By Kelley Simms

For the second summer in a row, Aussie export LAURA WILDE, a 23-year old hard rock vixen, is once again stepping onto the stage as the opening guest for TED NUGENT. On her way to Boise, Idaho to kick off the Nugent tour, Wilde called me from a pay phone at a gas station in Oregon. While continuously pumping fistfuls of quarters into the phone, the blonde rocker could hardly contain her enthusiasm.

“The experience is absolutely amazing,” Wilde said. “The way Ted performs and the way he runs his show is so professional and I’m really lucky that he took me out last year and even that he’s taking me out again. I’m just so privileged to have this experience.”

Wilde has brought her brand of ferocious rock ‘n’ roll to the States with vivacious sex appeal and raunchy riffs. On her debut album, Sold My Soul, Wilde did it all – wrote it, sang it, played lead and bass guitar as well as drums. The title track was written as her tribute to the U.S. and is an homage to touring.

“I was just so excited to be able to tour,” Wilde said. “That was when I was in my euphoric state of moving over to the USA and having that opportunity. I’m so lucky to be able to sing that every night and it just takes my right back to where I was and how excited I was when I wrote it.”

Armed with her signature Dean Flying V (created specifically for her), Wilde can really tear it up. She fancies the older blues-styled rock guitarists and is influenced by some of the greatest players to ever sling an axe.

“My top three guitar player influences are JIMMY PAGE, JIMI HENDRIX and SLASH. And then I love ERIC CLAPTON, STEVIE RAY VAUGHAN, B.B. KING and all the old blues guys as well.”

By age 18, the ambitious teen was already playing bass professionally in Melbourne, was doing studio session work, held down a job at a local music store and landed a gig on Australia’s Got Talent television show as a member of the house band. All this was a stepping stone that fueled her desire to create her own music. So Wilde packed up and moved to L.A. to pursue her musical dreams.

“I had been back and forth to the USA for a few years ever since I was a kid because the company my dad worked for was based out of America. So I’ve been to L.A. and New York a bunch of times. When I was about 19 and first started doing music, my manager said I’d be great for L.A. So he booked me some meetings with the industry people and I came over to check it out to see how I’d be received. They said I’d have to move over permanently to give it a real red-hot shot, and I did and I never looked back since. I could have played it safe and stayed there (in Australia), but I ‘m pretty happy I made the move.”

Before Wilde made the move, she briefly attended college due to some persuading from her parents.

“I went to Melbourne University in Australia and I took fine arts and language classes. I was going to major in Italian, but music was my main passion so I chose to pursue that instead.”

Eventually, her parents came around to accept the fact that Wilde had other dreams than attending college.

“They did come around knowing that, and knowing that I was going to work hard at playing music and it wasn’t just that stereotypical trashing hotel rooms and passing out everywhere kind of thing. They say that if you find something you love doing you’ll never work again in your life, and it kind of feels like that.”

Wilde has achieved a lot at such a young age, and in such a short period of time. Her goals and ambitions are quite clear.

“I just want to write songs that people can really connect with on a personal level,” Wilde said. “If you fail, at least you know that you’ve put your best foot forward and gave it all you had.”

Visit Laura Wilde on Facebook.