Chris Wallace interview: pop singer talks “Remember When” and more
June 8, 2012 by Dana Feldman
by Dana Feldman
Singer-songwriter Chris Wallace calls me from the road on a stop in Hartford, Connecticut, as he’s promoting his first single as a solo artist “Remember When” while on a cross-country radio promo tour. The song, which will be premiered on MTV Buzzworthy, will be released on iTunes on June 12th and will hit radio airwaves on June 25th. Already garnering a lot of support by critics, his sound has been compared to Pink and Katy Perry. So, what does he think of being called the male version of such music icons? “My sound is hard hitting pop music, so I like it!”
He’s between radio interviews and tells me that he just arrived in Boston the night before and that his next stop is New York City the following day. Originally from Chicago and currently living in Los Angeles, Wallace is the former front man for the band ‘The White Tie Affair’ with Epic/Sony. The band, which broke up a year ago, did a stint on the Warped Tour as well as a month long tour with Lady Gaga. Wallace is no stranger to performing in front of a huge audience. When asked why he decided to go solo, he pauses for a moment before explaining that his band mates were intent on taking a break from music, some he says were done with the life entirely. “But, I wasn’t done with music so I started writing my solo album.” The story of how he was discovered by music manager, Ben Singer, he tells me, is a long one. So, he gives me the short version. He is, after all, leaving one radio promo and heading to another. A friend of his, that he was at the time writing music with, sought Singer out. “They talked about me and Ben looked me up.”
Wallace writes and produces music and already had a few catchy tunes under his belt. The one in which Singer knew of and liked was the Top 15 hit “Candle (Sick & Tired)” from his days with ‘The White Tie Affair.’ The end of the short version, he says, “Ben ended up managing me.”
He attributes a few things to his success. “In music you have to find yourself and then everything else clicks. This is true in life really. When you’re in touch with who you are and who you want to be, things fall into place.”
Of his songs, he says that some are sad. “Remember When” is about looking back, wanting to relive your past. “Still,” he adds, “there is a positive message underneath it, as well. Even if things don’t work out and I can’t change them, I’m still glad it happened. And the worst case scenario is that you learn a lesson.”
Another tune “Don’t Mind Of I Do” is about his future. “I haven’t been in love in a long time and I remember that feeling. Hopefully I will find that again.” Excitedly he tells me that his sister had just gotten married two days prior to our call. “The wedding was in Chicago and I wrote a ballad for her wedding.” He’d called his sister and asked her how she knew that this man was the one for her. “She just kept saying that she was ready, that she just knew. So, I wrote ‘Ready To Fall’ and sang it at her wedding for their first dance. That was one of the coolest moments in my life. I kept the song from her, she’d never heard it before that moment.”
Wallace just shot the video for “Remember When” which will be out this summer along with his first solo album “Push Rewind.”
Learn more: ChrisWallaceMusic.com • Twitter • YouTube
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