{"id":448936,"date":"2025-12-15T15:45:13","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T15:45:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/448936\/"},"modified":"2025-12-15T15:45:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T15:45:13","slug":"president-respond-to-claims-theyre-an-industry-plant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/448936\/","title":{"rendered":"President respond to claims they’re an “industry plant\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

President<\/a> have hit back at claims that they are an \u201cindustry plant\u201d, and said that they actually \u201ccouldn\u2019t have planned a harder way\u201d to get their name out there.<\/p>\n

The masked metal band first came onto the scene at the start of the year, when they were added to the bill for this summer\u2019s edition of Download Festival<\/a> \u2013 despite no one knowing the identity of the members and them not having released any music at that point.<\/p>\n

With metal fans left confused by their inclusion on the line-up, President then went on to launch a cryptic countdown on their website and eventually release \u2018In The Name Of The Father\u2019 as their debut single in May.<\/p>\n

Since then, they have gone on to drop an EP called \u2018King Of Terrors\u2019, perform to a packed out crowd at Download<\/a>, head out on a headline tour, and lock in an ongoing support slot with Architects.<\/a><\/p>\n

Given the seemingly huge overnight success of the band \u2013 which fans are convinced is fronted by Charlie Simpson<\/a> \u2013 there has been some criticism from fans in recent months, with some suggesting that they could be \u201cindustry plants\u201d. The term is used to describe an artist who appears to have emerged organically, but has actually had covert backing from avenues including wealthy or well-connected family members, or from a major record label.<\/p>\n

Rumours have also been aided given President signing to Future History \u2013 the record label that also looks after this year\u2019s Download headliners, Sleep Token<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Now, the anonymous frontman of President has taken part in a new interview with Metal Hammer<\/a> to hit back at the claims that the band are an \u201cindustry plant\u201d, and insist that they have taken a long road to reach this level of success.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you blow up really quickly, it\u2019s assumed you\u2019re backed by a huge corporate machine,\u201d he told the outlet.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople find it hard to accept that something can just explode organically. But if something\u2019s getting a lot of attention, you\u2019re gonna draw equal measures of hate as you are love. I\u2019d rather people felt something than nothing at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

He then went on to explain that the huge Download set was a roll of the dice for them, and in fact meant that they \u201ccouldn\u2019t have planned a harder way to introduce President to the world\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it went wrong, it would have been a fucking disaster,\u201d he added. \u201cBut it spurred me on to rise to the challenge. And hearing everyone shouting \u2018President!\u2019 made it all worth it; when I walked offstage, I was wiping tears off of my mask. It was such an emotional moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

The band are currently out on tour in Australia on the aforementioned tour with Architects, and will be joining them again for upcoming shows in Europe and North America in 2026<\/a>. Other gigs lined up for the new year include a headline slot at Portsmouth\u2019s Takedown Festival, and a fully sold-out European headline tour<\/a>.<\/p>\n

According to Metal Hammer, the band are also underway with writing new material and planning on dropping their debut album in 2026.<\/p>\n

They are far from the first artist to have to bat off derogatory claims of being an \u201cindustry plant\u201d. Over recent years, there appears to be a rise in the number of artists being accused of not having organic growth and actually being secretly aided by big names in the industry.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Last month, former NME Cover stars Picture Parlour told us what it was like to be at the brunt end of criticism<\/a> and \u201cresentment\u201d from listeners. \u201c \u201cIt felt like [\u2026] \u2018Why is this moment being taken away? We do deserve it\u2019,\u201d frontwoman Katherine Parlour said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe back then we were scared to say, \u2018Fuck you all, we deserve this.\u2019 Because it\u2019s such a scary, overwhelming feeling to have [\u2026] everybody telling you that you don\u2019t deserve it, and this isn\u2019t meant for you.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Last Dinner Party\u2019s frontwoman, Abigail Morris, also hit back at long-running claims<\/a> that they were an industry plant, as did Lola Young, who set the record straight after it recently came to light that she is related to the author of The Gruffalo, Julia Donaldson<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In September, Cardi B<\/a> also responded to rumours that she is an industry plant intended to replace Nicki Minaj<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As for President, when the masked metallers played at The Garage this summer, their set was given a three-star review by NME<\/a>, who described it as \u201ctriumphant debut headline show\u201d but needing \u201cmore songs to sustain their hype\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter just six songs (there\u2019s no outing for \u2018Conclave\u2019 from forthcoming debut EP \u2018King Of Terrors\u2019) and 30 minutes, some of the euphoria does fall off a cliff,\u201d it read. \u201cBy announcing more headline dates only for 2026, President have perhaps bought themselves the time they need to flesh out their live show with more material. This assertive debut performance, nevertheless, has secured them our vote.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"President have hit back at claims that they are an \u201cindustry plant\u201d, and said that they actually \u201ccouldn\u2019t…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":448937,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[171,981,975,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-448936","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-metal","10":"tag-music","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=448936"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448936\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/448937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=448936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=448936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=448936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}