Interview with Danny Venzin (Nite Fields)
by Killian Laher

It’s been five years since Nite Fields’ debut album Depersonalisation.  Since then, frontman Danny Venzin moved to Moscow for a time, but has returned to Brisbane.  We caught up with him ahead of the release of follow up album A Voyeur Makes No Mark.

Tell me about the recording of the new album.  Was it a long-drawn out process?  Where did you record it?

Unfortunately so.  I guess the excitement of being ‘a band’ kind of just fizzled after touring the first record.  People forget that we’re from Brisbane and it’s not a city where you consider making a living from playing underground music.  We never set out to be famous, or even to tour, so I think 3/4 of us maybe felt they’d accomplished what they wanted to with this project by the end of 2015.  None of the original band members were living in the same city by that point and sending stems back and forth over the internet was just a really convoluted way to create that wasn’t working for us.

I had a fair few demos and recordings that Chris and I had made early in 2015 here in Brisbane, the track ‘Voyeur’ for example, and I felt compelled to take it further.  I bought a few cheap Soviet-era synths and microphones when I got to Moscow and between 2015 and 2018 there wasn’t much else I was doing with my spare seconds other than sitting in my bedroom experimenting with sounds, recording or chopping up samples.  I should have been having far more fun.

What is the line up for the band on this album?  Does the new album differ much from its predecessor?

In terms of who plays on the record, it’s mostly me and then Chris is on plenty of the guitar tracks. I met up with drummer Christian Donaghey (Autumns) in Ireland a couple of times to bring a couple of the drum tracks to life.  Then there was a few tracks I finished off in Australia with our live drummer and bass player from the first record. The record was composed like an electronic album but with live instruments though so I think, other than the guitar, it’s not so much about who played the instruments but more how they were sequenced or recorded.  There’s no ‘band in a room together’ tracks on the new album so the atmosphere is very different I think.

What are your hopes for the new album?

There are only 200 copies of this record on vinyl and I’m releasing it on my own label so if I can sell them out pretty quickly that will be my goal accomplished.  I think there were 500 copies of the first record and 1000 CDs but none of us saw a cent. I get it though. Labels have their overheads.

Any plans to tour?  Will you be coming to Europe?

No plans.  Can’t you tell I’m jaded?

Finally, what’s next for Nite Fields?

Honestly, I have no idea.  I always thought that bands should make three records to make their statement but two is okay too.