From Rochester to the Sunset Strip: Wicked’s Wild Ride Into 2026

From Rochester to the Sunset Strip: Wicked’s Wild Ride Into 2026

Some bands play rock and roll. Wicked live it. From sharing stages with legends to tearing up the Sunset Strip in a ’67 GTO for a music video, the New York quartet has built a reputation on energy, attitude, and a relentless commitment to their craft. Their new single “Obsession” marks the beginning of a bold new chapter—one shaped by years of touring, evolving influences, and a brotherhood forged through twelve years under the same roof. We sat down with the full band to talk about Ace Frehley, NAMM madness, metal breakdowns, and the two powerhouse albums they’re gearing up to unleash.

We’re here with what looks like the entire band of Wicked. Let’s kick things off with introductions.
Gunnar: This is Gunnar, and I play the drums.

Danny: What’s up? I’m Danny, and I play bass for Wicked.

Chad Michael: Chad Michael — lead singer and rhythm guitar.

Scotty V: Scotty V, lead guitar.

Where are you guys based, and what’s the local music scene like there?
Danny: We’re out of Rochester, New York—Western New York—somewhere between where the cows are and where the snow’s falling. It’s magnificent. It’s wild. The area produces a lot of hardcore music, a lot of gutter‑punk music… I don’t know what else. Somehow we’re right in the middle of the cows and all that hardcore energy.

Well, I’ve seen you guys dress up like black‑metal dudes, so there you go…
Danny: We have to do that when we go out on the streets. It helps us blend in. (Much laughter)

You have a new song out called Obsession. Tell me a little about the track and the inspiration behind it.
Danny: It’s so cool—when we sat down to write this new album coming out next year, Obsession was one of the first songs we tackled. We’ve been on this path of opening up our influences a bit more. We started off very straight down the barrel: Thin Lizzy, UFO, Scorpions, KISS, Aerosmith—all the ’70s hard‑rock bands that built the foundation for what we love. But over the years, we’ve been evolving with our interests, and this album is really the peak of that.

We said, “Hey, we need a heavy banger that’s still melodic—think Ghost meets Scorpions.” And then Gunnar was like, “Let’s throw a metal breakdown in there.” We weren’t afraid to throw all the spaghetti at the wall and see what stuck. That’s really how Obsession came together musically.

Chad Michael: And just to correct Danny real quick—it was my idea to do the metal breakdown. Gunnar was like, “Oh, he finally wants to do it,” and then he went and bought a new bass amp…

Danny: Lyrically, it came from us just getting off tour last spring with Raven and Vicious Rumors. We’ve been grinding on the road, and the cool thing about Wicked is that we live together too. We tour together, we come home together—we’ve lived together for 12 years. We even vacation together. It really is an obsession: how fixated we are on our dream, on music, and on this bond that holds us together like glue.

So the song started from that idea, but we wanted to make it interesting—give it a bit of a nasty romance vibe. Something people could hear and create their own story from. What’s your obsession? Take the song however it speaks to you.

You guys recently opened for Ace Frehley—I think it was back in July. How did that show go, and what were some of the highlights?
Danny: It was a pretty surreal moment, especially looking back on it now.

Gunnar: It was his second‑to‑last show with us.

Danny: Yeah—very, very bittersweet.

Chad Michael: It was a sold‑out show, and it was really cool to play in front of his crowd and get those people involved in what Wicked is doing now. And with Ace passing, hopefully some of those fans come over to the Wicked camp so we can help carry the torch.

Danny: The cool thing was that Ace’s band were not only insanely talented, but also super nice guys. Great to hang out with. And then you have that whole starstruck moment of seeing one of your idols—Ace—doing his thing, and you’re sharing the same stage. We were cracking up because our roadie was bringing gear in and out of the side entrance near the stage…

Gunnar: Yeah, we’re hauling gear out, and Ace’s crew comes out like, “You’ve got to move this van right now.”

Danny: They literally had what looked like a presidential motorcade—two black SUVs, one acting like a decoy. Ace gets pulled out of one of them. So we started messing with our roadie, telling him, “Dude, Ace is pissed at you.” We kept it going all weekend. “Yeah man, they’re really mad at you.”

