by Deb Rao
– Senior Columnist —
Singer guitarist Laura Wilde is currently taking the music world by storm. The Australian singer is currently on the road with Ted Nugent and has been nominated by Vegas Rocks magazine for best new female artist. Laura will also be performing at the Vegas Rocks Music Awards on Aug. 25 in Las Vegas at The Joint. Laura sings the blues and has a great passion for rock and roll. Hardrock Haven caught up with the singer on the beginning of the Ted Nugent Tour.
HRH: Laura, are you looking forward to the Ted Nugent tour?
Laura: I am so excited. We are actually in Nevada right now. We are on the way to Idaho. We got seven more hours today, and then we will get to Boise and play a show. We are all excited.
HRH: Now this is your second time out on the road with Ted correct?
Laura: Yes, we were lucky enough to tour with him last summer. We all hit it off and had such a great time. So we are doing it all over again.
HRH: Ted is such a great guitarist. He is such a great mentor. What have you learned from being on the road with him?
Laura: Yes, definitely just the way he expresses his personality and puts his heart and soul into his instruments. That is probably the biggest thing that I have learned from him. Every show that he plays he gives it 150 percent. It is just an amazing experience. I feel very lucky to do that every night with him.
HRH: You also just got off the road with Fuel. How did that tour go?
Laura: That tour was fantastic. We got to play a lot of East Coast and Midwest dates. We haven’t been to those places before. We got to catch up with a lot of people that I have been in touch with online. It was really fantastic. They are also great guys as well.
HRH: You recently performed in Vegas. The big news is that you are nominated for Best New Female Artist by the Vegas Rocks Magazine. You will be performing at the Vegas Rock Awards Aug. 25 at the Joint. Are you looking forward to this?
Laura: It is such an honor to have been nominated. That is one of the last dates and we are super excited to play that.
HRH: It is really great to see this new breed of women in rock. I have seen your video and it is amazing. Growing up who were some of your influences?
Laura: I grew up listening to ‘90s rocks bands like Green Day, Foo Fighters, and Nirvana. When I get older I started to dig deeper and started listening to the bands that influenced them. There is a whole bunch of every decade. From Guns N’Roses from the ‘80s to Elvis in the ‘50s. It is a mix bag of influence from Punk to Rock to Glam pretty much everything.
HRH: Are you going to be going into the studio soon to record new music?
Laura: Yes, we are hoping to get into the studio after we finish this tour. I am so excited to share some of the new tunes. We actually got a few of them in our live set at the moment. We will be doing a 30-minute set.
HRH: There are so many music shows today on television. You actually you were part of Australia’s Got Talent. You were the house band. What was that experience like? It must have been great seeing all the new talent comes out.
Laura: It was so great to play all the various genres and stretch myself out playing different styles and experimenting with different styles. There were pop singers. I played with a heavy metal bagpipe player. It was just so different. I met so many new friends. It was fantastic.
HRH: How is the music scene in Australia compared to the U.S.?
Laura: The Australian Pop culture brings along a sort of rough and tumble commodity that is very conducive to writing rock music. America has a different history and influences entirely. It is all just a melting pot of different cultures. In American there is a more vast population and different genres as well. It is all different.
HRH: Do you have any favorite cities in the U.S. that you have played so far?
Laura: Actually, there is a special place in my heart for all of them. I love trying out the different local foods and hearing about what makes that city unique. They are all just great. I love traveling from city to city and getting to meet new people.
HRH: As a new artist what is your goal that you would like to accomplish in the music industry?
Laura: I probably would like to say that I would like to write music that people can connect with. And be transported back to the place where I was when I wrote the songs. To perform them live and really connect on a personal level.
HRH: Thank you Laura. Is there anything else that you would like to say about the tour?
Laura: Just hopefully we will see you out on the road and come say “Hi” after the show. We will be doing meet and greets every night. I can’t wait to meet everyone!
Online: www.facebook.com/laurawildemusic
