This Bird Has Flown
Her new record deals with locations, space and social upheaval: themes Wallis Bird knows only too well, as she discusses her artistic life and times with Craig Fitzpatrick
Craig Fitzpatrick, 03 Apr 2012
I nab Wallis Bird stage left in the curtained and cosy Live Room at The Music Show, moments after she wraps up a typically enthralling performance of her intricate yet raw folk. Still slightly breathless, the diminutive singer is nevertheless expecting me, all smiles. She’s also thankfully ready to talk, and by the end of our lengthy conversation, is apologising for talking quite so much, putting it down to “too much smoke.” The only problem? It would appear the one thing that the endlessly active Music Show doesn’t have is very many quiet areas. Go figure. So we wander through the cavernous venue, our progress slowed by young, beaming fans stopping Wallis every few feet. She has time for them all.
We finally end up in an empty space, plonked on the hard floor behind some boxes which shield us from the noise. Back in Ireland to start the campaign for her third album, the Meath-born, Wexford-bred star is currently based in London, though it’s in her nature to flit from place to place. In a Hot Press article some four years ago, she seemed particularly fond of her Brixton abode, which she described as “the best house in the universe.” Does she remain there to this day?
“Well, I got dumped…” she starts as my heart sinks. “So I had to move out of that house shortly afterwards! It was amazing when I had that article in Hot Press and then I had to leave the place less than two weeks later. It was really nice to have that piece though and I still go back regularly because my mates still live there. I’m in East London now, the Bethnal Green area.”
The life of a touring musician means you seldom stand still out of sheer necessity, but Wallis Bird has always had that wanderlust.
“I get really, really tired by habitual surroundings,” she nods. “When I’m home for too long I get very, very itchy. I get antsy. So I tend to move around quite a bit. Ever since I left school I was just eager to go… anywhere. It’s getting out and meeting different people and cultures, that’s where I think all my inspiration comes from.”
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