The Presidents of the United States of America (occasionally referred to as PUSA, PotUSA, The Presidents of the USA or simply The Presidents) were an American
alternative rock
Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from mainstream or commerci ...
band formed in
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
,
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
, in 1993. The three-piece group's initial line-up consisted of vocalist and bassist
Chris Ballew, drummer
Jason Finn, and guitarist
Dave Dederer. The band became popular in the mid-1990s for their hits "
Lump
Lump may refer to:
* "Lump" (song), a 1995 song by The Presidents of the United States of America
* ''Lump'' (compilation album), a 2000 best-of album by The Presidents of the United States of America
* Lump (dog), a dog who inspired Pablo Pica ...
" and "
Peaches
The peach (''Prunus persica'') is a deciduous tree first domesticated and cultivated in Zhejiang province of Eastern China. It bears edible juicy fruits with various characteristics, most called peaches and others (the glossy-skinned, non-fu ...
"—released in 1995 and 1996, respectively—which helped their
self-titled debut album go 3× platinum.
The group broke up for the first time in late 1997 because their singer Chris Ballew wanted a solo career; they performed a farewell concert early the next year. They reunited in 2002.
In 2004, Dederer left the group and was replaced by Andrew McKeag. The Presidents privately disbanded in 2015, and the news was made public a year later.
History
Early years (1993–1994)
The band was formed in late 1993 by
Chris Ballew (bass guitar and lead vocals) and
Dave Dederer (guitar and backup vocals), who met while attending
The Bush School in Seattle. Ballew had previously been in a punk-
busker band called Egg, who wrote many songs that would later be turned into PUSA songs. Initially a drummerless duo, Ballew and Dederer performed a half-dozen or so shows in 1993 as "The Lo-Fis", "The Dynamic Duo", and "Pure Frosting". Ballew eventually came upon the name "The Presidents of the United States of America". Shortly after settling on their name, Ballew and Dederer added drummer
Jason Finn; the band played their first show as a trio at Seattle's Romper Room in early December 1993. At the time, Finn was also the drummer in the band
Love Battery, who had recently changed record labels from
Sub Pop to
Atlas Records, an
A&M subsidiary.
The Presidents recorded a ten-song cassette, ''Froggystyle,'' in early 1994 in one day at Laundry Room Studios. The band sold the cassette at shows in 1994. Finn also sold the cassette from behind the bar of Seattle's Comet Tavern, where he tended bar.
Rise to fame (1994–1998)
In 1994, the band signed with the independent Seattle label
PopLlama Records and released their
self-titled debut in the following year. The band also released a limited edition blue vinyl 7" single, "Fuck California", on
C/Z Records.
Columbia Records signed the band shortly thereafter and re-released the album in late July 1995. Driven by the singles "
Lump
Lump may refer to:
* "Lump" (song), a 1995 song by The Presidents of the United States of America
* ''Lump'' (compilation album), a 2000 best-of album by The Presidents of the United States of America
* Lump (dog), a dog who inspired Pablo Pica ...
", "
Peaches
The peach (''Prunus persica'') is a deciduous tree first domesticated and cultivated in Zhejiang province of Eastern China. It bears edible juicy fruits with various characteristics, most called peaches and others (the glossy-skinned, non-fu ...
", and "
Kitty", their debut album has been certified triple Platinum by the
RIAA.
A follow-up album, ''
II,'' received similar praise, but did not match the commercial success that the Presidents' debut album had, though it was still
certified gold
Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...
in the US.
Throughout 1995, 1996 and 1997, the band made worldwide tours to support their first two albums. In 1996, MTV aired a previously recorded live concert of the band from
Mount Rushmore
Mount Rushmore National Memorial is a national memorial centered on a colossal sculpture carved into the granite face of Mount Rushmore (Lakota: ''Tȟuŋkášila Šákpe'', or Six Grandfathers) in the Black Hills near Keystone, South Dakot ...
for
Presidents Day
Presidents' Day, also called Washington's Birthday at the federal governmental level, is a holiday in the United States celebrated on the third Monday of February to honor all persons who served as presidents of the United States and, since 1879 ...
. They were introduced with: "Ladies and gentlemen, the Presidents of the United States." In addition to relentless touring in the U.S. and Canada, PUSA made multiple tours of Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. They also made many appearances in major print media and on radio and TV, including multiple appearances on ''
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by Jay Leno that first aired from May 25, 1992, to May 29, 2009. It resumed production on March 1, 2010 and ended on February 6, 2014.
