Sydney Band, The Preatures have just kicked off their final tour for 2015 and already they have had some memorable moments to mark the tour.
Speaking with guitarist Jack Moffitt about how the tour is going so far, he says it has gotten off to a rather rowdy start. “We played a show on the weekend and there was a guy running around with a fire extinguisher blasting people in the face. It's worth mentioning, that guy got tackled by a security guard and the security guard then blasted him in the face with the extinguisher, so it's a weird vibe; it's like chaos,” Jack says.
It's not typical of previous tours the band has done, but Jack thinks that perhaps they are bringing out the larrikin in people. “All the shows have been really rowdy which is unusual for us I guess, maybe we just have rowdy fans and we just never noticed it before”.
It's certainly a different vibe from the kind of shows the band have played in Europe where the audiences are usually a bit more attentive. “I feel like in Australia, people's attention spans are a little bit different and it's not to say that they are any better or worse, it's just different,” Jack says.
“I think we like to really blow off steam when it comes to live music in Australia. Whereas in Europe, I think that just because of how established the culture is over there, there's a lot more people listening critically, they're listening to it as an art-form as well as an entertainment form.
“People in Germany will come up to you after a show and tell you what they liked and didn't like and it's really matter of fact and it's good constructive criticism. It's the same in other parts of Europe, like France and definitely in the Netherlands and Sweden; that can be really refreshing after you've flogged it in Australia and everybody likes to go a little bit off-kilter.”
If anyone knows about music as an art-form, it should be Jack, for he was once a student at the Australian Institute of Music. It was while he was a music student at the institute, along with fellow band member, bass player, Thomas Champion, that he met the Preatures front-woman Isabella Manfredi, and the band was born.
Music was always a part of Jack's life - he was only eight years old when he picked up his first guitar. “It was my mums guitar and she never played it, but she was really happy for me to pick it up,we always used to listen to music around the house; I used to love sitting in front of the stereo, which for some reason only ever worked on one side,” Jack recalls.
“We had all these old records from the 60's and the 70's, I used to sit there with the guitar and try to figure out all these songs, somebody just asked me what I would be doing with my life if I wasn't doing music, and I honestly just couldn't think of anything, because I can't imagine my life being consumed by anything else”.
Written by Mardi Reason
The Preatures 2015 Tour Dates
Fri 4 Sept – Tanks Arts Centre (Cairns)Sat 5 Sept – Flinders Social (Townsville)
Thur 10 Sept – Kay Street Entertainment (Traralgon, VIC)
Fri 11 Sept – 170 Russell (Melbourne)
Sat 12 Sept – Theatre Royal (Castlemaine)
Sun13 Sept – Karova Lounge (Ballarat)
Fri 18 Sept – Toowoomba Carnival Of Flowers
Sat 19 Sept – The Met (Brisbane)
Fri 25 Sept – The Gov (Adelaide)
Fri 2 Oct – The Cambridge (Newcastle)
Sat 3 Oct – Yours & Owls Music and Arts Festival (Wollongong)
