“The things that bind us can be a common derision” according to Derision Cult band member Dave McAnally. An article on the cult movie “The Room”, a film that received cult status not due to popularity but more because of its unconventional and bizarre storytelling, narrative and technical flaws and the off-kilter performance of the main character, explained how the unpopular nature of the film led to a cult of derision. The band felt the title Derision Cult, “fit perfectly with what we started writing about.”
After having stepped away from music for a decade McAnally came back to music as a way to talk about some specific observations he was making in his work in digital advertising. Having another project called Sys Machinewhich McAnally describes as “chill electronic blues music”, he also did a collaborative album called Graceful Isolation. Having enjoyed that process McAnally decide he wanted to “step up the production on Derision Cult.” Gabe Wilkinson of Microwaved suggested that McAnally should connect with musician Sean Payne. Familiar with Payne’s work with bands Cyanotic and Conformco, McAnally believed that Payne would be a great fit for Derision Cult. “We hit it off and have a lot of common interests. He brings a LOAD of production value and all around know-how with what makes an industrial track tick.” Says McAnally of Payne.
Inspired to explore themes of media manipulation, bombardment and overstimulation McAnally draws on twenty years of experience as an advertising executive which he explains is “drawing on people’s needs and desires to manipulate how they see the world. “ With a clear understanding on how advertising exploits the concern and apprehension of the general public McAnally noticed “ In the last couple to years, especially through the pandemic, emotions got really charged and I saw a lot of instances where brands and media prayed on anxieties and fears to sell more products.” The Derision Cult album Mercenary Notes provides the band with a way to “navigate those realities vs just complain about them” according to McAnally.
McAnally’s advertising experience and well known analysts and authors such as James Whittaker, Scott Galloway and Perry Marshall have all been sources of inspiration for Derision Cult. A fan of 80’s Chicago Wax Trax era music as well as Outlaw Country Music, McAnally has also found motivation in what he describes as “the lyricists in the country and Americana world- the way they tell stories and turn phrases”.
Prior to Mercenary Notes, McAnally describes his creative process as relatively simple with him starting with a riff and building a track around it. Collaboration with Payne has resulted in the two musicians melding their creative processes. McAnally explains “I built full on demos and then we basically deconstructed them and rebuilt everything”. With many guests and collaborators on the album the duo marked out who was right for each part. “A big thing I learned from Sean was the value of time.” McAnally says. With no real time restraints on the creation of the album, the band were able to just let things “sit and let your ears hear them differently.” McAnally believed some of the tracks needed that, especially “The Year Hope Failed”and “Life Unlit” which went through some real changes.
Very much inspired by the last album, Charlatans Inc, Derision Cult’s new album Mercenary Notes comes out of a very different place. McAnally describes the last album as coming from a very tumultuous time in his life, “Covid wiped out my company and I was stuck in a particularly stressful time with no income etc”. With these new realities McAnally found himself in his home studio creating heavy and aggressive riffs as a sort of therapy, leading to an album he describes as “one dimensional”. For Mercenary Notes, McAnally and Payne decided that the new album needed to retain its blues, metal, country riffs while adopting bigger beats, layers and more synth elements. Having built a new business and come out of the challenging times Charlatans Inc was written in, Mercenary Notes is a reflection on those achievements as well as being a more musical journey with variety. The album has according to McAnally, inspired him to think differently and “is more about solutions and moving on.”
With plenty of experience performing live doing acoustic and old country Americana songs McAnally enjoys the immediacy of live performances “When you’re live whatever happens, happens. It’s less about getting it right and more about creating a unique moment in time.” Although Derision Cult has not performed live it is something that may happen in the future.
Having moved on to Glitch Mode, McAnally describes Derision Cult as more of a collective now then a band. With Mercenary Notes Part One finished the collective will be working on Mercenary Notes Part Two for which they already have most of the tracks. “My hope is to turn it into a cast of characters that contribute to that overall cult of derision.” With plans to bring on musicians from different genres to perform with Derision Cult, McAnally has some thoughts about recruiting some Modern Outlaw Country performers to add to the layers of the band’s sound.
For those unfamiliar with Derision Cult’s music McAnally says “if you listen to Mercenary Notes it’ll be a journey! We’re here for you on the treadmill or when you’re alone in your thoughts!”
Links:
Bandcamp: https://derisioncult.bandcamp.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/300southdungeon
