The past twelve months have been a seemingly unending barrage of craziness when it comes to the world of music, from depressing album sales, bizarre reality shows and the loss of iconic music venues. But amidst this is a beacon of positivity, a local band who grabbed the worlds attention with their catchy lyrics, pop sensibilities, infectious rhythms and general coolness. With the release of their debut LP Blue Planet Eyes, The Preatures find themselves underneath this well deserved spotlight with natural poise and unaffected grace. We caught up with frontwoman Isabella Manfredi to discuss; the release of their debut album Blue Planet Eyes, recording, touring and fitting in time to breathe over this last incredible year.
Winning the Vanda and Young song competition is one thing for aspiring artists but when you can back that up with appearances at
Coachella, Glastonbury, SXSW and a spot on Jimmy Kimmel Live, one can safely say that The Preatures have arrived and arrived in style. If the aforementioned wave of work can be viewed as exciting, try playing at David Lynch’s club in Paris with the likes of Thom Yorke and Kanye West in attendance or finding out that you have been selected to support arguably the greatest rock n roll band of all time, The Rolling Stones. Sound like the stuff dreams are made of? For some maybe, for The Preatures, just another day at the office.
Gaining the attention of just about everybody that hears them, one might be fooled into thinking that this success came out of nowhere or was serendipitous in its happenstance but this is far from the truth.
Having dedicated years to the study of music is something that takes a lot of determination and perseverance. Not only is the technical and theoretical side of things that is needed but learning to collaborate with others in a creative field without alienating people and maintaining friendships is something that takes work.
Meeting Jack Moffit and Tom Champion at The Australian Institute of Music (AIM) in 2008, gave Manfredi the opportunity to start honing those skills.. She reflects “It was a great place to network”. Soon after, they formed a band ironically playing bad Rolling Stones covers and after some time they enlisted Gideon Bensen and Luke Davison and become the lineup we know today.
With two critically acclaimed EPs already under their belt it was time to start on the much anticipated full length album. With a limited time of just three weeks to lay the groundwork, they fatefully had a schedule matching that of their first choice for producer.
Enter Jim Eno. Most well known as the drummer of Austin rock band Spoon, Eno has worked on a variety of releases from Phosphorescent to !!! (Chk Chk Chk) but his reputation of being an easy going man in the studio who would rather work with an artist than toward his own goals is what attracted them to Eno in the first place. As Manfredi puts it, they “didn’t want a producer that was a big name and set in their way of doings things…that wasn’t where we were at, he wasn’t imposing, he was a really positive, facilitative presence” This choice seems to have paid off with them crunching through a ton of work within a limited time frame.
By the time they had left Public Hi Fi Studios in Texas, they had laid the foundations of the album and it was time to head back to their base, Doldrums, in Surry Hills to complete it.
Manfredi says “It was like working with playdough, we didn’t really know what we had with the songs, but we knew enough to get the beds done” Once they had achieved this with Eno, they could mould and shape until their hearts were content.
Owing a lot of their success to the ARIA nominated ‘Is This How You Feel?’ There would come a time to address the proverbial elephant in the room… Do we base our sound on this one song?
“I never set out to write another ‘Is This How You Feel?’, I love that song, it is its own precious little thing…we never used it as a benchmark for the record but more like a blueprint”.
The result is a highly charged pop masterpiece. Polished, yet still containing pieces of roughs and demos that capture the energetic essence of their live shows. A perfect example of this is on the track ‘Rock And Roll Rave’, Manfredi’s favourite on the album which contains parts of the demo that they originally recorded.
Between all the craziness of touring and recording, Manfredi and partner Moffit found time to escape to the arty Indonesian mountain hideaway of Ubud. Far from the likes of the Bin Tang singlet set sunburning themselves on Kuta beach and more of a place to “chill out and get all zen”, Manfredi jokes, although after a week they were eager to get back on the road and continue to ride the amazing wave that they have found themselves on.
When asked about their upcoming support of the Rolling Stones, Manfredi was aptly speechless “that was just surreal” was all that she could say for such an opportunity to cement your name in the annuls of rock and roll history for what is surely going to be the unmissable gig of the year for the lucky few thousand who have tickets and patiently waited for the return of the Rolling Stones from their sadly cancelled tour earlier this year.
The touring life is becoming like second nature to The Preatures and it is not something that they will seem to be getting sick of anytime soon. As Manfredi puts it “We just love it, simple as that.”.
Already working on the next release, Manfredi adds “we are always writing, I mean a lot of songs didn’t make the cut for this album. It’s not that they weren’t good enough. They just weren’t punchy enough… they still need a little more work.” Spoken like a true perfectionist.
The Preatures. Kicking ass in a nice way, keeping us singing along and moving our feet and staying cool about it all. It was a very good year, let’s hope the next is even better.
Blue Planet Eyes is out now via Universal.
‘Blue Planet Eyes’ Album Tour
THU 13 NOV | ANU BAR, CANBERRA ACT
Tickets available from www.ticketek.com.au | 132 849 | All Ticketek Outlets
FRI 14 NOV | THE GOV, ADELAIDE SA (ALL AGES)
Tickets available from www.oztix.com.au | 1300 762 545 | All Oztix Outlets
THU 20 NOV | BARWON CLUB, GEELONG VIC
Tickets available from www.oztix.com.au | 1300 762 545 | All Oztix Outlets
FRI 21 NOV | THE WARATAH HOTEL, HOBART TAS
Tickets available from www.oztix.com.au | 1300 762 545 | All Oztix Outlets
SAT 22 NOV | THE FORUM, MELBOURNE VIC
Tickets available from www.ticketmaster.com.au | 136 100 | All Ticketmaster Outlets
FRI 28 NOV | THE HI-FI, BRISBANE QLD
Tickets available from www.oztix.com.au | 1300 762 545 | All Oztix Outlets
SAT 29 NOV | SOLBAR, MAROOCHYDORE QLD
Tickets available from www.oztix.com.au | 1300 762 545 | All Oztix Outlets
FRI 05 DEC | THE HI-FI, SYDNEY NSW (ALL AGES)
Tickets available from www.oztix.com.au | 1300 762 545 | All Oztix Outlets
SAT 06 DEC | THE CAPITOL, PERTH WA
Tickets available from www.oztix.com.au | 1300 762 545 | All Oztix Outlets
