Three childhood friends from Dublin, singer Danny Dempsey McMahon, guitarist Jocelyn Vance and bassist Conor Cusack formed the band DIVIL in the wake of the death of Danny’s father. Just weeks later, Cusack was diagnosed with a rare, aggressive form of cancer. There was no other way to face, process and cope with such deep emotions than through music.
In 2024, Cusack, a young father aged just 32, was told he had Stage 4 thymic carcinoma. It affects fewer than one person per million each year. His case was considered incurable.
Seven rounds of chemotherapy bought him enough time to get the unexpected call: he had qualified for emergency surgery in Belgium using a new procedure that could remove most of the cancer. It’s a heated chemotherapy called HITHOC. Of course, undertaking pioneering treatments overseas is expensive. As Saxon Gables explains: “the surgery costs themselves are covered by the HSE. However, Conor must cover the costs of his and his family’s stay in Belgium for at least six weeks until he is fit to fly. He will also need to return to Belgium regularly for follow-up scans and reviews for at least ten years.
“Because this is such an intensive surgery, we want to ensure that financial stress is the last thing on Conor or Meghan’s mind. We greatly appreciate your support and your donations, whether big or small”
– Saxon Gables
The Irish music community and those beyond have responded with an outpouring of support, raising €134,361 so far via GoFundMe to support Conor and his young family.
DIVIL I EP
As all this was unfolding, the band recorded their new EP, DIVIL I. This is music as therapy, as catharsis. The three songs explore themes of illness, grief and friendship.
The genesis of new single Orangutan was surprising. Vance was influenced by Dean Martin samba music and started noodling with chords through a loop pedal. McMahon recorded a minute of these sonic experiments.
“I remember walking up the stairs to the studio and hearing some sinister sounding guitar pumping out of the room. I was happy to find it was Jocelyn playing over a loop of himself. I just wanted to grab a snapshot of what Jocelyn was doing and take it away and go over it when I felt suitably manic to match the energy.
Eventually the weekend came. I had the house to myself; at the time I was under a self-prescribed period of detention where I was not allowed to go out to let the hair down. I started looking through recent files, periodically getting up and nearly leaving the house, fighting the urge to bail on my disciplined evening of creativity.
I was delighted to find the loop I recorded Jocelyn doing a few days previous, and I just so happened to be feeling just as manic as the music.
I spent the evening screaming into the iPad and pacing the house. The resulting lyrics reflect recent bad driving events, a lot of frustration, trying to strangle my own cravings into submission, and on reflection, a snapshot of the fairly chaotic headspace I was in.
I’m happy to say, as always, writing about it was the perfect catharsis and helped me slow down and come out of it – thanks, music. I’m glad to have a musical snapshot of that sped-up, manic feeling, but I’m glad I don’t feel like that now.”
– Danny Dempsey McMahon
When it came to recording, the band made one decision that defines the track: they kept the original iPad recording in. Conor added bass. That was it. “It had this great kind of immediacy to it that was impossible to replicate,” Vance explained.
Orangutan acts as a sequel to previous single Thanks A Million, both literally and figuratively. Orangutan is about resisting help, while Thanks A Million is about accepting it.
Divil’s debut EP, DIVIL I, is out on June 19, 2026.
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