PURGATORY LINE // Rock And Roll On Their Terms

It’s been a wild ride for Dave McAnally and Matt Kettman of Purgatory Line.

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Having first jammed together in the 90s, the hard rock enthusiasts drifted apart over the years, growing up and kickstarting their own careers and families. Now, their shared love for nostalgia soaked noise has brought them together again, birthing their debut self-titled LP. We caught up with McAnally for a chat about how it all came together.

Hysteria: For those new to the band, tell us how you came together.

Dave: Matt and I go way back. Twenty years ago, we were in a band together. We lived in Waterloo, Iowa, and there was a little scene where musicians all played in various groups. Then I moved to Chicago, and he kept on keeping on with music in Waterloo. We sort of lost touch for a while, but then I had some instrumental tracks that I’d been tinkering with that I knew I needed a vocalist of his style for. So last year, I checked in on what he’d been up to over the years, and it turned out he was still going strong with a solo project and a couple other bands. When I showed him the tracks, he was pretty into it, so we spent quarantine working on an album together!

You’ve mentioned internal and external struggles inspired this album. Can you run us through what some of those life experiences were?

We’re not kids any more, and both of us have been through a few different phases of life. Now we have families, careers, and all the responsibilities that go with it. It wouldn’t make sense for us to write an angsty album about youthful aggression or falling in and out of love or whatever because we aren’t living those kinds of lives, and I don’t think either of us are fiction writers. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t things we don’t struggle with that are universal. We also have friends and family we see falling into traps that, after a while, start to look like a universal pattern.

For example, The Bottom is about people who live life like they’re on a treadmill. You put one foot in front of the other and do what the machine tells you to do, but you’re not really going anywhere. That creates depression because human beings aren’t meant to just stay in the same place. We’re supposed to grow and evolve and rise up to new challenges. I think we all know people like that. It’s sort of like that old Pearl Jam song—they change by not changing at all.

Having both come from different bands, how are you finding this new project differs?

Well, I usually work alone, so having Matt here and collaborating was new! Partly because I’m in Chicago and Matt is in Iowa, and partly because of the pandemic, we did everything virtual, which is DEFINITELY different from what we did back in the day! I really liked that approach though. And once we got the technology piece working to our advantage instead of working against us, we really started cooking with gasoline.

For me, the other difference is that I think we’re both pretty driven people. We’re too old, and we don’t have time for all the drama that can come with a band. I just don’t have the patience anymore to babysit somebody who’s got a drug habit they can’t manage or has an ego too frail to have any real musical breakthroughs. And I know Matt doesn’t either, so this project is a lot more about focus and creating something cool than dealing with interpersonal things.

In terms of the music, I think one thing that really differs for me is that this is a lot more straight-up hard rock than anything I’ve ever done. I usually work with industrial/electronic or more Americana genres. I think anybody who listens to our other stuff and then this will probably hear kind of a melding of our two styles which creates something new.

“We’re not kids anymore, and both of us have been through a few different phases of life. It wouldn’t make sense for us to write an angsty album about youthful aggression or falling in and out of love or whatever because we aren’t living those kinds of lives
[ Dave McAnally ]

We’ve read that you two have careers as a doctor and business consultant respectively. How do you manage those and being in a band?

That’s a good question! Plus, we both have families! In all seriousness, for me, I have a few logistical things working in my favour. Ever since the pandemic, I’ve worked out of my house, so that eliminates time spent commuting and gives me more flexibility in how I organise my day. My kids are also old enough that I’m not changing diapers and safeguarding the house against toddlers. So all those little things add up and free up time. But beyond that, I just like being productive. The older I get, the more apparent it becomes that you only have so much time on the planet. So I’m finding myself just being interested in creating things and putting them out in the world.

I don’t watch sports or play video games or anything like that. I gave up drinking this year because I’m done wasting mornings being hungover or blowing nights sitting in bars with people doing the same. So music, my business, and spending time with my family are what I occupy all my time with. And I love those things, so it’s not like it’s drudgery. I think many artists, especially musicians, have all these delusions about how they’re supposed to suffer for their art or that unless your life is full of pain, your art won’t be as potent. Or that you shouldn’t pursue other careers because it somehow takes away from your art. I think that’s bullshit. When I started meeting musicians in Chicago, I found all kinds of incredibly productive and driven people, and they’re making all the facets of their lives work for them on their terms. That’s really cool and inspiring to see. There are 24 hours in the day you have to work with. In those hours, you have the power to create your own realities, and it’s up to you to make all the things in your life work together.

Do you ever get shocked reactions from people in a more corporate setting when they find out about your band?

Matt’s a straight-up rock and roll doctor! Seriously, you can buy Purgatory Line and his solo CD at his office. Some of his patients are fans. He has a lot of fun with it. He’s a lot better at blending his professional life and artistic life than I am. Some clients know what I’m up to, but when I’ve got that hat on, I really have THAT hat on.

I think the fact that we’re building a school in Haiti is what shocks people! That’s what the money from Purgatory Line is going towards. Matt was doing medical missions down there before the pandemic. Unfortunately, with some of the civil unrest and the presidential assassination, things are a little hard to move forward right now. But it’s work we’re proud of, and it makes Purgatory Line feel like it’s helping serve a greater purpose.

Tell us about the recording process of this album and any standout moments.

We started work on the album last June and finished sometime in January, I’d say. I don’t believe there were any tracks we worked on that didn’t make the album, but we definitely took a lot of twists and turns. I think the biggest goosebumps moment was when we finally landed on the half-time chorus for Menagerie. That track, in particular, went through a lot of mutations before we got it to where it is. Matt tried a few different ways of approaching the chorus, and we knew we had a great verse and bridge, but for whatever reason, we couldn’t seem to land a chorus. Then we changed the drums to half time, and that spawned an entirely new vocal approach. I think we were both like, “DUDE THERE IT IS!!”. My wife even came down to the studio in the basement and was like, “that’s awesome!” when I got the vocal parts all mixed. Then the tracks with the big soaring choruses really started rolling—like The Bottom and Yield.

Who would you say are some of your key influences?

We’re all over the place. For Purgatory Line, we’re both big Corrosion of Conformity fans. The sludgier elements come from that, I’d say. But also Alice In Chains looms large, as does Soundgarden. But there’s a lot of old school metal influence in here like Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath. I think as you get older different music speaks to you in different ways. That said, we wanted to just draw on the things we were into when we were playing together originally. Like “Let’s make something that celebrates the kind of music that really got us motivated to start bands 25 years ago!”

What’s in store for the band next?

We’ve got a couple of other projects we’re working on. Matt has another solo album we’re working on together that’s sort of in the vein of Purgatory Line, with a bit more of a pop vibe to it. My industrial metal project, Derision Cult, has an album called Charlatans Inc coming out on September 14, which is a monster. But with Purgatory Line, we’re really focused on sharing the album with everybody! We’ve got some ideas and songs brewing for the next album. No live shows planned yet, but never say never!

Anything else you’d like to add?

You can hit us up on Bandcamp or follow us on Spotify or Apple Music. Purgatory Line was born out of some extraordinary circumstances, which we all went through last year, but we have no intention of stopping. We’re looking forward to sharing the album with the world!