KUALA LUMPUR, May 20 — City pop band PREP from the UK were recently in Kuala Lumpur to perform their brand of jazzy vibes.
The band who were in town on May 12, as part of their Asia Tour 2024, performed an intimate showcase at the Exchange Hall KL and had the crowd swaying to their setlist which included their singles Cheapest Flight and Futures apart latest releases in Call It and Getaway as well as their rendition of As It Was by Harry Styles.
This is the second time the outfit performed in Malaysia, with their first, a small show in Johor Baru in 2017 for the pre-launch part of local denim brand Kronoz.
All four band members in vocalist Tom Havelock, keyboardist Llywelyn Ap Myrddin, drummer Guillaume Jambel and producer Dan Radclyffe took time and sat down with Malay Mail to share exclusive insights behind their work.
Behind the Artwork
In terms of their keywork art, be it from album covers to EPs or Singles, PREP have identified themselves with the distinctive clean 2D minimal style artworks which often showcase scenery from sunsets to cityscapes or sometimes even a cosy hotel room.
According to Myrddin, all of the band’s visuals were done in collaboration with a UK-based visual artist named Sam Coldy.
“We would send him songs and the lyrics and he will have some strong visual ideas that come from the lyrics of the songs and send back sketches for us to refine it.
“It’s been great working with Sam, he really helped us in creating our visual identity and it’s a real bonus for us.”
According to Jambel, who was the one who came up with the early sketch of their Cheapest Flight cover, it would often be a back and forth process between them and Coldy in creating the perfect visual art for their music.
He added that they always want their artworks to feature the feel of their music while showcasing the emotional intricacy that’s going on behind it.
Favourite PREP Tracks to Play Live
Since the band’s formation in 2015, PREP has released five EPs with numerous singles and one full-length album with their second album titled The Programme coming out this June.
For Havelock, out of all their tracks they play live, he admitted to having a soft spot whenever they play Who’s Got You Singing Again from their debut EP.
“Partly because I loved the song and the record and it’s always a special moment when we play that intro live and when people realise what song it is and it’s also usually that waves of feeling that comes up (whenever we played it).”
Myrddin’s favourite track to perform live is their 2022’s The Kid due to them getting the opportunity to be creative with it by doing extended sections and transitions on the track aside from its ‘fun’ rhythm.
For both Jambel and Radclyffe, Cheapest Flight will always hold a special place in their hearts as the track kickstarted their career.
“It’s not a very original answer but it is the birth of the project and sort of the purest distillation of what we are trying to do I guess.
“Just the sounds, the combination of samples, the combination of the old and the new (sounds), just from a production standpoint I think, that sort of set the marker of what we’re about,” Radclyffe said.
PREP ended its Asia Tour 2024 on May 18 with their last show taking place in Hangzhou, China at the Westlake Music Festival.
Their Asia Tour was well-received with numerous sold-out shows which included in China, Thailand and Singapore.
The band will be going back on the road for their Europe Tour 2024 this June 11 starting with a show in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
