{"id":3623,"date":"2016-04-25T16:14:01","date_gmt":"2016-04-25T16:14:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/marmoset-journal.flywheelsites.com\/2016-4-interview-with-chris-ballew-of-caspar-babypants\/"},"modified":"2026-06-02T16:53:34","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T23:53:34","slug":"interview-with-chris-ballew-of-caspar-babypants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.marmosetmusic.com\/journal\/interview-with-chris-ballew-of-caspar-babypants\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview with Chris Ballew"},"content":{"rendered":"<div\n        class=\"\n          image-block-outer-wrapper\n          layout-caption-hidden\n          design-layout-inline\n        \"\n        data-test=\"image-block-inline-outer-wrapper\"\n    ><\/p>\n<figure\n            class=\"\n              sqs-block-image-figure\n              intrinsic\n            \"\n            style=\"max-width:100%;\"\n        ><\/p>\n<div\n                style=\"padding-bottom:75.0%;\"\n              class=\"\n                image-block-wrapper\n                has-aspect-ratio\n              \"\n              data-animation-role=\"image\"\n  data-animation-override\n          ><br \/>\n            <noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/marmosetmusic.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/83_image-asset.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"thumb-image lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/marmosetmusic.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/83_image-asset.png\" data-image=\"https:\/\/marmosetmusic.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/83_image-asset.png\" data-image-dimensions=\"1024x768\" data-image-focal-point=\"0.5,0.5\" alt=\"\" data-load=\"false\" data-image-id=\"571e32972b8ddefbf16dd9ea\" data-type=\"image\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" \/>\n          <\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n<h1>Field Notes Interview #83: Chris Ballew (of Caspar Babypants &amp; Presidents of the United States of America)<\/h1>\n<h3><em>We chat with Marmoset artist and frontman of <\/em><a href=\"#\"><em>Presidents of the United States<\/em><\/a><em><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=_sj_U6vObUA\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> of America<\/a>, Chris Ballew, about this transition to writing children&#8217;s music (as <\/em><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/marmosetmusic.com\/artists\/caspar-babypants\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em>Caspar Babypants<\/em><\/a><em>), approaching music like a painter, uncovering the secret history of nursery rhymes, and of course, The Beatles.<\/em><\/h3>\n<h3>Move over, Raffi.<\/h3>\n<h2><span style=\"font-size:20px\">There is no separation between talking with Chris Ballew and listening to his music. His art is conversational to the core, and that&#8217;s the point &#8212; it&#8217;s all about connection. Ballew will be the first to tell you that he&#8217;s much more at ease shedding the life of playing arenas in his past project and trading it with playing in a library. For him, it&#8217;s all about having an experience with his audience &#8212; who just happen to be between the ages of 0-5. &nbsp;With 10 albums under his belt and two more already written and waiting to be recorded, Ballew is always creating and weaving together fantastic storylines with stomping bears, or playful ants. The most amazing part is that while the song is playing, the stories feel as real as anything outside your front door. You are transported.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2><span style=\"font-size:20px\">We chatted with Ballew on the phone so you can get to know him in his own words. <\/span><em>Enjoy<\/em><span style=\"font-size:20px\">.<\/span><\/h2>\n<hr \/>\n<h2><strong>Marmoset: When did you start playing music? Why music over any other art form?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<h2><span style=\"font-size:20px\"><strong>Chris Ballew:<\/strong> First, the earth was a ball of molten lava, and then I got <\/span><em>Sgt. Pepper&#8217;s [Lonely Hearts Club Band]<\/em><span style=\"font-size:20px\"> when I was two and half. Pretty much everything in between those two events is not a big deal. I just totally went crazy for it. It\u2019s all I listened to basically from when I was two and a half until I was 10 &#8212; I didn\u2019t even know there were other bands in the world.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2><span style=\"font-size:20px\">That record is so visual and vivid. It\u2019s not an ego record, it\u2019s not brooding. Its mission is to entertain and tell stories and paint pictures. As a little kid, that just went off like gangbusters in my brain. I saw the songs, I hallucinated the songs when I listened to the record. I would listen to the record every day at least once &#8212; it just became completely knitted into my sense of how people express themselves. Every adjective I could use to describe <\/span><em>Sgt. Peppers<\/em><span style=\"font-size:20px\"> is what I want people to use to describe the music I make.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2><span style=\"font-size:20px\">Overall, as I\u2019ve surfed the wide world of musical possibilities, I just kept coming back to the atmosphere of that record. I did the rock band thing, did the Presidents [of the United States of America], which was fantastic and successful, but it didn\u2019t have that wide palette. As a band, you\u2019re locked into the people that you\u2019re performing with. The Beatles managed to expand their palette as a band, but we were not The Beatles. We didn\u2019t have the daring or the vision as a three piece to explore that, so I got frustrated. I\u2019m only painting with primary colors here &#8212; I want the entire spectrum.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2><span style=\"font-size:20px\">I started tinkering around on the side and figured out how to achieve my goals without the rock band. It eventually led me to making music for little kids, and it has completely satisfied every need as an artist. I get to sort of revisit my initial experience &#8212; the doorway into how vivid music can be &#8212; by making music for kids that were my age when I discovered it. I\u2019m trying to be their <\/span><em>Sgt. Pepper&#8217;s.<\/em><span style=\"font-size:20px\"> <\/span><\/h2>\n<h2><strong>M: What\u2019s a key songwriting element when you know a song has a visual component to it?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<h2><span style=\"font-size:20px\">CB:<\/span><strong> <\/strong><span style=\"font-size:20px\">I\u2019ve learned how to be really ruthless with my lyrics. I feel it working when I see it. If I can think of what the song is about, the picture the song\u2019s trying to paint, and everything supports that, then the song is done.