What has the music of KISS and Ace Frehley meant to you guys over the years?
Danny: Whether it’s KISS and Ace, or Aerosmith, or AC/DC—those bands were always the pinnacle of the hard‑rock dream. Arena‑sized entertainment. Larger‑than‑life presentation. When we were kids in the ’90s, the music scene had changed a lot, but we’d look back at those bands and think, That’s what we want to do.

We grew up in rural neighborhoods, going to these very white‑bread high schools, and we wanted to stand out—be something larger than life. Ace and KISS were a huge part of that. Honestly, they’re what started our career. If you look back at Wicked’s early history, we went through all these different looks as we evolved. Our original white‑leather outfits with platform boots were very Casablanca‑era—like The Sweet meets KISS meets Slade. All those bands with big presence and big attitude. That era was really the birth of our excitement for rock and roll.

If Wicked were invited to participate on a KISS tribute album, what song would each of you choose to cover—and why?
Gunnar: My favorite—people are gonna hate me for this—is from Alive III. It was right after Eric Carr died, and Eric Singer went crazy on that record. Gene and Paul actually let him play drums his way, which was cool. He was coming off that Alice Cooper era, going into KISS. I love the way he played “Deuce” on that album with all the double‑bass work. So that’s my pick, and I’d play it exactly like that.

Danny: For me, it’s an easy one: “Black Diamond.” All day, all night. It screams my style and attitude—onstage and off. It’s always been one of my favorites.

Chad Michael: I’d go with “King of the Night Time World.” Always been my favorite—especially the Midnight Special version. I’d love to do that one.

Scotty V: I’d say “Strutter.”

Danny: I thought you were gonna say something from The Elder.

Scotty V: Hell no.

Chad Michael: I love the whole Revenge album too, but early KISS—you just can’t beat it.

Danny: I tease these guys about The Elder because way back in the day someone wanted us to cover a song from that album, and the vocals were insanely high.

Chad Michael: Were we gonna do “A World Without Heroes”?

Danny: You could do it, but it would be painful.

You guys went to the NAMM Show last year, and you also opened for Metal Allegiance at the House of Blues. What was that experience like—both NAMM and the Metal Allegiance show?
Garrett: The NAMM Show was interesting. Very cool. I’ve never been around so much gear in my entire life.

Chad Michael: It’s like walking into a candy shop. You’re overwhelmed to the point where you don’t even know what to do or where to go next. It’s like walking into a record store—you walk in knowing exactly what you want, and then you completely forget. You’re like, “What was I supposed to check out?”

Garrett: It was cool walking around and running into people—like I bumped into Glenn Sobel from Alice Cooper, who plays drums for him. Just walking around seeing those kinds of musicians and being able to say, “Hey, how’s it going?” And it was the same thing at the Metal Allegiance show. We were backstage meeting all those guys.

Danny: Yeah, brushing shoulders with everyone. My favorite part was that I got some really good pizza. Did you guys get that pizza, or did you miss it? You were too busy looking at guitars.

Chad Michael: No, I missed it. Apparently.

Danny: Metal Allegiance was awesome, though. It kind of continued the theme from the Raven tour—lots of thrash‑metal fans, and a crowd that wasn’t sure what to expect from us at first. You could feel that mix of “Hey, this band is cool” and “What’s going on here?” But by the end, the crowd was enormous and fully into it.

We just did what we always do—high energy, full performance—and it translated. It was so cool seeing the crowd erupt, hands in the air, getting into original songs they’d never heard before. That was really exciting.

Are you guys planning to go back to NAMM for the 2026 show?
Danny: Yeah, we’re thinking about popping out there. Then we might have to jump on a plane the next day because we’re talking about possibly doing Gasparilla in Tampa again. So it might be a fly‑across‑the‑country kind of thing. But we’ll see.

It’s always exciting—two of our favorite things happening at the same time. We’ve done those Gasparilla parades in Tampa, playing rock and roll on top of a float in front of thousands of people. It’s insane. But yeah, we’re excited for both. NAMM is awesome, and we’re looking forward to seeing a lot of friends and familiar faces.

You mentioned this earlier, so let’s get into it: you toured across the country opening for Raven and Vicious Rumors. What was that experience like?
Gunnar: That was crazy.

