Flowers, Fabric and The Brutal Nature of the Florida Scene- An Interview with Donzii
The Miami band discuss their inspirations, a frank, honest and necessary discussion of the South Florida music scene, and saving a Cure CD.
Miami- The building is actually humming.
Tucked in a discreet part of Downtown Miami, amidst the shadows of reflective buildings that mirror and intimidate the sky itself, the 777 International Mall is unlike anything the city, and perhaps the state, has ever built. What was once a strip mall has now become a hive for artists. Clear and spray painted black windows of the individual “booths” give a brief and captivating look into each individual process. On the bottom level, there is a bookstore, a DJ spinning records at the very edge where the ghost of what a small convenience desk might have been and a band, banging on an 808 pad and various drumheads, wrapped in green screen fabric as a cameraman films it an projects what can only be described as the type of strange, hypnotic and bizzare films you might see on adult swim at 4 in the morning on a Sunday night.
And it’s truly incredible. Reimagined and refurnished into the unexpected, it provides a home for artists, bands and people who want to immerse themselves into it.
(Photo: Jenelle DeGuzman)
It’s here that we find Jenna Balfe and Dennis Fuller of Miami post-punk group Donzii currently inhabiting, expressing themselves in the best ways possible.
With an onstage prescence and performance within the group that commands the attention of all those in radius, they also possess an energy that feels as if it were taken directly, with permission from the late 70′s. From Balfe’s Poly Styrene-esque vocals to the general feeling of community the band generate, it is something hypnotic. The world feels in muted colors or just pure black and white as you can almost smell the sweat, leather and pure electrical buzz that came from the heels of performances from those bands such as David Bowie, The Runaways, Joy Division and more.
And perhaps, most intriguing of all, is that the band do not have a clear cut sound. It is something powerful, something fierce, potent and exciting but it doesn’t necessarily exist in the realms of what has already been. It is an edge shaped by experience, hope and most of all, the promise of something better. That dreams can be achieved, from the smallest of towns, to the biggest of cities. All you need is a little faith, a little angst, and a pinch of punk.
I just want to say, the energy you guys have live, is incredible.
Jenna Balfe- Thank You! We’re having fun with it and I think that’s the main thing for us.
You’re one of the only bands that are bringing post-punk back in a good way, and it’s serendipitous because today is actually the 39th anniversary of Ian Curtis, from Joy Division’s passing.
Are there any local acts, or even international that you guys look up to in the genre?
Jenna- There’s so many bands. I like Section 25 a lot. I really like Lizzie Mercier, and she’s more on the no-wave type of vibe but there’s elements of post-punk. What else do we like, Denny?
Dennis Fuller- Locally, there’s a few interesting emerging artists. I think Ghostflower is very interesting with their kraut-rock kind of style. There’s a band from New York-we used to live in New York; Donzii actually started in Brooklyn. I was playing drums in a band called On Oui, which has since dissolved, but after that project, myself, the singer and the bass player, and Jenna, we were throwing around ideas for about a year and a half. None of those things really materialized into a band because we moved back to Miami but the seeds were planted for Donzii to kind of go on this path, this style of music. The band that I was getting to (laughs) was The Wants, and they’re from there. They’re very similar to us because we started diverging from what we were doing, that style and being influenced by that New York city style life: very stressful, and hectic and cool…
Dennis- Yeah, too cool. That’s another reason we moved back here, because they’re there still being cool and we’re….
Jenna- Not. Not cool. (laughs)
Cool is a construct though, you’re only as cool as you think you are, and you guys are doing a great job of keeping that level of confident cool.
Dennis- Thank You. And, I have depression and I don’t think I’m that cool. You know what I mean? I’m just there, constantly kind of like ‘what the fuck? I’m not doing the right thing…” There’s a lot of stuff that we think of as influences, apart from music. And a lot of that has to do with the state of political climate, our own mental states.
Jenna- It’s kind of an environmental thing.
And being from New York, how has that influenced the way you play? Though Miami is still a large city, you turn the corner in New York and there’s always a venue. Down here, it’s becoming scarcer and scarcer for bands, and fans, to find a place to play. Has that inspired you to try harder, to get that music out more?
