A THOUSAND MAD THINGS ANNOUNCES DEBUT EP ‘Cry and Dance’
July 28, 2025 BY Bailey Vigliaturo
A Thousand Mad Things, the alias of UK singer, songwriter and producer William Barradale, announces his debut EP ‘Cry and Dance’ released October 3rd on Nettwerk. The announcement arrives with the brand new single ‘Local Guys’ a magnetic blend of classic no-wave and synth pop, queer romanticism, and theatrical emotional release.
‘Local Guys’ is the emotional and thematic core of A Thousand Mad Things’ debut. A piercing, playful track that paints a sharp-eyed portrait of queer alienation and impossible infatuations. Over a sleek, danceable groove, he recounts the ache of longing for straight boys in small towns who never look back, both an act of romantic masochism and a statement of defiant vulnerability.
A Thousand Mad Things adds “Local Guys is about the stupid infatuation of being hated.” “Wanting to be loved and fucked like anyone else, but also masochistically enjoying being detested—because there’s nothing you can do about it.”
It’s a bittersweet dancefloor juxtaposition, laced with humour and heartbreak in equal measure, a sonic embodiment of the tension between fitting in and standing out, between fantasy and painful reality, between crying and dancing.
The single is accompanied by A Thousand Mad Things first ever music video. The Simeon Leeder directed visual depicts Barradale, dancing solo in the iconic London venue, MOTH Club, running the gamut of emotions contained within the track.
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Drawing from the darkly melodic worlds of Depeche Mode and Soft Cell amongst many more, A Thousand Mad Things channels the angst and absurdity of queer suburban youth through pulsing synth hooks and operatic vocals. Barradale has carved out a sound that is as emotionally raw as it is defiantly catchy; a bold, unapologetic embrace of melodrama.
“All the artists I love have some kind of distress or catharsis in their performance,” Barradale explains. “It’s about release—making sense of what’s inside” he adds.
Formed in 2023 from a spark of creative partnership, A Thousand Mad Things quickly evolved into a vessel for expressive storytelling, with ‘Cry and Dance’ offering five vivid, hook-driven tracks that traverse desire, displacement, and self-discovery. The lead single ‘Wide Awake’ captures restless emotional overload with propulsive synths and a soaring, urgent vocal, while ‘Girl’ and ‘She’s On The Run’ lean into storytelling and drama, unspooling fictionalised yet deeply resonant tales of longing, escape, and chaos.
At the heart of it all is Barradale’s voice; a rich, theatrical instrument that gives his stories gravitas and gleam. ‘Cry and Dance’ is as much a confession as it is a celebration, where melancholy and mischief intertwine, and the dancefloor becomes a space for transformation.
A Thousand Mad Things is set to support The Human League in Brighton later this month. Tickets and information available here.
