Wallice

get jobs there’s so much going on. I’m always trying to stop comparing myself to people which is super hard.

That’s human.

Trying to be happy with my own pace, but it’s definitely hard.

Where do you think that comes through the most?

It’s hard to define it. Some of the people I look up to the most put out one or two things a year, and they are dope, and some people do a ton of shit every month. It’s so different for every person. Lately, I’ve just been wanting to have a steady amount of projects and be happy with the outcome of all them as a collective. I try not to get too wrapped up in the competitiveness of it, but everyone has Instagram and Twitter. How many likes are you getting? How many followers are you getting? Which is super weird, because it’s almost impossible to put out great art every week but it makes people think that that’s a norm. It’s definitely weighed on me and for a lot of artists that can get depressing.

Do you have any mentors who shaped you?

I would say one of my high school teachers, more so than any college professor I was able to connect with. She definitely changed my life. She was like, “You should pursue this, don’t go to college. Just do photography.” Because I just was shooting every day with my friends. I didn’t know what was gonna happen. Shout out Hannah Northerner.

All the photos in our magazine are shot on film. Throughout your life and career what has been your feeling or relationship with the medium of film?

I love it. Personally, it’s a big part of my style, the colors and the texture. I hate coming home from a shoot where you shoot digitally and you have 4000 photos. With film you might have a few 100 shots or less. You think more, it requires more intention. The process too: getting it developed, it’s super exciting when you get it back. With video, I don’t feel as strongly but if I have the option to shoot it on film, I will choose film everytime. I’ve only shot three videos on 16mm and 35mm, but it’s a different world entirely—it’s way cooler. The color, the texture, just the feeling is a different world.

We went to high school with Wallice. It had been over four years since graduation and to our delight, she was just as friendly and kind as ever. Wallice is less than 8 months into releasing her first song and is well on her way to finding her sound. We could feel the energy of her talents mounting as we paddled around Echo Park Reservoir. Through it all Wallice was humble and happy that she can spend her days making music with her friends—the moments of laughing on the reservoir will be ours to keep, but inside these pages are the light that shines through.

“23” we both wrote. I wrote them with David in two days total and most of it was on the first day. I think that for some reason when songs are written quickly, but not in a rushed way, it feels very gen uine and people can relate to them a lot. When it’s not overworked. When we overthink it, it’s not as genuine. I feel that you’re not rushing anything. It seems you’re being really poignant about releasing things that mean something to you. That’s another thing that people have really kind of liked because each song is so carefully thought out. If you’re signed from a young age it’s less intentional. I made music before these last two songs, but it wasn’t really representative of what I wanted. This new direction is more indie rock, which I’ve always liked to listen to more. Growing up what were some of the bands that you really liked? My first favorite bands were Weezer and Radio head.

What do you create? I would say music and ceramics. When did the music start? I put some really bad quality GarageBand recordings on SoundCloud when I was 15, they’re still out there. My friend from middle school, David, messaged me after hearing one of my terrible demos saying “I want to try producing, would you want to work together?” I was like, “Okay?” He helped me make a song, it was my first professional sounding song, even though he didn’t really know what he was doing either. That was when I was 17, and I’ve worked with David since. The two songs I have out now I made with him. How do you usually work on songs? I get really attached to what I originally write for a song. It’s hard for me to change things up or move lyrics. I’ve tried to move certain things — from other songs that I didn’t like — to make new songs. But it just doesn’t work, there’s something about when it comes out organically. “Punching Bag” and

“Then David and I were working on some - thing and both agreed that it didn’t seem right. We decided to just go play catch at the Mormon church and revisit it later.”

mean girls there that never left high school.

Fuck yeah. Is there an album on the way? I went to Utah at the beginning of the month, and we finished an EP, that’ll come out in May, which will have three new songs. What was that experience like? The first two days David and I were trying to write things but I was pressuring myself too much. Really pushing that we needed to get the good stuff out. Then David and I were working on something and both agreed that it didn’t seem right. We decided to just go play catch at the Mormon church and revisit it later. We came back and ended up writing the two other songs in the following three or four days. I’m really happy with those. How do you compare the themes for “Punching Bag,” “23,” and “Hey Michael?” Do you feel there’s a thread through them all? Or do you feel that they’re each touching on dif ferent aspects of yourself? They’re all different aspects of me. It’s funny, because “Hey Michael” is about really bad guys and boyfriends, even though I’ve had one really amazing boyfriend for 6 years. I guess it’s almost like an alter ego sometimes — if I haven’t directly experienced that — or something comparable. What I really liked for “Punching Bag” and “23” is that people describe them as really witty or sarcastic, which is fun. When I sent “Hey Michael” off to get mastered, the guy who masters my stuff said the first time he

