Interview: The Presets!

So here's the scoop: A couple of years ago, I performed interviews with an esteemed music website called InnerViewWorld.com. Luckily, I was able, in the midst of my duties, to interview the Sydney, Australia-based duo The Presets in the back of their touring van with my cameraman Trent. The date was 21 May 2008, and we were parked in front of MEZZANINE, in downtown San Francisco. You can link to the site by clicking here!

Thomas B: This is Thomas from InnerViewWorld.com, and we are chatting with the Presets. Welcome to San Francisco, and congratulations on the new album!

Kim Moyes: Thank you very much.

Julian Hamilton: Thank you!

TB: I was wondering, if when you guys are writing the music, do the instrumentals say things that words can't?

JH: Sometimes with lyrics, they get put on the songs towards the end. I guess sometimes they have nothing to do with that abstract idea the song made us feel then when it was just an instrumental. The lyrics are funny like that. Sometimes they inject a real warmth or romance or melancholy into quite a stark - you know - techno-track, for instance, and hopefully gives it another layer. But definitely, the instrumentals and also the instrumental parts of the songs, we wanted them to be strong in character and then the lyrics we add to that or, totally, fuck it. [laughs]

KM: Then on this record we have this song "Aeons," which was this amazing composition and melody, and that's all it was; and we were trying hard to make it into something, maybe make it into a song or whatever and give it like a feel that was a bit house-y and stuff, and then one day sort of was just like, you know what, it's all about this really great mood and then it just kind of turned into this really other-worldly cosmic sort of experience that didn't have a "drum-feel," that doesn't go down that road and just ... it's all those things that we love about science fiction films like [Blade Runner composer] Vangellis stuff - it's all got that stuff in it. And it's a real relief when you're working on songs to be pop songs and you're working on beats and grooves to sort of make you feel a certain way to ... just go and do something that's completely polar-opposite. Those songs always have a real special moment in the way you create them and also in the way that they lay out on the record, you know? Like, it's a relief, or a palate-cleanser or something, and it just adds that extra dimension to what we do. It's important for us to put those songs on, 'cos if it's just an album of bangers it would be like a little bit , uh -

JH: - Too much.

KM: Yeah, and also not a complete picture of who we are.

[At this moment, Julian turns to Kim and gives him a hearty high-five]

JH: Good answer, man! Fuckin' hell! Yeah, the other thing is when you're watching old films, like science fiction films, you know, like whatever, like Escape From New York, or something like that ...

Trent Berry, my cameraman: Blade Runner.

JH: Yeah, like Blade Runner. Yeah, sometimes your favorite bits of music on those films were the ones that weren't the big themes; you know, you had your big themes, the big bits where they're running or it's scary - but then there's that sort of moody music in one scene where you're, "Wow, that's the cool music, there!" I guess "Aeons" is like that. For us, we've got these big pop songs, big dance numbers ... uh - sounds like a musical! Big dance numbers. [laughs] And then, yeah, there's some incidental moody thing that hopefully takes people by surprise and ... just ... shifts their consciousness ...

KM: Yeah, like totally. Yeah, a song like "Aeons," it makes all our artwork and everything ... seem like the answer to the world we're trying to make.

JH: Like, "I get it!"

KM: Yeah, it's like, just when you thought - just when you listened to all the songs, you think, "Oh yeah - I get the Presets." And then you hear a song like that and ...

JH: "I GET THE PRESETS!"

KM: "Damn! I can't hate these guys anymore!"

[laughing uproariously]

TB: Well, a question I've always wanted to ask is, due to its isolation from North America and Europe, Australia seems to have a different sort of feel of music that comes out from Oz, and I'm wondering if you guys notice that, and if [that perceived sense of isolation] has any effect on you guys' - I dunno, what's the word?

Trent: Your song-writing and crafting!

JH: I dunno, it's pretty hard -

KM: Check out the thesaurus behind the camera!

