Towa Bird is a new kind of American hero
The British-Filipino musician on making the ultimate sapphic sex song, touring with Reneé Rapp and getting matching tattoos with Deb Never in East Hollywood.
WORDS: ZOYA RAZA-SHEIKH HEADER DESIGN: YOSEF PHELAN PHOTOGRAPHY: MIKAYLA LOBASSO LIGHTING: ZACH ARQUILEVICH PHOTOGRAPHY ASSISTANTS: VIN STRATTON, SIYOON KIM, NELE MOENS Towa Bird wants to be the lesbian Paul McCartney.
On pop rock lead single ‘Drain Me’, she mixes distorted guitars and pitchy synth-like sounds to pull off a hedonistic head rush anthem about lesbian sex – a song she grimaces at, thinking about how her parents have heard it too.
A fan of 70’s old-school rock ‘n’ roll, the 25-year-old is playful with her musical influences – The Beatles, Mick Jagger, Bowie and Jimi Hendrix – and how she carves out her own, rebellious guitar-fronted style. “I’m a little cheeky fuck sometimes and if my music evokes slash provokes people, I think that’s incredibly reflective of who I am,” she says calling from her hotel in Dublin. “That’s the purpose; it’s Towa 101.” Born in Hong Kong and raised in both Thailand and London, Bird has had what she calls a “mixed upbringing”, a childhood filled with international friends, moving around and music that kept her going.
