Bradley listens to his own music sometimes...sometimes he even likes it... aka... the more ellipses the better...

I hate people who are inconsistent with their blogs…wait, fuck… I know I keep saying I will get better at this and then not doing anything to be a little more consistent but, you know, everything. Anyways, I’m tired of talking about what isn’t working in my life (mostly everything), so today I’m bringing back a classic: the random music playlist. Whenever times are tough, music is always there to be a comfort to me. Sometimes it’s even my own music that I need in a particular moment; which might sound weird, I know, and very egotistic I suppose, but who could know how to reach me better than me? OK, usually anyone else (thanks Asperger’s!) but every once in a while it’s strangely comforting to hear my former self tell my current self “hey, you already went through this and here’s what you need right now.”

So, today I am going to go through a few songs of my own that have helped me through some tough moments, especially in the past year. “A blog about himself? So arrogant!” you might say. But, hey, it’s my blog and I can write about whatever I want to, and today I want to write about myself. And I don’t know if you know this, but occasionally I write a pretty fucking good tune. On to the songs!

Here’s the Spotify playlist if you want to listen while you read. I can’t do those two things at once (if music is on, that’s the only thing I can focus on) but I’m told other people can, so here you go. If you don’t do Spotify, I’ll also link the YouTube versions below.

OK, so I struggled to put these into any specific order (read: I was too lazy to put these into any specific order), so I figured I would just go through them chronologically and give you a little back story as to why I included them on this list. It’s more or less a random thought experiment where you get to understand my brain a little better and where I can talk about my music, which I have such a love/hate relationship with; pretty much like any other artist. If Thom Yorke (Radiohead) gets to be disappointed with his output then I damn sure better be sometimes. But sometimes I’m not disappointed and I enjoy combing through the back catalog.


It’s funny, people always ask if my songs or albums are like children, like I’m supposed to love them all equally. That’s not true at all. I definitely have favorites and definitely have some that are the runts of the litter. I still love them but they likely have some issues that need addressing. So, without further ado, here’s the songs:


1) Back to Brooklyn

Why this one is on the list: This was the first song I ever played with a rock band. I was in New York City and I was starting to get bored of playing folk music. I didn’t really have the songs to start a band as most of my stuff at the time was super Dylan-y and were these long, rambly, imagery driven type stuff with loads of harmonica solos. But I knew I wanted to do something more Rock ‘n’ Roll, so I auditioned to be the singer for this cover band. We did stuff from the Black Keys, Cold War Kids, Wolfmother and a few other bands that were pretty hot around that time. I can’t say that I was particularly great at being a covers singer. One thing I’ve learned over the years is that I’m good at doing my thing, but that’s pretty much it. I’m not one of those people who can hear a song and then sing it perfectly. I tend to have to work hard for everything I do musically, and I’m OK with that.

But one day at rehearsal, the leader of the group, the guitar player, was running a bit late. So, we were just hanging around and they asked if I had any songs we could play in the interim. I searched my brain for a folk song that might work and landed on Back to Brooklyn. Normally, I did it in 6/8 time, all folky and shit, but I figured if I just played it straight and gave it a little oomph, it might actually work. I show the bass player the simple chords and we launched into it. I got such a rush hearing the band behind me and I knew that this was my future. I still enjoy the folky stuff, but that moment was like the first time I had sex, in that it was something I had never experienced before but knew I needed to make a regular occurrence thereafter. And my Rock ‘n’ Roll path had begun.

2) This Old House

Why this one is on the list: This song has affected more people than any other song I’ve written. I’ve had quite a few people reach out to me about this song over the years with stories about how this song helped them through a divorce, breakup, the death of a loved one, etc. I feel so humbled and honored to be able to have helped in some small way in other people’s lives. I’ve always said my goal in making music is to give back, to at least one person, what music has given me. I’ve accomplished that many times over with just this song and I’m so grateful that I could do my part in continuing music’s pay-it-forward type deal.

In addition, it’s also the first song my wife and I ever sang together on. I had always envisioned this song as a duet but never really had a singing partner. So, for live shows at the time, my drummer would sing some of the harmonies but it never quite sounded the way it should. When we got around to recording, I had just met this girl who was singing with my guitar player’s other band. He said she was really good at harmonies and I thought she was pretty so I asked her if she was free to come out to the studio on one of our scheduled days and she was. I remember I had forgotten to print out the lyrics for her so I was writing them by hand as she was listening to the song for the first time. I remember her commenting on how each line was a different length and had a slightly different melody. I never really thought too much about that kind of stuff but it definitely doesn’t make it easy for someone who doesn’t know the song to sing along with it. Long story short, she was great and now we’re married.

