The Sleeping Serial by The Preachers by OCMusicMagazine
The Preachers, from l-r: Gideon Bensen (on top of the car), Jack Moffitt, Isabella Manfredi, Thomas Champion, and Luke Davidson. Photo by Lucy Parakhina.
There are a great many things you don’t know about The Preachers. They roll their own cigarettes, for example, and they hate the Hollywood tap water. They always mispronounce “aluminum” and “jaguar,” but they’ll defend their pronunciation ‘till they’re blue in the face. They are very protective of their leather jackets. And they are the greatest Australian indie rock band you haven’t heard of… yet.
The Preachers began, humbly enough, in 2009, when vocalist/keyboardist Isabella Manfredi, bassist Thomas Champion, and guitarist Jack Moffitt formed a little group called Brother Fox, whose repertoire included covers from Patti Smith, the Everly Brothers, and James Brown. (Incidentally, yours truly was in attendance at Brother Fox’s debut performance.) Since that time, the band has undergone a series of name changes, grown in number – adding Gideon Bensen on vox and guitar and Luke Davidson on drums – and released a stellar EP in April of last year. But it was The Preachers’ next endeavor that gained them the attention they deserved: a series of demos known as The 66 Project. The group wrote and recorded six songs in six months, releasing them for free via the band’s website.
Such an endeavor was unusual, Manfredi explained, saying, “In Australia, once you have an EP, you keep it close to your chest [until you’re signed]… you don’t go back and start releasing demos.” However, the project turned out to be a great success. The seemingly impossible deadlines developed essential skills for the band as well, as it helped develop a speedy, efficient writing style that sacrificed none of their talent.
Photo by Jimmy Pozarik.
“Writing fast kept us going,” said Bensen. “We began writing more as a group.” This method of churning out songs was important to the group because, as Champion explained, “You just move on from the songs… it felt good to come to rehearsal knowing we were working on something new, instead of something we’ve slaved over.”
The Preachers caught the attention of producer Tony Buchen, who worked with them during The 66 Project and, ultimately, brought them to America. “He said it as a joke at first,” Thomas said, teeth clenched around a filter as he rolled a cigarette. “Like, ‘well, you could go to the States.’”
“Yeah, and our initial reaction was ‘naah,’” Gideon recollected. Jack, however, was quick to chime in, “But after we slept on it, we showed up for rehearsal and said… let’s do it!”
In the months that followed, the group scrimped and saved, playing two shows a week to earn the scratch required to get to the States. And finally, in early September, The Preachers began recording their new material at The Bank studio in Burbank, CA.
Five of the seven songs the band recorded during their two-week stay were brand new, and I was privileged to see the world debut of these songs during the band’s final night in the country. The Preachers opened for local indie act Big Moves at the Bootleg Theater in Los Angeles, and their performance was a powerful display that brought in crowds from outside. The interplay of Gideon’s strong voice, which brilliantly mimics the haunting tones of David Bowie and the grizzly grit of a blues virtuoso, along with Isabella’s seductively smooth, jazzy vocals creates a unique blend of styles that is truly amazing. Moffitt, Champion, and Davidson are all fantastic musicians, and their talent and confidence exudes off the stage to truly captivate their audience. Their set is full and varied; from the funk-infused “The Sleeping Serial,” through the haunting psychedelic “Pale Rider,” to the bluesy “A Want So Strong,” each song is original and powerful.
In just a few short years, The Preachers have blossomed into a tremendous group with a wealth of incredible material and the skills to take them to an even greater level; so what do these Sydney superstars have in store? A return to the States, hopefully, and according to Isabella, “get[ting] something out on vinyl.”
Until their records are available, you can download The Preachers’ EP on the group’s website.
