by RAF KATIGBAK

Perhaps one day in the distant future, scientists will solve all of life’s great mysteries: the solution for Pi, whether there is life beyond our solar system, whether time travel is actually possible and, perhaps most importantly, what it is about the opening of the Presets’ breakout single “Are You the One?” that makes young people want to simultaneously fuck and fight like 18th century Vikings?

The answer to the latter may be its sinister yet seductive synth/piano lead. Or perhaps it’s the specific bass frequencies from the bare-boned backbeat that induces involuntary pelvic thrusting and fist pumping. We may never know, but one thing’s for sure: Last year, Julian Hamilton and Kimberley Isaac Moyes came out of nowhere and dropped Beam—their LP of tight, visceral, sweaty, booze-soaked synth-pop on the unbelievably good Aussie imprint Modular Records—and have basically re-lit the fire under the ass of electro-rock with tight-jeaned, angular-coiffed kids across the world. The Mirror recently chatted with Hamilton about life Down Undah and their Mad Max approach to dance music.

Mirror: It’s funny—here in Canada, we get mad when Americans treat us like Bob and Doug Mackenzie, yet everything I know about Australia, I learned from watching Crocodile Dundee.

Julian Hamilton: That movie was huge here too. I mean, Paul Hogan...yeah, he’s alright. It’s total bullshit though. There’s no one like that here. And in case anyone’s wondering, we don’t have kangaroos hopping around the street either.

M: That’s good, ’cause I hear those bastards can get pretty vicious.

JH: Yeah, they sort of reel back on their super-strong tails and kick you with their big legs, right in the chest. They’re nasty pieces of work, kangaroos.

M: Sounds dangerous. Is Australia as bad-ass as it sounds? Isn’t one of your national heroes some outlaw who got shot up by the cops?

JH: Yeah, Ned Kelly! He was a famous bush ranger in the 1800s. He fought the law, and ended up dying in a gun battle. He wore a big helmet, kind of like a trashcan that Oscar the Grouch would live in, and it had a slit cut out for his eyes. That’s why it took so long for the police to actually kill him. He’s an icon.

M: Speaking of crazy Aussies, what’s up with Mel Gibson?

JH: I think he was born in America, and moved here when he was young, or the other way around. Either way, as embarrassing as he is, Mad Max and Road Warrior are two of the greatest films of all time. All those guys running around in the desert, that’s like Presets folklore.

M: So will you guys be going on stage with hockey masks and steel boomerangs?

JH: Oh, man, that would be so awesome! Yeah, just ride up on stage—both of us on one motorbike—with sheet metal welded to the keyboard and a drum kit covered with a steel grill and spikes, and we’d just start shooting crossbows everywhere. That’d be great! Like, forget post-punk, it’s all about post-apocalypse!

With Riton and Jordan Dare at SAT on Sunday, Sept. 3, 10 p.m., $30 (Neon Nights festival pass $50, for details go to www.iloveneon.ca)

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