Swim School are a Scottish alternative rock band formed in 2018, comprising lead vocalist Alice Johnson, guitarist Lewis Bunting, drummer Billy McMahon and bassist Lee Brown.

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Swim School (stylised in lowercase as swim school) are a Scottish alternative rock band formed in 2018, comprising lead vocalist Alice Johnson, guitarist Lewis Bunting, drummer Billy McMahon and bassist Lee Brown.\n

The band have released three extended plays, a mixtape, and their self-titled debut album Swim School in October 2025. They have supported acts including Inhaler, Biffy Clyro and Suede, and frequently cite Wolf Alice and Slowdive as influences. Swim School's work is generally categorised as alternative rock and indie rock.\n

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History

\nSwim School were formed in late 2018 in Edinburgh. Initially comprising Alice Johnson, Lewis Bunting, Matt Mitchell, and Nairn Milne, they released their debut single, \"Sway\", in February 2019. Their debut performance was in Galashiels, which took place in 1 March 2019, which was a support slot for Indigo Velvet, another Edinburgh-based band. In October 2020, Johnson stated that their set had been marred by a \"40-something stranger\" heckling sexist abuse at Johnson before and during the performance, prompting her to struggle to hold back tears while performing and to break down after leaving. They released their second single, \"Take You There\", the following June. Swim School spent around a year gigging until the COVID-19 lockdown, causing the band to break from gigs and instead concentrate on writing. Billy McMahon, former drummer of Indigo Velvet was invited to join the band in June 2020 after a period of him assisting with live streams.

The band released an EP, Volume 1, in 2021, and then the single \"Let Me Inside Your Head\" that March. By May, Milne had left the band. That month, they released the single \"Outside\", their first without Milne and performed a cover version of Taylor Swift's \"Love Story\" for a BBC live session. \"Outside\" was written about cutting toxic people out of their lives, while \"Love Story\" was added after the band decided to incorporate a cover into the set and rummaged through some Spotify playlists. The following month, they released \"Anyway\" and announced their second EP, Making Sense of It All, which comprised tracks about Johnson's mental state over lockdown and was released in August 2021.\n

After releasing Making Sense of It All, Swim School spent a period gigging. By June 2022, the band were signed to LAB Records; by that November, the band comprised Johnson, Bunting, and McMahon. That month, they released the single \"Kill You\", which Johnson had written the previous February about being comfortable enough in a relationship to show quirks. In February 2023, they announced their second EP Duality and released the single \"Delirious\". Duality, which had been recorded at Narcissus Studios in London and produced by Iain Berryman, took its title from the fact that it comprised love songs and angry songs, while Johnson wrote \"Delirious\" in a fit of rage after suffering from constant misogyny from sound engineers during festival season. A further single, \"Don't Leave Me Behind\", was released in April 2023, with Duality released in June 2023.\n

Two weeks after Duality was released, the band re-released that album's track \"Bored\", a more positive derivative of \"Delirious\", in an attempt to surprise their fans. \"Bored\" was featured on the soundtrack of EA Sports FC 24. The band supported Inhaler on their Cuts & Bruises tour in November 2023 and were featured on Dork's \"Hype List 2024\" the month after. In January 2024, the band released \"Give Me A Reason Why\", announced their \"Seeing It Now\" tour for April and May 2024, and released their debut mixtape, Seeing It Now. The last of these featured a cover of Pixies' \"Where Is My Mind\" and a new version of their earlier track \"See Red\", with physical copies also sporting a cover of their earlier track \"Anyway\". Their October 2025 album Swim School reached No. 4 in the Scottish Official Charts.\n

Artistry

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The band have frequently cited Wolf Alice and Slowdive as influences and have described themselves as a \"Tesco Value\" version of the former. Johnson credits Wolf Alice lead singer Ellie Rowsell as her inspiration for being in a band and idolised Taylor Swift and Beyoncé growing up. Bunting has stated that he was a big Metallica fan in his youth and wanted to be Swim School's answer to James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett. For their cover of Swift's \"Love Story\", Johnson was inspired by a grungy take on Bon Iver she had seen on Triple J; Andy Von Pip of Under the Radar wrote that their rendition \"turned a sweet, romantic optimistic pop song into a heavy dystopian doom rocker\".\n

Additionally, the band have cited Jaws, Pale Waves, Palace, Foals, Ben Howard, Boards of Canada, Paolo Nutini, My Bloody Valentine, the Cure and the Smashing Pumpkins as influences for their work. Writing in July 2021, Sophie Williams of NME described the band's works as indie pop, while Johnson's vocals were described by Skiddle in January 2024 as having a \"Hayley Williams-esque delivery\". Finlay Holden of Dork described Making Sense of It All as a mix of indie rock, grunge, and dream pop, while Mala Mortensa of Alternative Press described \"Let Me Inside Your Head\"'s vibe as \"expect[able] from a Halsey-fronted version of Nirvana\".\n

Members

Current\n

Alice Johnson – lead vocals, guitar (2018–present)
Lewis Bunting – guitar (2018–present)
Billy McMahon – drums (2020–present)
Lee Brown – bass (2025–present)

Former\n

Matt Mitchell – bass (2018–2025)
Nairn Milne – drums (2018–2021)

Discography

Studio albums

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Mixtapes

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Extended plays

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Singles

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Tours

Headlining

Swim School This Is The Headline Tour (2025)
Seeing It Now Tour (2024)

Supporting

Lovejoy – Inselaffe Tour (2023; three shows)
Grandson - I Love You, I'm Trying Tour (2023; seven shows)
Inhaler – Cuts & Bruises Tour (2023; two shows)
The Amazons - December 2023 Tour (2023; ten shows)
The Royston Club - UK Spring Tour (2024; four shows)
The Charlatans - Queen's Park (2024; one show) [1]
Pale Waves - UK Smitten Tour (2024; 11 shows)
Suede - Dancing With The Europeans Tour (2026; 19 shows)
Biffy Clyro - Edinburgh Summer Sessions (2026; one show)
The Libertines - Discovery Festival, Plymouth (2027; one show)

Notes

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References

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swim school

Broadcast History