BUILDING A CAREER ON STRONGER BEER

How Tim Hicks Rose from Clubs to the Big Leagues

By Ilan Cooley

Canadian country star Tim Hicks picked up his first guitar at the age of three, and like the classic Bryan Adams song, he played it ‘til his fingers bled. “I’ll never forget that weekend,” he says. “It hurt to play, but I couldn’t stop.”

Niagara Falls born Hicks wrote his first song in seventh grade, then started performing for schoolgirls at recess. He now has three studio albums, two platinum selling singles, multiple Canadian Country Music Association awards, including 2014 Rising Star, and two Juno nominations to his credit, but success did not come easy. He spent 20 years in clubs singing other people’s hits.

“When you play cover gigs, you’re not allowed to play original songs,” he says. He knew his job was to pump up the crowd and keep them drinking.

Touring mate and songwriting partner Clayton Bellamy says Hicks is a “lifer” who built his craft from the ground up. “We came from the same school of rising from dirty clubs, to the big stage,” says Bellamy. “Tim is genuine, and that’s hard to find. He’s exactly who he says he is.”

Known for his upbeat party anthems and relatable lyrics, Hicks feels it is only natural that his material reflects bar culture. “I learned early on that when you involve people in a song, or in a show, there’s a better chance that they’ll have a good time. That’s the main goal.”

With a young family, and a steady stream of commitments, Hicks approaches his craft as a structured business. “Once you start hanging around in Nashville, songwriting becomes a very serious game,” he says.

When he started writing in the big leagues, Hicks says he was laughed at for writing his songs in leather-bound notebooks. “Every time I went into a write, they would say, that’s a funny looking laptop, but I didn’t have money for a laptop.” His old-school approach didn’t seem to hinder him though, Hicks has had seven top 10 singles on Canadian country radio.

Hicks admits he finds it hard to sit down and write a song by himself out of thin air. “I have the most fun when I’m in the room with two or three people, so you can bounce ideas off of one another.” He says he draws inspiration from personal experiences. “You might have an idea for a song and it comes out completely different, which really makes the process interesting.”

“He works really fast, which is good, because I get bored easy,” says Bellamy. “I have written a couple of songs with Tim, and both were great. The only problem is he hasn’t recorded them yet.”

His shows at clubs and small venues have been replaced with big festivals, corporate gigs and national tours, a level of success Hicks says is still surreal. There’s a moment in every show where I’m yelling over the music at my bandmates asking, “how did we get here?”

Things may look different now, but Hicks stays close to his roots. “The only difference between Tim Hicks now, and Tim Hicks four years ago, is that people are listening now and that’s a wonderful thing. I’ve had the same band the whole time, and we don’t take it for granted.”

Some of his success led to the opportunity to perform at One Horse Town, a Coors Banquet sponsored event in Lacombe, Alberta. It was only fitting he was able to perform his signature song ‘Stronger Beer’, which earned him one of his platinum records, at an event sponsored by a beer company.

“We knew he was the right guy for the job,” says Molson Coors event manager Kathleen Kennedy. “Not many artists can headline a show like that, but Tim has the right energy and personality. He is an amazing guy and a natural performer.”

Hicks also played to 35,000 people at the Boots and Hearts music festival near Toronto, the largest crowd of his career. He admits to tearing up when the audience started singing one of his songs. “I was glad I had my sunglasses on.”

Hicks is now a veteran of the Canadian country music scene, and he has some advice for new artists. “Put down your webcam and get out and play. Go play an open mic night, play at your grandmother’s barbeque, and learn covers.” He also says you have to write a lot of songs to create good ones. The old notebooks he used to write in are somewhere at his mother’s house collecting dust. “I know that all of those songs are bad songs,” he says. “They are not songs that people would want to hear. But that’s okay. I feel that was then, it is over, let’s keep drudging ahead.”

Hicks can afford a laptop now, but remembers someone once told him never to change, because his laptop would never end up in the country music hall of fame. “Then I went to the country music hall of fame and there’s Taylor Swift’s laptop, so there you go.”

Tim Hicks (centre) performs at One Horse Town with The Road Hammers.

Ilan Cooley is a writer and communications professional from Edmonton, Alberta.  She lives the dream handling the promotion, marketing and communications for some of the biggest country festivals in North America.