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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Hail To The Chiefs Presidents Of The United States Of America Know What They Are But They Didn’t Think That Many People Would Care

Fred Shuster Los Angeles Daily News

They’re goofballs, they know they’re goofballs, and they’re proud of it.

That said, the Presidents of the United States of America, owners of the silliest band name on record, have just one favor to ask of the music business: Can’t we stay home?

You see, the Seattle trio essentially came out of nowhere last year to sell 4 million copies of their good-natured self-titled debut, originally recorded for a local indie and quickly was snapped up by Columbia after an industry buzz on the band began. To promote the album and its top-10 singles, “Lump” and “Peaches,” the group remained on the road for a full year.

“I don’t know about this idea that we have to be popular all over the world,” said Chris Ballew, the Presidents’ singer and basitarist (a two-string guitar). “I say, let’s just put out the record and let people buy it so we can have some peace. We were on tour for the last 12 months. I’d like to tour less and make it a bit more special when we do.”

The trio - which also includes ex-teacher Dave Dederer on guitbass (a three-string guitar) and former bartender Jason Finn on no-string drums - unleashed its sophomore effort, “II,” on Election Day. A string of high-energy tracks from the album, including “Mach 5,” “Supermodels,” “Puffy Little Shoes,” “Toob Amplifier” and “Froggie,” instantly began appearing on radio.

Presidents of the U.S.A., purveyors of what one critic dubbed “goofus rock,” have another hit on their hands. The album entered the Billboard 200 earlier this month at No. 31.

“I personally didn’t feel much pressure coming back, except to do a good job,” the 31-year-old Ballew said. “This record is more rocking with more distortion. We sound more like a rock band. As for creating another multimillion worldwide release, I always felt I was a successful musician anyway and everything that’s happened has been gravy.”

In 1994, Ballew was a member of Beck’s backing band, touring in support of the Silver Lake bard’s “Mellow Gold.” At the same time back home, Ballew was playing with Dederer, whom he had met years earlier in prep school, under a variety of monikers, including the Dynamic Duo and Pure Frosting. They hit on the Presidents name at a club date where the unwieldy handle cracked up the crowd.

Finn joined after seven years with Sub Pop outfit Love Battery.

“We’ve honed ourselves into a good little live band,” Ballew said. “That’s what we wanted to put across on the new record. We wanted to be excited and happy with the performances and get the right feeling. We produced ourselves because we didn’t need someone coming in to help us arrange the songs.”

Ballew, who worked as a low-level handyman before the money started pouring in, said he never had dreams of world domination.

“It’s a weird concept to me,” he said. “We’re an American band, we’re from Seattle, the whole idea of going nationwide was weird to me at first. Then, off we go to Europe, Asia and Australia. Obviously, it’s a bit of exhaustion that I’m speaking from here, but we were pleasantly surprised by the reaction to our first tour. I doubted we would be able to do our funny little club act on a nationwide scale. I’ve never been in a band that planned to be famous. I was doubtful it would work.”

The fact that the guitarists use just five guitar strings between them lends the Presidents’ sound a warm, midlevel tone. There are also appealing funk and country strains, as well as references to bugs, toys, animals and fruit, in the trio’s unabashedly radio-friendly repertoire.

“We did the same thing we did last time: That is, make a record we’re proud of and let the chips fall where they may,” Ballew said. “We’re a little clearer on getting the results we wanted to achieve because we use odd instruments. It’s been a learning process making these instruments sound good.”

At home in Seattle, where Ballew lives with his wife, “the fame thing” hasn’t overwhelmed the band.

“It’s not a huge deal here,” the singer says. “My family is pretty excited, but even they’ve mellowed out by now. I treat the fame aspect of it as just part of the job.”