CHUCK SICS SHARES DYNAMIC DEBUT SINGLE + VIDEO ‘REDO’
Wavering between floaty psychedelia and punchy indie rock, today multi-instrumentalist and sonic shaman CHUCK SICSarrives armed with his track REDO, with the talented artist traversing unrequited love alongside helming the entire creative process from start to finish for his debut single.
Setting the scene with hazy sonic warmth and lyrical rumination, REDO kicks off with CHUCK SICS musing: “As the sun falls down onto my face I keep walking / And as the breeze flows through my open wound I keep talking”, driven by a charismatic nod to influences that span Radiohead, Tame Impala and Pixies. And alongside the dreamlike wonderland woven throughout, REDO also centres around a poignant yet inspiring narrative, as CHUCK SICS explains, “The song is about the aftermath of confessing love for a friend who doesn’t share those feelings, and wishing everyone could forget it happened. Wishing you could disappear, or do it over again. The shame of rejection surely drives this need to forget it ever happened, but in the song I also tried to address that the way I dealt with the rejection at that time had not been fair. So the song is also about the pitfalls of self-victimising. Wallowing in sorrow and feeling as though everyone is out to get you – you manufacture this reality to justify your attitude, when really it’s your attitude that’s the problem. It’s a pretty high school problem, and I wish I’d been mature enough to handle the situation differently.”
Writing, performing, recording, producing and mixing REDO entirely on his own, CHUCK SICS recorded the track in his home studio, and also sampled a friend’s drum kit to bring the crisp beats to life. An extremely gifted multi-instrumentalist, REDO sparkles with CHUCK SICS’ vibrant delivery throughout, from its percolating bassline through to its woozy synths and breezy vocals. “Everything on the song is all recorded in my house, rather haphazardly,” shares CHUCK SICS. “But I’m happy with how it turned out.”
Picking up the trumpet in primary school, CHUCK SICS soon moved on (because it hurt my face,” he reveals) to piano at the age of seven. Following in the footsteps of his older sister who also played piano, CHUCK SICS attributes the piano as his first official instrument, ultimately opening the floodgates to guitar at the age of 12, followed by bass, singing and, as he explains, the occasional foray into drums. “Before I picked up a guitar I wanted to be a concert pianist,” he says, “and overnight I abandoned that dream and wanted to be a rock god guitar virtuoso from the 70s. I remember thinking I was too old to start learning a whole new instrument, so I didn’t even bother for the longest time until eventually I caved. Bass was a natural evolution of that – as soon as I was friends with someone who owned a bass, I gave it a try and it was pretty much like guitar, provided I played with a pick. I did eventually get relatively comfortable with fingerstyle playing but that was tough. Throughout all of this I had played drums at friends’ houses occasionally, basically whenever I got the chance, but unfortunately I’ve never really had the time to develop that skill. It’s a shame because that’s my favourite instrument of them all. As for singing, I had done a bit in choirs through school but never seriously considered myself a singer until I realised I would have to sing the songs I was writing. In my first band I thought I could be the guitarist who secretly wrote the whole song. I was so terrified of singing by myself in front of people I’m amazed I willingly do it these days. Never thought that would happen.”
Surrounded by a love of music and creativity growing up, music would soon become a way of life for CHUCK SICS, culminating in 2025 with his new track, REDO, with plenty more tunes set to land before the year is out.
“It feels good, and a little surreal,” says CHUCK SICS of finally releasing REDO into the world. “This song has been kicking around for quite a while, so it felt good hearing it mastered for the first time.”
REDO is out today.