3) She Will Never Return to Me

Why this one is on the list: This the last vestige of my folk singing days. With verses like:

With her eyes like sailor’s stars through a night so sad and still

She paints a silver ghost on a broken window sill

And on from the summer she finds her saintly will

But she will never return to me

and

She whispers and fades like a man she once knew

And dances with the poets with bells in their shoes

She hits all the notes when she hums the tunes

But she will never return to me

I love it. Makes me yearn for a simpler time in my life when all that mattered was outdoing the venerable Jon Fickes with my latest folk song, which I’d debut at some open mic at 1:30am on a Tuesday; and he’d try to do the same to me. Needless to say, he usually won…

The other thing I love about listening to this song is the lead guitar work and the solos. It’s otherworldly at times. This song wasn’t really on the radar for this record but we had some extra time in the studio so we figured we’d give it a shot. I think we had played it at maybe two shows before the recording session so it was still pretty raw. Our guitar player, Brian, had mostly just noodled around during the verses and solos prior to this so he didn’t have any of his parts down; since, again, we weren’t planning on recording it. We didn’t use anything he recorded that day but he took the raw mix home and spent hours writing and recording his part in his basement studio. At the next session, he brought in the fruits of his labor and we all heard it for the first time. It was magnificent. I loved it. The guitar sounds were nothing like what was on the rest of the album but it fit this song so perfectly. It was such a unique moment as most of the other parts were meticulously hammered out at rehearsals and shows. But this, this was like hearing my song come to life for the first time. To this day, it’s still my favorite of all his guitar parts, and he had some dandies so that’s saying something.

4) Just Like Jon Fickes

Why this one is on the list: Remember how songs are supposed to be like kids and you’re supposed to love them all equally? Well, this is my favorite child. I have a couple fun memories from this one.

First, this was originally written to essentially what would become the music for Some Girls (Still Love Rock N’ Roll), if you can imagine that. But at the time, the band was really struggling with the more upbeat, harder-edged type rock songs so I rewrote the song into the new key (C) and really played around with the tempo and dynamics. From the story to the epicness of the recording, this is one that really worked out a little better in real life than what I had in my head, which is really fucking rare. Usually, songs never come close to what you hear in your head but this one actually ended up exceeding it. I remember being so anxious about getting this song right that the morning of the mixing session I got so drunk that I passed out and missed most of it. I’ll never forget sauntering in bleary-eyed and hearing it for the first time. I loved it. I didn’t have one note. “Wouldn’t change a thing,” I said, “it’s perfect.”

Second, I’ll always remember how much people hated the title. Even the boys in the band who had recorded with Jon (that’s him on Back to Brooklyn and our first EP) thought it was a stupid name. “What does it mean? No one knows who Jon Fickes is,” I kept hearing. But, every time I brought up the title, people would ask me about it. “Who is Jon Fickes?” they would say, usually pronouncing his name “ficus” as in “ficus tree.” Anything that got people talking. Plus, Jon is one of my biggest influences in music. Like I mentioned before, we’ve always had a friendly competition between us and he’s inspired me to work harder and push myself to write better songs over the years. To be able to honor him with a song title (plus a cover of his tune The Dark Lovely on the same album) is the least I can do for someone so influential on my music career.

Third, it’s just a really fucking good song, if I may say so myself, and I may, as this is my fucking blog. Many times when I tell people it’s over eight minutes long, they are surprised, which is a good thing as a songwriter. If you can make an eight minutes song feel like a five minute song, you’re doing something right. I definitely did something right with this one.

5) Lookin’ at Luckey

Why this one is on the list: One of the things I’ve really missed since moving across the country is my friends back in the Portland, OR area. As a whole, I fucking hated Portland and the people there. But, there were some special people that came into my life while I lived there. One of them was the man who wrote and directed my two latest music videos, Kevin Pietila. His wife and my soon-to-be wife were good friends, so needless to say, eventually we were bound to hang out. We hit it off almost instantly and within weeks we were discussing making a music video together. I think my favorite part of the process was those initial meetings when we would head over to a local bourbon bar and drink and share stories about our lives that were relevant to the song/video. One drink would turn into four and we would talk for hours.

As I was doing my blog series a few months back called “Music videos are fun,” I was kind of reliving those days and the shoots for the videos. If I could make music videos all day, every day (and that’s how those shoots can go sometimes, all day. The Let’s Go Out Tonight overnight shoots were pretty brutal), I would, as long as Kevin was the director. And, of course, Jon Fickes made his obligatory appearance in these videos as well, which made them even more fun. If you want to read more about the Luckey video shoot, you can HERE. If you haven’t seen the video yet, here it is:

As far as the song, this might be my second favorite song that I’ve written. It was the first song written for this album and kind of set the tone for the entire record. The stories about struggles with sex, drugs, drinking, depression and guilt sort of weave their way throughout the entire record. That was essentially my life at the time and I feel this song summed it up better than the others. I remember the first time I played this song for anyone besides myself. My bandmate was taken aback as he hadn’t heard something like this from me before, one person cried and before the night was over (well, in the early morning hours) I found myself in bed with a beautiful girl I had just met. Life is pretty strange sometimes but obviously that song had told a powerful story.

6) Let’s Go Out Tonight

Why this one is on the list: This song brought me joy a couple times this past year. First off, it was chosen for the soundtrack of the video game NASCAR Heat 5. Not only did that bring in some much needed income, but as a lifelong NASCAR fan it was a really cool achievement. I grew up playing NASCAR video games so it was pretty damn cool to be a part of one of those games. I can’t tell you how many hours I spent tweaking setups or running practice laps in NASCAR Racing 1999. That game was the most realistic racing sim I had ever seen up to that point and I loved it. I never knew I wanted to spend my evenings finding the perfect camber setting or front bias ratio but the game proved otherwise. I remember when the first NASCAR Heat game came out. My buddy and I would spend hours racing while we listened to Jimi Hendrix or Damn Yankees or REO Speedwagon. Not sure why those are the three that immediately come to mind, but so be it. I know a lot of people think NASCAR is just rednecks driving cars really fast and turning left, but come watch a race with me and we can talk about all the strategy, science, skill and luck that goes into a race. I feel like NASCAR is as misunderstood as baseball. A lot of people think it’s a boring sport where not much happens until you learn about all that goes into it and how ridiculously difficult it is.

