Julian Hamilton

Julian Hamilton
Julian Hamilton
	Hamilton of The Presets, Parklife Festival,; Wellington Square, Perth in October 2012
Background information
Birth name	Julian Thomas Hamilton
Born	September 1976 (age 47–48); Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Genres	Electro
Occupation	Musician
Instrument(s)	Vocals, keyboards
Years active	2001–present

Julian Thomas Hamilton (born September 1976) is an Australian singer-songwriter and keyboardist, who, with bandmate Kim Moyes, formed the electronica duo, The Presets in 2003. They have issued four studio albums, Beams (September 2005), Apocalypso (April 2008), Pacifica (September 2012), and Hi Viz (June 2018). Both were previously members of another electronic group, Prop, which released two albums, Small Craft Rough Sea (2001) and Cook Cut Damage Destroy (early 2003). Hamilton has also worked as a session and touring member of Silverchair (2001–2003) and The Dissociatives (2004). At the APRA Music Awards of 2008 Hamilton and Daniel Johns (of Silverchair) won Song of the Year and Most Played Australian Work for Silverchair's single, "Straight Lines". In 2009 Hamilton and Moyes won Songwriters of the Year for their work on Apocalypso for The Presets.

Biography

Hamilton was born in September 1976 and grew up in Sydney.^[1] He attended St Andrew's Cathedral School, where he sang in the associated Cathedral Choir.^[2] He completed his Higher School Certificate in 1994.

In the following year, Hamilton was studying piano at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, where he met Kim Moyes (studying classical percussion).^[2]^[3] Hamilton on keyboards and Moyes on vibraphone joined an electronic band Prop, with Jeremy Barnett on marimbas, David Symes on bass guitar and Jared Underwood on drums. Prop released their debut album, Small Craft Rough Sea, in 2001 on Undercover Music/Silent Recordings label.^[4] In October that year, Radio National's Brent Clough aired some of their tracks on his programme, Otherworlds, and described their sound as "fusing jazz, classical, minimalist, funk and techno elements into a seamless whole" and noted their "remarkably diverse influences – with selections from Olivier Messiaen and Philip Glass to Sci-Fi soundtracks, Squarepusher and Al Green".^[5]

Small Craft Rough Sea's tracks were remixed by various artists and appeared as Cook Cut Damage Destroy, in early 2003.^[6] The remix artists included Stereolab, Pnau, paulmac, Decoder Ring, Mice Parade, Telemetry Orchestra, Mako, Pivot and Burnt Friedman.^[7] Chris Johnston of The Age reviewed the remix album in March 2010, and felt its sound was "cerebral and faintly ridiculous jazz-fusion" which resulted in an album "where in wordless, warbly ... songs such as 'Low' they attempted to abridge the history of Western thought and Eastern composition into one mid-length instrumental".^[8]

Hamilton (right) and Kim Moyes (centre) of The Presets. Performing in London, United Kingdom, October 2006.

Hamilton and Moyes formed The Presets in 2003, to provide their own remix of one of Prop's track, "Magnetic Highway", as "Blood Bubbles" for Cook Cut Damage Destroy.^[9]^[10]^[11] Tammy La Gorce of AllMusic noted their version showed "harder electronic edges".^[9] Moyes later recalled "Julian and I used to muck around after Prop rehearsals and play the stupidest music we could... This new style that we were experimenting with, we got computers eventually and started recording them and put a little demo together".^[12]

As a member of The Presets, Hamilton has provided lead vocals, songwriting, keyboards, mixing, and producing for their releases including three studio albums, Beams (September 2005), Apocalypso (April 2008), and Pacifica (September 2012).^[9]^[13] Hamilton has worked as a session and touring musician, and co-songwriter, for Silverchair (2001–2003); and, with Moyes, as touring and session musicians for The Dissociatives (2004).^[13]^[14]^[15] Hamilton worked with The Sleepy Jackson to record their 2006 album, Personality - One Was a Spider, One Was a Bird. He is credited for orchestral arrangements and additional production, and also played keyboard and synth on many of the songs.^[13] Hamilton co-wrote four tracks with Daniel Johns on the 2007 Silverchair album, Young Modern, including the singles "Straight Lines" and "Mind Reader".^[14]^[16] Hamilton also co-wrote the song "On My Own" for Bluejuice's 2011 album Company.^[17]

