Interview: Villainy

Dead Sight – A Decade On

Villainy are increasingly the go-to Kiwi band when you want your rock music loud, fun, and perhaps a little bit dark. Somehow, their second album Dead Sight is now a decade old. To mark the milestone, the Auckland heavyweights are releasing a deluxe vinyl reissue and throwing a one-night-only anniversary show at Galatos, playing the record front to back like it’s 2015 all over again. We caught up with frontman Neill Fraser to talk about revisiting the album, balancing dad life with rock life, and a mysterious new record in the making.

Radio BurgerFuel: Ten years since Dead Sight! Does it actually feel like a decade has passed?

Neill Fraser: “Honestly, it doesn’t feel that long ago at all, which is kind of weird because ten years is a really long time. When you’re in a band, you’re always focused on making the records, lining up shows, doing the next tour. But looking back now, it still weirdly feels like yesterday. So it’s cool, but also very, very strange.

We’ve been digging through tons of random as old footage and phone photos from that time we were over in Melbourne making the record. Studio sessions, random shows, little moments we’d forgotten about. Like the other day we found something from the night we played a show with Shihad at The Espy in St Kilda and Xzibit was playing the same night. You totally forget that it happened.”

RBF: I know you guys wrote like 60-70 tracks before you narrowed it down for the album, have you ever gone back through these and thought about them?

NF: “Yeah man. We wanted to make something special to celebrate this record properly. So we’re doing a deluxe reissue of Dead Sight because it hasn’t been out on vinyl since we first released it. So it’s a good chance to do something a little bit different. It’s got the original album, plus we’re going to drop the B-sides EP, this thing called Dead Sides that’s never seen a physical release.

We recorded them at the same time, but some of these songs feel more ‘pure’ Villainy than Dead Sight itself because they didn’t go through as much production. They’re rougher around the edges, but that’s what makes them cool.

And for the vinyl nerds—we kept one side of the third LP blank so we could etch some Dead Sight artwork onto it which is going to look epic. I’ve always loved bands that did picture discs and with their records.”

RBF: What’s the plan for the 10th anniversary show?

NF: “We’re heading back to Galatos, which is where we toured this record on the original tour. It felt right to go back there and play Dead Sight from start to finish.

There are songs we literally haven’t touched since those 3 nights at Lucha Lounge in December 2015, so rehearsals have been about rediscovering them. It’s a fun challenge, but some of those songs are technically brutal. We’re like, ‘What were we thinking writing this?!’ It’ll be awesome to bring them back for one night, along with some deep cuts and B-sides. We want it to feel like stepping back in time.”

RBF: Listening back now, do you see the album any differently?

NF: “Every record is a bit of a time capsule. We spent a lot of time making Dead Sight in Melbourne, so memory wise, it’s centred around that experience.

We took a lot of risks with this one. It’s abrasive and raw in places. The engineer distorted the recording desk just to get this hectic undercurrent of noise the whole time. so it’s quite a tough listen in a lot of ways. But that’s the point, it’s a record that rewards volume. It’s going to be intense doing it live again.”

RBF: Has getting older changed the way you write music?

NF: “We’re the same band at heart, but life definitely creeps into what we do. James, our bassist, has four kids, so his voice memos always have multiple kids in the background. I took my stepdaughter to see Tyler, The Creator the other week, which was incredible.

We’re a rock band, but we’ve always had diverse tastes and listened to loads of different stuff. I think that hopefully that comes across in our records and the way we write. It’s interesting trying to stay on the pulse, you know. Looking at people that are younger and cooler than you are, so it’s good to have that connection.

I mean dude, we literally had people at the Devilskin shows recently coming up to the merch desk with their children and saying, ‘Hey this is whomever, and she grew up with your music and she drew you a picture we gave to you at your last show here in Palmerston North’. That’s so crazy and so cool.”

RBF: So is there any word on some new tunes?

NF: “We just wrapped a big tour with Devilskin over winter. 11 shows around the country, from big cities to tiny towns. That was amazing. But after this Galatos gig, we’re locking ourselves away to finish album four.

We’ve been writing since our last record came out in 2019, so there’s a mountain of material. The challenge now is figuring out what this new album is meant to be. What it should sound like, feel like, and what it should say. Once we find that spark, everything will fall into place. Right now we’re in that exciting but frustrating part of the process, mining for gold.”

RBF: Do you feel pressure to release albums more often to stay relevant?

NF: “Rock fans in general are incredibly loyal. Maybe the music is a little more timeless? We just covered Rocket Scapes by Deftones on this tour (catch it on YouTube) They’ve just dropped a new album and they’re such a good example of a band that’s just matured gracefully.

RBF: What’s next for Villainy beyond the Galatos show?

NF: “Obviously there’s a new record coming next year so there will be shows with that. But the Galatos date is probably our only gig this year, so if you want to see us live, this is the one. After that, it’s all about the fourth album.

Apart from that, I’m also tinkering away on a side project, and Dave our drummer, just finished his doctorate in music. He’s officially Dr. Dave now, which is wild. We wanna see if we can put that on his flight details, so if someone says is there a doctor on the plane, then he can go up and be like, ‘Well I can write you a song.’ So yeah, we’re all busy, but the Villainy machine keeps moving forward.”

Villainy’s Dead Sight 10th Anniversary Deluxe Edition is available for pre-order now with signed copies for early buyers. Don’t miss the 27 September show at Galatos, Auckland, where they’ll play the record front to back for one night only. Follow Villainy on Spotify, Instagram, YouTube and villainymusic.com for more music, behind-the-scenes chaos, and updates on album four.

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