Secondly, my new band is a three piece so I had to start learning/playing the guitar leads for my songs. It’s something I haven’t done in years. The last time I played lead guitar was when I was 19 years old. This, for some reason, was the first song I started with. It’s a sort of weird feeling to be “learning” my own song but that’s what I was doing. I was a little skeptical of the practicality of being a trio but this song put those fears to rest and now I enjoy playing those leads/solos. It brings new life to songs I’ve been playing for years. Also, if you haven’t seen the video and want to see me as a zombie, check it out:

7) No Truth in the Summer

Why this one is on the list: I don’t think anything was more apropos last year than the line “We don’t know where we’re gonna be when the summer ends.” Sure, the song is about a relationship that’s at that moment when you have to make a decision on whether you want to get serious or just call it a day and move on, but still. Like another song on this list, this was also a last second addition to an album. We had 10 songs ready for In My Youth, I’m Getting Old… but it just felt like the narrative wasn’t quite wrapped with the rest of the songs and we needed something to help tie the room together. We had played around with this song in rehearsals but that was about it. After we got the take that ended up on the album (we recorded this album live to tape), I remember our engineer saying he felt this was one of his two favorite songs on the record. After some time, it’s really grown on me and has become one of my favorite to play live.

8) We Are Not Alone

Why this one is on the list: Despite spending the entire quarantine with another person, I still constantly felt so alone. Though I knew so many people who were in the same boat as I was, it didn’t help the with the feeling of isolation I had. Again, the song is about a different time and type of loneliness, but it seemed to help during the darker times of the pandemic when it felt like we would never see the other side of it. But, now that I’ve already gotten my first shot of the vaccine and my wife gets her first (and only, so jealous she’s getting that J&J as I’m terrified of needles…) shot this week, it’s feels as if there’s finally some hope that we’re through the worst of this. I can’t wait to get back in front of people again and feel like I don’t have to be worried they might kill me or I might kill them just by talking with them. Anyway, this one was a good reminder that even when we feel so fucking alone, there’s always someone out there who knows exactly how we feel and we’re not really alone in the world. I needed a reminder of that. Also, I needed to remember that I love to make non-Rock ‘n’ Roll music too. I still remember when I first bought my synth and just kept staring at it wondering how the hell to make it work. Now, I love playing around with its seemingly infinite possibilities. Most of the time I love the simplicity of guitars, drums and bass, but sometimes I love dense soundscapes full of alternating melodies and counter melodies and noise. I’m glad I get to do both.

So, there you have it. Those are the songs that I have been coming back to over the past year. I hope you enjoyed this little peak behind the curtain of my brain and thoughts. And if not, you’re probably not reading this right now because you were like “fuck this, this shit is boring as fuck. I’m out.” So if you’re reading this, thanks for reading and I’ll talk with you again soon. Well, write to you. It’s not really a dialogue, though if you want to get involved leave a comment below or via Instagram (link at bottom of page or search @bradleywikmusic) as that’s the social media I actually check from time to time. Until next time…

(dictated but not read)

Music videos are fun... aka... memories from Lookin' at Luckey

So, LAST WEEK I talked about my favorite memories from my the making of the MUSIC VIDEO FOR LET’S GO OUT TONIGHT. This week I’m going go over some fun memories from the making of the music video for Lookin’ at Luckey; which, for those who haven’t seen in it, here it is motherfuckers (but first, a quick, funny story. So, apparently I use the words “fuck” and “fucking” a lot in texts. For the first few months when I get a new phone, it constantly tries to auto-correct it to “duck” and “ducking” and I have to constantly change it back. After a while, it learns and stops. But, what I didn’t know is that now my phone tries to auto-correct “duck” into, yep, you guessed it “fuck.” Which normally is not an issue, but I was sending out a music business related email yesterday and was actually trying to use the word “duck” and almost pressed send before re-reading one last time. Luckily, I did not tell someone that I could “fuck in a little early before the show if you’re still around.”):

This video was also made by my very talented, and quite handsome, friend, Kevin Pietila. And, just like the Let’s Go Out Tonight video, he wrote, directed and edited this. He also did most, if not all, the camera work on this as someone had to back out last second. This was definitely a smaller video in terms of scope and crew versus the LGOT shoot. It still featured my wonderful and talented fake band, which in this video is just my buddy, Jon Fickes, on the guitar, and Kevin’s wife, Sara, who is a very talented songwriter, singer and piano player herself, on the piano. They, along with the addition of David Solomon on drums, were also the fake band in the Let’s Go Out Tonight music video. Oddly, no bass player in either video. Did eventually get to play an actual show with Jon and David once in Lebanon, OR. Good times…

A little bit of backstory. Kevin’s wife, Sara, and my wife, Brianne, initially became friends, first online and then in real life. I think I met Kevin only once when I decided I wanted to work with him. He’s just that charming. That, and he showed us a short film he had made, which was amazing. I knew we had to work together. I also knew I wanted someone with a strong creative vision. That was important since I have Asperger’s (essentially high-functioning autism, for those who don’t know), and one of the ways that affects me is that I have a very difficult time visualizing things that don’t exist. My brain works very literally at times. It’s why I struggle with fantasy or sci-fi movies, apart from Star Wars for some reason, but that’s pretty much the only one. I can’t do superhero movies, I struggle with period pieces, and shit like Lord of the Rings, forget about it. Because of this, I needed someone to create the concepts and write the stories for the videos. I gave Kevin a copy of the record and asked him to pick which song or songs he would like to do. He had complete creative control, within reason/budget. He immediately came back with the Let’s Go Out Tonight zombie story. I loved it. I was so excited and ready to go, but there was one problem: it was December. Can’t really do outdoor, overnight shoots when it’s 35 degrees and pissing rain all night (ahh, those Pacific Northwest winters. They’ll suck your soul away…).

