INTERVIEW: Wallis Bird
- Posted on July 10, 2007 6:57 PM
- 2 comments
Interview by Katie Spain
They call it the “Luck of the Irish” but after meeting Wallis Bird, I have another suggestion. Maybe it’s all down to sheer determination. Think about it.
Musician, Wallis Bird is not only one to watch… she’s a prime example of how a little Irish girl can turn a bit of bad luck into a life-defining positive. When Wallis was one-and-a-half years old her fingers were severed by a lawnmower. Even as this tender age, she had a love for the guitar and as soon as she was out of hospital she began playing again. Yes, you read it right – at one-and-a-half.
Most of us would use such an accident as an excuse to under-achieve but the little Irish poppet merely turned her instrument back to front and taught herself to play it upside down. What I see before me today is not only a captivating and bright-eyed little blonde, but also one of the most talented and unique artists of today. At twenty-four she has travelled the world and lived life the German way. These days she lives in London and it is here that we chat about her life and career so far – German ‘Essen’ included...
Do you still have your first guitar?
I do! The first one was a really, really small one and it’s still at home. As I got older it looked really old and scraped so I tried to paint it and messed it up. It’s still there… it looks like shit though. It’s got character!
Do you keep them all – I know it’s hard to part with them sometimes?
I’ve promised a few guitars to my friends because I’ve gotten new ones that I play. I definitely keep them all though – they’re an extension of yourself so I find it really hard because it’s a soul – not just a piece of wood.
Do you have a dream guitar?
(Wallis’ eyes light up) Yeah, it’s getting made… I’m making it with a guitar company and I should have it in about three months.
You started so young… and then obviously had the accident with the lawnmower – do you remember much about when it happened and how you overcame it to battle on playing?
I was one and a half years old. It was a kind of fighter flight thing… I was too young to go “Oh what do I do now?” I was kind of like ‘Well, this is what I have to do’ as a baby you don’t know any different. I was in hospital and that was a bummer but I got spoilt to death so that was great. After that, I was like, there’s my guitar again and started playing – even with a sore hand. When you’re a baby your body just has the ability to keep going on. If it had happened to me when I was eighteen or nineteen I think my mindset would be completely different. You’d feel that something that was really a part of you and that you really appreciated was gone. It’s grand it happened so early in my lifetime.
Do you meet other guitarists and blow them away?
A lot of guitarists I meet just (crane their necks and look bewildered) almost like “What are you doing?!” It’s funny because I can’t understand what right-handed people are doing and most guitarists can’t understand what I’m playing. One of my close friends from Ireland actually plays the same way I do which is really strange. I can’t understand a thing he’s doing.
Tell me about where you’re from originally?
I was born in a county which is next to Dublin – it’s probably about the same size but has a lot of countryside and stuff. When I was five years old my parents bought a pub down in the South East in a place called Wexford. My parents have a fantastic house in the country there and I try to get back as much as possible. I love it there; it’s just a dream house, it’s great.
There’s seven of you kids in the family… your mum must miss you even though she has six others!
She’s got six others yeah! I think the whole lot of us have our own lives now – we’re all grown up but seeing as I’m the second youngest I suppose I’m still a little bit of the baby. We call each other all the time and keep in contact because I find that it’s really depressing if I don’t go home for six months and then things change – I think I have to go more often!
Seeing my nieces, nephews and cousins… oh, I love kids and they grow so fast so I really try to get home as much as possible and spend time with them and my family. Oh God I’m getting all emotional! The thing with the Irish families was that about fifty years ago, a lot of them had to leave and not come back because they had to find work. So family is very strong in Ireland.
Did they manage to get over to see you when you lived in Germany?
Yeah, my sister and her husband and kids came over twice and my parents came over once for a really big gig. They kind of didn’t know what I was doing in Germany – but I was always like “I love it, I love it”. They’d say “Have you got any money” and I’d say “No but I love it, I love it!”
They came over when I had a big gig and were kind of like “Oh… okay”. I actually gave them a gift of a holiday to Spain and they said “Oh… but we’d prefer to go to Germany”.
Did you all like the food over there?
