Presidents - Back for another term
» The Presidents return for three special shows - September 5, 2005
» The Presidents of the USA - Hi-Fi, The, VIC - October 25, 2006
» The Presidents of the USA - Metro Theatre, The, NSW - October 22, 2006
» Presidents - Back for another term - February 20, 2006
With their first album in nine years Love Everybody and an Australian tour booked in March, it looks as if The Presidents of the United States are back for another term. Naked Dwarf recently caught up with Chris Ballew to talk break ups, reformations and the blessing of irrelevance.
Throughout the 1990's PUSA enjoyed enormous success championing their unique brand of absurdist rock. Their break up nine years ago took many by surprise.
“We lost perspective," Ballew explaines, "the selling of the music overshadowed the making and playing of it...we lost sight of what made us great and got mad at the whole thing...so we had to step off and get back that healthy perspective...and it worked,” he says.
This new perspective created food for thought for PUSA, Ballew explains the process of reforming.
“The opportunity to play again came up from time to time but the answer seemed to always be NO. Then one day when Krist Novoselic asked us to back him up at an award show as PUSA the answer seemed to be YES....that's it....the rest was baby steps toward touring and a new record...just felt right...”
With a clutch of new songs from Ballew’s impressive library, PUSA hit the studios during 2004 and recorded Love Everybody their first album in nine years. In an unusual move for a group with such an illustrious recent history, PUSA decided to circumvent the mainstream record industry by forming their own eponymous record label.
“[It was about] wanting to say YES to a plan we create rather than NO to a plan that a major label creates,” Ballew says.
Despite the nine-year hiatus, PUSA’s distinctive style has remained intact.
"I have been doing this kind of music forever," Ballew says, "it just caught on at the right time. Just good songs inspired by the Beatles but with lyrics that are mine and mine alone to make it unique. Each song tries to be another genre. I try to write a Kiss song or a Boston song or a Nirvana song or a Pixies song and they come out PUSA songs.”
So where exactly do PUSA fit in the music industry in 2006?
Ballew is refreshingly non-plussed.
“I have no idea and I don’t care...irrelevance is a blessing.”
Whilst Ballew may see PUSA 2006 as irrelevant, the popularity of the singles ‘Some Postman’ and ‘Love Everybody’ and the buzz surrounding their March tour, proves that not only is the time right for the return of PUSA, its as if they never really left.
