Country Music star Chuck Wicks is back after a couple of years away from the spotlight (at least on the radio) with his brand new EP Rough the five song album features new single "Salt Life" and in this exclusive interview with Roughstock, we learn more about the EP, the song and Chuck's appreciation for his fans and what he's been up to as he ramps up his career again after spending the past few years touring the country behind the hits "All I Ever Wanted," "Man Of The House" and "Stealing Cinderella."
Matt Bjorke: What are some cool things you've done since the first record came out:
Man, I've been blessed since the first record (Starting Now) hit the charts in 2008, so many great things have happened. "Stealing Cinderella" ran up the charts, "All I Ever Wanted" did well and then I jumped on Dancing With The Stars." Once it started happening, it happening quick….
Matt Bjorke: So it snowballed…
Yeah, it was boom…boom…boom, one thing right after another and now, I've had time and space to recreate, get back in the writing room and have structured new teams together; new management, new PR, everything… I've never been more excited to release new music, it's been a long time coming.
"Salt life" is the perfect summertime song." I wrote it with Vicky McGeehee and Mike Mobley and Vicky's friends with Kenny Chesney and she said, "lets write a song for his island record" and I said "Let's write a song called, 'Salt Life,' I don't think it's ever been written." It all started with "Feet Up, Anchor Down," the opening lines to the song. Long story short, I ended up playing it for the founders of the "Salt Life" company and they fell in love with it. Now we've partnered with them and we're going to make a video for the song, it's going to be the first single they're doing a gift with purchase program where if people buy enough "Salt Life" gear, you get the album free and they've purchased like 20,000 copies for that program. It's going to be a good partnership.
Matt: How important is it for you to be interactive with your fans?
Chuck: I think, to me, Facebook and Twitter should be number one for interacting with fans. Because we all have phones, and we all have Twitter and Facebook or if you don't have one, you have the other. It's a great way to reach out with a fan who is in a different state. To give them updates. You can even follow them…
Matt: They love it when their favorite artists and stars follow them!
Chuck: Yeah. It's almost like having each other's phone number, in a way. You can literally message each other.
Matt: So you wrote all of the songs for the EP?
Chuck: Yeah, songwriting for me is my stamp for who I am as an artist. It's what I need to do as an artist and I want the fans to know when I sing it that I wrote it. To me that's artistry.
Matt: did you work as a producer on the project?
Chuck: Yes, I did, with a buddy of mine, Ilya [Toshinsky].
Matt: What one word best describes country to you?
Chuck: Honest.
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