Interview: The Presets

As a lead up to the Big Day Out we were lucky enough to speak to a some what disheveled Kim Moyes fresh from a four month tour with the likes of The Rapture. Unfortunately our make shift recording system failed us at the last minute so you’ll have to forgive us for not having many, if any, direct quotes.

Our conversation started with a few introductions, Kim warned me that he felt a little “retarded” having not yet recovered from their extensive touring since the release of their debut album Beams. This set the tone of our conversation, decidedly casual but also a slight awkwardness that comes with talking to a complete stranger in a different country when you (Kim) have not even had breakfast, even though it would have been lunch time in Sydney. A bit of history was in order, so Kim gave me a brief timeline of his and Jullian’s journey towards musical stardom.

Kim and Julian met at Sydney University in 1995 where they both studied music. Julian was an ex-choir boy and Kim being a drummer specialized in percussion. They didn’t play together as a band till around 2001 when Julian joined Kim’s band Prop. True to their background, this was an instrumental post rock type band which played film score type music. As Prop disintegrated around 2002, Kim and Julian started working on music together which would become The Presets. In 2003 they released their first offering as The Presets called the Blow Up EP. Interestingly, they had never played live as The Presets before the release. The released two other EPs Girl and the Sea (2004) and Are you the one (2005) before they critically acclaimed debut album Beams and they have been touring like crazy ever since.

Next we asked Kim whether they ever thought The Presets would be as successful as they are. As with most bands of coarse Kim “hoped” they would be and certainly feel that their success is the culmination of a lot of hard work. Having been session musicians for many years, Julian played keyboards for Silver Chair and Kim also playing with a number of bands, they had got to know the industry so when it came to The Presets they were well prepared. When asked at what stage did he think “yeah we’ve made it” the response was a resounding “Splendour In The Grass”. Kim said that it was the most amazing experience, with the shear number of people and all “singing along to our songs”. Other highlights were their last song find name on beams being played by a symphony orchestra at the closing ceremony of the Commonwealth games. As well as one on there songs is going to played on Kim’s favorite television show CSI in the coming season. Touring wise it seems that everything was a highlight, Soul Wax, The Rapture and the festivals were all “really fun” (this is a direct quote, and Kim was apologetic for his lack of more interesting adjectives, but we get the picture aye…)

Stepping back in time once more, we asked Kim what they listened to at High School. Julian was apparently into Hip Hop while Kim admitted to being obsessed with The Cure and also enjoyed the usuals such as Nirvana and Public Enemy. As far as what he is listening to at the moment, it seems that touring hasn’t left Kim much time for music appreciation but said that he had recently revisited The Breeders and bought the new Casias album. Continuing on this note we talked about the Sydney scene and who would be the "must sees" in Sydney at the moment, once again he admitted to being a little out of touch but mentioned that Mercy Arms where a definite favourite, playing “beautiful shoe gazy music”. Other groups mentioned where The Valentinos and Bang Gang who are a group of DJs not dissimilar to Too Many DJs, who used to have a club night which is on hiatus at the moment. As far as scenes go it seems, Melbourne is more vibrant but unlike the everyone else against Auckland thing goes, Kim described the relationship between the Sydney and Melbourne scenes as like a “brotherhood”.

At this stage we were interrupted, by who I am assuming is the PR guy for the BDO, kindly letting me know we only had 10 minutes to go. Caught slightly off guard (considering I thought we had 50 minutes and hadn’t asked even half of the questions I planned to) I thought I’d better enquire as to what lies in the future for The Presets. After the BDO’s of coarse, Kim and Julian plan to hit the studio in Feb 07 to begin working on their second and Kim said he’s “dying to get started” and we certainly can’t wait either.

Facts:

Julian (vocals and keyboards) is an ex Choir Boy who studied at the University of Sydney’s Conservatorium of Music which is also were he first meet Kim who was studying percussion.

Kim and Julian had never played live as The Presets until after they released their first recording, The Blow Up EP.

The first band Kim and Julian played in was called an instrumental post rock type band called Prop

Julian toured with Silver Chair playing keyboards.

The last song off their debut album Beams was played at the closing ceremony of the Commonwealth Games by a symphony orchestra.

Kim’s favourite tv show is CSI and one of The Presets songs will feature in the next season of CSI Las Vegas.

Kim’s best live gig so far is Splendour In The Grass because it was the first time he had heard people singing along to their songs.

The Presets plan to hit the studio in Feb 07 to record some new material, yay!