Apocalypse Wow: The Presets Stun Brooklyn & the Bowery

“People go crazy at our shows,” contends Julian Hamilton, one half of the Australian electronic-dance duo the Presets. He's reflective and a bit under the weather, but still quite urbane. Kim Moyes sits to his right, engaged and candid. “Frankly,” Kim says, “We’re surprised if people aren’t moving around quite a bit.” We certainly need the Presets. A person can step to any dance floor and experience playlist déjà vu -- the same six tracks leaking from some nano i-something or other. Some mourn the death of dancing, but those people have never been to a Presets show. Both the Music Hall of Williamsburg and the Bowery Ballroom were recently transformed into a sold-out sea of fist-pumping, the music off of the Presets' most recent album Apocalypso inspiring dance moves from the most complacent hipsters. After the jump, we talk travel and touring tales.

Tell me about the new album, Apocalypso. The name is fantastic.
We were in the studio, and kind of halfway through the finishing stage of the album, you realize you know you don’t have a name, and then you freak out. We were sort of just trying on different things. We got to “Apocalypse Wow,” but it was too much like a Broadway musical, and then “Apocalypso” and then stayed with that for awhile and it stuck.

It was released in your homeland, Australia; how was it received?
Number one. Held at number one, which was crazy. It went gold. Number one on the rocket, man, in a week and a half and then held in the top 10. But you have to remember, gold in Australia is actually only selling like a 100 records.

Congratulations. You both have traveled extensively thanks to the success of your first album, and have played all the big club and music venues. Do you notice a big difference between Australia, Europe, and the U.S.?
Everything is like a mainstream culture thing now. And you don’t really hear so much underground, and sort of like maybe the nature of the underground. Maybe we’re still a little underdeveloped. So it’s how big we are or how big the culture is around underground or whatever it is.

What can one expect from a Preset show in the States?
They’re small.

Well, not tonight. Both New York shows have sold out.
Yeah, which is really cool. We put a lot into our shows, and the outcome is usually a big party. People go crazy, jump around like rabbits and sing along. It’s just like Australia, except not as good looking. Though sometimes in Australia you get people like punching walls, and they’re terrifying.

Now perhaps that is true of New York, but what about playing some small town in the middle of nowhere?
Yeah, I mean, we’re understanding and stuff. There’s an American dream about when we played in Salt Lake City we’d never been there before, and there were 100 people there in this shitty little bar. It was amazing fun, and they were so appreciative and interested.

You’ve been touring for nearly two years, is that right?
Probably more. Yeah, almost for three. After we finished the record, we were on the road the whole time.

And you love the touring?
Yeah, up until we got this RV we only had a van, and it’s not pleasant when you’re driving across countries in a van, and you’re only stopping to find a place to eat and get a hotel room for only a couple of hours a night, and you’re always tired, and you’ve been on tour for like 6 months or something. After 22-and-a-half hours of the day, it’s just really shit, unless we’re in New York or some really cool place where we can go do cool things.

How have the Presets grown since the first album?
I mean, yeah, professionally I guess we’ve developed a lot, but that album came out probably about two years ago, and it was created for about a year and a half. We finished it, and it came out in Australia, and then by the time it came out here it was really old for us. So, really it’s been about four years, and during that dead time, we did do different things. I did a lot of work with different bands, and he did a lot of work with different bands, whether it was songwriting, remixing and stuff. So, I guess all that stuff made this next record a bit more mature and more dynamic. And particularly in Australia, we really got experience with bigger crowds and festivals and stuff like that. We really got to define what we do and get some sense of what we were about. And what makes people dance. When you do all these shows and touring, and we have shows where people are really jumping around, it does give you the confidence to then make the music you really want to make. So, I guess we really used that time to get the to make the second record, to be honest with you. And that confidence to really make music sort of came from us.

You both have traveled extensively. What’s one top destination place that you’re always really excited to go to?
New York, probably. New York is one of the most enjoyable places to go see.

Where do you guys go when you’re out here?
We do very normal things, go walking and go and buy a cup of coffee and go shopping and all that kinds of tourist stuff. We need that since we’re essentially living in clubs and on stages. That’s where feeling like a better person comes from. I guess, when we come to the States usually it’s on the end of the entire leg of the tour, so it’s a really refreshing thing to get to place where you can eat great food and there’s so much to do and it’s a different feeling. New York makes you feel like a better person I think.

A better person?
I think so. There’s a really like a special energy. Even like the normal people, they just look different. There’s just so much going on. And even if you’re only here for awhile you just go, wow, that’s just one crazy gold outfit, or even it’s like an old couple walking that just look amazing. We have good conversation. Other then that, I love Copenhagen, or I really love Botswana. But, yeah, there’s always something to do or to see in New York. We do a lot of shopping. We usually don’t have enough time, but whenever you’re in Paris or New York, you definitely can’t resist the shopping.

What are some songs that you have to absolutely have on your road trip playlist?
We don’t really share music on the road ... well we don’t have a stereo where we both listen to the same music. So, often we don’t listen to the same kind of music at the same time. We get on the bus at two or three in the morning, a bit wound up, and watch movies and then wake up, and you’ve got a couple more hours until we’re in our destination. We’re really just getting on Youtube to see if anyone has uploaded videos of the show, and we look at the fan forums and listen to more people and learn to take it all in.

What’s your favorite song to perform live? Or something on the new album?
“My People.” We’re doing this song called “Aeons” on the new record, and it’s the first time we’re playing a song with mostly beats. And it’s just like, cosmic.

What has been a milestone show you’ve played? Do you have just one really great standout memory?
We’ve had a lot of great shows. Like crazy light/laser shows. Like in one show, they made this crazy laser grid that came out of from stage from behind us and bounced across the stage like you’re in sort of security bank room. Then we were playing a festival in Germany in this really industrial area. Old relics and all kinds of ... and it was so German, and the dance party, and big mining machines. It’s great ... we get a taste of everything in the world, and then come back home. Splendour in the Grass is a really great festival that in Australia. We’ve done a couple of tours where we’ve come back for the biggest shows in our homeland.