Congratulations go out to Golden Era Records artist Vents with news that his album Marked For Death snagged an ARIA nomination for ‘Best Urban Album’. Vents sophomore release Marked for Death was produced by Trials from The Funkoars, with the album featuring Golden Era label mates Hilltop Hoods, and Sesta from The Funkoars.
aahh: The Marked For Death LP was released earlier this year through your home of homes Golden Era Records and has been nominated for the 2011 Best Urban Album, congratulations. How are you feeling about the nomination?
Vents: Thanks. I’ve been on the road non-stop since June so I’ve been pretty busy and I haven’t really thought about it that much but I probably should give it some thought as it’s coming up in two weeks. I’m honestly not expecting us to actually win but I would have never even thought we’d be nominated for an ARIA award (especially for this album) so it was a really nice surprise to hear that we were nominated and it’s been cool to see our family and friends so excited about it. I think everyone including our fans were just as surprised as me that this happened but we’ve had nothing but support from people. I saw a thread on one of the forums, where most people were rooting for us to win and that meant a lot to me and made me pretty happy. With that said, I’m trying not to invest too much energy in the whole thing and just concentrate on making songs that I’m proud of and being a good live performer and anything that comes after that is a bonus. But I’m going to try to have a good time on the night and I heard it’s a five-course meal which will be a first for me. I need to meet Kyle Sandilands if I can make that happen.
aahh: It was 4 years between albums, did you expect to be nominated for an ARIA at the end of it?
Vents: Nope; never.
aahh: You’ve currently been on tour with a man who had a lot to do with the success album in the form of producer/human Trials. Will you shout him a beer if you take home the award?
Vents: We’re gonna get smashed either way. I tend to go a bit overboard sometimes so I don’t even want to think about it…
aahh: Will you get him to shout you a beer if some of his other work stops you from taking home that ARIA?
Vents: Again, we’re getting hammered regardless – haha. Trials is one of my closest mates and we’ve known each other since we were kids. He has always looked out for me and to see him doing so well is a big thing for me. No one’s stopping me from doing anything but myself. Trials and me have never came together with the intention of winning ARIA’s, and we both know that. I think he’s probably as surprised as I am about the whole thing. It’s never been a competition between Drapht and myself and I’m not going to turn it into that. They’re both very different albums that were both very well received in different regards and I think that’s evidence of Trials’ talent and diversity as a producer and wizard in the studio. I think that for the most part jealousy is a weak emotion for flimsy cunts. That, and there’s always next year.
aahh: Currently you are on tour, how have the audiences been responding?
Vents: We’re touring with the Funkoars at the moment and they always get pretty rowdy crowds and they are usually the best crowds to perform to. Touring is always an interesting experience and I don’t want it to end because I love the grind so much but I’m really tired and need a break to stay in one place for a while and get my routine back and start working on music again. People have been going bananas to the new songs and they’re much easier to perform live but we try to chuck a few old ones in for good measure so we don’t look like cunts.
aahh: Another man that’s also played a huge part in the album, is that man on the decks Mr Adfu. He has also been joining you on stage both in a emceeing point of view and also jumping behind the decks when he can. What’s it like having someone like Fu at your disposal?
Vents: Fu and Trials are really the one who make everything happen. I really only ever wanted to be an MC and that’s all I know how to do so I’m lucky to have such a strong unit around me that allows me to concentrate on being good at that. Fu is one of those rare personalities who loves hip-hop as much as I do and we both love to go hard on stage and we definitely feed off of each others energy. He’s also one of the best sound engineers in the hip-hop circuit which is handy.
aahh: The brand new film clip for Marked for Death dropped last Friday, produced by Unity Sound and Visual. Can you tell us about the clip?
Vents: It’s shot on the cheap, ie. for lolz. It wasn’t planned – there was no treatment or anything – we just took the camera out when we were bored and shot some stuff. We’ve been fucking around with it since around August. It’s the song I always wanted to do a video for but wasn’t really “single” material. The track’s pretty bleak and I wanted the clip to reflect that; it looks cheap and nasty and it’s black-and-white. We’re not servicing it to Video Hits or anything like that. It was a lot of fun to shoot and probably my favourite video we’ve done so far.
aahh: Last time we spoke to you, which was only a few months back you talked about a remix comp for the track Marked For Death. We personally heard some great remixes, did it take you a lot of time to go through all the entries?
Vents: I think we received close to 100 entries so yeah, but it listening to them all was a good time. Some were hilarious, some were just fucking horrible. But there was a lot of good ones and maybe 5-6 that I really, really liked and deciding on a winner was hard. I really liked Debates (Train of Thought) and we are working on a track together. Koolta’s was sick and I thought Matik’s was really good. Dave V’s remix was up there with one of the best easily. There was a few others that I really liked too but I can’t remember off my head; sorry. Also, Kast’s was dope. I got most of the guys from Golden Era to vote for their favourite and the winner was Methodz. Congratulations to Methodz; I haven’t had a chance to tell him personally yet but he absolutely fucking smashed it.
aahh: Are there any plans on releasing another single from the album in the future?
Vents: I think ‘Every Day is a Blast’ and goes really well live might’ve been a good single but it’s a little late for that now, I think. Releasing a single takes time and money; two things we’re running pretty low on at the moment. We’re currently working on the next Golden Era mixtape and then plan to spend my time working on the next Vents album.
aahh: Final Comments and shit we’ve missed:
Vents: Cheers for the questions! Thanks to everyone who has supported us this year – it’s been a massive one for the whole Golden Era crew. And a way more eventful year for me than I ever expected. Much love to everyone who is repping us hard at the moment - I really don’t deserve any of this shit and can’t thank you enough.