We decided to do a second video and put the Let’s Go Out Tonight video on hold until summer rolled around. I asked Kevin what other song he would be interested in. He said Lookin’ at Luckey sort of reminded him of a relationship he once had. Perfect! We spent a few nights drinking and talking more in depth about the real-life relationships that went into that song. If you’re curious, it’s essentially two very real relationships cherry-picked to make one great song, if I may say so myself (and I may, as this is my fucking blog). He added in some of his own experiences and voila. A video was born. Now, for the memories, in no particular order. I could put them in some sort of order but that would imply that I plan these out and think about them and do actual editing on them. Nope, just a fucking random list.

(Editor’s note: we’ll see how this list goes as I’m really pissed right now. I just found out someone hit my car while it was parked in my apartment’s parking lot. The right front bumper was popped out a little and there’s fucking red paint that was scraped on. I’m also pissed since I have no idea when it happened as I so rarely leave the house these days. So, someone hit it hard enough to pop the bumper out of place, which luckily I was able to pop back into place, and leave paint behind. Fuck. Oh, and Portland, OR is charging me for an Arts Tax even though I moved away last year. I don’t mind supporting the arts but I don’t even fucking live there anymore. One last parting “fuck you” from my least favorite city in America. Well, fuck you too, Portland. Fuck you too…)

  • The drinking fake wine but smoking real cigarettes on the roof scene - One thing they rarely tell you about making any type of art is how long it can take. Making an album, a TV show, a painting, whatever, it always takes longer than you think. So, to combat this for a scene involving drinking we poured out the wine in the bottle and refilled with water. But, we should have rinsed out the bottle a few times before refilling with good ol’ H2O. What we were left with was a bottle of wine flavored water, which is not the tastiest concoction. But, it was funny as Sonora (the female lead), out of habit, would take pulls of between takes. It’s just what you do when you have a bottle of wine in your hand. Plus, it’s what you do when you are a little lightheaded from chain smoking American Spirits like it’s fucking 1963 again. I’m sure they make prop cigarettes but those in the video are most certainly not. When I stood up to go back inside, I thought I might fall off the roof. Luckily (pun intended?), neither of us fell off the roof, which would have put a big damper on the shoot.

  • The pretending to be asleep scene - This is where my true acting skills really shined. I can, and I don’t want to brag too much, pretend to be asleep fairly convincingly. I’m not going to say I’m the Leonardo DiCaprio of slumberland, but it’s probably the best acting I’ve done in any video to date. OK, maybe I was actually pretty good at being a zombie in the Let’s Go Out Tonight video. But, I still think I’m a better pretend sleeper. Probably because for a few takes I actually did start to nod off. When you’re laying in a comfortable Air BnB bed and your direction from the man behind the camera is just to lie still and don’t move, it’s hard not to. Maybe I’m just method, I don’t know. Oscars, here I come.

  • The fake performance scenes - OK, so this might be my favorite memory from the Luckey shoot. We did some really fun stuff and I credit Kevin for making these shoots so enjoyable. He really knew how to take care of his cast and crew. So, let me set the scene. We started this night doing the mingling intro scene and then the me singing to the frozen Luckey scene (up next). There was a couple other things to shoot (and I think I forgot to bring something so I had to run home quick) which backed up the shoot a bit, which always run a bit behind anyways. So, it was already around 11pm when we started the band performance shots. The Air BnB had a noise cutoff around then so we had to be super quiet. Usually for performance shots, you crank up the music so you can actually play/sing and it looks real. But, being too late for that, we had to keep volume super low. Here we are, almost no sound to play to and we had to (very quietly) rock the fuck out in the kitchen of this Air BnB. Not exactly the most Rock ‘n’ Roll thing but it looks great in the video. Jon and Sara both actually learned the chords/parts for the song so they could play it accurately. They’re such pros. But, my favorite part of this whole thing was how into the performance Sara got. She had already worked a full day teaching voice/piano before coming so she was already and understandably a little tired when she got there. By 11pm, she was teetering on the verge of exhaustion. But, she gave great performances take after take and was rocking out so hard she started to hurt her fingers because she kept trying to actually get sound out of the unplugged keyboard. But, as soon as Kevin once again said “action,” she was right back into it without missing a beat. Lots of hard work goes into these things and I’m grateful to people like Sara and Nate and everyone who sacrificed and pulled double duty to make these videos happen.

  • The me singing to frozen “Luckey” scene - This was just fun to be a part of. Performing is my favorite part of music, even if it is fake and just for a music video. But, watching Sonora sit perfectly still for take after take was mesmerizing. I can’t say enough how wonderful a job she did in this video and this scene is the epitome of that. Being there, it almost looked like we faked it somehow. She was so good in the video she actually made me look good too. Not an easy task.

