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We first covered Wallice in 2021 when her EP Off The Rails was named one of our favorite albums of that year. In the years following, the alternative singer-songwriter earned a spot as a member of the Ones To Watch class of 2022 and released multiple projects, including two EPs and her debut album, The Jester. 

For our 11th birthday and AAPI Month, we asked Wallice to nominate a fellow artist as someone to watch—enter Dolly Ave, one of the most exciting up-and-coming alternative rock-pop artists. She already has one album out, This Is Our Time, with her second on the way and an upcoming summer tour (that you should totally go to, by the way). 

Ultimately, we gave the two the task to interview each other, where they ended up chatting about their paths to music, touring in 2026, their secret talents, and their first concerts.

Wallice: So, what got you started in music? 

Dolly Ave: I got started in music as a photographer, and I used to shoot live concerts for musicians in Chicago.

I didn’t know that!

So I lived and went to art school in Chicago, and actually had no plans to be a musician. I had really bad stage fright as well, so that was something that I got over eventually. I'd be in the rooms with musicians, Chicago has a huge rap scene, so I was this tiny asian girl in rap rooms. Chance the Rapper was really blowing up in Chicago during that time, so that kind of gave me the world of live music, but then the pandemic happened, and I would say that changed everything. As you know, COVID, I couldn't shoot photos anymore. It was a crazy time. I lost my mom. That's when I shifted because I couldn't shoot anymore, and I decided, well, I have this inclination to make music, and this is my way of grieving. So, that kind of, on accident, became my story. 

But how was your story? I know you were a jazz musician as well, right?

Yeah, I technically studied jazz voice and jazz vocal performance at The New School for a year. That was my brief college life. I grew up playing cello. My first instrument was the trumpet, but I can barely play it anymore. I was very in the classical public school education of music, which I'm really lucky that I grew up in LA, I feel like we have pretty good music programs, especially for public school. I learned to read music, and then I went to a performing arts high school, which is where I started playing guitar and songwriting. Actually, I song wrote in middle school just like, on a keyboard. I taught myself what C through C was. I love jazz music, I love listening to it, but I didn't necessarily love writing it. I’m not like Laufey, making new standards and stuff. So, I knew I wasn't going to go into that genre necessarily, but there's just so much knowledge in jazz music that I wanted to learn. So, that's why I studied that, but I grew up listening to alternative rock and everything, and so I think I keep going closer and closer towards that sound rather than my cello. 

So you just released a new song. What inspired that, and what's that journey?

Yeah, I've realized I haven't really released anything for three years, which is not what you're supposed to do. 

I didn't realize that it's been that long. 

The last album was very much about grief and coming of age. I released “Bad Brain” recently, and the album is really just about frustration—frustration with yourself, with your relationships, with people, with the industry. What is really nice is that although I have a lot of more upbeat or rock-leaning tracks, I think it's nice to kind of start off and set the stage with something a little slower for me. 

You are also working on a record. You just went on your tour, which is amazing, congrats! Doing a tour with a full band in this day and age is rare and amazing. Can you tell me about your tour, but also, you've named it “Untitled” because I know that you're releasing music soon. You want to talk about that? 

Yeah, I think my whole touring career started post-COVID. There was this like boom of like everyone going on tour and they were selling really well. There were so many people at each of those shows who were like, “I've been to five of your shows now.” I'm so honored, I don't think I've seen anyone five times. It's so cool that I've been able to build this live fan base. I’m still playing pretty small rooms, but there are just so many familiar faces across the country, which is so awesome. And, yeah, it's called “Untitled” because I thought I'd have new music out by now, and it's not there, but it's almost there. This summer, I think it'll be here. 

I think that's the beauty. You know, I had a three-year gap, and I think what's really great about the artistry of what we’re doing and what we're doing is whatever feels right and whenever time is right. I guess I'd love your advice because I will be going on my first tour. How did you, I guess, because you developed and you got over your anxiety of the whole ‘who's gonna come, nobody likes me, everyone hates me,’ to ‘you know what, I just love performing.’ How did you get there?

That's a really long journey. It's also really hard, just being online and seeing your peers—like my friends and people I know personally are like, “tour is all sold out. I'm so sorry, sign up for the waitlist, bigger venue next week.” I’m like, “there's 200 tickets left!” It's just really hard, I'm getting better and better at not comparing myself as I grow older, but it still happens. You see people who have viral moments, and they're selling out tours. I feel like I've been working at this for so long. But, I think it is just, you just got to do tours and do the shows to a handful of people, and make sure that you do that show as good as you would to a big crowd, that's what I believe. I always do my shows with a full band, even though it costs a lot of money.

We just can't help ourselves!

So, of course, you know, you've established yourself, and you've paid your dues. When did you have your first moment of “wow, people are watching me, I have fans”? You know…what was that like?

I started off with my mom being like, “you are incredible.”

You're special, honey!

Yeah, I remember, actually, pre-COVID. I don't go on Facebook anymore, but my last post was like, “hey, guys, I'm trying to sell tickets.” I had to sell ten to this random show at a bar in Hollywood. I think I met the 10, but I was like, “guys, please. Please come.” Even a couple of years later, my second LA headline show was at the Lodge Room, and I also just played there, but that second show sold out. People got their flashlights out for one of the songs, and I teared up on stage. I was like, “damn, there's like over 500 people here.” 

To see the transition. 

Yeah, in Japan, when I played a festival, there was a pretty sizable crowd at 1 PM, so I was pretty honored for that. I don't even know if they know me, but they're here to watch my music, and that's awesome. 

