The Irish newcomer Wallis Bird stopped in Vienna to talk with FM5 about her new Album, total silence in this loud world and her relationship with guitars.

FM5: First of all, we're sitting in a fancy hotel, its 9:30 in the morning; how do you feel right now?

Wallis: Good, I had a good breakfast, I'm happy. I'm in a nice city and I had a nice evening. Things are going nice. That's cool.

So, are you enjoying Vienna?

Yeah, I always enjoy Vienna. The people are nice, the culture is nice and the food is nice. The food is great, I love cake and coffee and of course the architecture is beautiful. It's a lovely city.

You’re going on a big tour. How do you find peace in all the chaos?

It can be really crazy. 60 days on tour and you think to yourself "oh my god". So every day you have to pace yourself and take your time. It helps not being too drunk, taking a little walk or seeing the city for like 20 minutes before the gig. It also helps if you got good people around you and good friends on tour because it can get very though very quickly and each gig is an hour and a half of full power and you come off and you’re fucked afterwards. But you have to think about your day and relax.

Did you expect the music business to be like that?

Yeah, I've been doing it for so long. This is a really nice time. A couple of years ago it was nice and in between it was a bitch. It's up and down. And thank god, if things were too easy, it becomes very boring and if I'm bored I can't find a lot of inspiration. It just becomes "flach". So it's good that it's up and down, because it's art and art is never easy. Art should never be boring.

Last year you won the Meteor Award for "Best Newcomer" and this year you are nominated for "Irish Female of the Year". How do you feel about that?

It is nice to become "Best Newcomer" and then "Best Female". I don't think about it too much because if I don't get it, it's not a big deal. It's not like I'm "The worst female". These kind of awards are lovely, it's nice to hear someone say "Hey Wallis, we like your music", and I say "Thank you".

Your latest album New Boots is coming out now. On your homepage you wrote that there were lots of ups and downs. You have all your life for your first album and just two for your second, what has changed?

I learned a lot more, I'm a bit older, I'm 27 now. I came from having a massive major label to have no label to looking for another label to get into one. So the business side was up and down. And my personal life too - from extreme heights to extreme lows. It's a very passionate album; it's a lot more adult than "Roots".
I didn't record just in the studio. I wanted to build the album around my life. So I brought the album to my parent's house and to lots of different locations and places like Ireland, Germany and England and to my flat in Brixton. Because I experimented more I felt like changed to the better, I think. You always have to move on, or you get bored. Do not repeat yourself.

On the album Roots in the song "To my bones" you sing "laughter and no TV". Television doesn't play a big part in your life?

It plays a very fucking small role. Television drives me insane. It's good for documentaries, but there is so much crap on TV. Plus, when you're in a room and there is a TV on nobody speaks - television is a conversation killer. I come from the background were we have lots to talk about because we live in this crazy world. So let's not watch TV, let us just talk.

On MySpace you wrote that you are inspired by every sound and word you hear around you and every moment that passes by. What inspires you in total silence?

Total silence is also amazing, like sleeping. Total silence is scary. I love noise. I love sound. I just came back from a skiing trip in Vorarlberg and you sit outside and there is nothing, not one sound. You think you're deaf. I don't have total silence that often because I think I'm a little too scared for total silence. Everything is an instrument, everybody is an instrument and there is so much to listen for because you hear so much. Like how you speak. It's just too much to take in sometimes, so I get really inspired and turned on from pretty much everything the world has to offer.

The Timeout Magazine compared you to Janis Joplin, did she have an influence on you?

Not until last year. I know her music; obviously it's like knowing the Beatles or something. She's just this crazy woman, she does what she wants and she lives how she wants and she got addictions. She is just so passionate and cool. I really love the way she lived. That's an inspiration. But she also hated herself; she thought she couldn't sing and that she is ugly. And that's really sad to see. A woman, who changed the world with her music could hate herself so much. All that hate inspires me because when you inspire so many people you have to look within yourself and think: "What do you like about yourself and what have you got to give?" So, she's an amazing woman.

You also recommend to huge a tree. How many times did you hug one?

It's really a joke, but have you ever seen a real big tree cut down? You can feel all the hurts because the tree means so much in this world. It grows and you see how old it is. I love nature with all my entire heart. You know this has to come from somewhere, this is wood. Just try not to consume so much and just appreciate nature more. I try not to buy too many things because someone has to make it and a tree has to come down for this. [knocks on the table] I just try to use things as much as I can and as often as I can. That's my main point: Just stop buying and use what you have.

Have you ever thought about living in the woods?

Sure, all the time. [laughs] Absolutely. That's what I wanted to do. My flat is very simple and all the stuff I have in my flat, all the furniture, comes from the street or I make it. I don't want much. Everything I own got a story and everything I have is very simple, but is very important to me.

I heard you were very excited about ordering a Heritage Cherry Gibson SG electric guitar. Do you share a special relationship with your instruments?

Oh yeah, absolutely. There is a lovely saying that your instrument is the extension of your soul. My guitars have names and they have personalities. If I feel a little bit mellow, I pick up this guitar because she is softer.

Is it always a "She"?

I have six guitars and two of them are men. The new Gibbson is a man because he's rough and when you pick him up you immediately feel the "rawr". [laughs] So, all of them have different parts of my personality. It's strange, but I really like talking to them. There is so much life behind them. Someone said, when you pick up Jimmy Hendrix Guitar you could feel him off the instrument because he lived through it. He put all his emotions and all his passion into this one guitar. And you pick it up and you're like "fuck" because you can really feel the person through.
It's just like you wear a jacket and that one fits you perfectly. And you give it to somebody else and it doesn't. You have to "bewohnen" the things you own because it's you who have to feel comfortable in it. For example, this jacket is not mine, it's my friend's one and it got holes in it and it's 15 sizes bigger than me, but I love it because it smells like my friend. In that way, everything has a story, everything has a meaning. It's nice to really connect to the things you own.

If you get the chance to stand in front of the whole population of this planet and you could say just two sentences - What would it be?

If I would have the chance to stay in front of the world to say something, I would say: "Everybody says: 'aaahhh'!" Because I want the whole world to say it together. How amazing would that be? To hear the whole world yell 'ahh' back to you. That would be so cool. The whole fucking universe would her you.

Imagine you were a DJ - like your father was, what kind of music would you play? Can you name five artists?

Dolly Parton, maybe some classical music like Bach; Tina Turner, Steve Reich and then I would play Prodigy probably. Yeah, something like that.

This decision must be hard for you because of your big music knowledge.

I really don't. If somebody says Led Zeppelin I say "Yeah of course I know Led Zeppelin", but I know nothing. I just know the main things. I never remember the names, but I think my main music knowledge is like everybody else's. I know nothing, so I try to take everything.

But you rose up with a lot of music around you.

Yeah, seven kids and they were all very, very different. My dad's music taste is so random. It was like growing up with somebody around you playing a fucking glass for half an hour. And really good rock and soul music too and good dance music like Underworld or Dubstep or Reggae. And everything you can imagine. My friends love music too, so they're like "Have a listen to this" and it's some Jewish Hip Hop. And you're like "What the hell?" It's just, there is so much music out there and it's brilliant to meet people who really listen.

Where do you see yourself in two years? What do you expect?

I don't think two years ahead, maybe one. I really don't know. I just want to continue playing music and just be happy where I am. Enjoy life and tour and that's pretty much it. I just want to be happy and continue playing music.


Wallis Bird will be playing on April, 23rd at the Flex in Vienna, on the 26th at the PPC in Graz and on the 27th at the Rockhouse in Salzburg. Don't miss it.