The fourth incarnation of the ...
'' and the ''
Late Show with David Letterman'' in the U.S. The Presidents turned down an offer to perform on ''
Saturday Night Live
''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock (streaming service), Peacock. ...
'' in the fall of 1995 because the date conflicted with Ballew's wedding, but later made an appearance on the eleventh episode of ''
Mad TV
''Mad TV'' (stylized as ''MADtv'') is an American sketch comedy television series originally inspired by '' Mad'' magazine. In its initial run, it aired on Fox from 1995 to 2009. After a one-off reunion show in 2015 to celebrate the twentie ...
'' in January 1996. The band began the program with a skit called "Public Domain", performed "Lump" later in the show and "
When the Saints Go Marching In
"When the Saints Go Marching In", often referred to as simply "The Saints", is a traditional black spiritual. It originated as a Christian hymn and is often played by jazz bands. This song was famously recorded on May 13, 1938, by Louis Armstron ...
" during the end credits.
''Pure Frosting'', collaborations and break-up (1998–2000)
The band broke up in January 2000 as Ballew quit to spend more time with his young family and explore other musical terrain. ''
Pure Frosting,'' a final album composed of new songs, covers, and demos, was released in 1998. The CD also contained videos for "Lump", "Peaches", "Mach 5", and "Dune Buggy".
''Pure Frosting'' featured two songs that had previously been used in a movie and as a television show theme. "
Video Killed the Radio Star
"Video Killed the Radio Star" is a song written by Trevor Horn, Geoff Downes and Bruce Woolley in 1979. It was recorded concurrently by Bruce Woolley and the Camera Club (with Thomas Dolby on keyboards) for their album '' English Garden'' an ...
" was included on the soundtrack for ''
The Wedding Singer'', while "
Cleveland Rocks", originally recorded by
Ian Hunter, was chosen as the theme song for ''
The Drew Carey Show
''The Drew Carey Show'' is an American television sitcom that aired on ABC from September 13, 1995 to September 8, 2004. Set in Cleveland, Ohio, the series revolved around the retail office and home life of "everyman" Drew Carey, a fictionalize ...
.'' Another song on the album, "Man (Opposable Thumb)", appeared in the Nickelodeon-produced motion picture ''
Good Burger'' but was not directly written or performed for the film.
The Presidents also wrote the theme song for the 1998 TV movie ''
My Date with the President's Daughter
''My Date with the President's Daughter'' is a 1998 American made-for-television romantic comedy film produced by Walt Disney Television and premiered as part of ABC's revival of ''The Wonderful World of Disney''. It was shot in various locatio ...
''. They also performed a cover of the ''
George of the Jungle'' theme song for the
1997 movie of the same name. This performance is not available on any of their albums.
In 1998, the group appeared on the album ''
Happy Hour'' by Japanese female rockers
Shonen Knife (also a three piece); they did backing vocals on the song "Sushi Bar".
The Presidents also collaborated with
Sir Mix-A-Lot
Anthony L. Ray (born August 12, 1963), better known by his stage name Sir Mix-a-Lot, is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known for his 1992 hit song " Baby Got Back", which peaked at number one on the ''Billboard'' ...
as Subset, a short-lived rock and
hip-hop band. They had a brief tour and recorded several songs, but never released an album. The band broke up because Sir Mix-A-Lot wanted to take the band in a harder, more electronic direction, but Finn and Dederer were not interested.
Brief reformation and break-up (2000–2003)
The Presidents reunited in 2000 to release a new single, "Jupiter", on MUSICBLITZ Records. Because of the single's popularity, the label convinced the band to release a new album. ''
Freaked Out & Small'' was released that year to critical praise. The band did not tour on or promote the album, which quietly sold 25,000 copies as MUSICBLITZ, an early digital music player, quickly went bankrupt.
Afterward, the band members once again went their own ways. Ballew continued to produce and record his own work, becoming a children's artist under the name
Caspar Babypants
Caspar Babypants is the stage name of children's music artist Chris Ballew, who is also the vocalist and bassist of The Presidents of the United States of America.
