The masked members of TISM in 2004. "It was a full 10 years before I knew that," he says. A further 10 years later, give or take, the former D-Gen comedian is no less surprised to find himself an integral part of Damien Cowell's Disco Machine, a band that picks up where TISM left off, but with a long red carpet of high-profile guests where the carefully guarded anonymity used to be. "Henry Rollins was in Melbourne," Cowell explains of his new album's biggest cameo, "and I'm friends with the person who was his stage manager.

"It turns out he has a copy of [TISM's] Great Trucking Songs of the Renaissance so he was happy to do it, but it was this total fly-by-night moment: basically an iPhone recording of him sitting in his dressing room knocking out a few takes of the phrase 'Come on Waleed'." That's the title of the first single from Get Yer Dag On, the second album by Cowell's Disco Machine. With its references to disgraced heroes Rolf Harris, Bill Cosby, Lance Armstrong and Gary Glitter, it's a classic Cowell social commentary, using celebrity foibles to illustrate the decline of human civilisation to an irrepressible electro-dance beat. "All my heroes they turned into Satan/ You're my new renaissance man and so I'm supplicating/ Come on Waleed don't go changin' on me," he pleads in between soulful interjections by Liz Stringer as the band gallops through a Bee Gees-cum-Prince pastiche. The album's 18-odd cameos also include Ella Hooper, Josh Pyke and Henry Wagons. Myf Warhurst sings, Shaun Micallef croons and Kate Miller-Heidke returns for her second guest appearance in as many Disco Machine albums. It's Adalita who nails the hook to what might, thematically speaking, be the key track. Barry Gibb Came Fourth In A Barry Gibb Lookalike Contest is a true story, Cowell insists: a suitably insane microcosm of the rising idiocracy's preference for reality TV over reality.

"That's how I try to work," he says. "I'll take something that may be thought-provoking and totally trivialise it, shrink it down to the stupidest concept. I'm always writing about the facade of life and hopefully alluding to what's beneath it all." Hence the wide net of spring-loaded cultural references, from Grohl to Pistorius, Sun Tzu to the Venga Boys, bebop to Bonehead from Oasis, and 365 Lemmys to Ennui Will Rock You. On reflection, Cowell sees his 11 years at Triple M as a priceless ringside seat at the pop circus that fascinates and appalls him in equal measure. Contrary to the scathing and sneering for which TISM was renowned, in conversation he exudes awestruck respect for his guests and a slightly nervous humility about his own merits. He weathered something of a confidence crisis, he admits, after TISM folded in 2004. Unmasked, he briefly adopted a new alias in the ironic country-rock outfit Root! before Tony Martin – by now a trusted friend – convinced him to bury his past with a 2010 single unambiguously tilted I Was The Guy In TISM.

"If Damian wanted to be," says Martin, "he could be a comedian. A few years ago he did a show at the comedy festival and it was as funny as any other show. But he takes the music very seriously. "I think the problem is that he was in TISM for 25 years and the whole schtick was to be at war with everything. They were attacking the industry, they were attacking the critics and they were attacking themselves with songs like TISM Are Shit. "So all of this is coming out of 25 years of self-deprecation. Damian's natural default setting is taking the piss out of himself." As a confessed non-musician, this is a position Martin embraces with gusto as he shares the spotlight in this year's incarnation of the Disco Machine. With his multi-coloured suit flapping and maracas rattling, he owns Get Your Dag On like only a 50-something in a hot disco band can. For the former Humphrey B. Flaubert, it all adds up to a comfortable fit at last.

"I was incredibly paranoid for years," Cowell says. "Getting past my own personal problem with admitting to being from TISM was the start. I mean, this new record is not exactly like TISM but it's not 100 miles away from it either. It's dance pop music. It sort of pushes those same buttons, for me. "I'm in this weird position now where I seem to be semi-famous. A lot of people seem to know and like TISM but no one knows who Damian Cowell is. But I think that's turning a little bit. I hope so because it's great to have a reason to keep doing it." TOUR DATES

Saturday February 18: The Barwon Club, Geelong. Damian Cowell's Disco Machine feat. Tony Martin. ​Supported by Pinky Beecroft Saturday March 4: The Corner Hotel, Melbourne. Friday March 10: The Factory, Sydney. Additional support by Bad Bitch Choir.

Saturday March 11: The Woolly Mammoth, Brisbane. Support TBA.