  • The dancing around and singing in the town square scene - The scene where Jon, Sonora and I danced and sang in the little town square thing was shot at Portland’s Pioneer Square. Which, for those who don’t live in Portland, is a touristy spot during the day, but is just a hangout for the homeless at night. Yes, the scene looks great and it was fun to sing and dance around, but it was what happened right before that I remember vividly. Obviously surprised to see a group of young, good-looking people being filmed, everyone wanted to stop over to see what we were doing. After telling them it was for a music video, one lady decided she needed to tell us, and then sing it to prove her point, how many times Bill Withers says “I know” in the third verse “Ain’t No Sunshine.” “26 times,” she said. And then we got the full-throated rendition while she counted on her fingers. I’ll be damned, she was right and wasn’t too bad at carrying a tune.

  • The car scenes - That Thunderbird, which is owned and was graciously made available for the music video by Kevin’s dad, is, by far, the nicest car I’ve ever had the pleasure of sitting in and pretending to drive. It’s even the exact color I would choose if I won the lottery and someone sold me a massive 3D printer that can print Thunderbirds and somehow manufacture their combustion engines and exhaust systems and recreate era-specific details with precision. Besides that, it was fun to see how scenes like this come together. Having not done any real acting in my life (and based on the videos, you can probably see why), I was unaware of the magic of Hollywood in regards to driving scenes. So, this was my lesson. Nate, who was helping us out with a little bit of everything on the shoot, got behind and starting gently rocking the car up and down. My wife, Brianne and Kevin’s wife, Sara, were on the lights. They stood on boxes and held them up as high as they could and, upon Kevin’s instruction, would swoop them around to simulate going past street lights. All while I alternated between pretending to sing and pretending to look forlorn, which is essentially just my standard Bruce-Springsteen-from-the-Darkness-on-the-Edge-of-Town-album-cover look. Sitting in a beautiful car (that wasn’t mine) with a beautiful girl (who was only pretending to be with me) with a beautiful song playing in the background (hey! I actually get this one!), what more could a guy ask for…

  • The empty wine bottle - Again, here is the photo of my mementos from the music videos. The Thriller jacket and the fake gun were from the Let’s Go Out Tonight video. The wine bottle is from this shoot for Lookin’ at Luckey. When doing the pre-shoot shopping at Target, I was just grabbing things that I thought would look good on camera. The bottle had a pretty shape and a nice label so I grabbed it. The rose inside was fine, nothing special, but I mainly just wanted it for the look. It’s featured in a intro/outro scene. But, apparently I’m a lot smarter in my subconscious mind than in real life. I missed a detail that really would’ve sold it. Sonora picked up on it during the shoot. The name on the bottle: Sofia. Damn! Totally missed an opportunity to look smart, which doesn’t come around very often for me. People thought I was thinking these things out for a minute until I was like “wait, what?” Moment over. Back to being a dumb musician…

So, those are my favorite memories from the Lookin’ at Luckey music video shoot. If you have any questions about this or anything related to the video, feel free to leave a comment below. Otherwise, tune in next week to get my thoughts on the Friday Night is for the Drinkers video.

Look how fucking cool I look… Just kidding, the car is way cooler.

Look how fucking cool I look… Just kidding, the car is way cooler.

NEW MUSIC VIDEO AND VIDEO RELEASE PARTY!!

AHHHH, REAL MONSTERS (anyone love that show as much as I do?)! Why do I say that?? You’ll find out if you check out the WORLD PREMIERE OF “LET’S GO OUT TONIGHT” THE MUSIC VIDEO AT SURVIVING THE GOLDEN AGE BY CLICKING HERE OR ON THE PICTURE:

Also, our music video release party will be held at the Lake Theater in Lake Oswego, OR Friday, November 9th. Music from Sara Morris, Brianne Kathleen and Bradley Wik will start at 8pm followed by commentary from director/writer of said videos, Kevin Pietila, before we show both “Lookin’ at Luckey” and “Let’s Go Out Tonight” on the BIG SCREEN!!! Fun is guaranteed to be had by all. Music, booze, amazing music videos, what else do you need?! Oh, a sexy host, you might say. Well, don’t you worry, Bradley will be there and may or may not take his pants off… Just sayin’…

BWC Music Premiere Video Poster.png

Umm, I got married... aka sorry that I'm not sorry about being lazy with the blog...

I apologize as I've been lazy as shit keeping up with this blog and (not) doing my YOUTUBE videos as promised but it turns out getting married and jet-setting off to Paris for a couple weeks will fuck up your schedule.  So, yes I am now officially married.  Even got the damn marriage license today which was conveniently approved on 9/11/2018 so 9/11 is now forever even more a part of my life.  For the record, we didn't get married on 9/11, that's just when the state of New York finally got around to verifying our claim of marriage.   Strange.  But, the actual wedding was my favorite ever.  Yes, I'm extremely fucking biased but there you have it.  We did it in Central Park in New York City and wore our fucking wedding clothes all day while we got pictures in the Park, the MoMA, at our dinner in Little Italy, and finally for (way too many) drinks back up around Columbus (fuck Columbus.  I'm half Native American for first time readers.  And legit half, not "my grandma was part Cherokee so I'm like 1/64th or something" Native American.) Circle.  Anyways, I'll talk more about this in future iterations.  But, immediately after that the fucking music video came out and I've been planning some things to go along with that AND the second music video, dun, dun, duun!  Oh, you didn't know there was a second music video?  Well... Fuck... Then... OK, now you do.  I guess it wasn't that dramatic except this one is even more crazy and wonderful.  I can't wait to release it to the world.  Same director as on "Lookin' at Luckey" so you know it's gonna be fucking awesome.  Kevin Pietila is a goddamn wizard with the music videos.  I wish I could hire him to make one for every song but I could definitely not afford that.  Fucking money always getting in the way...


