Bass Solo with Mia Wallace of Nervosa and Abbath
Corpse painted and Italian born, Mia Wallace has carved her way through the dark and evil landscape of black and extreme metal for many years. From the uncompromising The True Endless to the legendary Abbath and reborn Nervosa, Wallace’s bass has crushed countless of the black metal unfaithful beneath it. Her journey started in 1994 with sadly departed boyfriend Marco De Rosa (or M) encouraging her to pick up the instrument and has taken her to genre heavyweights Tom G. Warrior and Abbath, and bands like Triumph of Death and Niryth. Wallace was kind enough to take a break from promoting Nervosa’s new album Perpetual Chaos and working on Abbath’s as-yet-unnamed new album to answer some questions for us about her gear, how she thinks about playing with a drummer who is kicking at 200kph, and what her opinion is on people calling Nervosa an “all-girl” group. [Ed. Note- There are no questions about her return to Abbath because that was announced after I sent the email.]
image credit- https://www.instagram.com/p/CI0x55cCSID/
Doug Robertson- To satisfy all the gearheads out there, what are you playing with and through right now? What is your go-to gear?
Mia Wallace- I'm playing two custom made by Bellan Liuthery. 4 strings basses and one of them is with tremolo. As effects I'm actually using a Sans Amp DI, but I'm studying for better solutions.
DR- You have been in so many great bands, how has your gear evolved from band to band? Do you change many things?
MW- yes of course, every band had its specific gear. With Triumph of Death I was using my White Beast bass.
DR- What was your journey to extreme music?
MW- In 1994 my boyfriend was playing in a death metal band called "Emortualis" and he was listening to the first black metal bands coming from Norway. So I started to listen to this music too.
DR- How did you come to the bass?
MW- For the same reason, I was attending all the rehearsals of my boyfriend and I really wanted to feel the same fever he was feeling when he was playing, so I asked him to teach me. He did and I started with this amazing instrument.
DR- When I heard that so many members of Nervosa had left I was bummed, because I really liked that band. But then you and the other new members were announced and it was like a breath of fresh air. Can you talk about how you came to join the band?
MW- It all happened during the first lockdown here in Italy. I received an email from [Nervosa founder and guitar player] Prika Amaral and she was asking me if I would have been interested in making an audition to join Nervosa. It went good and now I'm part of this amazing band!
DR- Nervosa’s new album, Perpetual Chaos, came out on the 22nd. That seems like an incredibly fast turn around. How much input did you have in the writing of it?
MW- The album is entirely written by Prika Amaral. What the rest of us did was to write our lines on a previously written album.
DR- Bass is so connected to the drums, how has it been working with Eleni Nota?
MW- Amazing, she's so professional and groovy. We clicked immediately, from the first moment we rehearsed together.
DR- You play extremely fast music. Do you try to keep pace with the double bass, are you trying to double the guitar, what is your playing philosophy for extreme bass?
MW- My philosophy is to go instinctively. I'm not a super technical bassist, but what is missing in technique I fill with passion for what I'm doing.
DR- When someone says Nervosa is an “all-girl” metal group what is your reaction to that?
MW- I have no particular problems with this separation of genders. People will always think that women are inferior, so when they do something wonderful like we did with Perpetual Chaos there will be always this behavior like, "Well, not bad for a woman!". I had experienced myself that even musicians are faking support for women. There is a rock star who did columns in many magazines, interviews, etc claiming to be the n.1 supporter of this cause. Unfortunately, I discovered on my skin he's the n.1 misogynist and abuser behind the scenes.
DR- If you had to pick one, what song on Perpetual Chaos would you want fans to really listen to what you’re doing, somewhere you’re very proud of?
MW- I'm extremely proud of every single song of this album. But if I have to choose one I would say "Rebel Soul"!!!
DR- Does Nervosa have any plans for some kind of streaming show to help promote the album?
MW- Not for the moment, we don't really believe in streaming concerts. We want this be real.
DR- How can our readers support Nervosa during this difficult time for musicians?
MW- Unfortunately we can only count on selling our official merch and on social networks, YouTube channel...until this nightmare will come to an end.
image credit- https://www.instagram.com/p/CK97c_zLev-/
—
I can’t thank Mia enough for taking the time to answer my questions. I know if I had the chance I would ask two dozen more, there is so much to learn from her. Here are links to her Instagram, Nervosa’s Instagram, Abbath’s Instagram, and where you can buy Nervosa’s thrashing rebirth Perpetual Chaos. Be sure to also check out the Abbath album Outstrider, which she is also on and which is also excellent.
Doug Robertson is the editor of The Bass Blog, the blog component of The Bass Channel, your one stop YouTube channel for all things bass. His number one is a Mexican Geddy Lee Signature Jazz and his boomer is a BEAD tuned T-Bird. Find books by Doug here. If you’re interested in contributing to The Bass Blog please reach out to Doug at doug@thebasschannel.net. We would love to hear from you.
