With Creamfields coming down on us like the Summer sun on the beautiful day it’s predicted to be this weekend. If you’re going to be anywhere up North other than this event you’re a loser. Why? Because there’s been a hell of a lot of thought behind this production. Not only are you getting your Paul van Dyk and Ferry Corset master-classes, but you’re getting the eclectic mix of worldwide talent to make you go ‘wow’ with the new sound. One such band is the up and coming sensation from down under otherwise known as the Presets. I took a little time to grab the phone, the day before we went off to Ibiza and have a conversation about who the devil these guys are.

I feel I’ve got to give you a bit of background on the Presets, but I don’t like giving people a whole list of dates on the who did what when tip. I always have this little phrase I use before an interview. I say to the subject, “let’s not talk about your music today, your music speaks for itself. There’s no way I can put your music into words so I’m not even going to bother.” However, on this occasion you’ve probably never heard of the Presets before. Therefore I think a little tour of their music is in order.

The Presets kicked off their career after playing in various other outfits with the now classic EP, “Blow Up” followed up shortly by “Girl and the Sea” in 2005. After the success of these two releases they surfed the crest of their success to release an album in May 2005 entitled “Beams”. They released two singles to critical acclaim from this album; “Are you the One” and “Down Down Down”.

Things have been going well for The Presets, they’ve developed a huge following back whom. Their latest track “Boy in Love” is an absolute smash proving these guys are a lot more than a flash in the pan. They’re truly unique musicians with a sound which is accessible and at the same time has flashes of unique originality and kitsch genius without overstatement.

So, getting down to business, we spoke to Kim, one half of the band, alongside Julian. They were good enough to give dontstayin.com around half an hour of their time which was enough to really find out what these guys are about.

Hello Kim, how are you today?

Yeah I’m good.

Just so we can get an idea of who you are, and what the Presets are about, what do you actually get out of being in a band producing music that you love?

Playing music has just been a big part of my life for such a long time; I’m not really sure what I get out of it. It’s more of a compulsion than anything. I feel like it’s something I have to do. I can’t really answer it any more simply than that.

A lot of people seem to say that their art is more of a compulsion, something they feel they have to do than a choice…

For so many years its so hard to make money out of it, there’s so much hard work to put up with… You have to almost put up with some kind of monkish devotion.

Do you find that you’re obsessed in many other areas of your life?

Umm… Maybe, a little bit. I think when I’m tidying up the house I get a little bit obsessive. I’m kinda obsessed with cleanliness.

Yeah I guess I am a bit too. Especially if I’m going out on a big night out, I like to make sure everything’s clean and fresh for when I get in, I find it makes such a difference… So how did you guys actually get together and get in a band? I’ve read this crazy story on the ‘net about you guys meeting outside a restaurant, how did things proceed after that?

(Kim laughs) You got sucked into the story about the restaurant! That was totally made up. We (by “we” Kim means himself, Kim Moyes, and the other member of The Presets, Julian Hamilton) were at music school together at the Sydney conservatorium; we became friends in the common room. I guess we were the only people who were studying music, listening to music and going out to clubs. We were very aware of what was happening in popular music.

We started playing in a band called ‘Prop’ around 1995 which was kind of an instrumental more ‘sound-tracky’ type band. We did that for a few years and then our interests moved over to more the sound you’d associate with The Presets now.

So was it like you looked at music as a whole and said “music isn’t going in the direction we want, lets do something about it” when you formed The Presets?

I think it was a little bit to do with that, but we were also studying music and everyone in Prop was at music school. There was a certain level of intensity to it; it was very beautiful, very fun and very satisfying. It was more that we could see the length that it could go to, and we were kinda captured by the common sound around at the time.

So you thought “we’re better than these other guys, we could go further with this”?

No, not at all, we had every intention of putting all our energy into Prop. It just fizzled out as a natural life for the thing. We were playing this Electro Rock stuff at the end of rehearsals with me on drums and Julian on Keyboards. Our imagination became influenced by bands like ‘Add N to X’ and ‘Trans-Am” as well as being fired by some of the movies we watched when we were younger. We realised we could make something out of this sound and made demos. We put all these elements together and that’s how ‘The Presets’ really started.

You said earlier that music is a compulsion for you, what’s the last track that’s really inspired you and caught your imagination?

My friend played me a track the other day called “Myspace” by Guy Gerber and Chaim. I’ve also been revisiting a lot of Aphex Twin’s ambient stuff at the moment. I’m getting caught up in that spaced out. The kind of music you feel could induce a trance. East European guys in white linen suits. I like my Dance music to be more emotional.

I think you’d agree that back then there wasn’t such a rigid defined structure to dance music; many things came under the umbrella of house. I don’t really know how to describe your sound and I like that about you. Some of your stuff reminds me of early Del Amitri. Do you see yourselves on the cutting edge of music?