Anyways, I'm sorry this is brief and I don't have a better update, but I assure you I will in two weeks.  Next week, I'm visiting my brother in Wisconsin so I'll have better things to do than make a video blog or put a lot of thought into writing one.  Namely, drink and watch the Packers game.  And no, don't ask me about this fucking Packers-Vikings game from last week...  Seriously, don't...  Jesus...  All I will say is that I think the "holding" aka guy is falling down and the lineman makes sure of such call against Lane Taylor on the Jimmy Graham TD is just as big a misstep as the phantom roughing the passer call on Clay Matthews III.  Either correct call would've ended the game in the Packers' favor.  Just sayin'...

Also, the past two weeks I've been repeatedly re-listening to the S-TOWN PODCAST for some reason.  I don't know why I'm obsessed with listening to it for a 6th or 7th time but that's fucking Asperger's for you; which John B definitely has.  Just sayin'...


Anyhow, if you haven't seen the video for Lookin' at Luckey yet, Jesus fuck it's awesome, so here it is:

It's here! It's finally here!! aka... "Lookin' at Luckey," the video...

As promised, here it is fuckers:

This brings back wonderful memories of:

 

- How perfectly Sonora embodied "Luckey" for those three days of shooting.  I felt as if I was back with the real "Luckey" the whole time

- Brianne and Sara shining lights past the Thunderbird while Nate rocked it up and down, over and over and over...

- Sonora sitting perfectly still, take after take, for those shots in the living room of me rocking out

- Sara hitting her (not plugged in) keyboard so hard it made her fingers hurt trying to get noise out of it

- Sharing those wonderful bottles of water-wine on the roof

- The lady in the park who repeatedly demonstrated how many times Bill Withers says "I know" in "Ain't No Sunshine"

- Those Fucking Jibs

- The wonderfully weird boat parade on the Willamette River that night

- How much Kelly's Olympian didn't give a fuck

- How smoking way too many cigarettes in a row feels

- How many times someone commented on how I look like Ryan Adams

- How I loved it every time someone commented on how I look like Ryan Adams (one of my favorite artists ever)

- Getting to sit in an actual Thunderbird and how unworthy I was

- Thinking of how many fucking talented people were in that apartment that night

 

I could never thank Kevin Pietila enough for taking my Asperger's, non-visual memories of Luckey and somehow creating this.  It is beyond my comprehension how talented he is.

 

I am so grateful to all the talented people involved:  Kevin Pietila, Sara Morris, Brianne Kathleen, Jon Fickes, Sonora Mindwerl, Nate Ernst, Colby and, of course, me (just kidding, kind of).  They say it takes a village, but we did it with less people, more hard work and more skill.  But most of all, we did it...

Fucking Finally! "Lookin' at Luckey" music video this week!!!

EDITORS NOTE:  I apologize for the false start. We ran into an issue with the promotion/premiere/timeline and the video was not released on Friday as expected.  It will, come hell or high water, be released this week as I'm exhausted and it needs to see the light of day.  Goddamn, we need some good luck on this album soon as it's been snakebitten since the beginning...  It's coming though, I assure you.  Things are looking up.  They have to.  There's no other way to go...

 

Finally, after months of teasing you fuckers, the official video for "Lookin' at Luckey" is about to be real!  I know you've been waiting for it, as have I, but it's better than you think.  For serious.  Fucking hell.  If you haven't already, subscribe to Bradley Wik's YouTube Channel at www.youtube.com/bradleywik.  That's where the video will be in addition to this very website, bradleywik.com.  So many amazing people worked on this thing, it would be a shame to not watch and enjoy the fuck out of this video.  For those who still are on the fence, here's a still from the upcoming video:

Bradley and "Luckey"/Sonora

Bradley and "Luckey"/Sonora

So, again, "Lookin' at Luckey" the official music video will be out this Friday, 8/31.  Stay tuned for more updates...

Fucking music videos and being sick aka... fuck my (awesome) life...

Being sick sucks.  Like really fucking sucks.  I just might be the biggest baby when it comes to being sick.  I was sick before the music video shoot, kind of during (though adrenaline and the need to get it done are great masking agents; just like the double doses/four pills of NyQuil, a shot of bourbon and way too much coffee) and, of course, again after.  Staying up all night for two nights then waking up early (read:  six hours of sleep in three days) for the next day are not a plan for good health.  But, it is a plan for making a fun as hell music video.  The concept and script were fun as shit.  I felt bad as the director, DP (director of photography, also known as the camera operator, lighting director and eyes of the film) and second AC (second assistant camera), as well as the lighting and setup crew had to work their fucking asses off as I got to relish being an actor.

 

This video definitely allowed me to display my acting skills much more than the last one, by nature of the theme and script.  I fucking loved it.  I also happen to be really fucking awesome (read:  not bad) at it.  I am sad that we are almost done with the video (we have one more short night of shooting) but enjoyed every minute of it so far.  I wish I could tell you more but I don't want to spoil it and the surprises along the way.  Needless to say, it'll be great and you'll love it.

