Taking Flight

By Joe Kavanagh

As a race, the Irish are certainly no strangers to the concept of moving away from home in order to better themselves and, proportionately speaking, perhaps no other nationality has exported its people around the globe quite like us.

As the old line goes, there are only three things you will find in every country in the world: a bottle of Coke, a Volkswagen Beetle and an Irish person, and although the gushing torrent that ran from the 1840s to the early 1990s has currently slowed to little more than a trickle, something of the nomad remains deeply ingrained in our self-identity.

Despite the advent of the Celtic Tiger, many Irish continue to travel abroad in search of everything from wealth to cultural enlightenment, a trend that is unlikely to change any time soon, and musicians are certainly no different in this regard.

Though we were not always exactly welcome, the US has accommodated more of our race than any other state on earth and over the years musicians have been among the many Irish success stories.

Names like Van Morrison, Sinead O'Connor and Makem and The Clancy's all enjoyed success on the left-side of the Atlantic before they ever truly broke through in their home country, and it is a trend that continues Stateside today with acts like U2, Snow Patrol and, more recently, Oppenheimer.

Lately another star has begun to burn brightly on the Irish landscape, after achieving overseas success but instead of the usual British or American route, this young singer has come back carrying her shield after cracking the world's second largest music market: Germany.

And if you think that is an unlikely place for an Irish person to launch a career then you should see the path that has taken her here because virtually nothing about Wallis Bird could be termed orthodox.

Born in Co. Meath and raised in Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford, even Wallis Bird's name has a peculiar origin.

Though her mother likes to claim that her name was inspired by famed US divorcee, Wallis Simpson, who was evidently beautiful enough to force Edward VII to abdicate the English throne, the truth of the matter is that her name was inspired when her parents were out driving one day and her pregnant mother noticed a sign for Wallis Coal, and immediately took a shine to the name.

Given her father's 20-year career as a DJ, it was hardly surprising that she developed a love of music, but what was startling was the fact that she developed an interest in guitar while only six months old, though she later recalled: "It was never forced on me, I used to dance on it, before I realized you put it round your shoulder."

Her burgeoning love for the instrument was nearly cut short, literally and figuratively, when five of the fingers on her left hand were severed as the result of an accident with a lawnmower when she was only 18-months-old.

Thankfully, however, doctors managed to reattach four of her digits and within weeks she was back attempting to play despite still being in bandages and suffering more than a degree of pain.

If a silver lining can be found in such a considerable cloud then it was the fact that the naturally left-handed Bird stuck with her right-handed guitar, instead choosing to simply turn it upside down, giving her an incredibly distinct style that would eventually manifest itself as one of the many factors that separated her from the crowd.

With such a unique technique, it is hardly surprising that she is almost exclusively self-taught, though she has absorbed a multitude of methods from other guitarists and by the time she reached high school she was already playing in bands and had a litany of songs written.

Upon finishing her schooling, and encouraged by her parents, she decided to attend Dublin's Ballyfermot Rock School, later saying of the decision: "After I left school. I thought do I go to college to study something that I'm really not interested in, or do I go and see what I can do with the music. I really had no direction and I think when I was about 18, I started thinking, 'what am I doing?' I didn't want to give up music to work a nine to five, so I went to Music College."

On her first day, she met fellow student, Aoife O'Sullivan and the two became firm friends and musical collaborators in a relationship that endures, both personally and professionally to this day.

By their second year of college, the pair had distinguished themselves enough that they were chosen to represent their institution on an overseas exchange program with a similar German music school.

Again, the move proved propitious as the two girls became friends with drummer, Christian Vinne, who - along with his brother and bassist, Michael - would eventually form the remainder of Bird's band.

Impressed by Germany and the reaction to her music, the two girls made the decision to stay on in the country, moving to the Vinne's hometown of Mannheim, which they used as a base to launch a music career.

Playing pubs, clubs and even street corners, the four-piece eventually built up a national profile with Bird's songs, which drew favorable comparisons to the likes of Fiona Apple, Corinne Bailey Rae and, in particular, Ani DiFranco.

The latter comparison would certainly please Bird, who has always been a fan of strong women songwriters, once claiming: "I love jazz and I love women with powerful, gutsy voices. I really looked up to Ani DiFranco when I was growing up. She doesn't give a f**k about anything. She's a really strong woman. You had to listen to her, and she did everything independently. And she's got a huge cult following for that."

Given her near-frenetic live energy, boundless enthusiasm and the heartfelt honesty of her work, it wasn't surprising when her self-released debut EP, Branches Untangle moved over 3,000 copies in Germany alone and reverberated as far away as the offices of major labels in London.

Encouraged by the response, Bird and her band relocated to the English capital, where they eventually signed a global contract with Island Records, after wowing executives in a series of showcases.

That was two years ago this month and since then, her path has followed a steady trajectory that has seen her climb steadily from the underground scene to where she is now just bubbling beneath the surface of mainstream recognition.

In between she has released another EP and her debut album, Spoons, which has been gaining supporters by the day since its release last September.

With songs about shaving legs, fake boobs and getting rip-roaring drunk, it is a far cry from the sickly sweet songwriting that can sometimes typify the genre, given all the more impetus by Bird's impassioned, distinct style.

She is currently touring Ireland, beguiling crowds with a set that mixes the very best of her old and new tracks, as she is finally getting the attention that she deserves in her own backyard.

Such success seems destined to be emulated elsewhere as 2008 has also seen her tour the UK with Gabrielle and Billy Bragg, who both handpicked her as their support act, and are amongst her most vocal proponents.

Universal Records have also fallen prey to her charms, as evidenced by the fact that they recently asked her to appear on an upcoming Billie Holiday tribute album, which will be released internationally next year.

Given the fact that the album will also contain names such as the aforementioned Bailey Rae and superstars such as Mary J Blige, it is a fairly safe bet that Bird's colorful star will surely shine all the brighter in the coming months and years.

Despite the growing sense of excitement surrounding her name - which has seen her hailed by the Guardian newspaper and referred to as "Ireland's newest musical gem" - the colorful singer remains supremely self-effacing, recently saying: "I've never learnt how to write or read music. I'm a lazy bitch. When I come up with songs, I don't write them down, I just play them. I've lost a lot of songs from not remembering."

That may be so, but those tracks she has thankfully committed to paper and audiotape will surely see her name remembered for a long, long time to come.