“Luckily I found a shopping cart filled with trash bags and heroin needles”

We’ve probably all seen him live, or at least come across him on Instagram. N I T E F I S H is like the wettest dream of a rave brought to life and run through an indie machine. Here’s an exciting interview with the man behind it all.

Q: If you could send one N I T E F I S H song to aliens to explain humanity, which one would you choose and why?

A: Probably Barbie Slumlord or My Phone Is Better Than Drugs. I think it’s important to showcase to our alien friends the best addictive technologies that humanity has to offer, while also showing humans’ ability to release our inner desires for connection over euphoric beats and high bpm frequencies.

My only concern might be if my music makes the alien’s neighbors file a noise complaint and try to shut down their space rave, it’s happened a lot to my fans before on planet Earth and I don’t want to cause any trouble for the aliens. But at the same time maybe it’s also valuable for them to experience this side of human experience.

Q: Can you reset people with a really good rave?

A: For me that’s what N I T E F I S H is all about. If listening to my music or being in the moshpit at my shows can make you cleanse all your other senses, and at least in that moment feel part of something bigger and more fun, you are the reason I make music.

I’ve been reading a lot about infrared saunas recently, where infrared lights can send the body into a fever and release toxins and other illnesses after it cools down. The more I’ve been performing, or listening to music, the more I’m realising maybe that is the purpose of live music, rave and performance, to create a kind of sauna of sensations that can heat up the body and free up toxins in the mind.

Q: What is the best brand of swimming goggles, or should you buy them second-hand?

A: Due to popular demand, I will be releasing my own brand of swimming glasses soon. Stay tuned at nitefishofficial/bandcamp.com or join the N I T E F I S H mailing list on my instagram.

Q: Do you love AI?

A: I challenge ChatGPT to a robot dog showdown in Tantolunden, human vs machine. AI is a worthy opponent, and it pushes me to think what is the most far-out music I can make that it can’t easily replicate.

In the best of worlds maybe AI triggers a renaissance in underground art by making everybody fatigued by all the AI generated crap that is taking over the internet and the mainstream. In the worst of worlds it could make everybody lazy and lead to the downfall of civilisation.

Since N I T E F I S H thrives on the downfall of civilisation maybe I should love AI then? I’m not entirely sure yet where my interests lie. I write a lot about AI and brainrot in my latest EP, it feels like we have all become a generation of addicts at this point.

Q: You have a cool aesthetic. How do you work with aesthetics?

A: Thank you! I have always been a fan of people like William Gibson, Basquiat, Andreas Malm, and Solarpunk esthetics. Sometimes I like to imagine art as a gateway to a post-capitalist utopia where our current society is overthrown by a mass-movement beyond our screens. Sometimes I like to find symbols of the commercialisation of our time and manipulate them, like contemporary versions of “Ghost in the Shell” or “Trainspotting”.

Whatever my mood, I have always seen N I T E F I S H as a world that people can step into. In the beginning I made a lot of video editing, live visuals, merch etc myself. Everybody can be a character in this universe and be part of forming its collective chaos, and I have been lucky to have had people around me who in different moments have wanted to film, photograph or collaborate in other ways together around these visions, and I’m definitely open to collaborate with anybody who wants to push art and aesthetics forward in a new unconventional project. I would love to work with more people within robotics or interactive technologies for my next release, and have found some worthy candidates so far.

I think as long as an artform is pushing things forward, or expecting the unexpected, it can be part of N I T E F I S H.

Q: Which product do you think best sums up the total collapse of civilisation?

A: It is no secret that N I T E F I S H has always been obsessed with Gucci bags and luxury vehicles. From the dirtiest production chains to some of the highest status symbols, I think it’s fun to make rap songs flexing about taking an expensive lamborghini and throwing it into the ocean.

Human society’s absurdity in assigning value to particular objects or symbols is always interested to explore in art, absorbing them and puking them out like the coltan that companies extract from war zones or colonised countries

Q: What is the best shopping cart to have at a live gig? What features should it have to work optimally?

A: As an experienced shopping cart user myself, I would recommend a shopping cart with as big of a tray as possible and rubber wheels, preferably from a place where it is clean, so that it’s ready to get dirty.

When touring in the Netherlands we experienced first-hand the problems with wifi locks on the wheels of shopping carts, we had to borrow a punch of screw drivers from the venue to screw out the locks. When I played in Glasgow they had full-on armed security guards guarding the shopping carts there, so I also had to come up with creative solutions. Luckily I was able to find a shopping cart filled with trash bags and heroin needles in an abandoned alleyway nearby, that I could clean up and carry downstairs to the club.

The outdoor setting of Fools Gold might impact the speed of the shopping cart when ignited due to the grassy terrain. But if there is a will, there is a way. I invite everybody coming to the show at 17:30 to push the cart as hard as you can for the most optimal experience.

Q: Which was the best techno band from Germany in the ’90s?

A: Atari Teenage Riot are the ultimate goats I think. Delete Yourself is a beautiful album and redlining a punch of synthesisers and drum machines is always a great way to make something sound sick. Funnily enough I havent listened to so much German music apart from that, but one of my formative musical experiences in my life has happened in Berlin when I watched Death Grips in Berghain and smuggled in an electric toothbrush into the moshpit.

Q: If someone wants to listen to something underground right now, what would you recommend?

A: For Swedish underground I think Chimera (Sofftronic, Josefin Moriko) and LUUR are making amazing stuff, as are Pbeatgirl, Ellen Flowerhill, and Sonic Erection. For worldwide underground I highly recommend my bro Rory Sweeney and Bitten Twice Collective in Ireland, and No Author & Defeat Device in the US.