Nation music typically finds its lyrical soul in heartbreak. However for singer Chase McDaniel, it took a failed energy clear PR try—and practically dropping his life in its catastrophic aftermath—to turn into the unlikely inspiration for his transformation from powerlifter to highly effective balladeer.
The Kentucky native remembers little of that fateful elevate, when lacking a 300-pound energy clear grew to become his worst-case state of affairs. McDaniel blacked out on the prime of the elevate earlier than collapsing to the platform as 300 kilos of iron crashed down on his 155-pound body. The accident left him within the hospital with a extreme concussion, adopted by amnesia.
Then issues obtained worse.
Within the months and years that adopted, McDaniel was haunted by relentless panic assaults—episodes so intense that even probably the most primary duties felt insurmountable, together with stepping foot within the fitness center. “It looks like imminent loss of life, and there’s nothing you are able to do about it,” he says.
Earlier than the accident, lifting heavy—McDaniel as soon as squatted a competition-best 491 kilos—was his main emotional outlet. “Going to the fitness center was all the time how I handled shit on this planet,” he explains.
However after having to surrender powerlifting, McDaniel turned to music to course of his feelings. “The one place left to go was in my head,” he says. “And despite the fact that my head was a very harmful place to be, the one place that I may put the phrases—as a result of I didn’t need to inform anyone about it—was in music.”
Songwriting grew to become his remedy, a method to channel ache and confusion into one thing artistic and therapeutic.
This week, McDaniel’s story comes full circle with the discharge of his autobiographical debut album, Misplaced Ones, on September 19. The title monitor, accompanied by his emotionally uncooked video, is a part of a deeply private venture devoted not solely to nation music followers but additionally to anybody fighting their very own battles inside their heads. “This complete album is a private journey,” he says. “It’s all private anecdotes, and it’s additionally tales of overcoming.”
The response has been overwhelmingly constructive. His debut single, “Burned Down Heaven,” landed within the Prime 3 most added tracks at Nation radio, which earned him MusicRow’s “DISCovery Award.” He’s additionally launched tracks like “Coronary heart Nonetheless Works” and “Made It This Far,” and is about to help celebrity Jason Aldean on his upcoming fall tour.
Along with his musical achievements, McDaniel has returned to the burden room. Although he’s ranging from scratch—utilizing lighter weights and a Smith machine to rebuild his energy—his early goal is to as soon as once more bench press 250 kilos. Mentally, it’s an enormous step ahead for an artist who was as soon as getting ready to suicide earlier than a stranger intervened and pulled him to security.
“I attempted to push via it alone,” he says. “After which I attempted to kill myself. I discovered myself standing on the aspect of a bridge attempting to leap, and the man pulled me again over.”
Robby Stevens
Chase McDaniel: Barbells Earlier than Ballads
Chase McDaniel’s fixation with powerlifting started across the identical time he was studying to stroll. That’s the norm once you’re raised in a household that “eats, sleeps, and breathes powerlifting.” The “Burned Down Heaven” singer was launched to the fitness center at age 4 by each his father, a nationwide champion, and his grandfather, an Olympic lifter. “My dad and my Papa had me doing squats after I was 4,” he says. “It was simply all I knew.”
McDaniel’s early introduction shortly changed into a lifelong obsession with energy. The fitness center was greater than only a place to construct muscle—it was his stress-relieving sanctuary, and a proving floor that you must by no means underestimate the little man. “In center faculty and highschool,” he says, “I used to be a very small man—I by no means weighed greater than 150 kilos, however I obtained actually good at powerlifting. I began doing these competitions and in my junior and senior years, I received state nationals.”
His numbers spoke for themselves. “My squat in competitors was 491, whereas within the fitness center I used to be doing over 500,” he says. “On the bench press—once more within the fitness center—I used to be doing about 315 or 325.”
Though he posted spectacular PRs at 155 kilos, McDaniel says his pulling created probably the most issues throughout competitors. “My deadlift was my worst elevate,” he says. “I believe it was someplace within the 490s, perhaps 500 once more.”
Even with stable numbers, the singer started pushing more durable following the overdose loss of life of his father throughout his senior 12 months in highschool. “I made a decision that I wished to do Olympic weightlifting,” he says. “I’ve taken this powerlifting factor so far as I can go. And on the time, that they had simply had the 2012 Olympics. I used to be like, man, [the U.S.] hasn’t received gold in a few years, perhaps I’ll be the man.”