 

What you won't love is the Meniere's attack I had right before the filming, which went away during shooting (thank God!) and the fact that it's 8pm and I can barely keep my eyes open as the lack of sleep and illness is taking over.  Plus, somehow a wart on my face may (or may not) be getting infected as a barely visible mark is now swollen and painful...  Jesus, it's been a week.  Plus, I'm headed to Arizona to enjoy some of that 115 degree heat...  Not...  Well, I am going to Arizona, but no, I won't be enjoying the heat...

 

If I had more energy I would make one of those videos I promised on YouTube that I still haven't delivered on where I would rant about Kanye being the second most important artist of my lifetime or why I feel like all cats have autism...  Maybe next week.  This week, I'm glad I'm still alive and I'm going to go finish watching the new season of Kimmy Schmidt...  Fuck it...

 

But, here's a still of me and a beautiful girl in a car way too nice for the both of us from the (first) "Lookin' at Luckey" video which will be out in the next month (notice my doofy singing face. Singing is never graceful on stills...):

 

 

I know, that has nothing to do with the new video but you'll see this one sooner bitches...

"Lookin' at Luckey" the live-action version aka... music videos are awesome

"Lookin' at Luckey" comes alive!

 

(editors note:  this was supposed to go up Tuesday.  Not sure why it didn't.  Fucking computers and internet things...)

 

GREEN BAY PACKERS WEEKLY UPDATE:

 

Unfortunately, I was unable to watch a single second of the Packers game as I was busy doing this:

 

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"What does making funny faces in bars have to do with not watching the Packers?" you may ask.  And you'd be right, if I wasn't being filmed doing it.  Because then it's cool and it's called a music video...


THIS WEEK IN MUSIC:

 

I was shooting a music video for "Lookin' at Luckey" this past weekend which was a fucking blast.  I got to work with some amazing people including the absurdly brilliant writer/director, KEVIN PIETILA, and the beyond beautiful and wonderfully-talented lead actress, SONORA MINDWERL.  And that's not including my other ridiculously awesome friends SARA MORRISBRIANNE KATHLEEN and A VIEW OF EARTH FROM THE MOON'S VERY OWN (JUST LIKE) JON FICKES.  It was truly a blessing to have so much artistic energy in the room(s) when making this fucker.  I had such a fun time despite learning that I am not quite as brilliant an actor as I assumed I once was.  That honor goes to Sonora and Jon Fickes, who were wonderful when "action" was called.  Give me a guitar, mic and a crowd and I'm in my element.  Give me words to say and a camera in my face and... not my element so much.  Although, I used to do a fantastic Jack Black/Tenacious D-type impression given the right audience.  I passed my high school speech class with a Bob Marley song ("Redemption Song") and Jack Black inspired improvised speech/performance.  I was tasked with performing this improvised speech in front of my whole graduating class later on, which I guess means it was pretty good.  So, I have that going for me, which is nice...

 

We did a lot of amazing things during the video but perhaps my favorite was this:

 

IMG_0818.JPG

 

What a beautiful car that I am so undeserving to even sit in...  This Thunderbird was amazing.  It's lucky you can't see below the waist on these shots.  Boners upon boners...

 

Anyways, more updates for you soon... So tired... Who knew video shoots were more draining than recording sessions?

Aaron will be OK, won't he? Won't he? aka please, let him be OK...

He can't really be hurt, can he??  Depression and loss and Aaron Rodgers collarbone...

 

I'm not sure what the proper word is for, as our friends in NorCal would say, "Hella Devastated."  Thoughts and Prayers, of course, to all the victims of the wild fires.  Far more devastating than the Packers season but Aaron's broken collarbone is also causing a large amount of grief back in the great state of Wisconsin.  It's not as important but nevertheless...  It's been such a fucked up year with all the injuries.  In my 24 years of watching football, I can't remember (the drugs and booze probably don't help) a team this ravaged by injuries, at the same positions nonetheless, as the 2017 Packers.  I know, I know, Vikings fans mention they've lost their starting quarterback and running back as well, BUT we all know losing Sam Bradford is not the same as losing Aaron Rodgers.  Only the Patriots losing Tom Brady can compare.  But he's gone.  There's nothing we can do now except trust the process, get better every day, overcome adversity, yada, yada, yada.  I watched Brett Hundley's post game presser and I feel OK about our prospects.  It would be mental to torture myself and expect the worst (as I do with most of the things in my life), and he does seem like a very smart, confident, talented kid ready to make the most of his opportunity.  I think we will be OK.  I really do.  It may sound insane but I feel we'll be in good hands and ready to compete for the NFC North.  I'm not ready to give up, especially to the Vikings.  Fuck that.  We're coming for you.  When the 2013 season ended with Rodgers and Cobb coming back to re-enact the ending of "The Natural," I decided no season was ever really over.

