<\/p>\nBy the time President made their inaugural address on Sunday June 15, the buzz had become a frenzy. Not only was the Dogtooth Stage tent completely packed, but a curious crowd was packed tight around the perimeter, as much as six or seven people deep at some points.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThat\u2019s the most nervous I\u2019ve ever been in my life,\u201d the mastermind behind President (eponymously known as \u201cPresident\u201d) admits. \u201cIt was trial by fire \u2013 but I\u2019ve noticed if you do something that\u2019s really uncomfortable and hard, and it goes well, the gratification you get from it is so much higher.\u201d<\/p>\n
Discomfort has been a key driving force behind President (the band) since the beginning. Raised in a religious household, President (the man) left religion behind as he grew older, triggering an existential crisis. The mask he wears isn\u2019t a marketing ploy; it\u2019s a physical barrier that helps him work through his issues and difficult subjects.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you\u2019re institutionalised into something and you eventually get out of it, you end up wondering, \u2018How much of this is what I think, and how much is what I was told to think?\u2019\u201d he explains. \u201cPresident is the perfect way for me to explore these feelings and not have it feel like \u2018me\u2019 who has the spotlight on them.\u201d<\/p>\n
With their masked, mysterious nature, comparisons between President and Sleep Token were almost inevitable \u2013 and that was before they\u2019d released a note of music. With In The Name Of The Father and Fearless, the band unveiled a sound that felt decidedly indebted to Vessel and co., adopting a similarly disdainful approach to genre boundaries as they mix elements of tech metal, pop and electronica.<\/p>\n
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But where Sleep Token have the deity Sleep, President are much less esoteric about their religious iconography. But while it\u2019d be easy to think of President as being a negative reaction to President\u2019s own religious upbringing, he\u2019s quick to clarify that\u2019s not the case.<\/p>\n
\u201cNone of this is anti-religion,\u201d he refutes. \u201cIt\u2019s baring the soul of the search for higher meaning. I was in a very dark place five years ago. I couldn\u2019t write about it [in other projects] because I felt too vulnerable with it all; this project has allowed me to come out of that. It\u2019s a massive journey of discovery.\u201d<\/p>\n
That journey began in earnest around Christmas 2023. Long before the idea of masks or hidden identities had arisen, President was writing lyrics for what would end up being debut single In The Name Of The Father, pouring all his anxieties and struggles with religion and God into the song. Fast forward 18 months, a massive crowd were singing those same words back at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were singing In The Name Of The Father like they\u2019d known it for 20 years,\u201d he marvels. \u201cI started crying when I came off-stage. It fucking broke me! I\u2019d written that song before I\u2019d really figured out how this was all going to fit together and play out. It was a note to myself, where I was and what I was going through.\u201d<\/p>\n
After Father\u2026, President spent the next eight months working on the rest of the songs that make up the band\u2019s debut EP, King Of Terrors. Keeping with the religious themes, the title is a biblical metaphor for death.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the ultimate marker \u2013 if there\u2019s nothing after death then that changes everything about life, and the same is true if there is something,\u201d he explains. \u201cMy uncle passed away a few years ago, and that was the first time I\u2019d had someone die who was close to me when I wasn\u2019t part of this religious thinking. It hit me really hard. So King Of Terrors sums up the journey I\u2019ve been on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although President started out as a solo project, it has since evolved into a fully fleshed band with drummer Vice, bassist Protest and guitarist Heist helping realise \u201ca collaborative vision\u201d, as the singer puts it. Speculation about the identities of its members was inevitable, but President doesn\u2019t mind. Discussing some of the more outlandish theories, he grins and waves the whole idea away. \u201cWe\u2019re never going to discuss or acknowledge our identities,\u201d he shrugs.<\/p>\n
As for the future, it\u2019s anyone\u2019s guess. The band\u2019s first headline gig sold out in minutes and early next year they\u2019ll open for Architects on a massive arena run around Europe. The singer hums thoughtfully, considering the future and decides on what he wants. \u201cPresident is therapeutic, in a way,\u201d he muses. \u201cIt\u2019s turned into this safe space to explore things I didn\u2019t think I could before. So I\u2019m going to write a full-length pretty much immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n
The King Of Terrors EP is out September 26<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A shadowy band using masks to conceal their identities. Religious iconography. A simple, tantalising statement: \u201cNo names. No…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":354694,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3936],"tags":[77,269,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-354693","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-music","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115050987122068407","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354693","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=354693"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354693\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/354694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=354693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=354693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=354693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}