you got your first guitar when you were 2 why get involved with music so young?
Obviously it wasn't a concious decision I was playing music ever since I came out of my mum's belly you know. But it was never forced upon me it was just something that I needed to do and it just came to me normally.So it was a personal choice it was never forced?
Oh god no it was never forced, my parents were great that way, you know. Sometimes when you are growing up it can be confusing coz your wondering do they want you to do that and when you get older and stuff only in the last three years have I realised that they are ok with me doing this because before they were like get a real job Wallis and stay secure and stuff. But I mean it was never forced upon me once, it was encouraged because they bought me new strings for my guitar when I only had a few left or something you know, they never held me back from it or told me that it wasn't something to do. My family love music as well I think they were happy if it shut me up I think.How hard was to overcome losing your fingers in the accident?
Well I was so young when it happened I don't think I relised how bad it must have been but, erm you know if your a kid you're like oh god I've no fingers so what do I do now?You just learn something else or you learn a different way but it definately changed my perspective on how to deal with things like erm I changed my guitar style, I changed what I did I learnt that even if somethin like that happens you just have to keep going and not let it drag you down because you will never better yourself you will always be a depressive person if you let stuff like that get you down you know.
How did it change the way that you play the guitar?
Well I had to learn to play it the opposite way so it was upside down inside out. I take a right handed guitar and just turn it left sided and don't change the strings or anything but my guitar style had to change then because you know erm I play top strings down and it just sounds a bit different I think.
Why be self taught why no guitar lessons?
Yes it was necessary, like the thing about the guitar, is like I just always wanted to play it. As I got older I realised how to put a cord together I will never forget the day I learnt to play a cord, it was like oh that's what that's supposed to sound like you know.
Then after that I taught myself and as I got older my sister's boyfriend made me play a little bit, he showed me how to play a G or something you know, and erm then when I went to college you learn tips off other musicians and you know you get experience off other musicians like they show you if you stum a certain way you won't get cramp after two hours and stuff like that. So it was just a learning curve for me but mostly I taught myself and I kind of had an own style for a long time before I realised a better way to do it.
What was it like recording the debut album?
It was fun it was really cool, I went into my own bubble for four months while recording it erm we barely left the studio for four months and erm it was really good fun we ate loads of good food and had loads of good fun. I got really creative and I could do what I wanted on the album like it was absolute freedom so it was really, it was, oh I'm really proud of it because I had so much freedom, I could do whatever I wanted on it so it was cool, good times (laughs).
What inspires you to write?
It's it's just in me it's that thing again where it's not a force thing in me or something I go out of my way to do erm it's just in me stuff like life, stuff like nature, different people I meet, oh god the usual things the trials and tribulations of life I suppose. Just everthing in my whole life went in to that album, it's very expressive and it's a really honest album for me I think it's very temperamental like me a well.
Who are your musical influences?
My dad was a DJ or twenty years and he has the most fantastic music in his house like he has every type of album in the whole world I mean world music, jazz, really crappy folk music he had everything. So I think that was what inspired me I got so many different rungs of music along the way I picked up bits of everything. I think that that's evident in my music as there are a few different styles in there, I think my dad was my musical influence.
What have you found to be the benefits of your Myspace page?
Oh it's brilliant I mean I get to talk to people personally, people who like the music or people who want to talk to me personally. I think that's great because if you like an artisit music and you want to talk to them personally you don't often get that chance but it's really cool now because alot of artists are taking it into their own hands and talking to their fans themselves, and that is really cool.
I mean almost every musician out there has it, it's really essential I mean what other platform is there that you can just go Myspace forward slash blah blah blah and get whoever's music who has just recorded on to a cassette player that day and put it on the internet for the whole world to hear. It's brilliant it's great. It's very cool for all artists out there.
Wallis Bird's 'Moonsets' EP is released 30 July.
Helen Earnshaw