"Next year people probably won't give a shit about the Presets."
Is there much left for THE PRESETS to accomplish? 2008 was quite a stellar year for the insanely popular indie-electro duo. Last time I spoke with Julian Hamilton, engimatic frontman, his band’s sophomore album, Apocalypso, was on the verge of exploding into the mainstream and he was dialling in from sunny Berlin. Nine months have since passed and the band has enjoyed major successes at the ARIAs, triple j’s Hottest 100 music poll and the enormous charity concert, Sound Relief. This time he’s calling from the other side of the Atlantic – the American capital, Washington D.C – where he is due to take to the stage in just under an hour. So, how’s it compare to Canberra, Jules?
“It's way bigger,” he responds with a laugh. “We're nowhere near the White House [but the venue is in] a cool, hip little part of town.” Playing in a city bigger than Canberra, hey? Not a very difficult task to achieve, Mr Hamilton. However, after a little research, I discover that the capacity of the venue that he and sticksman Kim Moyes are playing in Washington, the 9:30 Club, is a mere 1,200. Well, I'm pleased to report that due to overwhelming demand the 'sets have upgraded their upcoming Canberra show from the humble surrounds of the ANU Bar to the five thousand strong confines of the mighty AIS Arena. Take that, Washington!
While this upgrade is certainly good news for both band and audience alike, I can see one potential problem here. The word “arena” is pretty much synonymous with “stadium,” the scourge of indie bands the world over. Are the Presets in danger of becoming the next big stadium band, joining the likes of Kings of Leon, Coldplay and, dare I say it, U2? “I don't think so,” replies a fairly deadpan Hamilton. “I'm pretty sure those bands you mentioned are probably still a bit bigger than us, but that's just another level in terms of popularity.” He finalises this particular topic of discussion by adding that “I don't think we'll be doing [the 21,000 person capacity] Acer Arena just yet.”
That may be so, but the Presets are no strangers when it comes to playing to large crowds. Don't forget, the band were a part of the out of this world Daft Punk-led Nevereverland tour in late 2007. More recently, they played, quite coincidentally, alongside two of the aforementioned three big stadium bands as part of the recent Sound Relief concerts, organised to raise money for the victims of the dually devastating Victorian bushfires and Queensland floods. “It was a great day,” recalls Hamilton. “It was pulled together so quickly and we weren't sure what to expect, 'cause to put on a big festival like that – it's quite a big job and takes months of planning. When they turned it around in four weeks, we thought 'oh god' and were kinda preparing ourselves for shit to go wrong, sound to cut out... but it was incredible! When we got on stage, it was so much fun. The crowd was so excited, even though it poured down with rain the whole show, so everyone was drenched. It was probably one of my favourite gigs I've ever done – it was really special.”
19 October 2008 surely has to go down as another special night in the Presets' history, as it was the night the band blitzed the annual ARIA music awards. Hamilton and Moyes took home a staggering six pointy things, including the coveted Album of the Year award, and were the only group who really posed a threat to emerging pop princess Gabriella Cilmi's dominance of the awards. I put to Hamilton the question you're all dying to know: was Cilmi's poor performance at the podium a result of a little underage drinking or simple incompetence? “I don't think she was drunk,” he ponders. “I think she's just young and not super stage polished. Some people can get up there and really crap on and look confident and some people find it a bit more difficult. I think she's quite sweet actually and people gave her a bit of a hard time that night. She's just a kid, you know!”
Awful acceptance speeches aside, it must have been a pretty amazing night for you and Kim? “It was pretty horrible actually, to be honest!” replies Hamilton, somewhat surprisingly. “We were quite stressed out because we were performing right at the end of the night, so we had to sit for the whole of the awards without too much to drink and were really nervous. God, when we finally got around to performing it was such a relief. We sat back down at our table and had a scull of a huge glass of red wine to loosen up. Then we won the damn Best Album award which was amazing and then we went and did all this promo backstage. Suddenly the night was over, the place was empty and we found ourselves falling asleep in the back of a limousine going to the afterparty.” Oh, the pressures of the rock star lifestyle!
Hamilton assures me that while awards and accolades are pleasant, what it really comes down to for him is creating music. “Once we make a record – and that's the thing we really love to do most, sitting down and making music – then you're happy to play sell out shows, sell hundreds of thousands of records and win awards,” he explains. “All that stuff's nice, but really we're happiest when we're sitting in our studio making beats and making music. That's the really fun stuff for us. I guess with all the ARIA stuff, it's nice to be recognised by your peers and of course it's nice to sell more records as a result, but you've got to take a lot of stuff with a grain of salt. Next year people probably won't give a shit about the Presets and they'll be moving onto the next thing.” It's at this point in the conversation that if I could, I would reach through the phone line and slap him for uttering such blasphemous words. Gently, of course.
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