Ready, set...
Violence
really isn’t the norm when you’re out to see a dance
act. Revelers prefer to make peace not war, however this was hardly
the case recently for hot exports, The Presets. Currently zigzagging
their way across the top half of the US and parts of Canada, Julian
Hamilton and Kim Moyes aka The Presets rocked up to their San
Francisco gig only to begin electro whirlwind dance show when
commotion in front of the stage broke out.
“These great big hairy gay bears (we’ve
got a huge gay following in San Francisco) came down the front
to watch us, and these two girls were in front of them and one
of them ended up punching the other in the face,” Kim said.
“Then two of the bears tried to get in between them to break
them up and one of the girls, bit one of the bears on the arm,
and he came up after the show and showed us the massive teeth
marks in his arm,” he continued.
The Presets known to us here for well over five
years are in the midst of their fifth tour to the States showcasing
their second album Apocalypso and aren’t sure whether
it’s Australian or Americans crowds who are more fun to
perform in front of.
“It’s hard for us to tell it’s
the same kind of reaction,” considers Moyes. “We aren’t
as afraid for our lives over here I guess as some of the audiences
back home, we’re never sure if they’re going to be
your best friends or kill you,” he laughed.
“There is a saying in America that they say
to us ‘I really appreciate that’ and it feels like
they really mean it where as in Australia you’d get people
saying: ‘that was f**king sick man or yelling at you: Presets
guys!”
Whether in North America or Australia the boys have
a massive and always growing following for the particular recipe
of futuristic, sometimes alien, sometimes retro, dance music they
create. Their EP “Girl from the Sea” featuring the
title track delivered them in 2004 into the spotlight as the eerily
mesmerising love song was noticed by certain listening audiences.
But Julian and Kim both djs getting about from Sydney knew to
employ a specific tactic if they were to drive their success.
“We always had the intention to push this
as far as we could, get as many people into it as we could. That
is why we started playing with bands that weren’t in the
same style,” Moyes said. “People thought we were pretty
crazy when we toured with Little Birdy and bands like that but
it worked at getting us in front of so many people’s faces,”
he continued.
Moyes acknowledges the rise and rise of an energised
dance culture supported by other acts of a similar ilk, friends,
Midnight Juggernauts, Cut Copy and Sneaky Sound System has helped
them along the way as previously this culture wasn’t really
in existence.
“We’ve
had the ability to build something from the ground up that has
come through very organic processes and ends up coming out through
the mainstream and that doesn’t happen very often,”
Moyes said. The lyrical content of their music is what Moyes considers
too be a big part of their success, specifically due the subtext
they are so clever for interweaving through their songs.
“The thing I’m really proud of is that
we aren’t ramming too much of a point down your throat in
our songs.” He said.
“If there is one it’s not so spelled
out, it’s not so blatant and the thing is with good music
and good art it should have a myriad of meanings and mean something
different to someone and will mean something different again to
someone else,” he added.
Kicking back and chilling on the tour bus for the
sound check of their Minnesota gig to be completed, conversation
turns to what’s coming up for this super duper dance duo.
June will see them continue to ride the tour bus
wave, this time back home - the Australian tour completely sold
out and as well a headline performance for Australia’s darling
festival – Splendour in the Grass. Not since 2002 have the
lads performed at Splendour. Recollection of festival memories
from this gig have come flooding back to Moyes as he recalls his
and Julian’s antics.
“F**k it was a fun night, we were dj-ing,
touring with The Dissociatives and it ended up Cut Copy were there
too and the Bang Gang boys, it was a pretty spontaneously, insane
night.”
The Festival’s house bar was the location
Kim and Julian were the DJs on the decks and it’s one of
the most memorable sets I’ve ever seen. Memorable too according
to Moyes because it was about that same time they came up with
a novel idea which has stuck.
“That was actually a pretty special moment
you were witnessing there,” he said. “We just sort
of came up with the idea of being the guys with masks.”
The lads with masks they still are and fast paced,
craziness with fantastic beats is what they deliver. It’s
unlikely though another dj set is likely because says Moyes ‘they’ll
have too much to lose’.
Catch The Presets when they tour Oz this month
and in August for Splendour. Visit www.thepresets.com
or www.splendourinthegrass.com.
Ruth
Bailey
