Mid Vice Crisis, by rock artist and composer Dan McGlade, is an exhilarating 5-song collection of dramatic and mythical glam-rock, recalling the majesty of bands such as Queen, Deep Purple, Rush and Led Zeppelin.
Dan’s penchant for cinematic musicality courses through his songs. His imaginative musicality is rooted in classic rock and Americana but also creeps into the shadows of Southern Gothic and UK Dark Wave. His adventurously-arranged rock compositions are peopled with eccentric fictional characters often mired in morally questionable situations. Though his narratives are darkly alluring, there is often a sense of whimsy throughout his dramatic arcs.
The EP is rife with tales of Oscar Wilde-esque deviant ribaldry and bubbling-under delicious drama, but the stories are also peppered with more focused observations gleaned closer to home. In fact, the sound at the very start of the EP is Dan’s daughter’s prenatal heartbeat, which morphs into the synthesised beat of the five minute rock operetta “The Rake’s Regress”.
The other four songs on Mid Vice Crisis have provoked a sweep of comparisons, from the Deep Purple swagger of pub-rocker “Too Old For This Sh!t (The Redemption of Zachary Blake)”, through the Robert Johnson-like mythology on “Rhapsody Road”, the Southern Gothic-flavoured “Bring Out Your Dead”, concluding with the aptly-titled, “An Exit…”, a strutting Stones-y rocker originally written by Dan for the 2010 movie The Big I Am, but reworked with a heavier production and a full brass section.
The EP was recorded at a vibey studio called Trapdoor Studios, a converted mill building located in Bradford, West Yorkshire, UK. The album was produced by Dan and studio engineer Alex Eden. The recordings exhibit an intriguing mix of organic performances and synthetic fairy dust.
Since becoming full time music freelancer in 2018, Dan has emerged as a successful composer for film and theatre, with a full schedule. But it’s his lyrics as a performer that betray his core message - that in music, as in life, getting older is something not to be hamstrung by…but to be thoroughly revelled in.
“The rock kid in me had unfinished business, but the dreams are deliciously dull this time around. I just want to support my family doing what I love—that would be winning at life for me. If I could earn enough royalties to buy a new family car, I’d be more than happy!”
Ah, the rock n’ roll dream lives on…