We don’t really think about it that deeply. I just think we just do it; like I said it’s a kind of compulsion. We’re very aware of what else is out there, and how to keep it different. There’s so much pop music in our sound however. The stuff you were saying about labelling our sound, I don’t think any artist out there likes to be labelled. Some bands send us their stuff and say check out our band, its new disco; why are you working within a genre? It’s a bit weird.

So what aside from the compulsion what sides of your music do you like to express through your music?

We like to make people laugh. Sometimes we pretend to be other people, like movie stars. It’s an important part of the performance for us.

Have you ever stolen anything from a shop? If you have, how did you deal with the guilt?

I’ve stolen quite a lot. There was a period in my life when I was quite the thief. I was in my late teens. I didn’t ever feel that guilty about it. It was more about the rush for me. I got over it however because for me everything I’d stolen was completely valueless. I figured out pretty quick that if you actually pay for something out of your own money that you’ve earned then you have stuff you’re actually going to look after.

You’ve got a very big Myspace presence, and many bands are moving songs and content online. What future do you think the Internet and music production have together?

I think it’s happening already. When we were searching for a record deal it was just before Myspace came about. Ever since then every band that’s been signed, or got gigs, or noticed, it’s been a direct result of Myspace. I think what you’re talking about is already well and truly happening.

What’s going to happen beyond this?

I really have no idea, and I really have no interest in trying to predict it. It’s not something that really interests me in any way. I’m not the kind of person who keeps tabs on this kind of stuff but it could be the death of the music industry. The Internet can do damage to creativity and original ideas. If you read about a new band they are always this mixed with that. There’s not really much emphasis on things just being things if you get what I mean? A band can’t just be a band with an original sound; they have to be somehow tangible in terms of what’s gone on before. This stuff you hear where a band is described as ‘New Order’ meets ‘My Bloody Valentine’

I think there is so much of a deluge of music out there, and so much of it is awful; especially on the Dance music scene. It’s got to the point where any idiot can sit down and create a music track so the good stuff gets lost alongside the barrage of average music…

Yeah there was a period when we toured in the UK a couple of years ago and every support band we had absolutely fucking sucked. They all sounded like Franz Ferdinand on speed; now you can’t see a single one of those bands anymore. Now all the bands you listen to are like this Electro-infused Emo and its shit. That has a lot to do with Myspace and technology. You’re definitely right about the Dance scene; any idiot can sit with their laptop and make some crap. They always fall through the cracks however.

We don’t want to be that new sound, we just want to have our own slot in the scheme of things. We’ve got to at least be true to ourselves and the stuff that we do.

Do you think then that celebrity culture, ‘Pop Idol’, ‘The X Factor’, do you think these are all the things that make people think music is about money, and not about art and talent. I think this is a big part of the problem; that people see music as a vehicle for celebrity?

Yes I agree, that’s so true, but at the same time that’s the other side of music; show-business. That’s a completely different thing from plain old music. It always has been and it always will be. That’s selling cult of personality, and that’s very different to the style and lineage of music. It certainly does have an effect on the way that the mainstream perceives music and that does effect us, many people will have never heard of us.

So you’re saying that commercialism is making it harder for original music to be heard?

In Australia we’ve been in the top ten for the last ten weeks; our album got to number one and was one of the highest selling debuts of the year. There’s not really a problem for us as back home we have become accepted as a main stream act now. I’m not trying to blow my own horn too much, but in terms of all the acts we’re up against, bar a couple, we’re still the odd-balls. It’s been a real organic process for us. I’d never dreamt this would happen and that often makes me think this is a luck of the draw type business.

You’re obviously playing at Creamfields this weekend, one of the best festivals and the high-points of the summer for Dance music here in the UK. How do festivals differ in Australia from over here in the UK?

I think our festivals in Oz are a little bit smaller; the biggest festival we have is called ‘The Big Day Out’ that tours nationally and everyone gets about four days of between each scene. We don’t have the number of Festivals that you guys have and obviously the Festival scene is a little bit different. Over here, it seems like everybody is in it. You’ve got Glastonbury which is televised in the UK now.

OK Thanks so much for giving me this Interview today and putting up with my bullshit. Can we just have one last sound-bite from the Presets, to the fans, the listeners, the casual readers and the hustlers of the world out there?

Yeah, keep it futile.

And with that, I’ve decided to end the article here. A great quote from a great guy. A little eccentric and very wild. If you’re lucky enough to be going to Creamfields this weekend then don’t forget to check these guys out and you can chat wildly about how you know all about them, impress your friends and look as cool as you truly, deep down, are. Peace out.