THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

1993 - Concert Dates

Chris Ballew (vocals, basitar) and Dave Dederer (guitbass, vocals) began as a duo under the names The Lo-Fis, The Dynamic Duo, Go! and Pure Frosting in 1993.

Press:

"The Presidents' history can be traced to Ballew and Dederer. The two met while attending the private Bush School in Seattle, although they didn't start performing together until around 1990 when both were well out of college.

As a duo, they played covers and Ballew's quirky songs about frogs, peaches, baby chickens, bugs, sex and cars. "There's a song under every rock in Seattle," Ballew once said, and in many cases he meant that literally. The two began to build a following, even though they changed their band name nightly, if not between sets."

"One night I just called us the Presidents of the United States of America," Ballew said. "It was so preposterous, but (the name) was also perfect on so many levels. It was also really long, so we stuck with it." - Seattle Times

Interview:

Hoot: Why the name Presidents of the United States of America?

Jason Finn: It just popped out of Chris's mouth one night at a party where he was. I wasn't there, but there was a jam session, he sort of grabbed a guitar, took charge of the thing, and started saying random words. It was about the third thing he said, and the 8 stoned people or so who were in the room were like chuckles and he knew he was onto something.

kleinbl00: 'round about '93, '94, it seems like you guys were in Bellingham Every.Single.Weekend. Which leads me to believe you were Everywhere Every.Single.Weekend. How much touring did you guys do initially, and how important do you think that was in building critical mass?

Dave Dederer: We DID play Bellingham a lot before we had a record deal. I dunno -- we were huge in Seattle at that point but we couldn't get arrested in Portland, Bham, Olympia.

source: reddit.com

 Go! Poster from OK Hotel Gig. It's also the only poster "circulating" from the pre-PUSA era. Most likely there are other posters too, but not too many people are familiar with the bands like Go!, The Lo-Fis, Pure Frosting or Dynamic Duo.

Researching the old concert handbills and posters could reveal more concert dates from this era. 

Setlist

Go (Chris Ballew and Dave Dederer)

Setlist

Pure Frosting (Chris Ballew & Dave Dederer). Pure Frosting name was later used as an album title for the Presidents of the USA B-Side & Live collection in 1998.

with 5th Business (former Camper Van Beethoven) and Citizen Utilities.

Setlist

The complete band (Chris Ballew, Dave Dederer and Jason Finn) performed their first show in December of 1993 at Seattle's Romper Room. Romper Room, a lower Queen Anne bar that's now home to Hula Hula.

"In fact, 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