History
Ballew's first brush with children's music came in 2002, when he record ...
and collaborated with Tad Hutchison of
The Young Fresh Fellows
The Young Fresh Fellows are an American alternative rock group, that was formed in 1981 in Seattle, Washington, United States, by Scott McCaughey and Chuck Carroll. Tad Hutchison, Chuck Carroll's first cousin, joined for the recording of the grou ...
as The Chris and Tad Show. Also during this time, The Young Fresh Fellows recorded a song, "Good Times Rock 'N' Roll", about The Presidents, which appeared on the 2001 album ''
Because We Hate You''.
Full reformation and new guitarist (2003–2010)
In 2003, the band once again reformed. In August 2004, the band released ''
Love Everybody'' on their newly formed
indie label
An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels and artists are often represented ...
PUSA Inc. As with their previous albums, it received praise from many critics. Two singles from the album have been released through the
Apple
An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple trees are cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ancestor, ' ...
iTunes Store
The iTunes Store is a digital media store operated by Apple Inc. It opened on April 28, 2003, as a result of Steve Jobs' push to open a digital marketplace for music. As of April 2020, iTunes offered 60 million songs, 2.2 million apps, 25,00 ...
. In late 2004, the rights to the debut album were returned to the band, who have since reissued the album through PUSA Inc. twice: once as a tenth-anniversary edition with extra tracks, and again in the spring of 2006 in a low-price edition.
Andrew McKeag, Seattle guitarist (formerly of Uncle Joe's Big Ol' Driver, Shuggie, The Black Panties and others), joined the band on guitar in late 2004, as an occasional live-performance stand-in for Dave Dederer, who had expressed an interest in spending more time with his family. Since late 2007, McKeag started touring full-time with the band, and later replaced Dederer. Dederer has played live with the band in concerts in Seattle on occasion.
In November 2007, the band's next album, ''
These Are the Good Times People'', was announced; it was released on March 11, 2008. They performed a live webcast celebrating the album's release by Easy Street Records. In December 2007
KEXP
KEXP-FM (90.3 MHz) is a non-commercial radio station licensed to Seattle, Washington, United States, specializing in alternative and indie rock programmed by its disc jockeys for the Seattle metropolitan area. The station is owned by the no ...
played the new song "Bad Times". On February 1, 2008,
107.7-The End, a Seattle radio station, played "Mixed Up S.O.B.", the first single from the Presidents' new album. The music video for the song was directed by
"Weird Al" Yankovic. On June 15, 2008, they played for Pet-Aid 2008 in
Oregon
Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...
.
In October 2008, "Lump" was released on the video game ''
Rock Band 2''. "
Ladybug", "Feather Pluck'n", and "Dune Buggy" were released as downloadable content for the game on November 4, 2008. In the summer of 2009, The Presidents performed in San Diego at the North Park Music Thing Music & Media Festival which only showcases local bands.
Final years (2010–2015)
In August 2010, The Presidents performed at Skokie's Backlot Bash outside of Chicago. In September 2010, they played during halftime of the UW-Syracuse game at
Husky Stadium.
On March 5, 2011, The Presidents performed a new tribute song, "Can't Stop (Catchin' 'Em All)" at the
Nintendo World launch event for the video games ''
Pokémon Black and White
and are 2010 role-playing video games developed by Game Freak, published by The Pokémon Company and Nintendo for the Nintendo DS. They are the first installments in the fifth generation of the ''Pokémon'' video game series. First releas ...
''.
In 2012,
Columbia Records re-released ''
Lump
Lump may refer to:
* "Lump" (song), a 1995 song by The Presidents of the United States of America
* ''Lump'' (compilation album), a 2000 best-of album by The Presidents of the United States of America
* Lump (dog), a dog who inspired Pablo Pica ...
'', a discount greatest hits compilation.
On November 12, 2012, The Presidents performed during halftime of the
Seattle Sounders FC–
LA Galaxy playoff soccer game at
CenturyLink Field
Lumen Field is a multi-purpose stadium in Seattle, Washington, United States. Located in the city's SoDo neighborhood, it is the home field for the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL), the Seattle Sea Dragons of the XFL, t ...
.
In November 2013, the band started a
PledgeMusic
PledgeMusic was an online direct-to-fan music platform, launched in August 2009. It was started to facilitate musicians looking to pre-sell, market, and distribute projects; such as recordings and concerts. It bore similarities to other artist p ...
project in order to release a new studio album. The band met their goal in just over a week, and the album, titled ''
Kudos to You!'', was released on February 14, 2014. The band also released their first full live album, ''
Thanks for the Feedback'', at the same time.
