A Dirty Dozen with DAVE McANALLY from DERISION CULT – September 2021

According to a recent press release: “West Chicago Metal Industrial project led by multi-instrumentalist Dave McAnally is set to release their newest studio album, Charlatans Inc., on September 14, 2021. Charlatans Inc. is a visceral take on media manipulation and provocation in America. With citizens producing more data about themselves, and media and big tech getting better and better at extracting and refining that data, with all of us plugged into an over-stimulated digital world, buyers need be beware. Derision Cult is a project by Chicago solo artist Dave McAnally. Dave is an Iowa native and a multi-instrumentalist involved in a number of projects across a range of genres. He’s been featured on releases by Metropolis Records as well as his own imprint South Street Dungeon.” We get Dave to discuss new music, influences, and more…

1. Tell us a little about your latest release.  What might a fan or listener not grab the first or second time they listen through?  Are there any hidden nuggets you put in the material or that only diehard fans might find?

Charlatans Inc. is an industrial metal album.  It came from a pretty turbulent time and the music reflects that.  Even though it’s a pretty electronic album, there’s a lot of organic elements that go throughout it.  There’s some blues guitar and droning solos in the background that will jump out.  Many elements are binaural mixed.  As far as die hard fans, I think some of the samples may sound familiar to some!

2. What got you into music, and can you tell us about the moment you realized you wanted to be a musician?

I probably had multiple moments.  I think the thing that made me realize that musicians are people all around me was an 8th grade talent show.  I’d already been tinkering with guitar.  But it turned out my history teacher and the school janitor were a drummer and guitar player respectively.  And they got up and their band (I forget who the bass player was) played “Proud Mary” by CCR.  I’m pretty sure it was that moment that I was like “OH ACTUAL MORTALS PLAY MUSIC!!” and it inspired me to jump in and do it.  From there, I met more musicians and like minded people and it’s been that way ever since!

3. Building on that, is there a specific song, album, performer, or live show that guided your musical taste?

There’s been a ton of instances like that!  Metallica and Guns and Roses were huge influences on me growing up and getting into playing.  So I was in metal bands in high school.  I think the moment that changed for me, where I started really pursuing what I’m doing with Derision Cult was seeing David Bowie on the Outside tour.  I wasn’t all that familiar with Bowie, but his band was so good and they’d re-arranged his catalog to fit the darker industrial sound he was into at the time.  It was so huge and such an amazing sound.  The synthetic meets the organic vibe he had then was amazing.  It made me want to do THAT kind of thing vs what I was doing for sure.

4. Who would be your main five musical influences?

David Bowie, Metallica, Ministry, Iggy Pop, and Killing Joke.

5. If you could call in any one collaborator to do a song with, who would it be, and why?

Probably Jaz Coleman.  I really like how he has a way of being poignant while being really abrasive.  It’d be awesome to do a track with him about some really hot button issue.

6. How would you describe your music to someone who’d never listened to you before? What is the one comparison a reviewer or fan has made that made you cringe or you disagreed with?

We’re thrash metal in an industrial world.  At the root of it, Derision Cult is a guitar project.  I think, probably like any industrial artist, when I hear a Nine Inch Nails comparison it sort of makes me cringe because I feel like we’re at a total other end of that spectrum.  I feel like that’s a synth band that came into metal at various points.  We’re the opposite.  Plus, most of the time when people compare anything to NIN, it’s sort of a giveaway that they aren’t all that familiar with the genre.  It’s like somebody listening to Slayer and going “oh, they have guitars and drums!  They’re like the Rolling Stones!”

7. When your band is hanging out together, who cooks, who gets the drinks in, and who is first to crack out the acoustic guitars for a singalong?

Well the band is basically me and Sam Buck helping with production.  If we’re hanging together, I cook, he definitely gets drinks going and he never touches a guitar.

8. When was the last time you were starstruck and who was it?

Me and my wife hung out with Metallica and Wynona Judd backstage in Minneapolis a few years ago (odd pairing I know).  I’ve met a lot of famous people in my life and normally they start feeling like any other human being to me pretty quick.  But that time, it was just too surreal.  James Hetfield was chatting me up about the drive from Chicago to Minneapolis and I’m just like “dude you wrote Master of Puppets.”

9. What is the best part of being a musician? If you could no longer be a musician for whatever reason, what would be your dream job?

I was chatting with a singer whose quite a few years older than me and we got to talking about continuing to create music the older you get and she said “everyone’s got a story and a voice to say something”…that really struck me.  I Think the best part about being a musician, especially if you write your own stuff, is that you sort of get to connect to a universal language.  My tracks connect with people who don’t speak English as a first language.  That’s def my fav.  As far as dream job, I run a consulting business that I love very much and if for whatever reason I couldn’t play music, I’d be perfectly happy to carry on doing that.

10. What is one question you have always wanted an interviewer to ask – and what is the answer? Conversely, what question are you tired of answering?

Nobody ever asks me about what other music I listen to!  I wish they’d ask because as much as I love making industrial metal and being inspired by it, I find myself enjoying Americana and Blues when I’m just hanging out around the house.  It inspires me quite a bit honestly. There’s an old Derision Cult track that uses the Bo Diddley Beat.  Charlatans Inc. has a track called “This is Control” which has sort of a blues riff in it.  The question I’m tired of answering?  Everyone’s asking me how I balance this along with other music projects, the business etc.  I don’t have a good answer other than I don’t watch sports!

11. Looking back over your career, is there a single moment or situation you feel was a misstep    or you would like to have a “do over,” even if it didn’t change your current situation?

I wish I slowed my roll early on.  When I started, I was literally playing on guitars I made myself, into a computer I built myself and was putting up tracks literally as soon as I created them.  I learned a lot, and in hindsight, I probably would have done well to woodshed a little more.  But they’re there now and I’m glad I went through them because it’s sort of a record of what’s come before for me.

12. If you could magically go back in time and be a part of the recording sessions for any one record in history, which would you choose – and what does that record mean to you?

Oh man, when The Stooges recorded Funhouse that must have been amazing!  Legend has it they did LA Blues in one fell swoop.  To have some good weed and bourbon and watch that go down would be amazing.  But I love Funhouse.  In my opinion, that’s the greatest rock and roll record ever made.  It’s chaotic, potent and dangerous.  I don’t necessarily endeavor to make music like that, but the spirit of it really inspires me.

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Category: Interviews