26 year old Irish singer and songwriter Wallis Bird is back with her second album, ‘New Boots’, the follow-up to 2007’s ‘Spoons’. Having toured over the last two years with artists as diverse as the legendary Billy Bragg and Ivor Novello award winner Gabrielle, as well as playing over eighty headlining shows in Europe during 2008, Wallis rounded off last year by clinching one of the biggest TV campaigns of the year when her storming cover of ‘Just Can’t Get Enough’ was used on a nationwide advertisement.
An impassioned performer, ‘New Boots’ captures much of the live energy of her shows. A 5 ft 2 bundle of white heat, Wallis throws herself around the stage with willful abandon, breaking strings, shredding her fingers from the sheer force of her playing, urging the crowd into a collective sing-a-long and throwing her entire soul into each performance with often breath-taking results. Having impressed everyone with the intensity and passion of her live shows, Wallis has nurtured a gig-going following whose admiration borders on the devotional. Her live shows and album release have garnered her rave reviews from all quarters, with 4* reviews being given by national publications including The Guardian, Daily Express and the Sun, who called her ‘a stunning female singer-songwriter to take note of…a future star’.
Michael Vinne became completely enamoured of music in 1980 when the songs of a Beatles record first penetrated his eardrums via headphones, permeated his brain and then touched his musical heart & soul. At the age of sixteen, he decided to learn the bass. Understanding the importance of being an open-minded musician, Michael learned lots of different styles and was influenced by working with various artists on stage and in the recording studio. He was fascinated by rock, jazz, funk and soul music in particular, and their fusion into modern, popular means of expression.Michael was introduced to Wallis Bird by his brother Christian, when he was invited to play at a studio session. Right from the start, they clicked musically, and decided to continue together, with Michael moving first to Mannheim for the project and eventually to London.Michael aims at giving each song a new rough-and-raw, sweet-and-simple, deep-and-profound edge and flavour with his bass.
Christian Vinne was born in 1979 in South Germany. From an early age he felt strongly drawn to the drums and started playing them at the age of nine. He began to take lessons and after one year was allowed to join the local orchestra. Here he learned the most important thing about making music: playing with other musicians! In the following years he played every different kind of music....Symphonic orchestras, Big Bands, first Solo Shows and a few drum ensembles. At sixteen he started playing in bands and joined them touring around Germany.After hundreds of gigs and having finished school, he studied drums and learned and played, learned and played.In 2004 he met Wallis Bird and they realized that they have the same beat pumping in their hearts! With Aoife O’Sullivan and his brother Michael he is in the band playing for Wallis Bird...and he puts his heart into every song Wallis writes.
Aidan- i like to look up instead of down - i see lots of pretty things but often walk into lampposts! i have a very short attention span and get distracted by shiny things. on leaving school, i got distracted by the shiny sunlight of spain, where i moved and developed a taste for performing music and the road. since then, i've travelled all around europe, busking my passage. i returned to dublin in 2003, where i first met wallis on a very vibrant music scene. I later came on board with Wallis Bird as a full-time member and official cocophonist in 2007
Aoife O’ Sullivanis a 23 year old Dublin born singstress with an ear for tasty harmonious melodies, an infectious sweet voice and a smiley, on-stage happiness! Aoife met Wallis when they attended college in Dublin and played together in various bands before teaming together on this project. A woman of many guises, she is the official (and wonderfully talented) Photographer for Wallis, documenting over the last two years in detail. If you ever wondered why she’s hardly ever in the pictures on this website- it’s because she runs
to the side of the stage to be the one behind the camera!
