Traditional paths to rock ’n’ roll stardom – blockbuster album sales and sold-out tours – may have become less and less common in our post-everything world, but Towa Bird isn’t worried. She’s busy punching her own ticket to the top. Over the past few years, the breakout TikTok guitarist has ridden a wave of online celebrity to a major-label record deal, an appearance on and a scorching performance on Olivia Rodrigo’s Disney+ documentary, .
Now, with her debut album, , the 25-year-old guitarist is finding new ways to use her instrument in popular music by pulling from her classic-rock roots. “I can’t really think of any current guitar heroes that I have,” she says from her home in Los Angeles. “All of my guitar heroes are either into their seventies or no longer with us.
” Bird grew up in Hong Kong, Thailand and London on “a pretty strict diet” of ’60s and ’70s rock ’n’ roll. “That’s how I fell in love with music – listening to Hendrix and Zeppelin and Pink Floyd and the Who,” she says. Digging through her father’s record collection, she found a bottomless well of inspiration, and then followed the tendrils to rebellious rockers like Joan Jett and enigmatic virtuosos like Prince.
As she expanded her rock music listening, though, groups like the Arctic Monkeys and The 1975 stood out as contemporary favorites. “They still incorporate the guitar, but it’s less of a unique voice and more of a rhythm instrument,” she says. Bird’s.
