JENNY LEE (WARPAINT) launches Sierra Swan

Today on LaunchLeft, guest host Rich Tupica chats with Jenny Lee Lindberg for a candid conversation about longevity and creativity, collaboration, and artistic independence. Jenny opens up about balancing music and painting, Warpaint’s evolving future, and finding freedom through visual art. Then, Jenny launches Sierra Swan, who reflects on growing up around music, self-producing her work, and embracing a fearless DIY spirit. Together, they discuss Los Angeles nightlife, artistic authenticity, dance, and why creating without compromise matters more than ever.

What You Will Learn in This Episode:
✅ How Jenny Lee balances painting, songwriting, and life outside Los Angeles

✅ Why Sierra Swan embraces complete creative control over her music and visuals

✅ The impact of the changing music industry on independent artists

✅ How friendship, dance, and artistic community fuel long-term creativity

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TIMESTAMPS:

00:00 Rich Tupica welcomes Jenny Lee
01:10 Jenny discusses leaving Los Angeles for Salt Lake City and how that’s impacted her creative process
04:08 Jenny opens up about ADHD, hyper-focus, and creative deadlines
05:28 Warpaint’s upcoming Meltdown Festival performance and band hiatus
08:00 Painting as therapy and rediscovering creativity during the pandemic
10:00 Jenny reflects on collaborating with Dave Gahan
14:50 Dream collaborators: André 3000 and Mark Rothko
20:14 Jenny discusses burnout and the changing music industry
28:16 Sierra Swan is launched. She shares how she met Jenny at Burning Man
37:20 Sierra previews her upcoming EP Mistress of Love and her DIY creative process

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

💎Creativity thrives in freedom. Painting gave Jenny a level of artistic freedom she rarely experienced in collaborative music settings. Working alone allows her to reconnect with her instincts and create without compromise or outside pressure.

💎Sierra Swan sees value in handling every aspect of her creative work herself—from songwriting and directing videos to self-releasing music.

💎The music industry has dramatically changed. Jenny reflects on how exhausting and financially unsustainable the modern music business has become for many artists. Streaming culture and constant online promotion have fundamentally shifted artistic careers.

💎Community and friendship sustain artists. Jenny and Sierra’s decades-long friendship demonstrates the importance of encouragement, collaboration, and mutual inspiration.

ABOUT THE GUESTS:

Jenny Lee Lindberg is a multidisciplinary artist whose creative work bridges the raw pulse of post-punk music with the intuitive expressionism of visual art. She is best known as the bassist and founding member of the critically acclaimed band Warpaint.

Parallel to her music career, Jenny Lee is a prolific painter whose visual work reveals the same spontaneity and emotional honesty that defines her sound. Working primarily in acrylics and mixed media, her paintings often explore form, color, and gesture through an abstract lens. Her visual art, like her music, resists easy categorization - favoring mood, movement, and process over polish or perfection.

With a DIY ethos and a fiercely independent spirit, Jenny Lee continues to evolve as an artist across mediums, crafting immersive experiences that are deeply personal, rhythmically rich, and emotionally resonant.

Sierra Marie Swan was born in the San Fernando Valley with music in her blood. Her father Billy Swan had his first hit when he was sixteen with Lover Please. During Sierra’s many nights backstage while her father played rhythm guitar for Kris Kristofferson, she conjured up her own dreams of becoming a professional musician.

As a teenager, Sierra listened to Prince, Queen, Oingo Boingo, The Beatles, Grant Lee Buffalo, Mozart and Patsy Cline. It was Patsy Cline who inspired her singing career. When she was 16 she began playing at L.A. coffeehouses.

In 1997 Sierra joined the alternative rock band Dollshead and was signed to MCA Records. Two years later Sierra decided to leave the band and become a solo artist signing with Atlantic Records. She went on to work with some illustrious producers including Chad Hugo from The Neptunes, Howard Benson, Anne Preven and Scott Cutler. It was during the making of this record that she met Linda Perry. While they began to collaborate on material for her album she was let go from her contract with Atlantic. Linda decided to sign her to her label via Interscope, and Ladyland was released shortly thereafter.

Typical of the music industry, she was let go from her contract with Interscope. Not to be deterred, Sierra decided to make it on her own producing and performing the beautiful and haunting EP entitled “Coward", followed by “Queen of the Valley,” Sierra’s 80’s pop homage to her Valley Girl roots. She then produced her third full length album ‘Girl Who Cried Wolf’, following a cover EP with her critically acclaimed father Billy Swan at the legendary Sun Studios in Memphis.

Sierra has also toured and collaborated with the likes of The Smashing Pumpkins, William Patrick Corgan, Aimee Mann, Bill Bottrell, Dave Stewart, Linda Perry, Ringo Starr, and Frank Black.

Sierra Swan embodies the true spirit of a musical artist. She’s had major label deals and major label drops. Through it all Sierra doesn’t miss a beat.

In 2013 she began recording her most personal record yet with William Patrick Corgan sitting in the producer's chair.

In William's words “Sierra’s new songs are the best batch of material I have heard from any songwriter in forever.” The album named Good Soldier is available for download here. This whimsically gorgeous album is a must have album. The outcome of Sierra Swan's Good Soldier is truly remarkable. There is simply nobody like her.

Currently Swan is recording an EP in her basement in her Minneapolis home. There is also another project brewing but she is not quite sure what will become of it...yet.

RESOURCES:

LaunchLeft Podcast Smart Link

GUEST RESOURCES:

JENNY LEE LINKS:

https://www.jennyleelindberg.com/

https://www.instagram.com/jennylibrary/

https://www.instagram.com/warpaint/

https://www.warpaintwarpaint.com/

https://www.youtube.com/@WarpaintOfficial

SIERRA SWAN LINKS:

https://www.sierraswan.com/

https://www.instagram.com/sierraswan/