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Part of the appeal was their contrast with the grunge movement, also with roots in Seattle, which was in full swing at the time. For those looking for an antidote to the angst-ridden anthems of the day, PUSA came along just in time. This is part of the reason why their fan base remained so solidly intact after they split in 1997. For six years, those who were hooked by PUSA’s unique brand of silly rock continued to listen to the albums – and when PUSA came to reform last year, there were thousands of people ready to welcome them back. I wanted to find out from the band what this meant to them, and how the fans have impacted on their music, as well as a few other questions that had been on my mind – so spent a couple of minutes with them before their gig in Sheffield, on the 11th August. The band’s take on things [CHRIS] “Actually, it was just four or five guys that convinced us to get back together”, he states. “You know, they emailed us, we emailed them, we talked for a bit… and they came up with this website – chrisballew.net. Then this, like, community started forming around it and they made a pretty good case for us getting back together. I had thought that each of them represented maybe a hundred other fans who didn’t get in touch, but it turns out there were more people waiting than I expected. The internet was indispensable for keeping in touch with our fans.” [ME] And what is it like doing shows for them after all this time? [CHRIS] “It’s really great… the fans are awesome. They’re good singers, too – I figure that a lot of them, you know, listened to our first albums but were too young to come to gigs, and now that we’re touring again they’ve all grown up. That’s part of the reason why so many different kinds people come to our shows, too. There’s the people who used to come to our shows and also the people that couldn’t before but can now. The UK is nice too – we never used to be able to tour like this on our old label. That was also part of the reason we reformed; now that we have the rights to our music back, we can tour wherever we like, and decide our own schedule.” [ME] Is this a temporary thing? Or are you together for some time now? [CHRIS] “You’ll never hear that we’re splitting up again, ever. We might not play for a few years some times, but we’ll always come back with something.” [ME]And what did all these groovy people make of the work you did during the time when PUSA weren’t together? [CHRIS] “I think a lot of people liked it. I did this thing called ‘The Giraffes’, which was a band I started where all the musicians were stuffed animals. It was a different sound, but I think I was getting something out of my system there. Actually I did a lot of stuff like that. I’ve been doing a lot of instrumental music too – again just exploring the wide world of music. I think it’s good to have done all that, and I’ll probably keep doing it – that way I can keep the Presidents pure and not have my experimental side creep into the music too much.” [ME] And what is it, do you think, that draws people to PUSA? [CHRIS] “Everyone is allowed to enjoy it. It doesn’t matter who you are, it’s just about enjoying yourself. And the thing about the sort of music we do is that it’s pretty different, a kind of a ‘love it or not’ thing – the people who like it don’t really find it in all that many other bands, so they get attached.” As they band needed to get ready, questions had to stop here; but one thing was becoming clear. They have a good relationship with their fans - those people who turn up to their shows and know all the words. The natural conclusion when it comes to answering the question of why their fans are so, well, fanatical, can be drawn from the gigs themselves. The band enjoy their music a lot, and it’s so good natured, so outgoing, that the audience can’t help but get involved. As stated in my review of the Sheffield and Liverpool gigs, there is a feverish atmosphere among however many people turn up; whether it be a couple of hundred people in a small room, or the 2000+ people of the Astoria. They love the band, and they really show it – and then they feed off each other’s enthusiasm. The problem is, we’re not at the conclusion yet. More than was bargained for Whilst I was happy to leave it there, having got a reasonable impression of why those people who like this band like it so much, I was about to get an even better insight as to the extent of that relationship with their fans. After the show, they invited me to talk to them a little more. It soon became apparent that they loved talking about the people at the gigs, and they knew and often met those people who spoke regularly on their website’s message board. Nothing demonstrated this enthusiasm more than the way in which they spoke to their fans waiting outside the door. PUSA gave those waiting almost as much love and attention as they received themselves; greeting them with hugs, smiles, and chats. After photos and autographs, the band promptly invited everyone out for a night on the town; although sadly the realisation that they would be travelling to Holland by bus the following day limited the invitation to just us. Even so, the penny dropped; here is a band that interacts with people, who genuinely respect those that appreciate them. The people waiting outside will have walked away feeling ready to hop straight online and relay just how well treated they were; and so the community spirit grows throughout their fan base. Indeed, having checked the discussion boards out myself, I found many references to this sort of thing. Fans that have gotten drunk with their favourite musicians, or invited backstage simply because they’d driven a way to see them. Anyone can tell that for a band who’s fan base is so internet-savvy – and make no mistake about it, they are - this is absolutely fantastic public relations. They even took a bunch of fans to the V Festival. At the end of the evening, a slightly drunken Andrew McKeag - their guitarist on tour - summed it all up: “We want to make music like this” – at this point he motions to the speakers, playing a song I was too drunk to remember – “You know, songs that appeal to all sorts of people, which mean something to people no matter who they are. Anyone who can appreciate that is cool by me. That’s one of the reasons why we like our fans so much.” The Liverpool gig
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