Change in ranks for The Preatures, Kingswood

Two Australian live drawcards, Sydney’s The Preatures and Melbourne’s Kingswood, have lost long-time members.

The Preatures’ guitarist and back up singer Gideon Bensen is today heading to the UK to record new music. Last Friday both Bensen and the band announced he was leaving.

The band emphasised the split was totally amicable, saying, “He leaves as our brother and our friend. It wasn’t an easy decision, but he has our love and full support to pursue his solo work and this exciting new chapter in his life.”

The Preatures are currently recording their second album, as a follow up to Blue Planet Eyes from September 2014, which peaked at #4 on the ARIA charts.

Benson said, “The past years have been some of the best of my life and I will be eternally grateful for all that I have learnt and experienced being in The Preatures. It’s been an honour and a privilege to be part of such an amazing band, playing alongside Iz, Jack, Tom and Luke.”

Benson was one of the members who formed the band in 2010 with Isabella Manfredi on vocals/keyboards, Jack Moffitt (guitar), Thomas Champion (bass) and Luke Davison (drums). They signed to Mercury Records and quickly became triple j staples.

His solo career was on the wall when he began working on his debut solo EP Cold Cold Heart during The Preatures relentless touring last year. He set up his own Puncture Records to issue the EP. Showing a more electronic bent, it came out last spring, which he followed up with solo shows.

At the time of its release, he admitted, “While on tour with The Preatures, I found myself working on tracks more and more, up at all hours, in transit, in hotel rooms, wherever I could setup. I was obsessed,”

Kingswood have lost bassist and backing vocalist Jeremy “Mango” Hunter.

“He is a tremendous man and we will cherish the many wonderful experiences and memories we have shared together,” they posted on Facebook when announcing the change in their ranks.

Hunter, who got his nickname because his people were mango farmers in Cambodia, was the last member to join the four-piece. Singer Fergus Linacre and lead guitarist Alex Laska went to school together and played in a band at 12. The two then teamed up with drummer Justin Debrincat, also at the same school, when they were 16. Linacre met Hunter in a jazz band after they left their school days behind.

But Hunter was (inadvertently) responsible for naming the band. An avid astronomer, he discovered a comet near the constellation Roal. Believing he was the first to spot it, he rang the authorities to name it. But he was told someone had beaten him to it and the comet was already called Kingswood.