A Liverpool musician upped and moved to Los Angeles "on a whim" just over five years ago after a "quarter life crisis" is set to return to home turf.
Dan Croll, 32, was born in Stoke but "raised in Liverpool''. A LIPA graduate, the singer has been shaped by the city but decided to venture to the United States after repeatedly touring there and becoming enamoured with Los Angeles.
Speaking to the ECHO, Dan said: "I had a quarter life crisis - basically, we'd been touring since 2012 and 2016, for four or five years. We were touring relentlessly and coming over to the US three or four times a year so I think, always in the back of my mind, I'd thought about just trying to live over here because it seemed like it was possible and a fun thing to do.
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"Then, I think it was at the end of 2017, maybe, and we finished the tour in LA and I kind of just didn't want to go home. I love Liverpool to bits, it is such a massive part of my life - it's such an easy city to exist.
"But when I was 25, I felt like everyone was settling down and people were kind of calling it a day and so I was kind of just like, 'I need to get out of here' otherwise I don't think I ever will, so I thought, 'I'll go do a stint in America for like a year' and suddenly it's been about six."
Dan was able to obtain a visa "easily" due to his history of touring in America. He went home for Christmas in 2017, then in early January of 2018, he was bombarded with the standard 'new year, new you' emails from multiple companies promising to transform his body and mind, but among the messages was one from an airline, and it piqued his interest.
Dan explained: "There was [an email] from a flight company saying there was a one way ticket to LA for like £200 and I was just like, 'f*** it' and so I bought that and I think I flew like a week later. I think it shocked everyone in my family. I put all my stuff in storage and it's still there."
But Dan is set to return to England this summer. He continued: "I'm on my way back. I've just booked my ticket back for good - for the 3rd of July - so I’m just in the process of shipping everything home and coming back home finally."
The singer's decision to return to England has been spurred on by the long-standing ramifications of the coronavirus pandemic, as well as the end of a long term relationship.
Dan said: "I think the fact I was only really meant to be here a year and then obviously I stayed a lot longer; I had quite a long term relationship here that ended and then especially with covid as well, I didn't see my family for three years, so that was horrible.
"I'm definitely a family person and even pre-covid when I was living in America, I was still going home three or four times a year because that's what I need, and what my family needs, so three years [without seeing them] was wild."
Laughing, Dan joked: "I definitely went home and thought everyone had aged horribly and was just like, 'oh my god, they're all so old.'" Elaborating, Dan said: "I'm a bit of a caretaker in the family I feel sometimes, so I was just like, 'f*** I need to go home.'"
Dan is also keen to start a family one day but doesn't want to do so in America. He said: "I want a family myself and, no offence to anyone in America, but I don't know how anyone has a family here. It's a tough place to live - healthcare, safety, everything; it's just this capitalist giant that's just so hard to exist in, so I could never have a family here.
"It kind of felt like, 'what's the point in staying any longer?' It just makes it harder to leave when you stay here for so long."
Dan has also had a "couple of run ins" in America that have scared him "half to death" so he's keen to return to home turf. After graduating from LIPA, a lot of his course-mates moved to London whereas Dan stayed in Liverpool. Now, he feels it’s time for a “London stint”.
The move back to England is also a "move back into being a full time musician", after producing a children's podcast for meditation company, Headspace, during the coronavirus fall out.
Dan is returning to the UK armed with new music. Explaining the inspiration behind his new album 'Fools', Dan said: "This album came at the end of a turbulent few years for me with the isolation of covid, a break-up, and the homesickness for all that I left behind to move to America.
"[While] these were all challenging moments, there were some moments of beauty and resilience that allowed me to get through it all. These songs document that tumultuous period that not only I but I'm sure a lot of others went through in what can only be described as a challenging moment in time."
It was recorded largely live at the legendary Spacebomb Studios in Richmond, Virginia with Matthew E. White and his four-piece house band. Dan co-produced, tinkering with sounds late into the night to add his own stamp to the record.
The singer has missed the "culture and history" of the UK, and is keen to return and be "immersed" in it once again - though he's still apprehensive about making such a big change. Dan added: "I'm terrified - these big moves, as you get older, it's like, 'what the f*** am I doing?' You've just got to go with it."
Dan Croll's new album, 'Fools', is out on May 19.
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