“The band has been going for ten years this month and we knew each other for some time before as well, so we’ve been making music together for about 20 years now,” Hamilton says. “We’re almost like brothers in a lot of ways, we know each other very well and the music we both like – it’s an instinctual musical relationship.
“Most of the inspiration for what we do kind of came from when we started,” he explains. “At university we’d go out to nightclubs and listen to The Chemical Brothers, The Prodigy or Daft Punk – bands that have been touchstones for us along with ‘80s and ‘90s Detroit techno and Chicago house.”
This enduring relationship has seen The Presets release three albums over seven years, take home ARIA Awards and earn a reputation in club culture as well as gain mainstream popularity; leading the way for today’s young producers.
“In the last 20 years dance music has come so far, with so many different genres and things happening,” he says. “None of today’s stuff really influences us though because we still really like the music we were into when we started. Part of growing and maturing as a musician is hopefully forming your own sound and style.”
Utilising a simple home studio set up for writing, Hamilton says just a piano and his own voice are all he needs to come up with a tune.
“In my little room I’ve got a computer, speakers, a whole bunch of pre-amps, outboard equipment, computer programs, a bunch of keyboards and an old piano that I do most of my writing on,” he says. “The most important thing for me in here though is the piano, because that’s where I come up with a lot of the chord progressions and melodies. We try to make every song we write work on a piano and then add beats and synths and things. At its core, it’s always nice if it sounds okay just singing it and playing it on the piano.”
Looking forward to their show at the Palace, Hamilton is excited to delve back through the extensive Presets catalogue and pick out some old gems. “We’ve got a few favourite songs we like to drag out; it’s almost like looking through an old photo album…rediscovering all these older songs and being reminded of the time when we wrote them.”
BY TOM KITSON
