INTERVIEW: The Preatures' Jack Moffitt on Songwriting and Collaboration
Fresh from supporting the one and only Harry Styles, Melbourne pop rock band The Preatures are headed to Chevron Festival Gardens this February to play with the inimitable Abbe May. I caught up with guitarist Jack Moffitt to get his thoughts on songwriting, collaboration and how it feels to know people are getting married to your songs.
On the songwriting process
It’s kind of a really mixed process, sometimes Izzi will have a whole song and it will be ready to be worked on in a group. Then there are times I’ll have written just a bunch of music or some chord changes, and Izzi can hear a melody in there and she’ll go off to start writing it. I might throw in some one-liners. I guess it’s collaborative! We’re still learning about the process that we go on and our own journey.
On the band
I think what's really interesting about bands is that you’re always going to have these different personalities interacting in some ways on the song, or even [in] the playing. Some days are going to be better for that song than others and you just know. If you’re in a really good group, you’re going to feel that exchange of energy that happens not just between you and the world, but also between you and the people in the room with you — of course, not forgetting how your experiences mesh with the music. It all kind of collides in a way that's really difficult to pin down.
On working with the Darug community on the writing of Yanada
It was a process of deep learning. There were a lot of really new and beautiful relationships that we were really blessed to find on the road to making that song work. We wanted to be mindful of just how much of a privilege it is to be able to share the Dharug language with people, and actually do it the right way. Being non-Indigenous, there were a lot of considerations that we had to take time to explore. In the end, I think it was a magic song'; it was a gift to us.
On the true magic of music
The feeling is impossible to describe. I think that’s because when you’re working with music and with other people and playing with them, that relationship itself is really hard to describe. In a way, I guess it’s not important to describe it, as the music will be the language which people refer to when they’re trying to tie their own experience to something. In the end, I think that's all you can really hope for, that you're putting something out into the world that means something to someone else.
On the relationship between the band and their audience
Imagine having people who choose your songs as their wedding songs — to have all sorts of really heavy and emotional and private experiences that people associate with your songs is beautiful. That’s a real special thing to think about!