Q&A with country musician Chase Rice

Asheville native and former UNC linebacker Chase Rice will be releasing his album Ignite the Night on Aug. 19. Summer Editor Paige Ladisic talked to Rice about his experiences at UNC and what’s coming up next for him.

The Daily Tar Heel: What was it like playing football for UNC?

Chase Rice: It was the best experience of my life. I probably learned more all those five years than I’ve ever learned about myself. We had our ups and we had our downs, which probably prepared me for the music business pretty good, but I mean, I got to play under John Bunting, who’s the Tar Heel that brought me in. Then I got to play under Butch Davis, who’s one of the best coaches I’ve ever played for. Chuck Pagano, who I would say is the best coach I’ve ever played for.

While I was there, my senior year was probably our best team, and then the year after that, 2010, was when a couple guys got suspended. But those two teams were the best talent in the country. We had a lot of first-round draft picks and it was the best years of my life.

DTH: What’s one of your favorite moments as a student-athlete at UNC?

CR: We beat Miami my freshman year, and one of my best friend’s kicked that game-winning field goal. Connor Barth, who was my roommate forever while I was at Carolina. And that was unbelievable. I grew up down in Florida, so I was a big Gator fan growing up before I moved to Carolina. The University of Miami was one of the top programs in the country, I grew up always seeing Miami, especially growing up in Florida. They were just the top dogs.

To have them coming to Chapel Hill and play a basketball school in football, and then all of a sudden, that basketball school showed everyone real quick that we could be a football school too — that was one of the best experiences of my life.

DTH: Is there anything you learned in your time as a student-athlete that helped you down the road, whether it was on Survivor or in your music career?

CR: Especially playing football, we had some of the greatest talent in the country. We had Bruce Carter, you know, he backed me up and he plays for the Cowboys now. But that taught me that there’s always going to be someone behind you pushing you. The biggest thing with music is there’s a lot of people in music, but especially the way I’ve built it and have been doing it a different way than anybody’s ever done it in country music, they’ve taught me that now all of a sudden that I’m a success doing it a different way, now there’s a lot of people who are coming for my spot or who don’t want me around.

Through my athletic time at Carolina especially, it taught me to fight through all of that, fight through the big boys who are coming for your spot or don’t want you there, forget about that, focus on myself and focus on what’s best for me and my team. And nobody can really stop me if I just focus on what I have to do to be the best that I can possibly be.

I had awesome people around me to teach me that. My coaches — Pagano, Davis and Bunting — they taught me all that stuff that I still use every single day while I’m making music.

DTH: You have a new album coming out in a month or so. What can we look forward to when it releases?

CR: Ignite the Night comes out on my dad’s birthday, which is cool. While I was at Carolina, going into my senior year, was when my dad passed away. That was another life-changing thing that happened while I was in Chapel Hill. It’s cool because I get to release this album on his birthday.

It’s full of party songs, you know. Actually, some of the songs were inspired by my time at Carolina. There’s a song called “We Goin’ Out,” you know, it’s a college anthem. Kids in college, they love going out, they love partying. That’s what they do, and this is going to be one of those that’s blared in all the houses and dorm rooms there in Chapel Hill, hopefully.

I think country music deserves ballads, and I think it deserves more meaningful songs as opposed to these party songs. I love the party songs and Ignite the Night is full of that, btu there is one ballad in particular that I think Carolina can really appreciate. It’s called “Carolina Can,” and it basically talks about my time in Chapel Hill, my time in the state of Carolina. One of the lines in it says “In a state of blue denim on Franklin Street, a He’s Not buzz, a house band beat. It was summer heat dragging me to a fifth-year fall.” And that’s my time at Carolina. That’s not beating around the bush, that’s talking about Chapel Hill.

My life’s just so crazy now that every now and then, I just gotta go back. That’s what this song is all about. When I need someone to remind me who I am, Carolina can. And Chapel Hill is home to me, it always will be. I met my best friends that I’ll have until the day I die there in Chapel Hill. I hope to get back this year, but I think people in the state of Carolina all the way down in particular to the city of Chapel Hill are really going to appreciate that song.

DTH: What will you be doing for Snagajob and the Hourly Gig this year?

CR: We’ve come together to give somebody the opportunity to open for me in Denver later this year, which will be a sold-out crowd. Guys like Dierks Bentley, Billy Currington, they’ve taken me in and they let me open for them. So this, we came together and someone’s got to submit an original song, and me and a couple of other judges will watch a video of them doing their original song. We’ll narrow it down to our top five, and then on Aug. 22, the top five is in the house, and then it’s out of my hands, it goes to the fans.

Basically, the top dog, whoever has the best video or best song or is the best artist in the fan’s opinion, gets to open for me later this year in Denver. It gives them the opportunity to crack their way into the music industry.