Danny: Right? The Raven guys are like our uncles with the way they treated us. There were moments of just having fun and messing around, and then moments where they’d be like, “Alright boys, we’re going to teach you something here. Remember this.” It was super cool, and we were really appreciative.

The other bands were great too. It was this cast of characters—Vicious Rumors especially. Those guys are hilarious. You never knew what to expect.

Chad Michael: It was like a King of the Hill episode. A full season of it. You knew exactly what each guy was going to do every day, and you still laughed every time.

Danny: At first, the tour started like most tours—everyone feeling each other out, trying to see what everyone’s like and whether you’re comfortable. And then before you know it, everyone’s pranking each other, laughing nonstop, and having a great time. It’s definitely a memory we’ll hold onto for a long time.

I think that tour hit the Whisky, didn’t it? What did you think of the Whisky and the Sunset Strip?
Danny: It was pretty surreal, right, Scotty?

Scotty V: Yeah. That was my favorite show of the whole tour. Being a 13‑year‑old kid looking at that venue, seeing all the bands that played there, and saying, “Someday I’m going to play that stage”—and then actually being up there with bands you’ve looked up to… it was a great experience.

Danny: I’ll tell you this—when we were out there for NAMM, after the tour, we packed in a ton of work shooting music videos. Beyond what you saw in Obsession, we shot three more videos in Anaheim. We rented this 1967 red convertible GTO and did all this crazy stuff.

Speaking of The Whisky, we were shooting a scene where we were supposed to rip up in the GTO, pick up these chicks outside the venue, and peel out. And if you’ve ever seen a music video being filmed, you know you need a bunch of takes. So we’re on the Sunset Strip, right in front of The Whisky, looping around the block over and over—gunning it to 60, skidding in, picking up the girls, and flying off again. People were looking at us like, “Who the hell are these maniacs?” And knock on wood—no cops. I don’t know how we got away with that.

What’s up next in the new year for you guys? I can’t believe 2026 is almost here.
Danny: It’s wild, isn’t it? We’re super excited. Obsession is the first single off the upcoming album, and we’ve got several more singles with videos and a ton of cool content coming into the new year. You can expect the new album to drop sometime in the spring, and it’ll be accompanied by some version of a tour around the country.

We’re aiming not only to hit North America again but to make our way to Europe by the end of the year. The new album is called Go Rebel, and right on its heels we’ll have another album. We spent the summer recording even more music—we went into the studio with Tuck Smith from Tuck Smith and the Restless Hearts (formerly The Biters), and we got some awesome material. So we’ve got two power‑packed albums ready to go, and we’re just excited to hit hard and bring this rock and roll to the fans.

And finally, do you have any messages for your fans who are reading this now?
Chad Michael: Absolutely. We’ve got a lot of stuff coming out, so stay connected with us on all our socials at Wicked Rock N Roll. And at WickedRocknRollOfficial.com—you’ll find everything there. If you scroll to the bottom of the page, you can subscribe to our weekly Friday newsletter.

Danny: The newsletter is cool because it’s like an inside look. You get behind‑the‑scenes info, special updates—it’s a great way to connect without all the social‑media algorithms and nonsense.

Chad Michael: Yeah, it’s a real way to connect with us. We respond. People ask questions like, “Hey, how did that show go?” and we’ll give you a little insight there too.

Scotty V: At least right now, the way it’s set up, you can message us and we’ll get back to you because it goes straight to our email. You’re directly in contact with us. It’s a great way to get closer.

Outro

Wicked are a rare breed in modern rock—equal parts grit, glam, chaos, and heart. Whether they’re tearing across the country in a van, ripping down the Sunset Strip in a vintage GTO, or hammering out new music in the studio, the band approaches everything with the same unshakable conviction: rock and roll is alive, and they’re here to prove it. With Obsession kicking off a massive new era, a double‑album’s worth of material in the chamber, and their sights set on both North America and Europe, 2026 is shaping up to be their most explosive year yet.

For a band that’s spent twelve years living under one roof, chasing the same dream, and refusing to compromise, the road ahead feels less like a challenge and more like destiny. And if their fans have anything to say about it, Wicked won’t just be carrying the torch—they’ll be setting the whole damn thing on fire.

(Interview by Ken Morton)

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