Bio

Wallace has been composing music since he was 15 (1990), when he started taking music seriously. He borrowed a classic guitar from his auntie, put metal strings in it and made incredible progress - all by himself - in a very short time.

He sold his BMX bike and bought his first electric guitar, a black strat from the Brazilian brand 'Dolphin', from a friend (Ulisses Mello). There was no money to buy an amplifier nor a pedal, so all he could do was to plug the guitar on the family's stereo and play it clean.

Between 1990 (15y) and 1994 (19y) he was exposed to a lot of Progressive Rock... Wallace was a very outgoing guy, and had big friend circles in different neighbourhoods. Within those circles there were many that were eager to share their progrock discoveries, but the gems would usually come from two tiny groups: one in his own neighbourhood and one at his cousins' (São Cristóvão & Floresta). Notably two of his closest childhood friends, Ulisses Mello and Marcos Chaves, were litteraly hoarding albums few had heard about (they still do that to this day).

1993, his 18th year, was turbulent. Cream, Jimi Hendrix and early Pink Floyd paved the way with their psychodelia... It all culminated on the 6th of June of the same year, when he'd have a life-changing event: an accident where he hit the bottom of a shallow swimming pool, head first. He litteraly cheated death, and the experience shook him out of Alice's rabbit hole. Both his family and friends were happy to have him back to his senses. His long hair was partly shaven, making him shift his look from Rick Wakeman to Peter Gabriel (a bold triangle at the center of his long hair, with the addition of a gashing scar at the center of it).

Shortly after the accident, as a "get well soon" token, he'd be presented by Ulisses with a Yamaha Tenor Recorder, which he still has and actively plays (it's featured on 'Futures Past'). The accident sobered Wallace, who made an effort to straighten-up and find his way in the world.

He studied hard after a year away from books and joined the Federal Philosophy University on his town. He'd spend most of his days in the campus, meeting like-minded people, reading or just chilling. It served him well as an environment he could retreat to, as his neighbourhood fell on heavier drugs. It was there he came in contact with meditation, that would change his life forever.

After barely six months into the course, he'd drop out of University. It was a trade: from the highly academic Western Philosophy to the "experience it yourself" Eastern Philosophy. He moved to a farm deep into his state's country side and lived there for several months, meditating several times a day, working the earth and going ever deeper within himself - in very uplifting company.

After 1.5 years living as a full-time volunteer in different states. Wallace decided to leave Brazil for good to lead a life as a Yogic monk. It was a hard decision for someone so young, to leave family and friends to pursue a dream abroad. He took his heartbreaking farewells and moved on to São Paulo, where he'd live for a few months as he waited for his flight.

As he was about to leave, he sold his electric guitar to a friend and gave the money to a another friend so he could fetch a transversal flute in Paraguay, which he did. He flew to Amsterdam with his two flutes and a meager bagpack, and then to Stockholm - on his 21st birthday. He flew from São Paulo, that was melting at 40C to a frozen Stockholm at -15C. That was the day he saw and touched snow for the first time. After a few days he moved on with his new friends to Ydrefors, a peaceful tiny village in the heart of Sweden's Småland region.

In the course of 1.5 years, he'd live both there and in Stockholm, where he'd temporarily work as a pastry baker at the school's bakery. He completed the training in Varanasi, India, in late 1997.

As a monk he worked mainly in Europe, spending 4.5 years in Romania, running a children's home. It was an amazing life-experience that still has a big impression on him. Late at night when everyone was asleep, he learned to do programming on a donated laptop.

Shortly after he had been transferred from Romania to Norway in 2003, he felt it was time for a change. He left his monastic life and married Fatima Sidhrée. They moved a lot around in their first years, even trying their luck in Granada (Spain) for 8 months. They came in contact with the roots of Flamenco and Moorish music, which do influence Wallace's music a lot. But their base was to be Oslo, and they came back for good.

2008 would be another milestone in his music, perhaps the most important one. Ulisses came for a visit, and together with Fatima they travelled to Copenhagen, Prague and Stockholm. There was a lot of good catching-up, and music was a constant theme during the visit. They decided it was time to do something together and planned to share ideas and eventually record.

Soon after the trip Wallace started to invest in gear, and bought his second guitar: an Epiphone Les Paul Custom Silverburst. Soon after that, many short tracks came to life.

They were poorly recorded and therefore never properly released, but were nevertheless published sporadically online 2011 onwards. Some as short MP3 clips and some as YouTube videos.

The cuts were rough but Wallace learned a lot about recording, then. New gear kept tickling in and the quest for tone had just began... When he got his Gibson 335, an impulse purchase that surprised even him (but mostly his wife), he knew there was no turning back.

Over the following years he would slowly acquire instruments and build a practical studio in which he could let his creativity transpire. He would regularly revisit his original ideas and make incremental progress on each track.

Then there came 2016, which in many ways was a milestone: some tracks started to be shaped in ways that could no longer be dismissed as 'private compositions'. The studio - now in a dedicated room - was finally well equipped and acoustically treated, being no longer a hindrance to an album's full potential. And inspiration was coming back...

In his own words: "I've been sitting on a lot of good material long enough. Now it's time to let others hear what I 'downloaded' from Silence."

'Futures Past', his debut single, is a testimony to where perseverance can take one that doesn't give up. The original theme was drafted back in 2014, but was never recorded. On a surprise trip to Brazil, the track came back to Wallace. He started recording the foundations in which it would stand in August, and once it started to be shaped, it wouldn't let go. It was put together in the course of seven months, with parts often composed during the recording session itself. The first guitar solo was fully conceived before its first note was even played, however the second guitar solo was played spontaneously. The first take was so good that about 90% of it still is an excerpt of that very first take.

Fatima & Wallace have now been married for nearly 14 years, and have a Golden Retriever that will turn 5 on the day of Futures Past release. His name is Mëllon ('friend', in LOTR's Elvish). Wallace's next album, which is now in the works, is a homage to him.