Who said that sharp turns are the privilege of twenty-year-olds? Our guest today proves otherwise: you can swap a strict business suit for a leather jacket and make the world listen to your voice at any age. Stephen Wicks. In the past – a successful corporate executive and real estate entrepreneur, and today – a compelling rock writer and performer. Stephen is releasing his fifth single, “Doomsday Clock (85 Seconds to Midnight),” inspired by the famous Doomsday Clock. In 2026, the hands stopped at 85 seconds to midnight – a historic peak of existential anxiety. Stephen translated this tension into the language of driving, cinematic rock. We spoke with Stephen about music as a form of expression and why only 85 seconds remain until midnight.
Stephen, hello! It’s a pleasure to meet you, and thank you for agreeing to this interview. To swap a strict business suit for a guitar strap at 74 is quite a move. They say creativity has no age, but the industry is often fixated on twenty-year-old TikTokers. Do you feel like a kind of rebel who has come to show this younger crowd what real, time-tested drive sounds like?
Thanks for the opportunity to talk about my music, this is a great question! I always knew i would someday get my music out there, although i have written songs for a long time, it is only since i “took my corporate head off” finally and put on my “creative one” that the whole thing has gone from a dribble to an absolute torrent! Should i have done it years ago, yes of course, but you can’t look back, i have had an amazing life and i see this as a new chapter.
I think the general perception of the young , is that they are the only ones with fresh new ideas, one of the benefits of age is that huge store of experiences that you can tap into, looking backwards and drawing on all that experience , its a fantastic database! There is also a certain amount of trying to create a legacy, it would have been a real shame if after i was gone, my kids found a pile of old song books without hearing the music and what i had to say.
Your passion for music lived within you for many years while you were building your career. Was it like a secret agent undercover: spreadsheets and contracts by day, and writing chords in secret at night? How did you manage to hide a rock star inside you for so long?
When i was running companies and employing hundreds of staff, no one (apart from my wife) would have had any idea of me being the “secret songwriter” it was like having a split personality. The last couple of years have been very liberating having finally come out of the closet.
Music is also a business, just with different rules of the game. Have you encountered any rules in the music industry that made you think, “Seriously? This is how they do business?”
some of the rules of business do apply to music, i always had an adage “if you want to be the best, surround yourself with the best” I have a fantastic producer and top class musicians playing on my tracks. I do think the digital world has created a mindset that music is for free, i got hundreds of thousands of streams on my last release and received £6.80 in royalties!
Your business philosophy “If you want the best, surround yourself with the best” led you to collaborate with George Shilling, who has worked with Blur and Primal Scream. When you first came to his studio, were you communicating like a strict client with a contractor, or did you immediately switch to “pour me a coffee, we’re starting a rock revolution here”?
Yes, that philosophy is exactly why i have worked with George Shilling for a long time despite his pedigree working with all those amazing artists , he is very down to earth and definitely brings out the best in me, he is also a multi instrumentalist and plays on a lot of my music. I guess there is a little bit of client/contractor in the relationship, i generally know what i want and he delivers the goods. I always say, “he turns the water into the wine”!
Let’s talk about the new single. It is inspired by the Doomsday Clock, which now stands at 85 seconds to midnight. Quite a grim outlook. When you were writing it, were you feeling optimistic-like “let’s come to our senses, everyone”-or is it more like a musical version of a “The End Is Near” sign?
The song is unfortunately a stark warning of where we are right now, with maniacs like Trump and Putin in control, life as we know it really is on a knife edge, i would like to be optimistic , but its very difficult to see a good outcome.
The lyrics are full of tense imagery, touching on AI, climate change, and nuclear threat. Were you concerned that the track might turn out too heavy for the average listener, who puts on music to relax in the car on the way to work?
I tried to counter the dark message of the song with a driving rock tune, with some nice guitar work, a lot of prog rock is about dark stuff, Sabbeth in their early days for instance, i agree, this is not a song to relax to!
You’ve created a powerful rock release with cinematic intensity. While working on the arrangement, did you imagine this track as a soundtrack to some Hollywood apocalyptic blockbuster?
i work with an amazing film maker Dan Hart who interprets my ideas so well and has launched himself into an AI learning curve, would love to get one of my songs as a film soundtrack !
Stefan Hauk, one of Australia’s most promising young guitarists, plays lead guitar on the track. It creates a strong bridge between generations: your experience and his youthful energy. What did you perhaps learn from Stefan, and what did you teach him?
Stefan Hauk is an incredible guitarist, he interprets my songs without any prompts from me and he puts a completely different dimension to what i had in my head. I take him into different genres from his normal blues/rock, so hopefully he gains from the relationship too.
Alongside the track, an official music video about the fragility of our world is being released. Which visual metaphor in the video felt the most powerful to you personally?
The world feels like it is on a runaway train to me , completely out of control!The opening scene of the skeleton driving the train, sums it all up.
This is already your fifth single. As they say, appetite comes with eating. Should we expect a full conceptual album in the near future? Perhaps about what happens after midnight?
An album is definately on the cards!
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