Donzii Interview: The band talk new EP, live shows, the Donzii universe, drum machines, and more

Out of all the modern Post-Punk bands, Miami, Florida’s “Donzii” are by far the most exciting group. Maybe that’s because they don’t adhere to the confines of any particular genre. Sure they wear their influences on their sleeves. You can spot genres such as No Wave, Gothic Rock and Italo Disco in their wide array of sounds, but instead of diving too far into moroseness or gloom like most bands associated with Goth or Darkwave, “Donzii” also bring an element of fun to their sound, bringing a much needed eccentricity to the world of goth-adjacent Post-Punk. Simply put, “Donzii” can’t be categorized.

Led by core members Jenna Balfe and Dennis Fuller, who currently reside in Los Angeles, CA, “Donzii” is more of a universe than a specific lineup. There’s such a large list of talented musicians and performers that contribute to their live shows, and Jenna and Dennis feel that their audience and fans are members of the “Donzii” universe as well. The band released a new E.P. titled Kaliedoscopic last month, and I had the opportunity to speak with them about it, as well as their live shows, recording process, lyrical themes, drum machines, dream collabs, new music, and much more.

First, I wanna start this off by saying thank you for your time. I’ve been a fan of your work for awhile now. I stumbled across your music back in 2020 I wanna say. I believe the only releases you guys had out at the time were the Mines EP, the Gladugly EP, and the Burn single, and when I heard these for the first time I was immediately hooked. Your music strikes every fancy for me. It incorporates elements of No Wave, Post-Punk, Goth, Italo Disco, New Wave, Funk, and a myriad of other styles, which makes it impossible to sum your music up with one label. Is it fair to say these genres have an influence on your sound, and what’s the creative process like when creating a “Donzii” track?

Those genre’s most certainly influence us yes! A good friend of ours who recently passed, actually gave us a genre title “Esoteric Funk” and I feel particularly aligned with this one. The creative process truly varies as does our sound. Sometimes it will be just me and Dennis, jamming on drums and bass, that’s actually how we started to find “Mines” for example. Other songs were the result of a full band playing like “Green Elevator” and “Sand”. Our song “Fun” actually started from a little riff that Jenna wrote on guitar and then the band filled it out. “Luxury Condo theme” we wrote with our old keyboardist Miles Hancock as a part of an alternate project “Sticky Bunz”and we eventually just brought it over to the Donzii side.

I understand “Donzii” is more of a universe than a specific lineup. You two are the core members, but you guys have a rotating lineup of fantastic musicians for your live shows. Who are the members of the Donzii universe, and do they play a part in the recording process?

Thank you for understanding the nature of the Donzii Universe! We feel that this title extends to our audience and fans too – we once had a fan tell us they’d seen us play 10 times with a different lineup each time – Our current LA lineup consists of Jenna and Dennis, Troy Woodhall on live drums/production and Dakota Blue on guitar. We are often joined by Cameron Ward aka PILO – who we have been writing some really fun electro-clashy songs with out here. Our main homie, Danny Heinze has been our guitarist for years, but still lives in Miami. He loves to travel and play shows with us around the country when his schedule permits, so we always have a spot open for Danny. Sometimes Jorge Elbrecht will join us on guitar or produce a track with us out here in LA. We have two percussionists that we collaborate with – Yamil Rodriguez in New Orleans and Fernando Diaz in Miami. Violeta De Laguardia or Mauricio Abascal will take turns on keyboard duties when the shows call for it, and Paul Garcia from Denver joins from time to time on keys, guitar or as a performer! For performers we have our main collaborator Misael Soto or “Miss.Miss”- who will join us for larger shows. Most of the time, the recording and writing is done as a duo or with 1 other collaborator in the studio. If too many people start getting involved we lose direction. Sometimes we will re-work the same song in different studios when we feel like it’s not sounding Donzii enough haha. All of our bandmates play a role in the music making process and Jenna and I kind of filter all that influence into a final song. Currently we are working on new music with so many people, including Andrew Clinco of Drab Majesty, Pilo, and Troy Woodhall of Fuedal – We are also very lucky to work with incredible engineers like Chris Coady and Chad Gordon, who play a major role in what our finished songs sound like.

I love the use of drum machine in your music. I was in a band awhile back that used an Akai XR20 because we couldn’t find a drummer, but I enjoyed making all these beats for the band, even though we got a lot of shit for not having a live drummer. What drum machines do you guys use for your music?

The XR20 is cool, we truly use any drum machines we have access to, but I have started a collection of Alesis HR-16’s with different kits loaded on each one. I like the Alesis because it’s not super expensive and the programming was very intuitive for me. Each one is like a journal of beats and where I was in my programming and style, so instead of erasing them I just pick another one up for like $100.

What inspired the name “Donzii”

There is a legendary speed boat maker from Miami named Donzi. The name represents Miami and its history, but it also kind of sounds Italian. Initially our plan was to be an Italo-Disco band but our songs kept going sideways of that haha the name stuck. There is also DON-Z-PAWN in Miami right by where we grew up and it may have subconsciously influenced us.