JH: - It's a tricky one, that one. I guess you can sort of argue both cases. Yeah, we are far away from the rest of the world; we haven't got as much of a musical history as, you know - we go to Berlin, and techno music there is such a big part of their culture; or, obviously, you go to England or the States and they've got this musical lineage ... we haven't got quite as - we've got a musical lineage in Australia but not quite as long and as distinguished as the rest of the world. So we are kind of this sort of bastard child, you know, we haven't got this sense of weight on our shoulders, so we can be perhaps freer and more fun in what we do. But then these days, also, the isolationism - I don't even know if it really exists anymore. There are a lot of these bands around the world that you can hear on your computer whenever you want to, and we sort of do have bands all over the world and we exist on these hard drives all over the world, so I never know whether we're totally free and isolated or whether we are just part of this global mash ...

KM: Yeah, it is real funny, like, we've grown up with all your TV shows and a bunch of English TV shows; and so all of our pop culture is a mash-up of everything - but also I think it's more about the place and the people whereas there's a bit more of a lightheartedness and a bit more of a "not-as-serious-as-the-rest-of-the-world." So I guess we kind of are like the rest of the world, but just not as serious, and we can clown, just like we do have this - yes - sense of freedom, a little bit, you know, about what we can do, and I think - I dunno - I think there's only a handful of bands coming out of Australia that are actually any good. [laughs] It just happens to be that there's a couple of really good ones right now.

JH: And we're not, we're not one of them.

KM: Yeah, and we reckon good luck to them! [laughs]

JH: Our music sounds a little like Blade Runner meets Are You Being Served?.

KM: Yeah, but also it still has a really, like, upfrontedness like the AC/DC hard rock sort of stuff that's really, probably the predominant Australian sound, you know? Like a lot of our songs, like "My People", for instance - it's balls-out, you know, and that's a particularly Aussie thing. And not particularly "Aussie" in that no one else can do it, but it's rough and ready -

JH: Like the Clash!

KM: Yeah, it's rough and ready -

JH: Convict music! It's like a convict sea-shanty for the 21st Century.

KM: Yeah, like "Convict Prison Rave!"

TB: We gotta write that one down! Okay, the NME basically (and recently) said, "All hail the second wave of Australian New Rave..."

JH: What was the first wave?

KM: Yeah, and Australian New Rave, haha, that was us again! So, yeah, wow. NME ...

JH: We just let the music speak for itself. I dunno, it's weird. Like we were talking about this before with someone else, and you've got maybe us, Cut Copy, and Midnight Juggernauts, and there's a few bands in Australia sort of doing cool things at the moment ... So I guess we've got - you can think of three bands doing sort of similar things, and I guess you can call it a "new wave." But it's tricky - I think the only thing that sort of really makes us together is that we all use electronic instruments, and we also have a real belief and try to make a sincere music that we're, that ... we're honest with ourselves, you know, trying to do something original. The only things that are really similar about what we're all doing ...

KM: None of us think that ... none of us ever thought - like, going back to what NME said, none of us ever thought of ourselves as "New Rave" or part of that thing that NME thought they created. That's their deal, and if they want to do that, to label us, well we can't stop that - but we've always just done our thing, Cut Copy's always done their thing, and we were doing it way before all the other guys were doing it, so we actually started "New Rave!" [laughs]

JH: And they were actually calling us "electro-clash" three years ago, you know, and it'll be something else next year; and that's fine, I mean, but we just write the tunes, man ...

KM: [adopting hippie voice] "Yeah, man ..."

JH: We just write ... [starts laughing]

TB: That's a great answer!

KM: I dunno, I'm just the drummer ... [everybody laughs]

TB: Ages from now, what would you like people to say about the Presets?

KM: Oh, my God - I was so ... how embarrassing.

JH: That was a fun time.

KM: Ha ha, that was crazy times; that was when ... [adopts grandfather tone] "Listen, kid. I remember those days. That was when a pill was a real pill, and your mum let me cum in her mouth!"

[Julian holds his head in his hands, and laughter fills the van]

TB: Best. Answer. Yet!

Trent: Got MILF?

KM: Yeah, I got a MILF!

Trent: That's awesome.

TB: Kick ass, guys, thank you so much! I appreciate it!

JH: Thanks, Thomas!

KM: Thanks!

TB: Thank you for having us! Look forward to seeing you tonight - it's going to be brilliant.

So there's the interview. If you'd like to watch it for yourself, then just click here! Have a brilliant week - and thank you, dear reader, for doing what you do!