Electronic Aftershocks
Interview with The Presets
by D J Collacott
What is it about those Australians and reinventing dance and electro music? Not content with giving us the brilliance of Cut Copy and Midnight Juggernaughts they also in The Presets they have bestowed upon us one of the greatest electro punk imports in recent years. The duo's debut album Beams hit an unsuspecting public in 2005 with stunningly infectious slices of electro dance music, featuring trademark tracks Down, Down Down and I Go Hard I Go Home, the latter having been a stable-mate of UK dance floors since it was released. When we say dance music we are not talking repetitive minimal house or banging hardcore, we are talking dirty electro grooves, pounding beats and vocals with an alternative edge to them.
It has taken three years for the boys to deliver second album 'Apocalypso' to their now near baying fans. Unsuprisingly it has in no way disappointed, with single 'My People' proving to be a body shaking rabble-rouser, quickly reminding everyone that The Presets are not only back but this time they are taking no prisoners on their mission to merge genres and rip up the rule book on dance music!
LF were fortunate enough to chat to the sought after Australians!
You were both schooled in classical music at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, how did this help form/develop what you are now?
Julian: It helped in a lot of ways. We learnt a lot there - harmony, music history, performance. It all feeds what we do today in some way. But then, so do a lot of things. Going to night clubs, seeing friends bands, buying new instruments and toys. Everything is important.
Do you feel that you are helping reform repetitive dance music into something more intelligent and fun?
Julian: Maybe. I guess the main thing we always tried to do was make our shows entertaining. We used to get pretty pissed when our favourite electronic artists would come to Australia and they'd just be standing behind a laptop looking bored on stage. Luckily these days dance music is way more fun - bands like Hot Chip, LCD, Klaxons all put on a great show. That is important to us.
How does the electro scene differ in Australia to Europe and America?
Julian: I would not have a clue to be honest. I don't really go to clubs and stuff here that much anymore. Our friends Cut Copy and Midnight Juggernauts are doing really well right now. Perhaps there is more of a sense of abandon down here - we don't really have a strong dance music history that we have to be super respectful to. We can kind of do whatever we like. The Avalanches and Architecture in Helsinki are really cool too. I guess Australian dance music is pretty fresh right now.
What do you most miss about home when you go on tour?
Julian: My girlfriend, and cooking.
A lot of electro/dance bands are remixing each other’s work, do you frequently hang out with other artists and is there a mini-community?
Julian: No so much. We do get to see our buddies CC and MJs quite a lot when we are on tour. That is nice. Sometimes we'll talk shop (like what computers we're using and stuff like that), but we don't really hang out and discuss the state of Aussie dance music or anything like that.
How do you feel songs from the new album went down with the fans during your UK and US tours?
Julian: We haven't played them much overseas yet to be honest. We did get a chance to road test a few newies during our last UK trip, but the album had not come out yet, so people didn't really go ape (just as we expected - audiences are usually very unreceptive to stuff they have not heard).
Do you get other requests to remix/produce other artists, are there any remixes in the pipeline?
Julian: We are not really doing remixes any more. We decided that if we had a day to spend doing a remix, we would rather spend it writing a whole new Presets track. Remixing was never our strongest skill anyway. Although we love other dudes remixing us.
How did the friendship with Daniel Johns come about and are there any future plans to tour or work with The Dissociatives?
Julian: Years ago I used to play keyboards for Silverchair when they toured. Dan and I became friends though that. Then we started writing stuff together for fun. Kim got involved with The Dissos record. I also played keys for them live. These days The Presets are too busy for us to keep doing that stuff, but we still catch up with Dan and Paul when we get the chance They are good mates.
Who would you most like to work with/tour with?
Julian: I'm pretty happy just working with Kim right now. We have hit a pretty strong creative stage in our relationship. There are heaps of artists out there that I love, but to be honest I'm happier for them to just keep doing what they do without me getting involved! If I could choose anyone to tour with it would be the Cuban Women's Olympic Indoor Volleyball team.
What are your plans for 2008 and the future?
Julian: A million shows, lots of airplanes. Hopefully some great food. Beyond 2008 - keep writing music forever I guess.
Are there any other projects you are producing currently or working on?
Nah - no time. Except some salt cod soaking in the kitchen that I will put in a soup tomorrow.
How did the methods of writing and recording change from Beams to Apocalypso?
Kim: We had to work a lot faster this time around an in a shorter time frame so we really tried to keep things simple in the writing process. We still kind of wrote and recorded while we were going which was something we did on beams but i guess this time we had a much finer sense of what would work before we put it down so there wasn’t as much experimentation with the sounds.
Julian: This record I think Kim and I really let each other play to our own strengths a bit. This time around we didn't really have as much to prove. So I would concentrate more on the song writing and chords and melodies, and Kim would concentrate more on the beats, and sonic textures and mixing side of things. Every track was still very collaborative, but we worked way quicker this time around, and I think the songs are a lot better than the songs on Beams. This was certainly a way more fun record to create. Good times.
Name one thing that no one knows about you?
Julian: There is this one thing that no one knows. I can't tell you what it is but I can give it a name as you requested: Zoffhatd.
What is the one thing that you have read about yourself that isn’t true?
Julian: I don't read stuff about my self.
Your new album is incredible to listen to but even more amazing live; do you record your music with a heavy bias on how it will sound/be performed live?
Julian: For sure. After 3 years of solid touring, we definitely worked out the songs that were most fun to play live, and of course that feeds the new material. But more importantly, doing good shows, and having people obviously enjoying what we do, gives us more confidence and more freedom to try newer and different things on the new record. We can afford to take more risks, and write more honestly, because we've worked hard building up a loyal fan base.
Kim: After all the touring we did with Beams we had figured out some things that work better live than others and also what we really enjoy playing live, I guess when we were putting together Apocalypso we always had those things in the back of our minds.
Can you tell me any good stories behind any of the new songs?
Kim: We had pretty much finished the record by December and had been so involved in it we never really had much time to look at it as a whole until we thought we had finished it. Once we started listening to all the tracks finished we decided there was a couple of high energy tracks missing from the pile, so in one week in early January we wrote 3 songs that turned out to be Eucalyptus, Talk Like That and Together. These songs really tipped the balance of the record into what it is.
If you were to put on a festival what bands would you chose for the main billing?
Kim: Vangelis, Toto, Hall and Oates, Etienne De Crecy and all my friends in bands so we can catch up
How do you spend your time between gigs and writing?
Kim: Watching movies, answering emails, reading, porn. Actually it was a long time ago when there was any time to do those things.
Catch The Presets at these festival and gig dates
23 Aug 2008 12:00 Creamfields Daresbury, Midlands
24 Aug 2008 20:00 Get Loaded Festival London, UK, London and South East
29 Aug 2008 20:00 Electric Picnic Stradbelly Estate, IE, Laois
To listen to the band and find out about new album Apocalyspo click here |