Jenna, you have a Master of Science in Dance Movement Therapy, and what I love about Donzii music videos and live shows is that there’s a great deal of performance art and spontaneous movement. Do you intentionally incorporate your experience in Dance Movement Therapy into Donzii shows and music videos?

I absolutely do! I began my artistic journey with poetry, and then performance art, landing on being in a band quite later. So for me the starting point is actually my poetry and physicality. When I write, I am often transcribing the performance felt in my body as we are naming on a drum beat, or however it is we are starting a song. For all of our shows, I incorporate performance art yes, but it also is “just me” in a way. Like I don’t know how else to present myself in a performative manner haha.

Dennis, your bass lines are killer, and you bring to Donzii a kind of angular No Wave bass style that is often absent in modern Post-Punk. What inspires your bass lines and what kind of gear do you use?

Thanks, I really just try to approach my bass line with a few goals to make it Donzii. It has to have a real conversation with the drums, tonally and rhythmically, and then there has to be an element of honed-in dissonance to separate it from being too straight forward. I pretty much use Boss pedals and a Peavey T-40, the bass I got when I was 12, a hard pick, and that’s about it!

Your new E.P. Kaliedoscopic opens with the track “Bird,” which was inspired by a dream Jenna had where she had figured out how to fly. Jenna, can you tell me more about this track and its central theme?

Yes! Like you said, “Bird” was inspired by a dream where l am flying. In this dream I figured out how to fly! I would take off by pressing down really hard on my feet, engaging my core and squeezing my fists. Then when I would take off I would fly with my legs straight out and my hands by my side as though I was sitting on a chair with my legs out and gripping some handles on the side of the chair. While I am flying all kinds of people are seeing me fly, some of them are friends, some of them are people I have never seen before. I am like amazed that l am flying, and no one who sees me even acknowledges me! I even see Dennis, and he is just like whatever and keeps looking at his phone. To me this represents the sort of apathy we have all developed towards life. Like it is so insane to me that we are even breathing. Bird is about wanting to re-claim that wonder and love despite the oppressive nature of this existence.

What are some recurring themes in your lyrical content?

I often write in a sort of existential wonder towards life mode. I write about people existing in a strangely dualistic paradigm. I write about striving for human freedom and wanting to share that desire with people. I also like to be funny, “Sand” is a deep song, but also is funny for example. When I sing “I for one, prefer to die right now” I initially wrote as a joke- to make fun of overly morose goth bangers, but as I wrote the rest of the song-it came to represent a sort of ego death. The line “pretend you’re dead and watch the sun rise” is actually referring to a moving meditation that I made up, where you allow yourself to imagine that you are dead, to allow yourself to feel free of others judgement, or your own baggage etc. I often practice this meditation on stage to allow ,self to find full freedom, like “Hey I am not really here, so I can do whatever I want” The song is also about my Mother and Father who both died young, the chorus-“Nothing takes the place of you, Cause time is Material,” and “l’ve gone through you, back to me” is about my parents being gone- but their spirit and memory still being tangible to me, as time and space are like a soup that I can swim through. I see myself in those lyrics traveling through them, and everyone alive to travel back to myself, and them back out. When I sing those lyrics it is my most honest moment during a performance to connect with everyone present.

“Kaliedoscopic” features remixes of the tracks “Grave” and “On The Inside.” Who remixed these tracks, and what inspired you to feature them on the EP?

“Grave” was remixed by lan Marcel in Miami. We had been talking about doing a remix for a while and this EP presented the perfect home for the project! We love what he did with and feel like it’s a more complete song now. Our homie Troy not only remixed “On The Inside” but also produced the shit out of “Bird” haha. Honestly we are bad about getting the stems of our material when a project is done, but we did have the stems for “On The Inside,” so Troy, once again, worked his magic and we couldn’t be happier.

Who are some dream artists you’d like to collab with?

Dennis: One of my favorite beat makers and producers of all time is DJ Premier. His beats have this signature toughness but they’re slick too, and the songs he samples are pure class – l would love to spend some time with him making no wave / hip hop songs haha. I would also lose my shit if Action Bronson did a verse over a Donzii groove!

Donzii originally formed in Miami, Florida, but you guys currently live in Los Angeles, CA. What inspired you to move to LA, and does your experience living in Miami, Florida still inspire your creative process?

305 for life but we had to come out here to see the land. We had a few friends out here already which made the move much easier, and so many of our favorite bands are based in LA. It’s been amazing to get to know this city and meet so many inspiring people.

“Kaliedoscopic” was self-released through your “Gladugly” imprint. Do you find yourselves having more creative freedom being independent, as opposed to having to answer to a label?

Not really, labels are super helpful and we have never felt creatively silenced by anyone we’ve worked with. We are writing constantly, so being on a label with distribution and recording help would actually be awesome!

If each of you had to choose your favorite Donzii track, what would it be, and why?

“Funny Pants” or “Curveball” – they each epitomize the Donzii template; angular bass, hard drum machine, irreverent and meaningful lyrics with unexpected melody and of course atonal guitar parts that ride the line of texture and percussion.