Oh... they loved it – I loved it! I love everything about it – the beer, the people, the restaurants, the way they pay for your food… all the tiny little things.
Let’s talk about your band members – tell me about your partners in crime? Did you meet them in Germany?
Well, it was half and half – I met Christian, the drummer through a workshop that we were doing. We were both in music college – he was in Germany, I was in Dublin and we met at a workshop in Germany and he then introduced me to his brother Michael and I was like, “Brilliant!”. The viola player (Aoife Sullivan) went to college with me in Dublin and she moved to Mannheim with me - the four piece went from there. Now we all live together!
It’s really nice – they’re such lovely people and we all get along really well. There are no secrets and we talk about everything between us so we just get on really well.
Now that you all live in London, where do you go for inspiration?
Since moving here I’ve found Brockwell Park really inspiring. A lot of dance artists, jugglers and clowns go down there to practise. There’s a lot of really cool people down there and I go down to lie in the grass and write in my journal. Brockwell Park is a really nice place for that.
You travel a lot right? It shines through in your music… what’s the most amazing place you’ve been to so far?
The coolest place with the music is.. Oh God, probably Hungary. We played a small gig in a big festival in Hungary and I know this famous guy over there who is an old hard core Rocker… he said “Come and support us” so we played in these old castle ruins to a thousand people. That was killer.
Your “MOODSETS” EP is released on 30th July, and you’ve got some gigs coming up before then… are you proud as punch?
To have something come out is a real relief for me because I’ve been waiting so long to get the songs out to the world but you can’t… you have to wait for the right time and get everything ready. I’ve been waiting a long time and I’m extremely excited – it’s more like a sigh of relief! I’m a bit worried because it’s my first proper release in England and Germany etc. I don’t know what people are going to think. I’m so happy with it though so I don’t care… if I can say that without sounding derogatory or something. I’m kind of like; “Say what you like because I’m happy and really excited to get it out there”.
You’ve been really well received – I heard you’ve had some overwhelmingly full gigs in Germany…
It was a great sign for us – we were like ‘shit, packed out… great for us!” But we felt really bad for the crowd – I had to throw water across because people were so hot and exhausted. I like smaller venues because they’re more intimate but next time we’ll get a bit more space and a bit more water.
Do you get nervous before hitting the stage?
I still get nervous but I’ve learnt to deal with it differently. I’ve learnt breathing techniques and I use them to calm down. We have this ‘gillie gillie’ thing (spelling yet to be confirmed!). It’s a kind of tradition… we all form a circle and tickle our chins – that calms me down a lot. If I have five minutes to do that then I’m grand.
You have your own publishing company ´Bird Records´ and your own record company ´Bird Songs’… you are one busy lady. Sounds like you make a lot of time for fun and mates though too…
Definitely! I make time for everything and the team that are around me are really fun be work with. So it’s not work and it’s not like “Shit I have to stay in the office now and do stuff” it’s absolutely just grand. The record company and the publishing company are absolutely no problem at all. I’m still nobody so there’s no massive amount of work coming in there. We’re working towards it all the time – our goals are so grounded. We aim to get the best we can as a team but we don’t want to be arseholes and aim for something we know we’re not able to or something that takes the fun out of what we’re doing. It’s really important that we enjoy what we’re doing and if it gets bigger then great and if not, at least we’ve had fun doing it.
CATCH WALLIS BIRD LIVE:
13 Jul 2007 20:00 - Latitude festival UK London
17 Jul 2007 20:00 - Cyprus Avenue Cork
18 Jul 2007 20:00 - Crawdaddy Dublin
19 Jul 2007 20:00 - Dolans Limerick
25 Jul 2007 20:00 - 93 Feet East London
15 Aug 2007 20:00 - Soho Revue Bar ***EP RELEASE SHOW!!!*** London
For a full list of dates, check out the Wallis Bird MySpace
Comments (2)
Leila
You are LOVELY wallis
Posted on October 10, 2007 9:51 AM
Stephen Dann
just seen you supporting gabrielle at Ipswich regent. You were great.
Posted on February 22, 2008 10:10 PM
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