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Interview with
KIM MOYES
from
THE PRESETS

(19th December 2021)

Interview by Sabrina Sutton

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Leaping back into the Summer music festival scene with a vengeance, electronic music powerhouse, The Presets are ready to light up our mainstages again; the first cab off the rank being Sydney’s favourite New Year’s Eve in the Park.

After over 18 years in the game, The Presets are undeniably titans in their genre, having collected numerous accolades and awards and graced some of the biggest stages in the world. So, it was interesting to learn that for Kim Moyes, one half of the power duo, sometimes, the smaller stages are the most fulfilling.

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“You guys have played some huge stages. You’ve done Glastonbury, Coachella, Melt — you did Sound Relief here in Sydney. I was wondering if you have a favourite environment that you enjoy playing in? And, do you have to be really mindful of the conditions that you’re going to be playing in?
“The environments can be so different. You know, a lot of those premium festivals are really amazing to play at in terms of an artist because the logistics are really great, and you’re taken care of, and it’s a lovely environment — it’s a pleasure to be there. But sometimes, you can get to a little, small room in the middle of Cleveland, halfway through your tour, that has your setup on the ground in, like, the basement of a restaurant. There’s no stage, and there are 100 people there, and they’re kind of climbing right on top of you. And it can be insane and amazing. And it wouldn’t look like that on paper. Like, “okay, we’ve got to do this funny little basement for 100 people.” But then, when you do it, it’s just like, “wow, I did not expect that.” It really depends.

(So, what happens if people aren’t “climbing right on top of you”? With 18 years of experience, I wanted to know if The Presets had ever experienced that stomach-dropping moment when the audience just isn’t vibing with your music.)

In the past, when you’ve been asked if your music has a deeper meaning, you had a great answer. You said the message is to immerse yourself in the music and have fun with your friends. It sounds like you guys try to put the audience first. What happens if you feel like you’re just not hitting the correct vibe in the middle of your set? How do you then try and change that in the middle of the show? How do you bring people back in?
The question that you’re asking is kind of impossible for us to do. The show that we present is mostly set because of our production. We’ve sort of designed it a certain way so that it’s bulletproof. It could be the same show on a festival stage or in a club while delivering the same high, energetic level. And so, for us to sort of flip the script halfway through the show is just impossible. We have definitely had that situation before, though, where we’ve been up on stage at a festival with a sea of people out there. And, it was like they weren’t even aware that we were there! You know, not many things surprise me anymore, after doing this for 20 years, but that one was just like “wow”.

(If you’ve never been to a Preset show, you’ve missed out on a seamless, well-oiled machine of synths, modulators, drums and vocals. Relying on the skill of each other, Kim Moyes and Julian Hamilton seem to hardly think while on stage. Instead, they seem to feed off the energy of each other and the crowd to bring something palpable to the air.)

How do you guys design a show? Like, choosing your setlist, choosing what’s going to be pre-recorded versus completely live?
If we’re about to start a brand new album cycle, then it’s quite a significant rebuild that has to happen in the set. We have to go back to the tracks that we’ve made on previous records and see if we want to revisit a part, remix it, or take it out. On the last album, Hi-Viz, I had an idea to take one of the new songs and blend it with Girl and The Sea so that they became one long song. There are fun things that we get to do which is similar to making a brand new piece of music. So yeah, there’s a lot of pre-production that goes into designing the set and making sure that the track order is interesting and hits the right notes.

Do you guys have to really rehearse the timing of all of those buttons and switches? Are you constantly rehearsing to make it seem seamless?
Yeah, of course. In terms of actually putting our setlist on to a stage, we do have to analyse for a couple of weeks to figure out what we’re doing. In some cases, we have to go back to the backing tracks and remove things so that we can play the song live. That whole process can take a few months, but then it’s kind of good for a couple of years.

How did you guys go playing live for the first time since emerging from the mess that has been the majority of this year?
You know, we made sure that we had a good long soundcheck on the day of the show. But you’d be surprised. After six months of not performing, I completely forgot when certain songs were coming in, and I was like, “Oh, that’s right!”. There have certainly been times where Julian has butchered his way through the lyrics a little bit and tried to figure out which verse goes where while on the fly. Sometimes we even forget! So yeah, it’s like anything. If you’re not practising it regularly, it tends to slip out of your hands a little bit.

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(Now, as previously mentioned, The Presets have kept pace with the electronic dance scene for close to two decades. In this time, the genre has ebbed and flowed and shifted into a very different set of challenges. So, I was curious to know where they now place themselves in this diverse industry.)

You’ve seen the shift that this music scene has taken and, I guess I wanted to ask, where do you put yourselves on the spectrum of the electronic music scene now?
If you’re looking at the last two years, I’m kind of like, “What scene?”. I don’t really even know. The music scene, in general, has kind of taken a beating because of the fact that we just can’t even do it. I mean, even down to the point where after the first lockdown last year, a lot of people were talking about making as much music as possible. And we were the same! We said, “Alright, let’s use this time to make some things that we wanted to make.” And we started doing it and, I personally found it really difficult because of the context of what we do in terms of performing it on stage to all of those excited, inebriated people, was gone. You take that out of the equation, and it’s like, you know, festival banger without a festival. So, in terms of where we sit, in whatever the scene is, I really don’t know.