Jenna- I feel like because there’s so few places, it’s like it can get old fast. I feel like both for audiences and bands, because you play the same places over and over again. So for us, it’s motivated us to get our music out of Miami more. Because we’ve done the circuits, it’s a cool community and we’re grateful people want us to play, but (the Miami scene) has just become so saturated. So we’re focusing on getting some tours out Miami, up Florida. We want to do an L.A. EP release, our EP is months away. It’s recorded, we’re working on the album art and it just needs to be pressed. So we’re super close to that and we wanna hit the road!
And do you have a name for the record?
(Photo: Jenelle DeGuzman)
When I saw first saw you guys perform at iii Points, which is the definition of Miami, in a way. You have indulgence, you have emerging bands; you have the arts in one corner, something for the music lover in another, so there’s something for everyone. How did it feel to perform there, alongside all these major and more localized acts?
Dennis- I was definitely an honor to be asked to play there. We felt very fortunate and taken care of.
Jenna- I felt stoked to be playing before John Maus. Like, for me, when they first told us the line-up, I was like, “Oh, I guess it’s just the only time left.” But eventually, I owned up to how awesome this was and realized that these time slots are strategic! Festivals are competitive, strategic environments. So eventually, I owned up to the fact that no, this isn’t a fucking accident, this is an honor! They’re saying that ‘You guys are a good fit here, you’re a relatable act’. And for me that was like…because I fucking love John Maus, I look up to him, like, awkwardly.
Dennis- I feel like the festival listens to the feedback, like what the audience says, and follows that advice. It felt like it flowed really nicely. It was a warm experience…like feng shui. *laughs* My other favorite part of it, besides the music was our friend had a stand called the Little Spati. It was a little shop that our friend Tara Long set up and it was such a nice little place so… go Tara *laughs*
What would be one thing you wish you could take from New York to Miami, in an artistic sense? Because artists and people compare major cities, they can never really describe what the other lacks, or what could improve the scene they are in. Because the South Florida scene does need a lot of improvement.
Jenna- For me, I think it would be the…level of commitment. I feel like here, the commitment is very wavering, you know? There, it’s competitive to get someone’s commitment, whether it’s a friendship, an artistic relationship, but once it happens, you know it’s going to be there, it’s solid. Whereas here, it feels very “I’m not sure”. I feel like, where’s my real team in this?
Dennis- The level of commitment, not in the sense of commitment of art, in a way. There are committed people in South Florida, there are certainly people that really do support the scene and keep the scene alive. But I think in general, the commitment to…(pauses) dedication to the craft. But other than that, everyone down here is really sweet, and means well.
And that’s what makes me curious, because you have that outside perspective. Being in this scene, involved in it, the artists I’ve spoken with know the issues: that it’s both open and closed off, everyone wants to be part of something they want to lock into and they can’t. It’s frustrating, you can feel that and it’s hard.
Jenna- It feels like…it’s weird, I think about- and it might seem like I’m going on a tangent but I’m not- I feel like, before Instagram was something I really gave a shit about, I felt like I was a likable sort of person! I like people, they like me. And when I became more into this band, into my art projects, I had to be more on Instagram, because I had to promote myself, I have to promote my band. And then, I started noticing things. Like, certain people unfollowing me, or just these things that felt like shade and I’m like “People don’t like me? People don’t like me.” and you start to wonder what is real, especially within that. And I feel like, as an artist in the scene this kind of contention, and it’s always there. We’re all competing in a way, but it just feels like people are really quick to be like “Ah, fuck them.” And I feel it, and I don’t like it.
And it goes back to something I touched on with another band, where it’s that feeling of almost being from a small town; it’s competitive, and it’s fierce and it’s frustrating because all of you screaming at something but no one wants to care about everyone else screaming. There is a feeling of distrust amongst local artists sometimes and it’s difficult. In New York for example, I feel the difference is yes, everyone’s competitive but everyone’s there to listen. You have management, record labels, promoters, all eager to do their jobs
Dennis- New York itself is almost considered like some kind of pedigree. Since the time of the 70’s and CBGB’s, bands from New York is a thing. It’s almost like a university for independent bands. If you’re an independent band and you’re from New York, people are going to listen to you because you’re from New York. Whereas if you’re from pretty much anywhere else…the feeling from most people is “who cares?”.
