If you want to know who the best Australian act of this year is at the moment, look no further than the dynamic Sydney five-some The Preatures.
If you think they sound good in the studio, then boy you should hear them live, it’s a whole other experience. I caught them last night at their sold out show at the Northcote Social club, and my speculations on them being the greatest new Aussie act was affirmed.
The Preatures radiate a sassy, endowed coolness and a unique style that appears effortless for them. The energy that they bring to the stage and that exists between the group is full of spark and ready animation. They jump and dance around about the stage using its extremities, while all smiles to both the crowd and each other. The effect: is an inclusive aura of energy and fun, in which you feel you are fully apart of.
The gig opens as lead woman Izzy (Isabella Manfredi) strides onto the stage grabbing the microphone with both hands and charmingly greets us “Melbourne you sexy mother fuckers, how are we doing?” – her confident rock goddess attitude radiating from her.
She’s followed by their lead man Gideon Benson who has the same kind of confidence and rich mystery in his voice as the deep bluesy, rocker Nick Cave.
Friends: lead guitarist Jack Moffit, bassist Thomas Champion and drummer Luke Davison greet the audience too opening the gig with a funky clear, strong guitar riff and heavy, compelling drum beats, bringing the gig into full swing as their latest song Manic baby belts out to the audience, pulling us in without a second thought.
Every song they play is played with such clarity and substance. Every strum of the guitar, change of chord, tap of the drum, slap of the snare, comes through with an amazing clearness and perfection, that is recognisable and pleasing to the audience. The vocals soothe in perfectly over the top of the instrumentals, creating perfect melodious sounds. Damn, all I have to say is that they really have gotten it right. They play and sound as though they have years and years of experience gigging.
The Preatures played both new songs from their new EP Is this how you feel? and some of their classic tracks from their 2012 EP Shaking Hands. My favourite was Take a Card, which they play with such charisma and personality. They brought the playful, lighthearted vibe of this song to the stage as Izzy and Gideon affectionately joined each other on the one mic, serenading each other with their vocals. Like many of their other songs this song is full of pomp and fun as they bring a hybrid of funky blues, rhythm and rock to the stage.
Her vocals in their song Threat, are seductively mysterious and charming as she harmonises with great vocal variety “if you want to be my boyfriend, then why do you act like this?… it’s not a question, it’s a threat… I got the power on you”. She has one of those remarkable, memorable voices and styles that imprints itself on your mind, leaving you with mesmerised chills, much like Stevie Nicks and Joan Jett who have left us with a striking impression of their cool, brisk audacity.
If all of this energy and cool, charming allure of both The Preatures sound and stage presence wasn’t enough to make this gig one of the most epic, then the interesting turn of event of Izzy’s jacket catching on fire might be. After finishing one of their songs, Izzy asks “is someone’s hair on fire”, only for guitarist Jack to respond “no it’s your jacket”. Her very nice and probably expensive leather jacket had been resting on one of the stage lights, and was left aflame. Izzy quickly put it out, letting out a small sob. Poor Izzy, you could see the disappointment in her eyes, but it was only brief, as she suddenly poured water over her face, shaking it off, and letting the show live on.
Izzy and The Preatures just recently took out first place in the 2013 Vanda & Young Songwriting competition, for their song Is this how you feel? A massive achievement for them. They were followed followed in their tracks by the adorable 3rd place winner Thelma Plum.
After the show, I got the chance to have a brief catch up with the approachable Izzy, as we conversed about her self-made shirt that read: “F##K ABBOTT #SEXAPPEAL”, which was censored by the media in all photo’s taken from the Vanda and Young awards. The shirt, which she joked her mum has hidden from her, to keep her from wearing it on tours, sparked some questioning from different people, but Izzy said this was the point of it. The shirt was only suppose to encourage conversation, and in my opinion there’s nothing wrong with starting conversation on any given topic in a democratic society. Sadly, no one had asked her why she was even wearing the shirt before censoring it. Izzy’s shirt was successful in raising valid questions in the minds of individuals, but as mentioned in our conversation, it was not aimed to detract from the awards or the music. The Preatures music is something special, and sharing their radiant fun sounds is something they do with enthusiasm and do well.
They’ll be taking their sounds right around the country for the remainder of September, and will be playing the Falls festival too at the end of the year. But I can assure, that The Preatures won’t be too far off taking their sounds around the world soon, as their unique, fun driven aura is taking music lovers, professionals, and radio stations by storm.
Chelsea Olle 