photo by nathcos
Chris Ballew - Band History:
- in chronological order -| Creepy Stick (aka David and the Overtones) 1975-2005 |
| Chris Ballew - Vocals, Guitar, Piano Dave Thiele - Drums |
Chris Ballew's first "band" Creepy Stick (aka David and The Overtones) was formed in 1975. Featuring Chris on piano at age 10 and childhood friend Dave Thiele on Sears Drum Kit at age 6. They had one song.... "David and the Overtones". One line up was electrified 3 string acoustic guitar and drums and sax. One line up was 4 string bass and drums. One line up was 2 string guitar and 3 string guitar. They played loft parties until dawn and on the street for change. It took 30 years before first album "Creepy Stick" saw the light of day. Song "David and The Overtones" still remains unreleased.
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| Asleep Standing (1986-1987) |
| Chris Ballew - Guitar, Vocals Dale Peyser - ? Emily Duff - Bass |
| Chris Ballew's college band. On a side note: They used to play "Love Delicatessen" often live.
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| The Dukes O'Pop (1987-?) |
| C. Ballew - Guitar, Piano, Violin D. Thiele - Chamer Dulcimer D. Dederer - Guitar Hero P. Franklin - Guitar, Drums I. Sterling - Bass T. Ballew - Little Baby |
| Band recorded a cassette "Toy Surprise" (limited to 50 copies). Some of the ideas and songs included in this cassette, were later used on various PUSA recordings. |
EGG (1987-1990)
 photo from left to right: Dale Peyser, Chris Ballew, Phil Franklin |
| Chris Ballew - Vocals, Guitar Phil Franklin - Drums Llyod Dyson (1988-1989) Dale Peyser - Bass (1989) |
| Egg first started as a street band by Phil and Chris. Egg also recorded handfull of cassettes, which are in limited circulation. |
| Balls (1990-1991) |
| Chris Ballew - Electric Bass, FX Pedals Mark Brooks - Electric Bass, Voice Greg Wildes - Detuned Electric Bass Phil Franklin - Drums and Percussion |
| Jam band. Two live jam tracks ended up on a vinyl: "We Will Grow On You".
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| Supergroup (199?-1995) |
| Chris Ballew - Vocals, 2-String Bass Mark Sandman - Vocals, Tritar, Guitar |
| "Once upon a time in a beantown called Boston, Chris Ballew was a street busker/musician who was befriended by a tall guy named Mark Sandman. They became friends and were roommates for six months. They played once a week at the Plough and Stars. They named their weekly gig Supergroup. The whole idea behind Supergroup was that they would come up with the song names while having a beer before the gig. Then they would make up the songs onstage during their show. Occasionally Mark or Chris would call out a Super Challenge- i.e. shout out words on stage and the other one had to make up a song on the spot using those words. Sometime during my show I am going to squeeze in some Supergroup."
Cecily They also released a 7" single "Supergroup". |
| Caspar (1991-1996) |
| Chris Ballew - Vocals, Guitar, Bass, Drums, Keyboards |
| Solo project. |
| Go! (1991-1993) |
| Dave Dederer - Guitar, Vocals Chris Ballew - Guitar, Vocals Dave Thiele - Drums, Vocals (1991-1992) |
| "Jason Finn saw the last Go! show, at The Crocodile Cafe, and for
two years begged to be in whatever the next band Chris and I would be
forming...which led to his joining PUSA in late 1993" - Dave Dederer |
| Dynamic Duo (1993) |
| Chris Ballew - Vocals, Basitar Dave Dederer - Guitbass |
| Duo by Chris and Dave. They played live show(s) under this name in 1993. |
| The Lo-Fis (1993) |
| Chris Ballew - Vocals, Basitar Dave Dederer - Guitbass |
| Duo by Chris and Dave. They played live show(s) under this name in 1993. |
| Pure Frosting (1993) |
| Chris Ballew - Vocals, Basitar Dave Dederer - Guitbass |
| Duo by Chris and Dave. They played live show(s) under this name in 1993. PUSA also named their B-side collection album as "Pure Frosting". |
| The Presidents Of The United States Of America (1993-present) |
| Chris Ballew - Vocals, Basitar, Keyboard Dave Dederer - Guitbass, Vocals (1993-2004) Jason Finn - Drums, Vocals Andrew McKeag - Guitbass, Vocals (2004-present) |
| Also known as PUSA/PotUSA/The Presidents Of The USA. more info: website |
| Beck (1994) |
| Beck - Vocals, Guitar Calvin Jonhson Sam Jayne James Bertram Scott Plouf Mario Prietto Chris Ballew - Vocals, Bass, Banjo |
| Chris played bass on Beck's album "One Foot in the Grave" and was also member of Beck's touring band in 1994. |
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Caspar And Mollüsk (1994) |
| Chris Ballew (Caspar) - Guitar, Vocals Beck (Mollüsk) - Noise, Vocals |
| Prior to the Mellow Gold tour, Chris Ballew was staying at Beck's house in East LA and they would spend time recording on Beck's 4 track. On one of these occasions, Chris was recording a song about Beck being a "twig in the wind", when Beck came out of his bedroom, grabbed the mic and started making some noise. This is the end-product. Chris later re-recorded "Twig" formally with his next band The Presidents of the United States of America. |
