Wallis Bird

Before music became a major part of her life, Irish artist Wallis Bird had to overcome some incredibly terrifying moments and disadvantages. Now on the other side of these challenges, Bird is using her music as a means of connecting on a deeper level with people all around the world during her travels.

At just 18 months old, Bird lost all of the fingers on her left hand after an incident with a lawnmower; which would significantly impact her throughout her life. Whilst this sounds like a terrifying story that many of us would like to forget, Bird both laughs it off and uses it as motivation moving forward.

“That’s something that happened to me and thankfully surgery brought all my fingers back together so now it’s fine,” she reflected. “I remember people would say to me ‘you’ll never be perfect or a professional on guitar’ or ‘you wont be able to play piano now’ but that always made me feel like I wanted to do it more. I really wanted to show people that they were wrong and that it wouldn’t be a disability for me.”

Thanks to this mindset, Bird has been slowly moving from each stepping-stone to the next, ticking off milestones and accolades along the way. The next biggest milestone on that list is heading down to Australia for the first time, with a show here in Sydney this week.

“I’ve heard a lot of beautiful things about the specialised environment in Australia, so I’m really excited to get out there and see the landscape, the forests, the food and what the people are like,” said Bird excitedly.

Luckily she has a number of friends already living here in Australia, which makes the long journey a little less daunting. However that will not discourage her from getting out to connect with fans after the shows.

“After a show, myself and the guys go out and talk to people… We simply get to know people and hopefully we’ll get to come back again through these people. It’s all about connecting with people on a human level – it’s not about networking, it’s about connecting.”

Jan 12, 7.30pm. Newtown Social Club, 387 King St, Newtown. $22.99. Tickets & info: www.newtownsocialclub.com