That's amazing. So I guess it's still a dream every time. The internet is hard. The internet is like highlight reel central, so it's great even having this interview and just grounding ourselves and being like, “wow we're making music!” 

All right, Wallice, we're live music lovers. What was your first concert? 

It's pretty cool. It's Avril Lavigne. 

Oh, what?! That is hardcore. What is your favorite Avril Lavigne song?

I think just “Girlfriend.”

Oh, snap. That's such a banger. I forgot about that. The “hey, hey, you, you.” 

Yeah, as a little kid, I was like, “that's awesome. She's so cool.” What was your first concert? 

It was Two Door Cinema Club.

That's pretty, that's like, Indie Girl.

So you're going to release an album soon. You just released your first single. How did you come up with those songs? Do you do sessions? Do you use co-writers? Do you do it all by yourself? What's your process?

Yeah. Every session is different, actually. I love some co-writes and some I love just me and the producer, some I wrote just on the guitar and translated it. I think what's really cool about co-writing is, even if it's a word change or a melody change, there's more brains in the room that help you get to the strongest part of what you want the song to be, so I love it all. 

What about yourself, and also I'm curious, when you think of a new melody or a hook, are you more of an ad-libber person, or do you write first and then track?

I kind of have a loop of a chord progression going, and then just kind of start saying things, and then a natural melody that comes to mind, and then I write over that. Sometimes I'm in the car, and I think of a melody, and I'm on voice notes. But then, co-artist-wise, I kind of have a journey of, loving it and hating it—they feel like speed dates, because, you sit down and you're like, “hey, how are you? Where are you from? Blah, blah, blah.” Then you're like, “well, should we make some music today?” I've met a couple of really cool people through that, and then some of them are just like, okay, that was a session. 

But this new project that I'm working on, there are a couple songs that I just wrote by myself either on guitar or just using logic loops, which I’m not a big producer, and I don't know that much about production, but it's kind of fun to mess around, so some of these started with that. 

You mentioned that you learned to play the sax for this song. How do you just, what made you decide, hey, I'm going to learn it myself? I'm not going to just get a sax player.

Well, for that recording, I have one of the best saxophone players I've ever met. His name's Zem, and he's in Bleachers. We recorded it at Electric Lady. 

Casual.

We were planning our live show for tour last year, and it was for this album. I was like, “I want this to be the last song,” the last part of that last song of the set list has a sax solo. And I was like, no, it needs this. It was a big outro, very theatrical and animated. So my partner's family had a really nice soprano saxophone that just needed to be fixed, so I got it fixed, and I started learning on it. It's the nicest instrument I own compared to all my guitars, my cello, my piano—it's like the nicest soprano sax you can have.

You don't see her house right now, but it's full of beautiful thrifted vintage gems. So I believe her. 

It’s like a party trick. It was amazing! That's awesome. 

For your upcoming tour what are you planning on wearing? I kind of go in between, usually I go all out and I want to have something fitted up but also sometimes I see like cool indie girls who are just in a tank top and jeans, you know? What's your vibe?

That's how I felt today, I was like, so lazy. I am really, truly low maintenance, besides when I perform and stuff. Even today, I was like, “you know what? She'll love me the way I am. I feel cozy when I wear my shirt.” So I go through that too. I don't know, because on one hand, yeah, I want to go all out, but also I'm jealous of people who just look really good in no makeup and just rock and roll in it. 

Also, it’s hard having to fit everything in a suitcase. And makeup. For my tour last year, The Jester Tour, I did full clown makeup every night and had very fun jester clown-core outfits and I had a huge suitcase of just clown clothes. 

Oh, this is your clown trunk!

Exactly and then I had a tiny little suitcase for like, every day.

Oh my gosh, that's so funny 

But I love being able to almost put on a character for a show, whether it's like a lot of black eye makeup or full clown face. For me, I like that. 

I agree. It's a separation. 

Maybe one day I'll be the cool casual girl, but not yet. Not right now. 

In her 40s.

That's going to be our retirement album. 

Okay, Wallice, you do music, you play the saxophone, you sing, you play the guitar. What else are you secretly good at?

Right now, it's knitting. I've been knitting up a storm, which makes me sound like a grandma. It’s so fun. I got really good at it, I must say. And I also do ceramics. So it's just like arts and crafts, I think, is my secret, not-so-secret talent. Do you have any secret talents other than your music skills?

Uh, photo, video? Yeah. I mean, I also love to cook, but I would say that's my strong suit.

So everything that's on my page, I've edited or colored it. I did this Converse event, and they sent me all the files, my photographer, and the next day I colored it. 

That's so awesome that you know how to do that. 

Well, I just want to close it off with saying, you know how you said you were tearing up about people showing up to your show? Legitimately, when I heard that you nominated me, I actually did tear up. I was driving. 

Awww.

No, genuinely. A lot of people don't realize, but when you have musician friends, that almost means just as much as supporters, because you're recognizing your artistry and being in this industry. Sometimes it's hard being a musician, too, because you'll be like, “hey, let's hang out,” and then they're like, “I'm in Wisconsin tomorrow.” Then they'll be like, “hey, I'm going to hang out with you next week,” and then it's like, “girl, I'm on tour.” So it's really hard to connect with people. So thank you.

I just wanted to recognize how much of a hard worker and dedicated you are every time I've interacted with you. 

Thanks, girl. 

I just wanted to uplift you and your beautiful music. 

Happy AAPI month, guys. Happy 11-years Ones To Watch! 

Listen to Wallice and Dolly Ave. below: