LadyWallace is a 33 years old singer from UK. But she is also a 3D avatar on chat site/virtual world IMVU. Nicola (Dj Batman) Battista of Musicblob met her on february 25th, 2008, in one of her digital rooms, a sort of island floating in the sky. Her avatar is strangely equipped with firearms, too. ;)
She has a digital single out, “Lady Wallace Sings” on the Artificial Bliss label and the (mandatory, these days) MySpace page.

MusicBlob: You already told me you are interested in making a cd of your music…

LadyWallace: Yes, as soon as my album is finished, it will be available as a download, naturally, but I would like to press some CDs as well.

MB: Is that signed to Artificial Bliss already, or are you going to produce it by yourself, or maybe look for other producers too?

LW: Absolutely. The input of other producers is something I m very keen to implement into my projects.
Up to now, I have just co-produced with my husband (Lord Wallace).

MB: So… there is also a Lord Wallace :) I didn’t know that.

LW: Indeed there is :D Although, he isnt virtual… hehe.

MB: Do any of you two have previous experiences in recording or performing live?

LW: Yes, lots.

MB: How long have you been making music outside IMVU, then?

LW: We’ve both been professional musicians since we left college. (a track starts downloading and playing in the IMVU room) This tune I’m playing now is one of his.

MB: And this means how many years of experience?

LW: Well, we both started studying when we were about 5…

LW: Started doing pro gigs in our early teens, he went off on cruise ships when he was 19; I stayed at college. After that, just lots of teaching, various gigs and recording projects. Then we got together and married.

MB: Hmmm, dark ambient noises… and some funky guitar loop.

LW: hehe

MB: This track wouldn’t be out of place in some 1970s blaxploitation movie… :) I like it.

LW: Hehe, that’s what he does best… ;)

MB: Interesting. What are your influences?

LW: My biggest ever influence was seeing Elvis on TV when I was very very young. I also became very influenced by the music of Joni Mitchell.

MB: Elvis… hehe.

LW: Yes, he really inspired me immensely.

MB: Love some of his stuff… I don’t think many people would mention him as an influence these days.

LW: I was about 3 when I first heard his music. I would say that’s what got me into singing.

MB: The Beatles maybe, those can be used as a source of inspiration for anything from electronic to metal… do you perhaps have some of them among your inspirations too? Hehe… and sorry for the stupid question :)

LW: the Beatles? Hmm, I love their stuff, but I far prefer the Stones… hehe.

MB: Ahhh you’re a Stones fan… of course everyone has to take a position in the eternal fight among the two (for the record I’m on the other side ;))

LW: haha.

MB: And what about your husband? From what you just played I’d say Isaac Hayes or something like that. :)

LW: James Brown for him, definitely. He’s just into any of that old school funk though.

MB: yes, you can hear Mr.Dynamite’s sound through those notes… The JB’s.

LW: Don’t get me wrong though, I love the Beatles’ music. Such brilliant songwriting.

MB: hehe.

LW: Just the Stones seem to have more ‘balls’ somehow.

MB: Different attitude, huh?

LW: Yes, I would say so.

MB: …and among current artists? Someone you really like or that could be an inspiration?

LW: To be honest, there isn’t much really modern stuff I listen to, and when I do, its usually obscure or unsigned artists I’ve found from the ‘net.

LW: My current favourite is Bobby Darin :D – not exactly modern though.

MB: there is a lot of obscure but extremely interesting music on social networks and sites out there…

LW: Absolutely, I’ve been involved in various online music communities and I’ve found some brilliant music and talented artists.

MB: Also, the major labels these days seem more concentrated on finding a new business model and/or cutting the number of employees, rather than putting out good music…

LW: Definitely. With major labels, artistry/creativity is second to making money.

MB: When do you think you might have enough material to release an album? Later this year?

LW: Yes, should be towards Christmas time, I hope :D

MB: ok. I hope the rest of the album will be good as the single… do you also plan to do more IMVU videos?

LW: Yes, Im currently working on 2 films – another music video, and a short action film. :D

MB: I see you seem to have an interest for digital guns. ;) And the room you showed me seemed to fit with that too, huh?

LW: Yes indeed. Heh I have lots of places like that. People expect it now, I think…

MB: We will see you soon again on YouTube, too, then. :)

LW: Oh yes, definitely YouTube is a great resource. I have many of my other films on there too.

MB: Uhmmm… you’re sort of trapped in your own charachter? People expect to see more of you with guns?

LW: Hehe, no it’s not quite like that. The guns are great fun though.

MB: ok…

LW: People generally expect to see interesting rooms from me, and we usually have a lot of fun in them.

MB: Well… thanks for your time Lady… hope to see and hear new material from you soon and… thanks also for not shooting my avatar… it doesn’t happen too often that I speak to someone holding firearms while talking about music… ;)

LW: heh, dont worry, the safetys were on throughout ;)

At this point the interview was supposedly over. Before going, LadyWallace asks if the interviewer had heard some music she played, and apparently some track was missing. So she plays it again… It is a piano and voice track.

LW: Can you hear it now?

MB: Oh yes :) Nice. Great voice and good quality recording…

LW: There have been about 22 remixes of this… LOL

MB: haha! Hmmm, I hope the 22 remixes weren’t because the original track was so bad! ;)

LW: Hehe no, there was a remix competition a year or two ago. I have one of them on here, but the quality is poor, it was hell making the file small enough… It’s a dance version…

MB: I know, I’m trying to load more music from my label on IMVU… but it is so crap… 2 Mb…

Yeah I know… 2mb is tiny.

MB: You can’t make quality files of some of my long mixes that are like 9mb in 320kbps mp3…

LW: Exactly.

MB: A competition! Fun!

LW: Hehe…

MB: Maybe you should collect all those remixes onto a cd?

LW: It was some site in Poland.

(Another track is playing… this time apparently with sampled breaks and a latin jazz feel)

MB: Is it the remix that I’m hearing?

LW: No. This is a different song.

MB: ok.

LW: My husband produced this one…

MB: Wow… very classy.

LW: Aww thanks :D I fancy doing more stuff like this… as well as the ambient type stuff. Again, compression arsed up the quality a bit…

MB: This track has the funk under it but it is more like certain 1990s and current acid jazz projects…

LW: For sure. My husbands specialises in groovy bass lines…even though hes a piano player. LW: He does it all on keyboard.

MB: Yes, I hear the stupid compression… the usual metallic sound on the high frequencies and everything…

LW: hehe.

MB: I’m sure labels like ESL in USA or Irma in Italy would love this style.
:)

LW: LOL… Cool.

MB: I love it too… no samples?

LW: No only some samples in the drums. Everything else is played in on keys. On this one though, the drums are lots of samples put together.

(This time the interview is really over… we are sure we are going to hear more great music from Lady Wallace sometimes soon!)

Original images by Nicola Battista (c) MusicBlob. “Lady Wallace Sings” cover image taken from http://www.audiorascal.com/release.php?release=40&artist=Lady%20Wallace. Thanks to Lady Wallace for the interview and for letting us use the images.