Get in the studio, knock back a few beers, turn on the synth, turn on the drum machine, jam out grooves, then scream some rhythmic consonants and vowels into a microphone – write lyrics to match later. It’s really not a complicated process: keep the good, ditch the bad. Where can you go wrong? Nowhere.
The Presets released their highly anticipated debut album later last year. It’s called Beams and is utterly delicious. It’s one of those debuts that vindicates all the hype of the past and warrants more, gracefully straddling the dark, disco-rock introduced on their 2003 Blow Up EP and the lighter, prettier sounds from the 2004 Girl And The Sea EP.
“We found that we liked both the aggressive and the less explosive styles we’d developed.” Julian Hamilton, half the sum of Presets, says of the schizophrenic but cohesive 12 songs on the album.
Beams came into being when the duo found themselves rehearsing with other Sydney two-piece The Dissociatives during the day for a European tour in June. They figured they might as well hit the studio at night to make their long awaited long-player. After three weeks of re-working old bits found sitting on computers, a dash of experimentation, recording new material, Julian and his co-conspirator Kim Moyes emerged with their 43-minute wonder. It has already being lionised by critics and fans and for good reason.
The Presets wrote, produced and mixed the entire record. The first radio only single Down, Down, Down got our hips swinging and feet stomping with its military beat, distorted bass and stalker-worthy lyrics. Then they unleashed the dark disco of Are You The One? and we were sold. Along with these two singles, you’ll find old favourites the dancefloor scorcher Kitty In The Middle and sweeping ballad Girl And The Sea. It’s a dynamic twist of an album that doesn’t fail to impress.
Their past support slots range from the stoner rock of Wolfmother to the electro-fuzz of The Faint. And in the spirit of name-dropping, Daniel Johns makes a few appearances in their work, most notably the acoustic guitar on the beautiful, orchestrated title-track and album-closer Beams. Still not jealous? How about this: when they’re not being a Preset, they co-produce other people’s records, play on other people’s records, and play in other people’s bands. One of the latest projects is a remix of Caged Baby’s Hello There. That’s right, their day job is music.
They’re talented, they’re hot, they’re hip. Why aren’t they stuck up pricks?
“We’re really only a couple of guys having fun and enjoying what we do.” Julian shrugs, “God, life’s hard and tough enough without all these ultra-cool bands forcing their cool image onto you – it reeks of effort, and it’s just lame! That’s why we do our film clips and photo shoots and we wear these crazy masks, and these awful clothes and we run around with our shirts off and it’s the weirdest and stupidest thing. We just want the kids to come to our shows and have fun.”
Their live show is indeed the best type of fun – it always turns into a sweaty, vibrant, carefree dance-fest. With Kim bashing out solid disco-rock beats and Julian on twisted lyrics and fat synth duty The Presets keep up the duo tradition of being bigger and louder than more crowded bands.
Julian says, “We love playing live. It’s the best thing in the world. We love the crazies, the kids who just come and let loose, you know? It’s like we’re playing in Mad Max in the Thunderdome or something. We really love it. It’s always the wildest most fun times.”
The Presets play Big Day Out’s Boiler Room on the following dates:
Sunday 22nd January, Gold Coast, Big Day Out
Thursday 26th January, Sydney, Big Day Out
Sunday 29th January: Melbourne, Big Day Out
Friday 3rd February, Adelaide, Big Day Out
Sunday 5th February, Perth, Big Day Out
