Nation music usually finds its lyrical soul in heartbreak. However for singer Chase McDaniel, it took a failed energy clear PR try—and practically shedding his life in its catastrophic aftermath—to change 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 high 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 bought worse.
Within the months and years that adopted, McDaniel was haunted by relentless panic assaults—episodes so intense that even essentially the most primary duties felt insurmountable, together with stepping foot within the gymnasium. “It seems like imminent demise, 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 gymnasium was at all times how I handled shit on the earth,” 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 although 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 wish to inform anyone about it—was in music.”
Songwriting grew to become his remedy, a technique to channel ache and confusion into one thing inventive and therapeutic.
This week, McDaniel’s story comes full circle with the discharge of his autobiographical debut album, Lost 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 country music fans but in addition 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 optimistic. His debut single, “Burned Down Heaven,” landed within the High 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 famous person Jason Aldean on his upcoming fall tour.
Along with his musical achievements, McDaniel has returned to the load room. Although he’s ranging from scratch—utilizing lighter weights and a Smith machine to rebuild his power—his early goal is to as soon as once more bench press 250 pounds. Mentally, it’s an enormous step ahead for an artist who was as soon as on the point of suicide earlier than a stranger intervened and pulled him to security.
“I attempted to push by it alone,” he says. “After which I attempted to kill myself. I discovered myself standing on the facet 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 while you’re raised in a household that “eats, sleeps, and breathes powerlifting.” The “Burned Down Heaven” singer was launched to the gymnasium 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 once I was 4,” he says. “It was simply all I knew.”
McDaniel’s early introduction rapidly was a lifelong obsession with power. The gymnasium was greater than only a place to construct muscle—it was his stress-relieving sanctuary, and a proving floor that you need to by no means underestimate the little man. “In center college and highschool,” he says, “I used to be a very small man—I by no means weighed greater than 150 kilos, however I bought actually good at powerlifting. I began doing these competitions and in my junior and senior years, I gained state nationals.”
His numbers spoke for themselves. “My squat in competitors was 491, whereas within the gymnasium I used to be doing over 500,” he says. “On the bench press—once more within the gymnasium—I used to be doing about 315 or 325.”
Though he posted spectacular PRs at 155 kilos, McDaniel says his pulling created essentially the most issues throughout competitors. “My deadlift was my worst elevate,” he says. “I believe it was someplace within the 490s, possibly 500 once more.”
Even with strong numbers, the singer started pushing more durable following the overdose demise of his father throughout his senior yr 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 gained gold in a few years, possibly I’ll be the man.”
From the Fringe of the Platform to the Fringe of Despair
Many lifters have, in some unspecified time in the future, felt that uneasy sensation—lightheadedness, dizziness, even nausea—when making an attempt a one-rep max. Most of us instantly dismiss this as an uncomfortable badge of honor that comes with making positive aspects, hardly ever if ever giving a second thought to potential 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 a substitute, he discovered himself in a hospital mattress, with barely a recollection of something round him.
“I handed out with over 300 kilos on high of me,” he remembers. “I wakened 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 yr it was, even who my household was.”
The bodily accidents had 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 gymnasium. Nonetheless, the outcomes had been practically as devastating as his concussion.
“I attempted to go to the gymnasium in all probability 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 residence, and didn’t return to a gymnasium after that. The few instances that I’ve, it’s at all times 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 id, 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 shedding his father years earlier to habit—he believed he may combat by the darkness alone. Finally, the ache grew to become insufferable. He tried suicide, standing on high of a bridge, ready for the second to leap. However by the miracle of a passerby stopping to lend emotional help, McDaniel didn’t undergo with it.
“I attempted to push by it, after which I attempted to kill myself,” he says overtly. “That’s how sick I bought. It wasn’t as a result of I wished to die, it was as a result of I didn’t wish 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 complete physique. From insufferable migraines to sensations of cardiac arrest, the signs are extreme and overwhelming. “Think about you’re working from a tiger, you’re working 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 sport changer, although he admits the street to normalcy remains to be lengthy.
“I lastly went to remedy and did another issues,” he says. “And never that I’m completely there, however I’m manner nearer than I used to be standing on that bridge.”
For McDaniel, the stage isn’t only a place for music—it’s additionally change into a inventive secure area to flee as a lot as potential from the nervousness that devour different areas of his life. Whereas he hardly ever experiences full-blown panic assaults throughout performances, the worry of that worst-case state of affairs is sufficient to create one other type of nervousness. “I’d 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 nevertheless 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 essentially the most highly effective software 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 at all times 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 Lost Ones Fan Club, making a supportive neighborhood for others dealing with comparable psychological well being challenges.
And possibly most inspirational: McDaniel is slowly making his manner again to the gymnasium. Utilizing a Smith machine as a substitute of an influence rack, McDaniel is presently specializing in lighter weights to rebuild his power 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 already know. I had a panic assault two nights in the past leaving the gymnasium, however I made it by. Now I bought to do it once more.”