And I don’t know if that should be true. I do think if a group is from New York, then there’s definitely something to be said for that because to live there is a struggle, and so to pursue any sort of artistry is going to be difficult and it means that you’re obviously very passionate about this, about what you’re doing. And I think that’s a valid statement for everywhere else too. And for Miami, I wish in some way there would be this sort of expectation…Seattle is another place I can think of, that has a very niche sound and that you would expect good things to come from. And, I don’t think people are necessarily on the edge of their seats waiting for the next Miami band to take the world by storm. We don’t have that here, that level of expectation.
And so that’s been kind of difficult. We’ve been playing our asses off here in Miami a lot. And…for someone that gets paranoid very easily, like myself, it just becomes crazy, to keep playing the same places. Even though that’s what The Ramones did and that’s what the Talking Heads did, they played at CBGB’s every week, and they played every night. And the thing is, it’s not the 80’s anymore, not everywhere is like CBGB’s. And for anyone who wants to say “you get better by performing”, I don’t disagree with that. But at the same time, it affects me mentally, and what I think about myself, and what I think about my art. When I play, six shows a month in my hometown, three of them at the same venue, and there’s seven people at the last one, it gets…I’m $50,000 in debt for a music education, and so it really makes me crazy. Paranoid, depressed, whatever you want to call it, it messes with my head. And the times I am happiest, I am playing music, and I’m playing it everyday. I’m presumably, hopefully playing shows every day. Just not at the same venue, and the same city (laughs).
And that’s what I want these conversations to be. To be open, to be frank about what it is for a local artist to perform in this state. And it is brutal and it’s difficult because every time a great venue comes up, like Grand Central for example, it’s replaced by real estate.
Dennis- I’d like to also segue into something else, if I may. Coming from someone that studied music…in the band, there’s two of us that studied music out of five. The way that we started the band was the things that we were taught as strict, we did not want to play upon those things. We wanted to do something different so that the result came out differently. I studied performance percussion, so this was a group where I did not want to do percussion because I wanted to create something that felt authenthic; that was not safe- that was out of my comfort zone creating music, which is behind a drumset. And that goes for everyone in the band, the other member that studied music is a performance bass player; he plays keyboard in the band. And Jenna is really a dancer, and a dance therapist, she has a Master’s Degree in dance therapy, and she’s singing. She’s singing poetry.
Jenna- I have a degree in creative writing too, but I started singing- I was involved in a few projects in my early 20’s but they didn’t really go anywhere. So I started doing other stuff, and then we started dating. …And I actually auditioned for this other band he was in, and I fucking bombed it.
Dennis- I was pretty bad.
Jenna- Like, no one could really look at me after.
Dennis- It’s that thing though being from Miami, where you don’t want to tell your friends that “you’re not very good” so it was very “We’ll see if that works!”
Jenna- I knew it was horrible.
Dennis- It was cool though, it was like “C’mon, let’s go get a drink.” (laughs)
Dennis- But then fast-forward four months, he was in this project and they said “Come on over, just fuck around a bit” it was more calm, and then I found something. Since then, my voice has just been growing. I’ve always wanted to be a singer, so it’s been life-changing. I’ve been discovering new things and I love it.
And dance and music go hand in hand with each other. As a performance artist, it flows wonderfully. And with your voice Jenna, it’s very Poly Styrene, punk and visceral but not overtly loud.
Dennis- We love X-Ray Spex, by the way. They were one of our original influences when we started the band, it was them and Lizzie Mercier.
Jenna- I think Siouxisie and the Banshees is in there for me, too.
Jenna, coming from that performance artist and dance background, do you feel that music needs more of that visual art aspect on stage, and not just, like 4 or 5 people being on stage?
Jenna- I do. And that’s kind of been a big contribution from me for this band, I’m always getting everybody to do things out of their comfort zone. I’m like, “wear a costume” and it varies from playing a recorder or we’re gonna dance around and then lift me up and it’s all these weird…
Danny- It takes some convincing of some of the other guys.
