WIEN. The musician René Mühlberger is versatile. With his heart project PRESSYES he likes to travel the world in a VW Bulli. How he feels about analog technology, what his new album Breeze In Breeze Out can do everything, where he gets his cool outfits from and why it’s good to switch off your brain, the all-rounder revealed in an interview with POPMAGAZIN-Editor Hans Juergen Gernot Miggl.
POPMAGAZIN: Hello René, thank you for your time and the Skype meeting! There’s a lot to talk about. On the one hand the single release and your second PRESSYES album, Breeze In Breeze Out. Let’s stay with the single “Mirissa”. What’s it like when you’re in a foreign country and you see an exotic animal on your way to the shower? So it was a monitor lizard, wasn’t it?
PRESSES: “Yes, exactly! It was a very fun experience. These animals, i.e. this type of monitor lizard, were not known to me until then. I got out of the shower naked and in my room the animal stood and stared at me. And I stared at the animal and we both screamed. Then I researched, it can break a foot with its tail, the animal is so strong. That was a giant monitor lizard.”
He looked mighty tall! Your team has worked out the grandeur of such an animal in the artwork. (laughs) It is generally noticeable that it has become very colourful. Despite all the colors, is there one that particularly stands out or is even a favorite color?
PRESSES: “Yes, yellow because of the sun and blue because of the sea. I take a lot of photos when I’m out and about. Almost spontaneously. And when you do artwork, I make sure that the colors come back into it. Because it’s just nice if it stays in this summery world.”
You work a lot with analogue Kodak devices. Isn’t that more difficult than with digital technology?
PRESSES: “For me it’s actually the other way around, I like working with such old equipment because it’s so easy to use. And because you don’t have to do any updates, don’t pay a subscription, it has this look by default. The options are so limited that it actually makes it very relaxed. Pressyes is my relaxed world or always my journey into this relaxed world. So it co-exists with me, alongside meditating, which I also really enjoy doing. Yes, a very life-affirming project. You notice that live too. The audience is drawn into this euphoric beach world.”
In 2019 I was at a PRESSYES pop festival concert on Vienna’s Karlsplatz, so of course I noticed it. PRESSYES is a heart project of yours. How easy is it for you to dive into such a world. Because the world we experience is quite demanding. And has been for a long time…
PRESSES: “I have to make time for it. It’s always a search for sounds. Since there are a lot of devices in my studio and I can just play through them. It’s like a child’s room you could say. Just for adults. It feels like finding your inner child again. The music happens in layers. I play the drums one time, then I record something on the tape machine, next time maybe a guitar. It so happens over time. It only works when I have time for it. The nice thing about a solo project is that you can just do it when you feel like it. And that’s the difference to a band where you have fixed rehearsal dates or studio days. And then you have to be creative. I can be creative whenever I want. It also took 4 years to finish it.”
Yes, of course, you have a different timeslot if you don’t have anyone pushing you. How important is it to you that the project stays with you? That you ultimately record everything yourself, approve the artwork, float the arrangements, etc.?
PRESSES: “Basically, I really enjoy working with other people. For example, the singer of Cari Cari sings along on a song. And also other guests like a saxophonist. It’s more a matter of planning. I really don’t like to plan, you have to plan so much in life anyway, I don’t want to set appointments all the time for my own fun project. When someone comes into the studio, they usually end up on the album. But really inviting someone and finding an appointment is too exhausting for me. Anyone who wants to be there can take part. I’m totally open about that. But it has to work itself out somehow.”
You dress very cool in your videos and on stage, in a vintage and retro style. Where do you get your unique outfits from?
PRESSES: “It’s always been mine. It’s been going on since I was thirteen. I have my 1970s armchair in the living room, which I bought at the flea market for five shillings (about €0.35!). And a lot of the musical devices have been in my possession for a long time. They just somehow got broken or cheap to me. And now I’ve rein-generded myself, can fix it, and am tech-savvy. And the robe is also from the flea market and second hand. I borrowed the pants I’m wearing in the video from a friend 15 years ago and never gave them back.”
(laughs) … and keep them silent?
PRESSES: “Exactly. But I’ve already had to mend them five times.”
Your music is very catchy and easy to listen to. Is that also based on the fact that you travel so much and travel the world with your loved ones in a VW Bulli?
PRESSES: “Yes, it’s sort of the soundtrack to my nicer moments and travels. Normal life is not always nice and often stressful. You have to work and earn money. And that doesn’t flow into PRESSYES. You’re somewhere else there. There are songs that are less positive. But then they end up on hard drives. But I probably won’t check hard drives anymore.”
Is there a favorite song on your new album Breeze In Breeze Out?
PRESSES: “That’s always changing. When I work on the songs and do drums, bass, guitar, synths, lyrics, vocals, editing and mixing, when that’s all done, the song is already auditioned. Because I have to listen to it so often. And then later, when I have video ideas for it, it refreshes the song again. My favorite song is always the one where I’m planning or shooting a video. We recently shot “Years”. Now we wanted to shoot for “Mirissa”, but unfortunately the weather wasn’t right. And when you shoot analog, the sun has to shine.”
You’ve been making music forever. Did that start for you when you were a child?
PRESSES: “Like many others, I learned to play the guitar in music school and didn’t practice anything. And when I was 13, there was a sparkling, metallic red electric guitar under the Christmas tree. And then it happened. Then I spent every day in my room and played the guitar. And this is now the revival of that very feeling. I already had a cassette player back then, a 4-track recorder. And now it’s the same again. Now I’m sitting in my studio and the activity is the same. I play it on a tape machine and bounce the tracks together.”
How did the name PRESSYES come about?
PRESSES: “That was the story I submitted for a fund. And I was at the post office, it was a deadline and I had 30 pages filled out. And I didn’t know the headline “band name”. Then I stood at the post office and thought to myself: “I don’t know, I can’t think of anything. But I need this fund to finance the whole thing back.” And I thought to myself: “Anything positive, give me the fund!” And I wrote “Pressyes” on it. I thought I’d just suggest, “Yes!” And it worked. In that sense I had to take the name.”
What was the hottest concert you’ve ever played?
PRESSES: “I would say: France. We played the first record at a festival three years ago. Afterwards I felt like I had sunstroke. But actually a nice feeling. I think it’s quite good when the brain switches off a bit.”
Thank you for your time!
PRESSYES Breeze In Breeze Out Release Concert:
Sunday, May 15, 2022 at 8:30 p.m
Sargfabrik, Goldschlagstrasse 169, 1150 Vienna
Tickets (€ 12.50 – 18.00) at the box office or online here >> https://tickets.sargfabrik.at/at/Event/67970.
Interview / Questions / Research:
POPMAGAZIN.at / Hans Juergen Gernot Miggl, [email protected]
Production / Transcription / Text:
POPMAGAZIN.at / Jelena Petener, [email protected]; 15.05.2022
