Top image credit: Cara Robbins

Tim Presley has long been gracing us with his home recorded psych-rock and abstract yet lyrical narratives, offering up six albums in the past five years under the name White Fence, including a collaboration with Ty Segall. Cate Le Bon has three solo albums to her name, all characterised by an endearing poise, underscored with similarly distinctive wordplay. Recently, the two have discovered though, that perhaps the only thing better than playing the music you love, is playing it alongside someone you love – and who loves it too.

Together their sensibilities have fused to create DRINKS. Their debut Hermits on Holiday lets us in on this new world of frivolity and fancy, where there are no rules, word and sound are punk-y play toys of expression, and songs can be messy, funny, noise-y, weird and pretty all at the same time. Expect nothing, get everything back. Over a few Bloody Mary’s the power duo tell us why this collaboration is about getting free. 

Lola Young: I read somewhere you guys met in the back of a tour bus, is that right?
Tim Presley: No, we actually met at a guitar shop in Santa Monica.

LY: How did you get talking ?
Cate Le Bon: We didn’t really talk. I was frightened of him!

LY: Why’s that?
CLB: Frightening vibes. Too cool you know, mysterious.

LY: How did that turn into this collaboration?
CLB: I just loved Tim’s set, really loved it. It was something genuine and refreshing. Then this guy Josiah kidnapped us and unlocked it all.
TP: I felt the same about her music and live shows as well.

LY: When did you stop being frightened of him?
CLB: I don’t think I have. The coolest thing Tim has ever done was we had a coffee date when I first moved to LA, and he never showed up.

LY: How long did you wait for him?
CLB: A good couple of hours.
TP: Oh no that’s so sad!
CLB: What a cool bastard.

LY: Hermits on holiday, is that you guys?
CLB: I think so, we both value solitude and its nice to find someone you can work with where it still feels like solitude.

LY: What would be the ideal situation/ environment to listen to your album in?
TP: In a car, at night time. And I like to stay up and draw and listen to albums so that would be perfect too.
CLB: For me, if you’re a potter, or like making something.

LY: Yeah the album has that stream of consciousness feel.
TP: Yeah, I noticed listening to Sun Ra albums, I’ll be painting and will hear something new every time. Some of our songs could be like that. Hard to digest all in one listen, but if you keep coming back, you’ll keep finding things.

LY: Were you listening or watching anything to inspire you whilst recording the album?
CLB: Tim was inspiring! The energy we get from one another, egging each other on.
TP: Film, art etc. came secondary, just filled in the blank. Initially we were just excited to step outside of our own musical thing together, that was inspiration enough. Then different records just reassured what we were doing.
CLB: We were just excited about playing music again!

LY: It does feel very fresh, there’s a certain energy.
CLB: Yeah, and a sense of abandonment that comes from being caught up in the excitement of what you’re doing.

LY: It’s very DIY, and you create the artwork, videos etc. yourselves. Is that important to you?
CLB: Yes, there’s a particular tone in the record that’s so important. It’s playful, and comes from a genuine place. In the wrong hands it could be construed as something different, so its important that everything visual has the same elements running through it.

LY: And is that the kind of artwork you do yourself Tim?
TP: Yeah.

LY: Who is a favourite artist of yours?
CLB: Yourself [both laugh].
TP: Yeah I’m my favourite artist! No I just go through moods. I wish I could be really inspired by one artist, but they don’t really inspire me, other things do, like human situations, relationships.
CLB: I saw a Surrealist exhibition recently that was inspiring, that sense of chaos, chance, not trying to moralise something, it just being what it is.

LY: The album is referred to a lot as ‘Lo-Fi’, was that what you intended?
CLB: I don’t think it is Lo-Fi.
TP: Compared to what I usually do it’s like Hi-Fi!
CLB: It’s No-Fi.
TP: It’s Mid-Fi.

LY: You wrote it in a week?
TP: Yeah, just taking breaks to get coffee and eat, in downtown LA where there is nothing. It’s very industrial there, that had the vibe.
CLB: The studio had no windows. And a ghost, that probably had an effect.
TP: Definitely! I felt a push on my shoulder once whilst we were recording, like a real strong nudge that came from nowhere.
CLB: Tim went so white. Maybe it was a friendly one.
TP: Yeah I think it was a cool one. I think he/she was stoked up on the take that we did. Like, “Yeah you nailed it man!” Ghost approved.

LY: Are the lyrics things that have happened to you personally?
CLB: A lot of it is just nonsense!
TP: It all comes from somewhere.
CLB: It’s like a diary. If you cut it all up and stick it back together, like an assemblage. Based on truth and then filled in with absurdities.

LY: Your song Tim do I like that dog? Is that something you actually said to Tim?
TP: It’s all she says!
CLB: I have a particular taste in dog so on the street I’ll ask Tim if I like that dog.
TP: It turned into a game where I had to guess if she did or not!

LY: What dog vibes do they have to give off?
CLB: I like dogs that look like scribbles. And there’s a particular type of big dog that I like.

LY: So has it been fun to play live?
CLB: Yeah playing it live, it actually made me remember what it felt like to be excited about playing music again. I’d forgot about that feeling. You play your own songs so much, it can be a grind. This was different, like I was a teenager really, really excited to play. And in the spirit of how we made the record and how we are friends it’s so fun to be playing and look over at her, and I just want to laugh! It feels good.

LY: Does the improvisational, spontaneous quality channel into your live shows? I can imagine you guys doing some discordant jam for like, ever.
TP: I’m so into that! I don’t know a lot about jazz, but this gives me the freedom to play like punk jazz!
CLB: Is that the Bloody Mary talking?

LY: Have you learnt things from each other?
CLB: Yeah, this may be the Bloody Mary talking… but I’ve leant to love music again! When I was touring I became a bit disconnected from what I was doing. To find someone you trust to collaborate with, I’m excited again about records, sounds, being in a studio playing a guitar solo and just laughing, its so nice.

LY: What inspires you most about Cate?
TP: A lot. With Cate I was happy to be in the studio again. It’s not scary if you’re with someone you trust and who makes it a fun, experimental, creative place. And I’m inspired by how wise a person she is.

LY: And what about you Cate?
CLB: I admire him so much as a musician and as a lyricist, and you would imagine that would inhibit you when you’re recording. But the way he is as a person, it doesn’t. It was always just egging each other on, running through the woods with you best friend like “ahhhhhh.”
TP: Theres got to be some kind of word for it, it’s a mutual admiration, mutual respect, where we’re not intimidated by each other, and we don’t feel less than or greater than, and you’re free to say stupid things. If you’re intimidated that can compromise you creatively, and that’s the worst thing, to handicap someone like that. I could throw all these ideas at her, I’d never feel stupid or ashamed, or too proud. Its a great balance, I don’t know what that’s called, but it’s a really comforting feeling, where you both can nurture creativity.
CLB: And it’s something that continually builds. We’re just running through the woods laughing.

LY: And is this going to continue?
CLB: Yeah. As soon as we finished we were like, “Fuck, I think we could do something really good again. I think we’ll just keep making records even if no one wants to listen to them!”