Ewan McVicar on the Impact of his Hero Patrick Topping

Songs like Timberlake’s “Cry Me A River,” and “Not Gon’ Cry” by Mary J Blige would have us believe that the only people who can make us weep are our respective love interests. However, that’s not entirely true - sometimes, those who make us shed absolute waterfalls are actually our heroes. And it’s not always a bad thing.

This is certainly what happened for Scottish DJ and producer Ewan McVicar. In an interview with MistaJam for Capital Dance, Ewan revealed that his hero and mentor, Patrick Topping, has, in fact, made him cry on multiple occasions.

The first time was over Whatsapp when a message from Patrick acted as the signal to Ewan that he could finally stop feeling like he was in limbo and could pursue his music career full-time - understandably, he was “in flood of tears.”

The second time was when the pair finally met in person. Ewan was driving down to Creamfields Festival in 2019, only expecting to camp with his mates. However, Patrick had other ideas. After receiving loads of tracks, Ewan had sent him he had played ‘Street Rave’ (Ewan’s first release) out in clubs like DC10 in Ibiza and had seemingly fallen in love with the track.

Patrick played it cool when Ewan asked if it would make it into his Creamfields set. “He told me he wasn’t sure it would go well with the rest of what he had planned,” says Ewan. However, the track actually opened his set. “I went mad for it on stage - but as soon as I came off, I just burst into tears,” says Ewan. “I’m just an emotional guy, and you can definitely see that in videos!”

After the show, Ewan was hanging out backstage, and someone came up to him and asked if he was ok. “I was like, ‘what are you talking about,’ and he told me that I looked so upset he thought someone had died,” laughs Ewan. “I was like: ‘no, he (pointing at Patrick) just played my tune - I’m emotional!’”

For Ewan, this moment was the realization of eight years of hard graft. “That was when dreams turned into reality. Everything I had worked so hard for just paid off in that moment.” And it was all down to Patrick.

Before they both recently took to the stage in Cardiff, Ewan told his mentor: “I’m never, ever, ever going to let you forget what you’ve done for me.”

I’m not crying - you are.