A Dirty Dozen with WADE MacNEIL from DOOMS CHILDREN – October 2021

Photo credit: Rashad Bedeir

According to a recent press release: “Music has long been the basis of Wade MacNeil’s life. Since co-founding pioneering post-hardcore outfit Alexisonfire in the early 2000s, the Canadian singer, guitarist, songwriter, and composer has lent his talents to numerous influential and impactful projects. He founded gritty punk outfit Black Lungs, fronts U.K. hardcore heroes Gallows, put fingerprints on recordings by the likes of Anti-Flag, Cancer Bats, and Bedouin Soundclash, and scored a handful of successful feature films and video games.  In 2017, MacNeil composed music for Jay Baruchel’s comedy Goon: Last of the Enforcers, and also scored Baruchel’s 2020 horror film Random Acts Of Violence.” We get Wade 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 the second time they listen through?  Are there any hidden nuggets you put in the material or that only diehard fans might find?

I’ve just released a record called Dooms Children. It’s essentially a solo record but I can’t imagine releasing a record as Wade MacNeil so I’ve created a world around it.  Something people might not pick up on is how much the wine bottle is being played on the song “Morningstar.”  As we began to add all the extra percussion, the tambourine, the congas, it still felt as if something was missing. We grabbed a wine bottle from the kitchen and played it with a drumstick. It’s pretty much played through the entire tune.

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

I played guitar from a relatively early age. But, the first weekend of high school I saw the Misfits play. That was a very transformative experience. I started a band the very next day.

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

My musical taste was really guided by skateboarding when I was younger.  I learned a lot about bands from watching skate videos.  Each skater’s part was like a little music video and I’d search out those records of the songs they skated to.

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

It would be nice to work with someone outside the scope of the music I play.  Collaborating with someone like Alabaster Deplume would be very cool. I’d love to work more with saxophone players and his records are incredible.

5. What is your favorite activity when out of the studio and/or not on tour? What do you like to do to unwind?

I ride motorcycles.  The only time I don’t listen to music is when I’m on my bike. There’s nothing like it.

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?

I try not to. If I get put in a corner and really feel like I need to answer it I say “power slop with an edge” which is how Steve Buscemi describes his music in the film Airheads.

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?

None of these things have ever happened on any tour I’ve done. That sounds like camping. We are in dive bars being told to turn our guitars down by sound guys after eating Burger King on a 12-hour drive. That’s touring.

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

Backstage at Reading Festival, Emelia Clarke walked by me. It probably had something to do with me just finishing Game of Thrones around this time but I was pretty shook. I thought “my god the Khaleesi is backstage!”

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?

The best part about being a musician is being in a city where there is a language barrier and you can’t communicate with anyone all day long. Then, that evening, you play a show and everyone sings the songs with you that you wrote –  thousands of miles away in your basement. At the moment everyone is connected and life is beautiful.

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?

I’d like to spend more time discussing dogs. I’d like to never be asked again about my Zombie Survival Plan.

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 think all the missteps are part of the road that got me where I am today. You have to fuck it up to learn from it.

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?

Neil Young – On the Beach. He had blown up so big on Harvest and on this record he seemed to want to blow all that up.  His band in that session was a mix of CSNY and The Band.  So many incredible players doing whatever the fuck they wanted to do it would have been a sight to behold.

WADE MacNEIL LINKS:

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Category: Interviews