Wallis

FAQs What type of techno does Wallis make? Probably the most asked question. This type of techno is different from “classic” techno and doesn't really have a name. Wallis wants to offer something new, something different, and she tries very hard to push music in new realms. With emotion at the forefront. What did Wallis do before music? She had many, many jobs, mainly in service (she often brags about how good a waitress she was) but also did translations at vice magazine, and even was a low level social media manager at Lacoste at some point, tasked with copy-pasting the same answer over and over below everyone’s comments on Facebook - before instagram was even a thing. All of that was while she was studying sociology. All those jobs (and the sociology degree) only cemented one thing: she was meant to write music. Is Wallis a nice person? She tries to be. She used to be a bit socially awkward so she is always worried to make a bad impression. After moving to berlin and the cashiers at the supermarket kept wanting to check her ID to make sure her credit card was actually hers - due to her really bad eye contact skills-, she learned that people saw her as suspicious if she kept avoiding people's eyes, so she is focussed on making good eye contact. She is also notoriously bad at recognizing faces. She will remember everything you talked about, but may not be able to recognize your face - and it’s never personal. It’s one of her traits she is the most sad about. In everyday life, she prefers to stay at home rather than go out, but once you get her out of the house, she can be funny sometimes. What are Wallis’ views on creativity? She agrees with Rick Rubin’s view of ideas: when you get an idea, it is not yours. It was just the idea’s time to be. You were just at the right time and the right place, and if you, yourself don’t actualize that idea, the idea will go to someone else and get created by them, because it was this idea’s time, it wanted to be born, regardless of who made it. Wallis believes that the best way to create is to create a lot, all the time, and she sees creation as being of service. Not in service to herself or to the world, but in service to the ideas. Does Wallis believe in ghosts? Yes. She once asked a ghost to move an object, and the object moved. Is Wallis cosmic? Yes. She thinks we might live in a quantum computer, she believes in star signs -will slightly judge you on your star sign too- (and she doesn't care that judging on star sign is basically space racism). And she believes in manifestation. If you talk to her about god and science, she will mention the "Einstein Enigma" by José Rodrigues dos Santo, because this novel changed her view of science and religion, many years ago. Who is Wallis' dream collab outside of techno? Trent Reznor. What is Wallis' favorite movie? Lord of the rings. Why does Wallis buy music equipment? If only she knew. You would think, at some point, it would be enough, wouldn't you? But, when she gets a new machine, she tries to write a whole EP with that machine. She finds it really fun. Can Wallis speak Korean? No :( Does Wallis prefer to DJ or play a live set? It's easier to doubt your live set than it is to doubt your DJ set. A DJ set comes with fairly clear cut ingredients, as well as fairly defined expectations. A live set, on the other hand, is laying yourself bare in front of the audience. They are so much more personal, and creative. They give space to create something ephemeral, that can only be hard in that space, that day. Maybe they channel the music that the space needed that day. Live sets might not have the clarity of the individually mastered tracks DJs play, but they can have so much more beauty and transport the crowd to places they never thought they would go. This is what she wants to achieve in her live sets. What does Wallis hope to achieve with her music? She wants to evoke emotions above all else, and to create something new. Her EPs usually all have a strong concept behind them, that links the music with the artwork with something personal to her, and with a lot of movie references as well. Currently, she wonders if her music lacks the abstract qualities of some of her favorite techno tracks. She loves techno but sometimes struggle with how conservative the genre is. She also wonders what future our techno scene will have if people today mainly release tracks that could have been written twenty years ago. Is techno no longer the music of the future? She is always debating, a lot of turmoil, and of course trial and error. You can’t create if you don’t fail, she always says.