Well, now Weezer’s like incellcore on Tiktok, but I stand by Weezer. Have you heard the Weezer x Teach Me How to Dougie remix? It’s incredible. I have to listen! You went to The New School for music? Yeah, for Jazz and then I left. How quickly did you realize, “I gotta get the fuck out of here?” Or was it more missing LA and home? I did miss home and LA, but the bigger issue was that I was put in beginner classes. I know how to read music, all the other people there didn’t. I thought, How could you be in a music school without that skill? They just wanted to do pop and this isn’t a pop school. I wasn’t their biggest fan. There were also

listened to it he was just laughing at the lyrics. It’s funny because usually, you don’t want people to laugh at your lyrics, but something about it makes people smile. How do you feel about other people’s successes, and do you compare yourself with others? Definitely in this last year Marinelli — who I work with — has had such amazing success. It’s really easy to be jealous of somebody. But that’s not gonna help anyone, I’m genuinely really happy for them obviously. I mean, that’s kind of where “23” stemmed from, scared that I’ll still be a loser. There’s a lot of new music that is coming out by 23 to 25-year-olds, espe - cially after this last year, which was really bad for people. But I think a lot of musicians were able to find their audiences being at home. Maybe it’s because there’s not so much competition, all these well-known artists aren’t having any real shows. So the playing field is more level. Absolutely, during lockdown everyone had to slow down, so they were able to discover new music. They have more time now, or they did, which I think is why I got a lot of plays and finds. I’m not sure if that would have happened otherwise, and I can’t say I would have created what I’ve created if it wasn’t for that time. How has the reaction been over the past year?

Every time I have a new release part of me fears the reaction. “Punching Bag” had such a crazy response. So for “23” I was like, What if no one wants to listen to this. What if “Punching Bag” was just the only good song. But “23” got a lot of smaller and bigger blog press like, Pigeons & Planes and NPR, which is crazy. It was also on The Fader, which has always been a goal of mine. Any physical copies going into the world? I want to do a tiny run of vinyls, it wouldn’t be for-profit, just something to exist in the world. I really want to design some merch for the future as well. I’ve always thought band merch is important and I’m very judgemental of other people’s merch. I think I can do better than cheesy fonts and peoples faces. What is next for you, music-wise, what do you hope for, any live shows lined up? Hopefully, live shows are coming back in October when things are safer. I like the idea of opening for a cool band. That’d be the first step anyway, maybe play a festival? [Laughing] Where did you grow up? I grew up in Topanga, which I think is a really cool part of my upbringing. I just did a photoshoot up there and the photographer asked where I was from, and I got to say, “Right here.” Some day I’d like to buy a house there, it’s so much more expensive now than when I was growing up. I remember it being really hippie. I used to go to Topanga Days, which is a beautiful memory. I would go and

What is the dream team if you were to perform a show tomorrow? I want to sing and play guitar, my boyfriend Cal would also play gui - tar. Caleb would play bass, I’ve known him since I was 14. David on the drums, but he’s gonna be way too busy for little ol’ me. So I’m still probably going to have to find a drummer. I saw a playlist on Spotify called “Lorem” that you were part of, what is that?

it would be this big celebration, I remember getting my face painted and playing in the creek. Not on my phone, kids these days with their iPads. [laughing] Do you have any genres you want to explore next? I really love indie-folk. I made some songs a long time ago that were in that style. I always love listening to indie-folk, like Faye Webster and Julia Jacklin. They’re so good. Lorem is interesting, it’s a Spotify playlist, rather than just a complica - tion of new indie or bedroom pop, it has more of a community aspect to it. It’s a lot of my friends that are part of it and we all work together. Marinelli was the cover this month, since he produces for me, I got on it. It gets a lot of listens every day because it’s very curated. When it comes to my song I immediately skip through, I don’t want people to see that I’m listening to my own song! One time my old roommate took a screenshot and said, “Why do you listen to your music?” I was literally showing my grandma. [laughing] In the most ideal world, how would you want people to find your mu sic? I think a festival is the best way to discover music. Playing a festival, where I’m at the bottom of the poster, would be really cool. Playing in front of strangers who’ve never heard my music, hearing it for the first time in the most genuine way. That’s the purest way to find music.

Are there musicians that create the type of music you’d want to make or explore someday? I mean, Phoebe Bridgers is so cliché to say now, but she is a really cool rock musician, same with Adrianne Lenker. I like to play guitar when I perform, not that there have been many performances. Because I’m a musician, playing an instrument, rather than just a singer, is really important to me. That’s why I studied jazz in college, even if it was for just a year. I want to be respected by other musicians. It’s hard, being a girl in music, there are not that many female producers, mostly singers. Even within that, it’s still hard to get noticed but this doesn’t hinder me much. It’s wild to see this disparity exists on all levels, Phoebe Bridgers playing SNL and smashing her guitar was met with, “I don’t know, I just don’t see why she had to do that?” Even though every other rock star did that in the 70s. Regardless it is still exciting to see where it’s going.