wallis2012721613705A powerhouse of Irish music, Wallis Bird has become a household name throughout Ireland since the release of her debut album ‘Spoons’ in 2007, with her infectious melodies, incredible passion and mind-blowing live shows. GoldenPlec caught up with her ahead of her upcoming performance at the Body & Soul Festival to talk family, gigs and guitars.

Growing up in a musical family, was there even a chance that Wallis would grow up without musical talents? We asked Wallis about how much her family influenced her now blossoming career in music. “Hugely. My parents gave me my first guitar when I was 6 months old. We’re a big family, seven kids, and music was the thing that kept us all individual and in turn brought us together. My father was a DJ and my grandfather was a sean nós singer, so music was always there to punctuate everything in my life. It was the only thing I really ever understoo, since I was born. It shaped me to learn how to entertain, how to let loose and enjoy life, how music is a healer and a communicator.”

Wallis is known for her passionate live shows, full of life, heat and love of her craft, which shines through in both her gigs and recorded material. However, with the ups and down of moving around, facing criticism, and putting yourself in the limelight night after night, does the passion ever waiver? Wallis spoke a little about her passion, and how she manages touring – “I just simply love playing. I think the passion I have moves in waves. Mostly it’s a positive energy, but you have to flow with the negative times too and come out the other end, so having the opportunity to just expel everything from you in a gig is so liberating. Each gig is its own – I tend not to lean on comforts of just ‘getting through a gig’, there’s always something I want to learn or need to feel from being there, playing, experiencing the space with others. It’s too nourishing, exciting, and random. I never get bored by that.”

So with all the moving around, how has the music been affected? As well as touring, Wallis has lived in Galway, London and Germany. We asked her a little about how this has changed her sound and approach to her music – “Mostly my music is about capturing moving energy and moments, and each place I’ve moved to was because I needed fresh air, to be inspired by my new environment. So I would delve into the local ways, the clichés, the bars, the people, the food cultures whatever, just to find rhythm or melodic patterns that tie people together. So far I’ve left myself as a blank canvas every time I travel, just to see where it takes me musically, because no matter where I go, it’s the only language absolutely everyone can speak.”

And with all of this moving, growing up and experience, have the albums turned into a biography of sorts, acting almost as a log of Wallis’s life? We asked was this progression the result of a growing up process – “Yeah of course. My first album was excitable, kinda jazzy and quite a love letter, so it was self-gratifying. The second was a boisterous and somewhat sad and angry bash at constructed creativity. It was also a lesson in healing the anger and sadness by physically dragging yourself out of a dark patch. My third is a slower reflection on being a person in your twenties in western ‘civilisation’ in 2012. Less of self, more observant and challenging. Fuck knows where this fourth is going to take me, I only know the title is ‘Architect’. I’m really enjoying writing it so far. It’s a leap from my last ones.”

The latest album ‘Wallis Bird’ was written while Wallis travelled between three countries – Ireland, the UK and Germany. This led to a diverse range of cultural influences and situations. Wallis spoke about this combinations of cultures, culminating in this album – “I feel like I’ve evenly spaced myself between these countries. I feel like I know them, so I chose really interesting spaces in them to feel comfortable yet inspired. What happened in Connemara was I became a recluse due to the sheer solitude I was hit with there. London, right between the riots, so you can only imagine how pent up and exciting that was socially. Also really grim to see the PM ridicule people for feeling like they have no direction, saying the violence was mindless. Not bothering to ask why, so maybe it could be understood or rectified. It was a real cop out, so that gave me huge strength to speak my mind on simple inequality. Berlin, well I was recording in an enormous communist Foley building from the DDR in 1940’s. It was very strange and I felt haunted, emotionally. The building is just stuck in a complete time warp.”

Wallis’ personal style of performance reflects a lot of individuality, something that many artists lose with success and growing popularity as performers. It’s something Wallis Bird has seen a lot of over the last few years. What does this mean to her and her band? “It only means so much when you feel you are actually being satisfied for the work you put in. My definition of success is not monetary or material. Any band who’ve played together long enough will tell you, it’s a dream, but it can also be a quite unglamorous, and then sometimes it can be a real fuckin’ task. Mentally and physically you’re bearing your soul, so some fruits of your labour are important. So with this energy-consuming career, constant creative strains, and putting yourself on stage night after night, is this taking a toll on Wallis? Has any of the passion waned?  “When you’ve been so long working at it, it becomes important to take the next step, feel self-worth and keep going. I actually know I would never ever stop doing this, so I’m satisfied as a default!”

So now Wallis is in the middle of writing her fourth album ‘Architect’. What can her fans expect from this one? “Yeah I’m deep in the writing process of my next album. I began with the title this time around, so I could again start on a different foot and see where that takes me. I’m digging heavy bass lines and house music type beats. I’m incorporating synth ideals being played on real instruments and being played over a banging beat. I’m aiming for noisy and charging simplicity mostly. Also, my voice feels like it’s gone into a more ‘womanly’ manner which I’m quite enjoying playing with, so we’ll see, I seem to be writing sexed up tunes lately! I’m very happy at the moment. Much much less touring, sitting down and writing… good times!”

Wallis Bird will be performing at the 2013 Body&Soul Festival in Ballinlough Castle, Co. Westmeath which runs over the Summer Solstice weekend from June 21st – 23rd . For full line-up details and ticketing information visit www.bodyandsoul.ie