Chris & Tad (1998-present)
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| Chris Ballew - Vocals, Guitar, Keyboard Tad Hutchison - Drums |
| Duo that first started as "Starter Kit", but there was already a band called Starter Kit out there. So they called themselves as "The Band Almost Known As Starter Kit", "The Chris And Tad Show" and "Woop". |
| The Giraffes (1998-present) |
| Chris Ballew - All instruments Mike Musburger - Drums Jason Staczek - ? |
| The Giraffes started as a one man band, but later turned into a full-time band including drummer Mike Musburger (Fastbacks, Posies, Uptights), and multi-instrumentalist Jason Staczek. |
SUbSET (1998-2000) |
| Sir Mix-A-Lot - Vocals Chris Ballew - Vocals, Bass, Keyboard Dave Dederer - Guitar, Bass Jason Finn - Drums |
| "SUbSET was a much-anticipated collaboration between Seattle rapper Sir Mix-a-Lot and grunge jokesters the Presidents of the United States of America, albeit one that never quite got off the ground.
The seeds of SUbSET were first planted circa 1997, with a collaborative Jimi Hendrix cover the original purpose. Instead, Mix and the Presidents --
guitarist Dave Dederer, bassist Chris Ballew, and drummer Jason Finn -- eventually worked on a bit of original material, drawing from their collective disillusionment with the music industry.
Mix brought the Presidents on-stage to perform the result, "Addicted to the Fame," at a live gig in Seattle in 1998. The crowd went wild, and the quartet decided to pursue their unlikely new direction further,
eventually christening themselves SUbSET. They played several showcase gigs in Seattle, and also recorded approximately one album's worth of material over 1999, provoking intense curiosity even beyond their
own respective fan bases. SUbSET mounted a small-scale tour of the West Coast in early 2000, but unfortunately split up in its wake. Part of the reason was a lack of enthusiasm for the process of putting out
and supporting a record, and musical differences also played a part (Mix wanted to experiment with alternative metal and industrial sounds).
To date, none of the band's recordings have been officially released, though many have been leaked on the Internet." Steve Huey, All Music Guide
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The Tycoons (1998-1999) |
| Chris Ballew - Vocals, Bass, Drums, Keyboard Gavin Guss - Vocals, Piano, Drums Phil Hurley - Vocals, Guitar, Drums, Tambourine |
| The Tycoons, a 3 piece "super group" featuring Phil Hurley, Gavin Guss and Chris Ballew. All three musicians took turns playing each of the instruments. Released an official CD EP "Is It Christmas Yet?" |
| The Quitters (1998-2000) |
| Chris Ballew - Vocals, Bass, Keyboard Dave Dederer - Guitar Jason Finn - Drums |
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Name Quitters appeared first time on Jason Finn's drum kit on the "Video Killed The Radio Star" video back in 1998. It was a reference about the Presidents quitting,
but on 24th January 2000, mysterious song: "The Quitters - Jupiter" appeared on Musicblitz website. It was meant to be an one-off reunion to make a favor to an old friend that worked on Musicblitz,
but later on it lead to a whole new PUSA album. "They quickly found out they couldn't use that name (The Quitters) and have reverted back to using The Presidents. "I liked the Quitters but apparently there's some band in Syracuse New York called The Quitters and they are extremely fond of their name. They found out we were using it and told us in no uncertain terms to stop. We liked the names The Quitters and if they hadn't of called us on it we would have kept using it" Dave said." When the full album was done, the band wanted a new label in Australia, and they would really liked it to be Sony. Things might have gone wrong in the US, but the Presidents always liked the way how Sony Australia worked. Dave even wanted the band to tour Australia, but Chris wasn't interested. |
The Feelings Hijackers (aka T.F.H) (2005-present)
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| Chris Ballew - Vocals Outtasite - Vocals |
| Acoustadelic campfire rap-along. more info: website |
The Iconics (2007-?)
 photo by nnlove |
| Chris Ballew - Vocals, Dave Dederer - Guitar Andrew McKeag - Guitar Mike Musburger - Drums Jeff Fielder - ? Ty Bailie - ? |
| Seattle all-star band the Iconics |
Caspar Babypants (2008-)
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| Chris Ballew |
| "Caspar Babypants makes simple sing along music for baby brains and parent ears. Caspar Babypants is also known as Chris Ballew, lead singer of the rock and roll band The Presidents of the United States of America." - Caspar Babypants
more info: website |