Jenna- But then they do it, and they end up having fun! Now, they’re starting to get that it’s a part of having fun, and they’re having fun with it, letting go more. And everyone in our band is very good humoured.
And there is a lack of visual contribution in music, it isn’t as expected and that’s partly what drew me to you guys in addition to the performance itself, was the things going on in the background, it was immense and wonderful all at once.
Jenna- Oh, we love to ham it up. I’m just a natural born ham. *laughs*
Dennis- If we’re not counting rent, that’s what a lot of our resources go into. Dog leashes, collars…
Dennis- We definitely spend a lot of our resources into making our entrance and the whole performance, something different.
Dennis- And that’s Jenna bringing that side of things. I sort of start the fire with the music, I come in here and start making music with a drum machine or a bass line. The building blocks of the music are my responsibility, and then we come in here, we collaborate. Jenna’s definitely in charge of that performance side, that recognition, because she is a performance artist.
Jenna- We did co-write a bassline. *smiling*
Dennis- *jokingly* ….Okay, alright.
Jenna- I’m never letting go of that, by the way. I think it’s special for me because I’m not playing instruments.
Dennis- ….Can I circle back to something regarding venues?
Dennis- One of the issues I’ve found from talking with musicians, young and old, in different cities is that a lot of the times venues in Miami in particular, and probably all over the country- are not really taking care of the artists.
They don’t see the necessity of a live musician. Because right now, we really do live in a world where music is everywhere, at all times; it’s readily available and it’s pretty much expected to be free. Especially if you’re not watching musicians play, if you just wanna listen to it, the expectation is “Why should I have to pay for it? And I don’t disagree with that, I love music and I’m glad I don’t have to put a dollar into the radio everytime I turn it on.
But at the same time, it would be helpful for a band.
Dennis- Yeah! And I’m talking with other musicians, especially older ones from Miami, and they ask “You guys seem to be doing pretty good, what are you guys getting paid?” And I say, well, maybe $150-$200 for a show. And they kind of look at me like, well “I was in an 8 piece band in the 90’s and we were each getting $200” And it’s funny to me because, there’s got to be more money in the world. The price of things has certainly gone up and yet bands are getting paid like, a fifth of what they were years ago. And I get it, DJ’ing has become a lot easier with digital technology. You can hire a DJ that doesn’t have to bring 50lbs of records anymore, you can just show up with two USB drives and that’s okay. And they can play that one guy $300 to entertain your clientele. If you want to have a band that plays for an hour, the thinking is now, why not a DJ that can play for six hours? And I love DJ’s, this isn’t some anti-DJ campaign or diss. We just have to decide how we value music as a society, what we’re willing to pay for art. Art as a lifestyle, is that something we’re willing to contribute towards
And again, this isn’t a diss to the audience either, like a person who just has five bucks in their pocket. I have friends like that, like “The show’s $5 but I don’t even have cash right now” so I know those people too. I’m just speaking in general that venues should really step it up, and respect artists and pay them a livable wage. Especially when (a band) puts years of work and dedication, they invest in a year’s worth of equipment and even that goes back to the idea of people in bands really fine tuning themselves, which I think is something missing from Miami.
If we all critiqued each other in a way that was constructive, and weren’t taking things personally, we could have all these fined tuned bands and acts going on and then there’s no way that venues would be paying us what they are now. They would have to see that we live in a great city, with great talent. And we do.
Do you feel that it’s easier, or better to play with a small town mentality, or a big city mentality? In the sense of approach?
Jenna- I’m trying to go more bombastic. I’m trying not to sweat the little stuff as much and, big picture. That’s where I’m trying to be right now. And being from a small town, there’s people that I love but I don’t love their music because it’s not my type of thing. And I love them and I want to support them and my scene but you don’t want to dishonest and I realized recently, I’m not going to think about that anymore, because it was bringing me the fuck down. I just want to focus on being large, dressing crazy, having fun, giving people good energy; being my best self. Because I’m not in this to be a motherfucking “rock star” and all the negative excesses, that’s not me. I’m into nature and nice and kids and…I’m wild! And I just want to think big, like that. I want to get out of here, I want to play bigger shows.
