Editing Swans (band) (section)

==== Initial influences ====
[[Michael Gira]] has repeatedly stated he took the moniker Swans as it best described the sound he wanted.<ref name="majestic">{{cite web |url=http://www.flowersinagun.com/interview-with-michael-gira-from-swans/ |title=Interview with Michael Gira from Swans |access-date=May 5, 2015 |work=Flowers in a Gun |date=January 21, 2013 |archive-date=November 15, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141115080337/http://www.flowersinagun.com/interview-with-michael-gira-from-swans/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Gira's summation of the name follows along the lines of: "Swans are majestic, beautiful looking creatures. With really ugly temperaments."<ref name="majestic"/>

The earliest known lineup of Swans comprised Gira on bass guitar and vocals, [[Jonathan Kane]] on drums, Sue Hanel on guitar, Mojo on percussion and tape loops and [[Thurston Moore]], Dan Braun or Jonathan Tessler on the second bass guitar.<ref name="Swans allmusic">{{cite web |last=Jurek |first=Thom |title=Swans Bio |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/swans-mn0000034988/biography |access-date=February 4, 2020 |work=[[AllMusic]] |archive-date=July 23, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130723220714/https://www.allmusic.com/artist/swans-mn0000034988/biography |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Jonathan Kane and Swans">{{cite journal |last=Carden |first=Andrew |date=January 3, 2002 |title=Jonathan Kane and Swans |journal=[[Mojo (magazine)|Mojo]] |url=https://younggodrecords.com/blogs/press/13026405-jonathan-kane-and-swans |access-date=January 1, 2019}}</ref> Tessler also played metal percussion and tape loops in another variation of the line-up with Gira on bass, Moore on guitar, and Kane on drums. Hanel's only recordings with the group are on the compilation ''[[Body to Body, Job to Job]]'', but the ambiguous personnel credits do not make it clear on which songs she performed. Kane stated that "Sue was the most fearsome guitarist we'd ever heard in New York. She was unbelievable."<ref name="Jonathan Kane and Swans"/>

Hanel did not stay long in the group, and by the time of their recording debut she had been replaced by Bob Pezzola.<ref name="Nobody Knows No Wave">{{cite web |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/non_fictionreviews/3670741/Nobody-knows-No-Wave.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/non_fictionreviews/3670741/Nobody-knows-No-Wave.html |archive-date=January 12, 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Nobody Knows No Wave&nbsp;– Telegraph |last=Culkin |first=Jessamy |date=January 28, 2008 |work=[[The Daily Telegraph|telegraph.co.uk]] |access-date=February 20, 2013}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Browne |first=David |date=June 2, 2009 |title=Goodbye 20th Century: A Biography of Sonic Youth |publisher=Da Capo Press |isbn=978-0306816031}}</ref> This lineup of the group also featured saxophonist Daniel Galli-Duani, who had previously played with Kane as the avant-garde duo Transmission.<ref name="Nobody Knows No Wave"/> The debut EP, ''[[Swans (album)|Swans]]'', released on Labor, is markedly different from anything they would do later.<ref name="Nobody Knows No Wave"/>  However, the [[minimalist music|minimal]] chord structures owe more to [[blues]], while the [[jazz]] instrumentation and awkward time signatures are evidence of Swans' roots in the [[no wave]] scene of the late 1970s,<ref name="Nobody Knows No Wave"/> which had more or less collapsed by the release of 1984's ''[[Cop (album)|Cop]]''.<ref name="Swans allmusic"/>