December 10, 2024
The new Kansas bassist also teaches music to adults with disabilities in West Philly
Dan McGowan, a music teacher and band leader at Inglis House in West Philadelphia, recently landed a permanent gig as bassist and vocalist for the band Kansas. (Emma Lee/WHYY)
By Peter Crimmins
Original Article: WHYY
In September, Dan McGowan of South Jersey got his dream gig: He was named the new bass player for Kansas following longtime bassist Billy Greer’s retirement after 40 years with the seminal progressive rock band.
McGowan, 38, was born well after Kansas’ heyday in the 1970s, when they created enduring hits like “Carry On Wayward Son” and “Dust in the Wind.” But his parents were diehard fans who raised him in Deptford, N.J., on a steady diet of prog like Rush and King Crimson.
“I remember being a teenager and my friends were getting into Green Day and Nirvana and Blink-182,” McGowan said. “I was, like, ‘You guys don’t know ‘In the Court of the Crimson King?’ What’s wrong with you?’”
For the last six months, McGowan has already been on the band’s near-constant touring schedule. He appears in Reading this Sunday, his first local show since joining Kansas and one of the last stops on the band’s 50th anniversary tour. But he has not given up his day job. McGowan teaches music to adults with disabilities twice a week in Inglis House, a century-old residential care facility in Wynnefield.
Under his tutelage, a handful of residents in motorized wheelchairs get together to jam in a music room at Inglis. They call themselves Wheelz.
“We’re a rock band just like any other rock band,” said keyboardist Chris Hinchey. “We travel a little bit heavier because of our devices.”
Dan McGowan leads a session with Wheelz, the resident band at Inglis House. (Emma Lee/WHYY)
Before his genetic neurofibromatosis condition limited his ability to walk, Hinchey said he used to dance at the Rock School for Dance Education in Philadelphia.
“Music is music, whether you’re in a chair or you’re walking,” he said. “You can still express yourself through music.”
McGowan walks Hinchey and the rest of the band through rock staples from Steve Miller to Collective Soul. Their skill levels are not equal, and their physical conditions can limit their dexterity on the instruments, so McGowan tries to keep the songs relatively simple.
But every once in a while, he throws them a curve.
“I’m a progressive rocker at heart,” McGowan said. “We did ‘Solsbury Hill’ by Peter Gabriel, and I’m like, ‘You guys don’t know this but you’re playing in 7/8 right now.’ They’re like, ‘What does that even mean?’”
Wheelz is one of Inglis House’s music therapy programs for residents. In the four years McGowan has been leading the band, not one of the several dozen tunes he’s taught has been a Kansas composition.
Wheelz has its own ringer-in-residence: Keith Crass, 63, has been playing drums since he was 7 years old. He said drumming was all he ever wanted to do, and before multiple sclerosis waylaid his career, he was playing out professionally.
“Until I really had MS, I did everything from Polish stuff to heavy metal to regular rock,” he said before razzing his bandmates. “It’s been a whole lot of fun with this group of gentlemen, and I say ‘gentlemen’ loosely.”
McGowan said the Kansas gig suits him perfectly. It tours extensively but not exhaustively, typically between Thursdays and Sundays. After all, two of the original Kansas members still in the band, Phil Erhart and Rich Williams, are 73 and 74 years old.
“I don’t like to stay still, but I also love my family and I love to be home,” said McGowan, who still lives near his childhood home, in Runnemede, N.J. “With this band it works out perfectly because basically half of the week I’m at home and then half of the week I’m traveling and playing in front of people.
When not touring he keeps his other bands going: The Tea Club, his longtime local progressive rock project, which is about to release a new album, and Wheelz at Inglis House.
“I love these guys. I’m helping bring music to these guys and it’s extremely meaningful to them. I get a lot out of that,” he said. “I mean, that’s kind of what it’s all about, you know? I just love them to death. These are my guys.”
In Wheelz, McGowan trades vocal duties with Kevin Ryan, who started singing as a boy in Catholic school with his brother, and later sometimes played guitar and sang at open mics in coffee houses and the Churchville Nature Center in Bucks County.
When he moved into Inglis House he heard the band playing “Horse With No Name” and was hooked.
“I grew up here in Philly, listening to WIBG and WFIL, all the old radio stations, mostly singing along in the car,” he said. “To tell you the truth, singing with Dan is like singing along with the radio.”
McGowan made a multi-track recording of Wheelz playing an original song, which he hopes to have mixed down and posted to YouTube in the near future. As for Kansas, it released its last studio album, “The Absence of Presence,” in 2020. McGowan says the band has “threatened” to go back into the studio to record new material, but there are no plans so far.