To reciprocate that energy and to give someone that fire and realization that “I can do this too.”
Jenna- Exactly! “I can do it, I can perform.”
Dennis- It’s very interesting when you play a venue that’s much bigger, than you’re used to? It’s actually easier to perform, and to get-
Because you have the emotional response?
Dennis- Not only that, you definitely get that emotional response but everything is much more facilitated. If you need something, it’s there for you. Versus, a lot of the times you’re stuggling with sound issues or vibe issues, not enough people or the wrong kind of audience… And then you play these places that you’ve never played before and someone’s there to coordinate, knows what to do and it’s very quick, very easy and it sounds good. You get to focus a lot more. Some of the most stressful shows have been, some of the most smallest. Not even in Donzii, just in every band I’ve played in. There just can be so many external factors going on that don’t let me concentrate on my performance.
It also attributes to an artist struggle that I think everyone feels, I feel it as a writer. I’ll write six drafts and trash all of them even though someone else is saying that it’s good. As a creator, you only ever hear the fault in the art you did, versus other people just hear the recording or see what you made.
Jenna- It’s true. I’ve been suffering so much creating this new EP. We had a little record party of the test pressing, we didn’t make it a big deal, we’re just like hey, come by if you want to hear it. And I was just suffering the whole time. Everyone’s saying “Wow, I like this!” and I’m just like “I sound too much like a robot.” It’s crazy, it’s so intense.
With this record, was there any genre or direction you went into that you hadn’t covered before?
Dennis- I’d say the song we’re most excited about, is more of a darkwave track. The tracks we have released are a little bit more new wave/post punk style. They’re kind of edgy, that have that drum machine sound.
Jenna- One of the new tracks is kinda funky, and nothing like we’ve released before.
Like a tropical, Miami kind of funky?
Dennis- We’re definitely…not tropical. Ever. *laughs* We try to be?
Jenna- I don’t know how to describe it, cause it is funky!
That’s it, you’ve created a new genre!
Dennis- It sounds like if-if you wanna order everything black and brown at Pollo Tropical, get me the “Tropigoth”.
Just black beans, that’s all it is.
Dennis- Black beans, Coca-Cola-
Dennis- That’s it! Just extra large Coke, extra large rice, extra large beans, that’s the Tropigoth. That’s what you order on a Sunday night, just before the new shipment comes in, it’s all they have left.
Is there any venue that you’d like to perform at, both in or out of Florida?
Dennis- Respectable Street. Definitely.
And is there a band you’d like to tour with, or like to collaborate with? If you had the opportunity, if someone gave you a kind of magic pass and said “Okay, you can use this to open for any band on their national touring cycle, who would it be?”
Jenna- Me?! …..I’d like to open for Geneva Jacuzzi. …John Maus would be cool. Maybe someone like Black Marble…
Dennis- Magazine is another one, that would be great.
Jenna- The Poptone band! That would be awesome!
Dennis-Yeah, definitely. I’d want to make it an interesting pairing, someone that doesn’t sound like us. It would have to be a sort of crossover.
The Cure did something similar when they came to Florida years back, they had 65daysofstatic open for them and that’s not a band that would immediately come to mind when you think The Cure but it was incredible.
That would work! Robert Smith is a big supporter of new acts.
Jenna- How crazy would that be? That’s like the type of thing I wouldn’t even say because it’s so insane. That would be-
Dennis- That would be a dream.
Jenna- Yeah, that would be like, ultimate dream.
Dennis- ...The last car we had, as it died, we had to sell it for $200 and the last thing I had to get out of it was a Cure CD.
Dennis- The album was Wish.
Okay, that’s definitely a sign.
Dennis- I…would quit every job I ever had.
Jenna- Okay! New goal! Opening for The Cure!!
And to finish it off, I always like to do something with every band. If you could choose one lyric to sum up yourself, what would it be?
Dennis- “Nothing takes the place of you, because time is material”… I think is how it goes?
Jenna- “Nothing takes the place of you, because time is material and I’ve gone through you and back to me.”
Here’s to wishing, wherever you are.
