The Presidents of the United States of America

The Presidents of the United States of America are a Seattle alternative rock band best known for their quirky, often nonsensical songs that defied the typical sound of most bands from the Pacific Northwest at the time. They were one of th

The Presidents of the United States of America are a Seattle alternative rock band best known for their quirky, often nonsensical songs that defied the typical sound of most bands from the Pacific Northwest at the time. They were one of the biggest groups to come from Seattle following the decline of grunge in the mid-1990s.

The band was formed in late 1993 by Chris Ballew (basitar) and Dave Dederer (guitbass). 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 hit on "The Presidents of the United States of America" while jamming with a bunch of stoned hippies in a North Seattle basement, of the names he made up on the spot that night, "The Presidents" got the biggest rise out of the 11 stoners who happened to be listening. Shortly after settling on their name, Ballew and Dederer added Jason Finn on drums; the band played their first show as a trio at Seattle's Romper Room in early December 1993. Finn was also the drummer at the time in a "real" band, Love Battery, who had recently moved from SubPop to Atlas Records, an A&M subsidiary.