WICKED Are Bringing Back Sleaze, Swagger, and Big-Hair Rock — And They’re Not Apologizing for It
Written by Tina H
From Sunset Strip dreams to new-school songwriting maturity, the Rochester-raised rockers prove that glam-driven guitar swagger is alive, loud, and evolving.
(Send a message to Wicked here: https://pressplay.me/artist-letter/wicked)
Good-time rock was never supposed to die — and WICKED are here to make sure it never does.
In a riotously fun and unfiltered conversation on Press Play Radio with Don, Tina, and SiriusXM’s Dean Baldwin, the band dives into neon-lit nostalgia, songwriting evolution, hairspray trauma, and a new wave of fans craving the escape, freedom, and danger of true rock & roll. While the scene around them leans toward hooks engineered by algorithms and AI-driven pop formulas, WICKED stands proudly in leather, lipstick, and tube-amp grit — young men with old-school hearts.
Formed in the 2010s but spiritually born in ’86, their mission wasn’t subtle: create the music the world stopped making.
“We couldn’t find the kind of bands we idolized,” the band says.
“So we became the band we were missing.”
Their new singles — Hellraiser, Reptile Roots, and the fiery new track Obsession — channel everything from Tesla swagger to Sebastian Bach theatrics, delivering riffs soaked in Sunset Strip sweat and choruses built for fists, eyeliner, and cheap whiskey. Yet beneath the big hair and bullet belts is a maturity the band never wants overlooked. Obsession, for example, started as a more restrained piece — until the band cranked the raunch, leaned into lust, and found the song’s truth in the spaces between the notes.
“Space was our friend,” they admit. “As we grew as musicians, we learned not to fill every second. Sometimes holding one note hits harder than 30.”
That instinct — to evolve without abandoning their roots — is the creative engine behind Wicked’s upcoming album Go Rebel.
Early work like Sunburn reflected the wild excess of youth. The newer material, the band explains, is the reflection after the roller coaster — bruised, wiser, still electric. Their influences now stretch from Blink-182 to Testament to Jane’s Addiction, sometimes all in the same song, blended rather than copied.
As for success? It isn’t a record deal or fame.
It’s this:
“Four guys living together. Writing music. Smiling.
The fact that we get to do this — we don’t take it for granted.”
When asked who they’d kill to tour with, the answer came fast enough to leave burn marks:
Cheap Trick.
No hesitation. No doubt.
A band built for hooks wants to stand beside the hook masters.
With an album on the way, singles dropping throughout the year, and spring shows being mapped now, Wicked aren’t a nostalgia act — they’re proof that rock can evolve without losing its lipstick, leather, or teeth.
And if you want the full story — jokes, hairspray disasters, obsessions, influences, Sunset Strip memories, Mexico City “Beatlemania,” and everything in between — the full interview with WICKED, Don, Dean, and Tina is now available on Press Play Radio.
To go further down the rabbit hole (or get on the newsletter list like you should), visit:
https://www.wickedrocknrollofficial.com/
Comments(0)