Isabella Manfredi is the undeniably charismatic, charming and opinionated singer with Sydney band the Preatures who wields the kind of presence that makes it difficult to look away. Formed five years ago, the band make jangly pop music with smart lyrics and speaking to Isabella in the middle of their European tour it’s evident that their fanbase extends far beyond these shores. With a new album in the works due for release early next year, a secret show or two you’d be lucky to catch and a performance at Vivid Live in May, it’s lucky the band don’t like to sit still. Importantly Isabella is using her platform to communicate her message and in doing so has become one of her generation’s truly positive young role models. She’s smart and passionate about helping to make the world better so listen up when she speaks.
You’re headlining the shows right now across Europe and USA, what are the highlights so far?
The London show was really cool. There were some places where I expected 30 people to turn up but instead they were sold out, that was exciting. We played Copenhagen, Stockholm and Vienna for the first time and they were all great shows. The record came out so recently in Europe and hasn’t even been released in the UK so I guess it’s all word of mouth.
Do you guys have fun travelling together? How did you meet?
Yeah, we’re lucky we all like each other. It’s like family. Tom and Jack met in high school and have been playing music together since they were 13. I met them at the Australian Institute of Music in Sydney and we started skipping classes and playing gigs instead and we were like, “let’s just be in a band!” You can’t really learn to be in a band by going to uni.
You are such a great front person! How does the band feel about the fact that a lot of the focus is on you?
Ha, it’s the lead singer complex – people always experience bands through the front person. It can be quite weird when we get photos back or live shots back and there are all these photos of me – the band are like “really?” That’s only natural, they understand it’s not my fault.
You went to the Chanel show at PFW recently, how was that?
It was amazing. Chanel approached me last year and invited me to the show. I thought it was hilarious that my first ever Paris show was in a restaurant. It was great to meet everybody and get a sense of what happens at the show. There was beautiful chaos everywhere.
You got to choose an outfit?
Yeah there was a fitting the day before the show for about 11 of us. It was the best way to experience Paris.
We think it’s so important that you are vocal about the issues that are important to you. We’d be interested to hear your take on Australia’s current political environment in light of the perspective that comes from travelling.
I’ve been trying to keep up with it while we’ve been here and I think a lot of people are feeling the same way. When we first began touring overseas in 2013 it felt like Australia was pretty well respected worldwide. The actions of our current Prime Minister Tony Abbot are doing nothing to help us when he says one thing and does another. What really alienates me as an Australian is his party’s insensitivity to minorities – that’s what scares me the most. The rolling back of the disability pension, the attack on Medicare and the welfare system for instance, it’s really frightening.
It’s likely to have the effect of disadvantaging further those who most need help.
We are a welfare society. That’s what we’ve chosen to be. We even have the experience in Scandinavia, where the welfare and education systems are so solid, to look to for example. They are such fantastic cities where you get the sense that everything is running smoothly.
In America, which is the market that Christopher Pyne and the current government want to base all of this reform on with basically a free market economy and system of privatisation, it is so scary. It’s incredibly divided by class and it’s something we should definitely try to avoid in Australia. In that case emulating ourselves on them is definitely not the best idea.
We’re a really unique country in the position to be able to do a lot of good but it’s just not happening.
I think Julia Gillard and the former Labour government wanted to build Australia as a world innovator and a world leader. I don’t think it’s wrong to assume that Australia can be a world leader or a pioneer in anything – especially in science and research and renewable energy. In Europe renewable energy is everywhere – they are moving so fast. It makes us seem like we’re in the dark ages. It upsets me to see our government take this attitude that Australia is simply a follower. We can do our own thing!
The Preatures play Vivid Live in Sydney on May 27th. Tickets can be purchased here.
Their album ‘Blue Planet Eyes’ is out now and available here.
Credits
Text Briony Wright
Photographer Byron Spencer
Fashion Mark Vassallo
Hair Jenny Kim for R & Co
Make-Up Victoria Baron for Chanel