Well, you guys came up with the Raka EP in 2019 in collaboration with Tom from Golden Features, and in previous discussions, you’ve mentioned that you felt like a lot of the music now is regurgitated ideas. And, the reason why you were drawn to Tom was because he was doing something different. Was one of the reasons you decided to work with him because you were searching for a way to reconcile your sound with what is happening in the scene now?
Well, with Tom from Golden Features, I heard in the music that he was making how much he was drawing on a lot of different influences from grunge and from our generation of electronic music, as well as his generation of electronic music. He was forging it together and making something very interesting that sort of felt like it was a bit more connected to our lineage. So I was majorly impressed with him as a producer. I was majorly impressed with seeing how his music works live.
After the ordeal that was making Hi Viz, personally, that was a really long time to make a record. It was a really difficult record to make. And certainly, you know, as people who’ve had a bit of success, it becomes harder and harder the further down your career you to actually just kind of maintain your level of expectation and maintain your relevancy. We try and not consciously maintain relevancy, but you know, there are certain things that you know will and won’t work, and there are certain things that, you know, fit into The Presets’ identity.

(It would be an incredibly tricky thing to try and gently blend the distinctive sound that made you some of the most prominent musicians in the mid-2000s and the new sounds, aesthetics and vibes that current audiences demand in their electronic music experience. However, The Presets are clearly up for the challenge and do so with the same adventurous, creative flair that made them pioneers during their peak and now, make them models for up and coming producers.

I think that is why they are still headlining favourites across the whole nation. Because they’re not afraid to keep their roots but also nurture and grow new leaves.)

What can people expect from your New Year’s Eve set at Sydney’s New Year’s Eve in the Park? Have you been preparing for the show? Producing any new material? I know you guys didn’t get the best shot at touring the Raka EP because pretty soon afterwards, we sunk into those dark, dark days – can people expect a bit of a Raka re-debut?
Well, the last time we played in Sydney was at the end of last year. We did one of those sit-down shows at the Factory Theatre. So, yeah, wow, we haven’t played in Sydney properly since 2019. But, for the festival, I think a lot of people will be experiencing a couple of tracks from the Raka EP for the first time. And, maybe experience or re-experiencing some other material again for the first time in a long time!
We’ve been producing and doing our own thing over the last couple of years, which has been really cool. But, Jules and I did get together and spent a couple of months making the soundtrack for the New Year’s Eve fireworks show at midnight over the Harbour Bridge. It’s a twelve-minute piece of music which will happen during the big fireworks display and maybe, something within that could be our new single…

If you enjoyed this interview but wish there was more to it, fear not! This is only a small snippet of what Kim Moyes and I discussed during the first episode of Amnplify’s new podcast ‘It’s all BS.’ And who knows? Maybe details of that possible new single will be included…
If you’re hungry for more The Presets and wish you could immerse yourself into their music even further, then it’s time to buy your tickets to their first big headliner set at New Year’s Eve in the Park in Sydney! 

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Follow THE PRESETS
Website – Facebook – Twitter – Instagram

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AMNPLIFY – DB

Press Release 18th November 2021 (below)

POOF DOOF JAMBOREE
NYE IN THE PARK
Sydney Dec 31

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Bringing future forward sounds and high energy extravaganzas to New Years Eve In The Park is the one and only POOF DOOF JAMBOREE!

Presenting their own fully themed LGBTQI+ side stage this year, Australia’s biggest queer party brand POOF DOOF are bringing a rainbow glitterstorm to Camperdown’s Victoria Park, serving equal doses of fierce and fun right up until midnight!

Expect huge sets from the biggest queer DJs on the Australian scene including Sveta, Charlie Villas, Troy Beman and Pablo.

Lip sync for your life alongside bumper performances from Sydney drag icons including RuPaul’s Drag Race Downunder star Coco Jumbo, The Voice’s Jimi The Kween, Felicia Foxx, Danni Issues, Sia Tequila, Tyra Bankstown, Logan and Karna Ford.

The POOF DOOF JAMBOREE are incoming so turn up those lewks and get ready to flip your wigs, sis! Oh and don’t get caught out by the heckling queens on entry – those divas are looking to roast anyone who dresses beige to New Years Eve!

Don’t forget the main stage will be going OFF with PNAU, The Presets, What So Not, Spacey Jane, Illy, Mashd N Kutcher, Kinder, George Alice, Dena Amy, Thandi Phoenix, Sumner, Yo!Mafia, Chase Zera and the Whatslively Stage!

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Tickets on sale now: HERE

Head HERE  for more info

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Follow NYE IN THE PARK
WEBSITE – FACEBOOK – INSTAGRAM
#bestnewyearsever
#nyeinthepark

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AMNPLIFY – DB