PREP Interview - "equal parts swagger and bonhomie"
By Jimmy G
"There are definitely performers who can create transcendent experiences out of pretty much anything. I think most of the examples of great songs coming into my head have a few things in common, and maybe the main one is that there's something in the opening moments, some clash of emotion with lyric, harmony, melody, that you instantly trust to take you wherever it's headed".
There are not many bands that can encompass "cool" quite like PREP does. With each of the four members coming from a unique musical background; a producer, a classical composer, a DJ, and a songwriter, these four personalities somehow came and synthesised together to form something wholly unique with their musical style and as well as that, look and sound really cool while doing it.
Their tracks just seem to flow with equal parts swagger and bonhomie, funky bass lines seem to effortlessly meld with Tom Havelock's distinct vocals. Run That Again recently chatted to three of the four members of PREP (Tom Havelock- vocals, Llywelyn ap Myrddin- keys and Guillaume Jambel- drums) about their esoteric style and aesthetic and where the rising band is going next.
“It just means ‘preparation’ and it’s something me and my friends used to say before a night out or a festival… “have you done your prep yet”… meaning, are you ready.”
"Me and Giom met in the pub and bonded over a love of Steely Dan" Llywelyn reveals, as I ask him about how the band was formed."We both obviously wanted to be in a new project. Later that week I was in Dan’s studio and he started talking about the same music as Giom. I wanted to work with both of them and it seemed like an odd coincidence that I had almost the same conversation twice, so we all got together on Giom’s birthday and over smooth orange juice hatched a plan. Once we had some demos down, Dan said he had the perfect singer. Tom sang on Cheapest Flight, the first thing we finished, and the rest is history".
When I ask further about where the band's name came from, Llywelyn explains "It just means ‘preparation’ and it’s something me and my friends used to say before a night out or a festival… “have you done your prep yet”… meaning, are you ready? Our working title was ‘Clouds’, I’m glad we changed it to PREP" - As are we, it's a fitting title for the band.
I was keen to know more about how these quirky, especial songs were created, answering my question, Llywelyn states that the composition phase usually stays the same for each track. "Either me Dan or Giom bring in the germ of an idea and then develop it as a trio. It actually gets quite far, but is still essentially a backing track which Tom then writes the melody to. Then there is endless tweaking, I usually add some funny chords, Giom works the groove, Dan covers the production and we all obsess over the details".
“This diversity is, in my opinion, the reason why PREP may remind you of other bands, but also doesn’t really sound like anyone else.”
Guillaume expands on this, stating that the group's vastly different backgrounds is one of the reasons for their continuing success. "All of us coming from a different musical background is one of the best feelings I’ve ever experienced being in a band. We don’t really know what the finished song will sound like until it’s done, because what is so clear in my mind during the writing process couldn’t be more different than what Llywelyn has in mind for instance. And then add Dan’s magical production tricks and Tom’s vocals to the mix and the whole thing changes again goes in a different direction. This diversity is, in my opinion, the reason why PREP may remind you of other bands, but also doesn’t really sound like anyone else".
@prepband Instagram.
When I ask about the aesthetic of the band, from their cover art and their publicity, they reveal the choice behind the basic primary colours and simplistic based consistency across their materials. "Some of the initial ideas came from us" Tom claims, "and we knew the kind of world we were looking for, but the style ultimately comes from Sam Coldy who's does all our artwork. And is great. I can't remember how the original chat about the vector look went, but we were into the idea of making artificially perfect renderings of emotionally complicated scenes".
The band is also renowned for their many collaborations, having partnered with other artists such as Cory Wong & Paul Jackson Jr, Reva Devito and Anna of the North to name a few, "When you make something just by yourself it can take ages before you're sure about it" Tom reveals. "But when someone like Anna of the North comes into the studio and starts singing your song in this beautiful, familiar voice, the whole thing crystallizes in an instant. It becomes a record. And it's yours, but in that moment it's got nothing to do with you. You're just listening".
“But when someone like Anna of the North comes into the studio and starts singing your song in this beautiful, familiar voice, the whole thing crystallizes in an instant. It becomes a record. And it’s yours, but in that moment it’s got nothing to do with you. You’re just listening.”
The hotly anticipated record is coming from PREP and it seems that the first of many finish lines is almost in sight for the band. "It’s been such a joy" Guillaume affirms, we have been coming to the studio almost every day to write, experiment and record. We’ve written about 20 songs so far, which for us is a true achievement considering how slow we are. No decision yet as to which ones will make it to the album yet, but we are in agreement on about 5 of them".
A pause.
"Almost in agreement".