In 2013 he released the Single "Higher Love" taken from the Vocal Collaboration Album "Features" by Kris Menace.^[18]

Personal life

In the early 2000s, Julian Hamilton met Janice Petersen (who he divorces in 2023 and eloped with Lara Gercar in 2024) at a record store where they both worked.^[19] They became a domestic couple and live in Sydney, where Petersen, since 2008, is the co-anchor of the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) TV evening news.^[19]^[20] Hamilton and Petersen have two children.^[19]^[21]

Awards and nominations

APRA Award

2008 Song of the Year and Most Played Australian Work for "Straight Lines" – wins shared with Daniel Johns.^[22]^[23]
2009 Songwriters of the Year – win shared with Kim Moyes.^[24]

References

^ Zuel, Bernard (15 September 2012). "The Presets: 'We are in this for life'". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 7 October 2014.
^ ^a ^b "Speakers: Julian Hamilton". Song Summit. 2010. Archived from the original on 9 March 2015. Retrieved 7 October 2014.
^ Kim of The Presets Interview | MVRemix Urban. Mvremix.com. Retrieved on 2011-08-30.
^ Prop (2001), Small Craft Rough Sea, Undercover Music/Silent Recordings. National Library of Australia, retrieved 8 October 2014
^ Clough, Brent (27 October 2001). "Prop". Otherworlds. Radio National (Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC)). Retrieved 8 October 2014.
^ Tan, Monica (25 December 2003). "Prop: Cook Cut Damage Destroy". VibeWire.net (VibeWire Youth Services). Archived from the original on 21 November 2004. Retrieved 7 October 2014.
^ Maksimovic, Semone (August 2003). "Prop get remixed". InTheMix. Retrieved 8 October 2014.
^ Johnston, Chris (19 March 2010). "The Crate". The Age. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 7 October 2014.
^ ^a ^b ^c La Gorce, Tammy. "The Presets". AllMusic. Retrieved 8 October 2014. Note: user may have to click on 'Credits' for further information.
^ "Presets". Music Australia (National Library of Australia). 17 February 2004. Retrieved 8 October 2014.
^ "Prop – Not Music by Accident". Undercover Music/Silent Recordings. Retrieved 8 October 2014.
^ "Breaking Artist: The Presets". Rolling Stone. Rollingstone.com. 2 July 2008. Retrieved 8 October 2014.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Julian Hamilton Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
^ ^a ^b Johns, Daniel; Hamilton, Julian; Silverchair (2007), Young Modern, Sasha Music Publishing : AMPD [distributor]. National Library of Australia, ISBN 978-1-86367-544-4
^ The Dissociatives (2004), The Dissociatives, Eleven Records. National Library of Australia, retrieved 9 October 2014
^ "'Straight Lines' at APRA search engine". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). Archived from the original on 17 November 2015. Retrieved 9 October 2014. Note: User may have to click 'Search again' and provide details at 'Enter a title:' e.g Straight Lines; or at 'Performer:' Silverchair
^ [1] Abc.net.au (2011-05-10). Retrieved 2012-01-01.
^ [2] SoundCloud Kris Menace
^ ^a ^b ^c "Presets duo Julian Hamilton both expecting babies". The Daily Telegraph. 16 November 2009. Retrieved 7 October 2014.
^ "Janice Petersen". SBS News. Special Broadcasting Service (SBS). Retrieved 7 October 2014.
^ Nauman, Zoe (10 February 2013). "SBS newsreader Janice Petersen pregnant with second child". The Herald Sun. News Corp Australia. Retrieved 7 October 2014.
^ "Previous Winners Song of the Year". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). Archived from the original on 25 June 2014. Retrieved 28 April 2010.
^ "2008 Winners – APRA Music Awards". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). Archived from the original on 1 April 2014. Retrieved 28 April 2010.
^ "2009 Winners – APRA Music Awards". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). Archived from the original on 12 January 2010. Retrieved 28 April 2010.