Image: PRESIDENT – In the Name of the Father [YouTube, Official Video]
President recently spoke with Metal Hammer about their debut show at Download Festival, their masked identities, and their official pseudonyms. Even though we still don’t know which musicians are behind the masks, we can now at least assign each member a name. Because President make it very clear:
“We’re never going to discuss or acknowledge our identities.”
It was casually mentioned under which names the band members are now known: vocalist President, drummer Vice, bassist Protest, and guitarist Heist. What first started out as a solo project has eventually developed into a full band lineup.
Much like Sleep Token, each musician now has their own stage name. But how do President actually address the fact that they wear masks – is it just a current trend, or does it mean something more to them? Vocalist President put it this way:
“When you’re institutionalized into something and you eventually get out of it, you end up wondering, ‘How much of this is what I think, and how much is what I was told to think?’ President is the perfect way for me to explore these feelings and not have it feel like ‘me’ who has the spotlight on them.”
With these new insights, we can look forward even more to the upcoming EP King of Terrors, set to be released on September 26, 2025. The songs on this debut are also dedicated to deeply emotional themes; President are not spreading an anti-religious message, but rather focusing on the search for higher meaning:
“None of this is anti-religion. It’s baring the soul of the search for higher meaning. I was in a very dark place five years ago. I couldn’t 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’s a massive journey of discovery.”
“It’s the ultimate marker – if there’s nothing after death then that changes everything about life, and the same is true if there is something.”
"My uncle passed away a few years ago, and that was the first time I’d had someone die who was close to me when I wasn’t part of this religious thinking. It hit me really hard. So King of Terrors sums up the journey I’ve been on."
With the release and President’s ongoing journey, we can expect some deeply emotional revelations.
