90s I played bass and sang in Australian indie band Swirl. We started in a northern beaches garage (actually, in our case it was a Yurt and a granny flat), as many bands do, and soon our musical chemistry was good enough for us to begin playing the Sydney pub circuit and build a following. Luckily Nic Dalton and Stephen Pavlovic, two of the mainstays of the Australian independent music scene liked what they saw in Swirl and we were soon releasing records and touring. We enjoyed numerous releases through Half A Cow Records in Australia, Kitty Records in Japan and Dirt Records in the US.

Swirl had fun touring America twice, being called “one of the top 10 buzz bands” of the CMJ Music Seminar, and zig-zagging across the country in a van, dodging deer, playing local bars and clubs with underground bands and more well-known ones like Yo La Tengo, Luna, Straitjacket Fits and Mo Tucker’s band. In Australia, we supported international acts My Bloody Valentine, Ride, Ned’s Atomic Dustbin and The Lemonheads, played Homebake and Livid Festivals, and toured with local bands including Ratcat, The Hummingbirds, Plunderers, The Falling Joys, Underground Lovers, You Am I, Crow, Tumbleweed, Glide, Smudge, and The Daisygrinders. Being part of Swirl was a great experience and flatteringly Drum Media’s Mark Neilsen rated us as criminally underrated, while Revolver Magazine’s Mike Gee rated Swirl as amongst his Top 50 Australian Bands of all time.

By 1997 I left Swirl and the music scene, spending the next decade living a quiet domestic life. Music is a passion that never leaves you though, and one day I found myself knocking on the door of Troy Horse studios in Brisbane ready to record. Much to my delight Mickey Levis, who had recorded and mixed Swirl in the old days stood at the door, and produced my first solo release, an EP Searching for the Goddess which was released in 2008.

Simon Topper, Rave Magazine said,

‘Searching For The Goddess…is the sound of an artist. Creating art. The local singer-songwriter has compiled a variety of songs on this EP that are achingly gentle on the ears, like a series of tunes played not by traditional guitars and keyboards, but carried in on the breeze… what is virtually audible is Nicola Schultz pouring her soul into this serene project’.

This was followed up with an album Union in 2010 produced by Brian Mann. Union had some success, gaining radio airplay in Madrid, San Francisco and Canada, and was picked up as the official backing music for the 2010 ATOM Awards (Australian Teacher of Music), hosted by Vince Colosimo in Melbourne’s Regent Theatre.

Photography is another passion of mine and in 2008 I was asked to exhibit my photography series ‘The Magic in Nature’ in the ArtGroupie 2008 exhibition in Sydney, and contribute the song ‘Shih’ from Searching for the Goddess to the exhibit CD. Happily I was asked back for the ArtGroupie 2012, which displayed my ‘Coming Home’ photo, and had the single, Dance of Life from Soundtracks for Carparks on the ArtGroupie 2012 CD.

Between 2011 and 2013 I also jammed intermittently with Ben and David from Swirl in Sydney. We played reunion gigs in Sydney and Melbourne which financed the purchase of a new film camera for the continued making of the documentary, If It’s Catchy It Means You Stole It about Nic Dalton and his label Half A Cow Records and the bands involved in it by Jarrad Kennedy.

My second solo album Soundtracks for Carparks was released in 2013, produced by Mickey Levis near Castlemaine, Victoria with contributions on violin and sitar by Nicolas Lyon.  We recorded this album off the grid at Mickey’s home studio with occasional visits to the petrol station to fuel the diesel generator when the sun no longer supported the solar panels.  However, the sun came out when Nicolas sat down on a cushion and started playing the sitar.

In 2016, Cherry Red Records in the UK, released a 5 CD Shoegaze compilation entitled Still in a Dream with Swirl song, The Last Unicorn being the only Australian contribution.

In 2016/2017 I wrote my third solo album inspired by my personal journey through cancer and chemotherapy.  The songs were written on guitar and piano and I also composed string scores for some songs.  The album evolved with producer Mickey Levis and his counter melody contributions on guitar and bass guitar.  There were sessions involving percussion and marimba by Jess Ciampa, piano performed by Phil Dooley, Seaboard by Simon Lee, violin by Tim Wickham, cello by Alex Voorhoese, and an additional harmony to the track, Fly Me to the Moon by Annie Morabito.  The album was recorded & mixed in 2018/2019 in Bendigo, Mount Macedon, Canberra, Sydney and Woy Woy, and in 2019 was mastered by William Bowden.

In 2019 for the 25th year anniversary of  The Last Unicorn album by Swirl, Library Group Records in Sydney reissued the album on double vinyl.

I am currently living and enjoying life in Canberra and will complete a Bachelor of Education Studies degree (incorporating music subjects including composition, musicianship, music technology and film composition) at the end 2021.

My new album Majesty was written, recorded and produced on my own at home over the past year with drum contributions from Simon Lee on half the tracks.

Majesty was mastered by William Bowden who said, ‘Well Majesty is the right name for this record, beautiful!’