Podcast: Anna talks to…: Aymz: “Music is dirtier & more honest”
Amy Wald from Salzburg is now making music as Aymz. The podcast “Anna speaks with…” is about Aymz’s musical restart.
SALZBURG. New name, new style, new music: Amy Wald from Salzburg is now called Aymz.* Aymz explains in the BezirksBlätter podcast “Anna speaks mit…”. On November 6th, Aymz will present the new musical personality and the new album “Pyrolyse” at the Rockhouse in Salzburg.
*Note: No pronouns were used in this post at the request of Aymz.
From Amy to AYMZ
There are many reasons why Amy Wald became Aymz. One reason is Aymz gender identity. Aymz is non-binary, meaning Aymz feels neither male nor female. “I don’t feel comfortable with either him or her,” explains Aymz right at the beginning of the conversation. The name Amy Wald was repeatedly read as female. A gender-neutral name was needed.
The first thought of completing the Amy Wald project came to Aymz two years ago. “I noticed more and more that I was distancing myself more and more from my musical personality,” says Aymz. With her project “Amy Wald” Aymz was also forced to do many things. Aymz could no longer identify with the music either. “It turned out very pop and very cute, very catchy,” Aymz recalls. Today, Aymz’s music is “more honest, dirty and melancholic.” “There’s a certain heaviness to the music,” says Aymz.
Beginning: children’s guitar
The fact that AYMZ became a musician is actually a coincidence: out of boredom, Aymz wrote her first songs with a children’s guitar during her semester abroad in England. “From that point on, I stopped listening to play the guitar,” says Aymz. Aymz had one of the first appearances with three songs at the graduation party. The feedback: “Very bad”, as Aymz says in the podcast. “Somehow that motivated me a lot. It would have been worse if nobody was interested,” Aymz looks back.
After graduating from high school, Aymz decided to make music full-time from now on. In 2018, Aymz shared the first songs in the form of short videos on social media. Amy Wald’s song “Love Life”, in which Amy reveals to Grandma that she likes people and not just men, soon went viral on social media. During the self-organized street music tour through Germany, Aymz noticed that many people like what Aymz does. “There were people everywhere,” says Aymz, still amazed. As Amy Wald, Aymz was in the Ö3 charts and support act for “Conchita Wurst”.
“I’m not an activist”
Although Aymz deals with songs of LGBTQ issues and Aymz supports the climate protection initiative “Music Declares Emergency”, Aymz does not see himself as an activist person. “I point out certain topics, but I don’t do any activist work. There are completely different personalities who really do this every day,” says Aymz in an interview. Aymz feel like a “mouthpiece”.
“Salzburg chased me away”
With Aymz’s Salzburg roots, it’s very important for Aymz to play in Salzburg.” “I know exactly where the Rockhouse is. Knows what it’s like to be in the audience. It feels very familiar and family,” says Aymz.
Aymz hasn’t always had the best experiences with Salzburg’s music scene itself. “I felt like the city made fun of what I did a little bit,” says Aymz. The city drove Amyz a little way to Vienna.
New format: Anna talks to…
Twice a month, editor Anna Wintersteller meets interesting people from Salzburg in the podcast format “Anna speaks with…”. Regardless of whether it is an influencer or an organic farmer, a well-known personality or a hidden talent: Anna brings exciting people from all over the state in front of her podcast microphone.
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