Erik Vincent Huey has a few musical personas, including being the frontman of The Surreal McCoys, a cowpunk band taking some inspiration from the likes of The Blasters, The Beat Farmers, Jason & the Scorchers. He also released in 2023 a critically acclaimed solo debut, “Appalachian Gothic“, which he is now following up with “Fort Defiance“, of which he says: “After the introspective, geographic deep dive of “Appalachian Gothic”, I wanted to make a record that was simply a collection of songs, without a unifying narrative theme. This record is about achieving escape velocity out of Appalachia and into the larger world. Kinda like my own journey.”
‘Ghosts Of The Chelsea Hotel’ tells a story of a relationship that ended without any real answers as to why, leaving Huey still scrabbling around for some kind of closure: “The current single, “Ghosts of the Chelsea Hotel”, is an homage to one of my all time favorite songs–Leonard Cohen’s “Chelsea Hotel No. 2,” and details a relationship that ended at the hotel, and the need to go back there to look for answers. Cliff Hillis of Starbelly co-wrote the music with me, and he suggested a waltz to, as Mr Cohen would say, “dance me to the end of love.” And then it gets a little Irish.”
Erik Vincent Huey added that “I used to stay in the Chelsea Hotel back in the 90s when it was decidedly less posh than it is today. Inspired by the hotel’s creative lineage, I’ve created some of my own epic Rock ‘n’ Roll stories in the Chelsea over the years.”