 

Anyways, as I sit in the Marriott Springhill Suites in Bend, OR (a very nice hotel, I might add), I can't help but feel hopeful.  I want to thank all those who tuned in to my Periscope Live "Friday Night is for the Drinkers" Concert Series on Friday the 13th.  The theme was "Girls," as in the 2nd of my 4 part series about the things I write songs about:  Cars, Girls, Drinking and Rock N' Roll.  It ran longer than I anticipated but the topic of "girls" is so broad and covered 2 of my favorite songs ("Lookin' at Luckey" and "Just Like Jon Fickes") plus a live favorite that never made a record ("Johnny and Mary part II" sorry, no link as it's not released) that I couldn't cut down the stories and emotion of playing those tunes.  Also, I know, I know; Wild Turkey Bourbon?  Well, when you're traveling you can't buy the top shelf stuff as you need to buy smaller containers of alcohol, hence, the Wild Turkey; which I am finishing off tonight.  No, it does not have anything to do with those fucking god awful Matthew McConaughey commercials.  I just like decent, high-proof bourbon and my local liquor store doesn't have Knob Creek in pints.  Anyways, it was a fun show and I know I talked more than usual, but fuck you, that's my prerogative, and I'm the only one in the room for the shows, so I get to DO IT MY WAY.  Next PERISCOPE LIVE "FRIDAY NIGHT IS FOR THE DRINKERS" LIVE SHOW IS:  FRIDAY, OCTOBER 27TH AT 9PM EST/6PM PST.  Search "Bradley Wik" (@bradleywik) on the Periscope app or follow on your PC by clicking HERE.

 

As I've mentioned before, putting out this record has been one disaster after another.  Now, that I'm playing shows to promote this fucker, it's no different.  I was concussed for the month before and at least 2 weeks after my official album release.  Couldn't practice, couldn't play for that time.  Then, of course, I injured my left index finger (main guitar playing finger) playing pick up basketball with some younger kids (note:  don't play pickup basketball with younger kids.  They're much more spry and athletic).  I haven't been able to make a barre chord ever since.  Then, last Tuesday, I went to sleep OK and woke up not being able to move my wrist, which, it turns out, is important to playing guitar.  Bad dream, weird sleeping position, who knows, but it still fucking hurts.  My last Periscope show was excruciating and would have been worse without the Wild Turkey 101.  I still can hardly drive, open a bottle, take a shower, etc. without terrible pain in my wrist and finger.  It sucks not being 21 anymore and able to bounce back from any injury in 24 hours and having to deal with this shit.  But, I've no choice.  Hopefully, all this bad luck (the countless fucking disasters and horrible things during the recording process, mixing and mastering process) will yield an amazing reverse karma deal and will end up with me becoming famous, well, more famous than I am.  Hope-fucking-ly...  Speaking of Hope, nope, that's another blog.  Long story...

 

Still, I feel blessed to even be able to record and release my music.  Some fucking kid from Horicon, WI is getting radio play in Milwaukee, Denver, Anchorage, Vancouver, BC, San Antonio, Las Cruces, Boise, Murfreesboro, Piscataway, etc.  It's unbelievable.  If you like the record, don't forget to buy it on iTunes or get an actual CD or VINYL on CDBABY.  And buy one for a friend, or a fucking enemy, I don't give a shit.  Just support independent artists so we/I can keep making wonderful, amazing, fucking mind-bending, soul-fulfilling music.

 

By the way, if you're ever in Lebanon, OR, you should stay at the Boulder Falls Inn.  It's fucking awesome.  Great bar and even better bartenders (skip the restaurant and grab food on the second floor bar).  It has a Japanese Garden, which I love, the rooms are big and comfortable, the toilet capable of handling a big shit, it's brilliant.  Although, the Japanese Garden in Portland, OR refused to hire me because I didn't have non-profit experience, though the job was for a management of personnel position, which I had done for 3-4 years.  Fucking assholes.  They're so much better because their company doesn't make money for shareholders, though they make money just the same as I.  Oh, wait, they're the same.  Dickholes.

 

Fuck it.  It's still a shame that THIS VIDEO only has 19 million views.  Should be 1 Billion.  Or, at least, more than however many Justin Bieber has.  At least Shakira get her due, just watch THIS VIDEO.  Not sure how that is related, outside of the fact that I really like her, and she's ungodly beautiful.  I read in an article how one of her favorite bands was AC/DC, which immediately made me cum.  Just imagine this beauty rocking out to (my favorite AC/DC song) "Big Balls."  In love, hard.  So hard...

 

Wait, what was I talking about?  Not sure and don't care.  I'm just going to watch Shakira videos for the rest of the night.  Bye y'all...

 

Wait, if you're in the Salem, Keizer, Albany, Lebanon, Oregon area, I'll be playing a show at Conversion Brewing Saturday November 18th from 8-10pm.  If you're not, then check out my next PERISCOPE LIVE "FRIDAY NIGHT IS FOR THE DRINKERS" LIVE SHOW on:  FRIDAY, OCTOBER 27TH AT 9PM EST/6PM PST.  Search "Bradley Wik" (@bradleywik) on the Periscope app or follow on your PC by clicking HERE.

 

Peace Bitches!

Single Release/Feature of "Lookin' at Luckey"

 
"We’ve got an in your face feel-good rock song by Bradley Wik & The Charlatans today that’ll make you yearn for classic guitar-rock songs to make a roaring comeback. If what we can expect from Wik are songs like “Lookin’ At Luckey” – he might bring the revival all by himself.  - Jake Craney, Groundsounds | July 14th, 2017

 

Check it out here:

Click it, click it good...

 

There's a good quote in there from me about "Lookin' at Luckey" that you can't find anywhere else.  It's one of the few times my quote has been printed in its entirety, which is awesome!  Normally, they take my (way too long) quote and pick a line or two, but click above for my thoughts on "Luckey" in full.  Thanks again Jake|Groundsounds!

Keep an eye out for an exciting announcement in the next week or so!!