From the Fringe of the Platform to the Fringe of Despair
Many lifters have, sooner or later, felt that uneasy sensation—lightheadedness, dizziness, even nausea—when trying a one-rep max. Most of us instantly dismiss this as an uncomfortable badge of honor that comes with making good points, not often if ever giving a second thought to doable penalties.
With the American Open weightlifting occasion quick approaching, McDaniel went into his coaching session feeling robust and motivated to aim an influence clear private better of 300 kilos. As an alternative, he discovered himself in a hospital mattress, with barely a recollection of something round him.
“I handed out with over 300 kilos on prime of me,” he recollects. “I awakened in a CAT scan machine and had a brace round my neck. Proper then I had no concept who I used to be, what day it was, what 12 months it was, even who my household was.”
The bodily accidents have been extreme—McDaniel suffered a concussion and a neck damage—however the psychological wounds ran even deeper. Like many athletes, he tried to hurry his return to the fitness center. Nevertheless, the outcomes have been practically as devastating as his concussion.
“I attempted to go to the fitness center most likely two weeks after that,” he admits. “I simply used a warm-up weight, like 40 kilos, and it felt like a bomb went off in my cranium. Proper after that I began crying and went again house, and didn’t return to a fitness center after that. The few occasions that I’ve, it’s all the time led to a panic assault.”
McDaniel’s issues worsened, extending into his on a regular basis life. “I used to be having panic assaults going to the grocery shops, and panic assaults in my home. It completely stole from me my very own identification, my very own self-identity, like who I beforehand thought I used to be.”
At first, like many younger and naive athletes, he selected to “white knuckle” it, attempting to repair his points himself. Even because the psychological stress continued to construct—together with the ache of dropping his father years earlier to dependancy—he believed he may struggle via the darkness alone. Ultimately, the ache grew to become insufferable. He tried suicide, standing on prime of a bridge, ready for the second to leap. However via the miracle of a passerby stopping to lend emotional help, McDaniel didn’t undergo with it.
“I attempted to push via it, after which I attempted to kill myself,” he says overtly. “That’s how sick I obtained. It wasn’t as a result of I wished to die, it was as a result of I didn’t need to really feel like this anymore.”
Robby Stevens
Chase McDaniel Now Assaults Music to Assist Silence the Panic Assaults
Chase McDaniel describes his panic assaults as way over simply bouts of tension—they’re full-throttle assaults on his whole physique. From insufferable migraines to sensations of cardiac arrest, the signs are extreme and overwhelming. “Think about you’re operating from a tiger, you’re operating from a lion, you’re already in its mouth, and there’s nothing you are able to do about it,” he says.
It took practically 5 years earlier than McDaniel allowed himself to hunt skilled assist. He says it’s been an emotional recreation changer, although he admits the street to normalcy continues to be lengthy.
“I lastly went to remedy and did another issues,” he says. “And never that I’m completely there, however I’m method nearer than I used to be standing on that bridge.”
For McDaniel, the stage isn’t only a place for music—it’s additionally turn into a artistic protected area to flee as a lot as doable from the anxiousness that eat different areas of his life. Whereas he not often experiences full-blown panic assaults throughout performances, the worry of that worst-case state of affairs is sufficient to create one other type of anxiousness. “I might have panic assaults about having a panic assault on stage,” he admits. “If there’s a worse place for it to occur, it’s actually in entrance of nonetheless many individuals are right here.”
The street to normalcy has been gradual. Chase McDaniel discovered to meditate earlier than exercises, practiced self-talk, and took small steps—like going to the grocery retailer alone—as a part of his journey to reclaim his life. However maybe probably the most highly effective instrument was music. Songs just like the darkish “Burned Down Heaven” have been described as “powerfully written… his aching, hovering vocal sells it like no one’s enterprise.”
“Music had all the time been part of my life, however I believe it actually sunk itself into my DNA after the accident. I attempted to cover my emotions by placing them into songs. I grew to become as obsessive about music as I used to be with powerlifting.”
McDaniel just lately launched the Misplaced Ones Fan Membership, making a supportive neighborhood for others going through related psychological well being challenges.
And perhaps most inspirational: McDaniel is slowly making his method again to the fitness center. Utilizing a Smith machine as a substitute of an influence rack, McDaniel is presently specializing in lighter weights to rebuild his energy and confidence. Though he’s removed from setting any new PRs—he’s nonetheless aiming to bench 250 kilos. Every session is a psychological victory as he works to beat the worry and trauma related together with his previous accident.
“I nonetheless fail, you understand. I had a panic assault two nights in the past leaving the fitness center, however I made it via. Now I obtained to do it once more.”