Since the beginning of the project, fans were able to pledge for various items in addition to the digital and physical copies of the two albums, such as posters, lyric sheets and instruments signed by the band. A limited edition burgundy and yellow vinyl was also available to backers.
On November 16, 2016, Chris Ballew stated that the band had dissolved sometime in the summer of 2015 as they wanted to move on, calling themselves "old people now".
Post-2016: Solo work, album vinyl re-release
Following the breakup, each band member devoted time to his own solo projects. Ballew was the most prolific of the three, releasing albums with
The Giraffes and The Tycoons, two of his side projects. Dederer collaborated with former
Guns N' Roses bassist
Duff McKagan
Michael Andrew "Duff" McKagan (born February 5, 1964), sometimes credited as Duff "Rose" McKagan, is an American musician. He played bass for twelve years in the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he achieved worldwide success in the late ...
as The Gentlemen and in McKagan's perennial hard rock band,
Loaded, including contributing to the album ''Dark Days''. Dederer also played bass in the Seattle band Juke and produced songs for singer/songwriter Gerald Collier. Finn played drums for several bands, including
Nevada Bachelors,
The Fastbacks and
Love Battery, his original band.
Around 2016, Chris Ballew began collaborating with Seattle-based rapper Outtasite as The Feelings Hijackers. They have done local shows and have released two albums.
In 2009, in addition to his continued work with The Presidents, Ballew began recording and performing as children's artist
Caspar Babypants
Caspar Babypants is the stage name of children's music artist Chris Ballew, who is also the vocalist and bassist of The Presidents of the United States of America.
History
Ballew's first brush with children's music came in 2002, when he record ...
.
In 2020, the band used
Kickstarter to re-issue their
self-titled debut album for the 25th anniversary of its original release as a green-colored vinyl. Different pledge tier levels were available that provided extras such as the ability to get the LP signed, anniversary t-shirts, enamel pins, etc. The LP used the remaster that was initially used on the 2004 10th anniversary release.
On 6 December 2022, the band announced a limited-edition vinyl reissue of their demo tape ''Froggystyle''.
Musical style
The Presidents of the United States of America have been most frequently described as
alternative rock
Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from mainstream or commerci ...
,
and
pop-punk
Pop punk (or punk pop) is a rock music genre that combines elements of punk rock with power pop or pop. It is defined for its emphasis on classic pop songcraft, as well as adolescent and anti- suburbia themes, and is distinguished from other p ...
.
They have also been described as
post-grunge
Post-grunge is a derivative of grunge that has a less abrasive or intense tone than traditional grunge. Originally, the term was used almost pejoratively to label mid-1990s rock bands such as Bush, Candlebox and Collective Soul that emulated th ...
.
Although they have been fairly consistently labelled as
grunge by the media, ''The New York Times'' at the time of their debut in 1995, considered them "an antidote to the misery and self-absorption of grunge". The Washington Post claimed that the band, "without a hint of angst", "have revived the pleasures of pure pop."
Band members
*
Chris Ballew – lead vocals, bass (1993–2016)
*
Dave Dederer – guitar, backing vocals (1993–2005)
*
Jason Finn – drums, backing vocals (1993–2016)
* Andrew McKeag – guitar, backing vocals (2005–2016)
Timeline
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bar:cb text:"Chris Ballew"
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Discography
Studio albums
* ''
The Presidents of the United States of America'' (1995)
* ''
II'' (1996)
* ''
Freaked Out and Small'' (2000)
* ''
Love Everybody'' (2004)
* ''
These Are the Good Times People'' (2008)
* ''
Kudos to You!'' (2014)
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Presidents Of The United States, The
1993 establishments in Washington (state)
Alternative rock groups from Washington (state)
American musical trios
American grunge groups
American post-grunge musical groups
American punk rock groups
Columbia Records artists
C/Z Records artists
Musical groups established in 1993
Musical groups disestablished in 1998
Musical groups reestablished in 2000
Musical groups disestablished in 2002
Musical groups reestablished in 2003
Musical groups disestablished in 2015
Musical groups from Seattle
PopLlama Records artists
Pop punk groups from Washington (state)
Sony Music artists
Tooth & Nail Records artists