<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>   <iframe data-src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/8uQDqo69BCA?wmode=opaque&amp;enablejsapi=1\" height=\"480\" width=\"854\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" class=\"lazyload\" data-load-mode=\"1\"><br \/>\n<\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2><strong>M: Is there an intentionality of keeping everything local?<\/strong><span style=\"font-size:20px\"> <\/span><\/h2>\n<h2><span style=\"font-size:20px\">CB: Quality of life &#8212; it\u2019s a decision, after 20 years as a rock band. We didn\u2019t even tour as much as people think &#8212; we were lightweights. The longest we were on the road was nine weeks.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2><span style=\"font-size:20px\">The music the Presidents became famous for was written during a very simple time of life. All I was doing was hanging out with my friends, smoking a bowl, playing frisbee and jamming. That made things real simple and easy, and out of that ease came all of the joy in the songs. The joy in the songs became the mechanism for our fame, which took us away from the simple life and joy in the songs in the first place. It was a weird catch 22, like being told, \u201cSorry, you can\u2019t have the simple life anymore&#8230; and you have to be on a bus.\u201d<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2><span style=\"font-size:20px\">Things for us got really complicated. All of sudden we were in charge of a multinational corporation and had contracts and decisions to make. That stuff is hard, because the cultural attitude about fame is that it\u2019s easy and everybody who says it isn\u2019t is a whiner. Fame is a weird meat grinder where starry-eyed children go in and lumps of depressed meat go out.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2><span style=\"font-size:20px\">I wanted to leave right away, I wanted to break up immediately, but couldn\u2019t convince the other guys. We had a good long run, though. I just like things that are a little weirder than a rock band. I\u2019d much rather do what I\u2019m doing now in a fluorescent-lit library meeting room on a Tuesday to 150 children. It\u2019s more challenging, fun and visceral to me than playing grownup shows in rock clubs. There\u2019s a point where you\u2019re playing to 50,000 people and you can\u2019t have an experience with them &#8212; you\u2019re just providing the notes and songs. I need to play something that feels alive. With Caspar Babypants, I don\u2019t even have a set list, and ride the energy of the audience. Playing solo, I get to decide when to change the vibe.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2><strong>M: Was it an easy transition to go solo? What were some of your first experiences?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<h2><span style=\"font-size:20px\">CB: Playing solo was very hard and disorienting. It took me hundreds of shows to feel solid. I\u2019ve played 850 Caspar shows, and I probably only got my sea legs after 500 shows. I\u2019ve got it now and feel comfortable at it. For me, writing songs is like being a painter or a sculptor. I\u2019m adding and carving away and constantly shifting and moving pieces. If I get far down the line and I realize a guitar part isn\u2019t helping the overall purpose of the song, I\u2019d like to erase it. In a band setting, you hurt someone\u2019s feelings doing that. I\u2019m so in service to the song coming to life that I\u2019m not afraid of cutting out things like the guitar in the mixing process. I\u2019ll get into what Nancy Wilson from Heart calls a \u201cmute party,\u201d and figure out how little I can get away with and make it work. I find this process more conducive to being alone and work more like a painter. Music has this social component, but that doesn\u2019t really work for me. I work better as a solo painter.<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>   <iframe data-src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/XVJyrqnJKA0?wmode=opaque&amp;enablejsapi=1\" height=\"480\" width=\"854\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" class=\"lazyload\" data-load-mode=\"1\"><br \/>\n<\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2><strong>M: What space do you create for yourself to write?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<h2><span style=\"font-size:20px\">CB: It\u2019s changed over the years. A few albums in, I got more serious about researching old public domain songs and updating them. For this new record, I rewrote and researched \u201cPop Goes the Weasel\u201d and found that \u201cweasel\u201d was slang for a coat, like a heavy winter coat. This meant that you&#8217;re losing buttons on your coat and it\u2019s falling apart. It was a hard knock life song about living in London in mid 1800\u2019s. It\u2019s about drinking your pay away and being poor. So I changed it to be about a wonder band in the 60\u2019s who hit a rise to fame and then a crash trying to keep up with The Beatles. I brought back the hard luck story, but kept the fun in it.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2><span style=\"font-size:20px\">Lately, I\u2019ve been into pre-production, keeping a folder of all my songs that aren\u2019t working yet. When I have time on my hands, like when taking my daughter to a sports event where I have to wait for an hour, I bring the folder and I pick a song and I just stare at it for a long time and ask questions about it. Is it an anthem? A lullaby? I give it a lot of consideration before starting it. Some songs just fall from the sky. I try to be in the studio every day, but I try not to force it.<\/span><\/h2>\n<div\n        class=\"\n          image-block-outer-wrapper\n          layout-caption-hidden\n          design-layout-inline\n        \"\n        data-test=\"image-block-inline-outer-wrapper\"\n    ><\/p>\n<figure\n            class=\"\n              sqs-block-image-figure\n              intrinsic\n            \"\n            style=\"max-width:100%;\"\n        ><\/p>\n<div\n                style=\"padding-bottom:56.25%;\"\n              class=\"\n                image-block-wrapper\n                has-aspect-ratio\n              \"\n              data-animation-role=\"image\"\n  data-animation-override\n          ><br \/>\n            <noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/marmosetmusic.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/pie106_casper_background.jpg\" alt=\"pie106_casper_background.jpg\" \/><\/noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"thumb-image lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/marmosetmusic.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/pie106_casper_background.jpg\" data-image=\"https:\/\/marmosetmusic.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/pie106_casper_background.jpg\" data-image-dimensions=\"1280x720\" data-image-focal-point=\"0.5,0.5\" alt=\"pie106_casper_background.jpg\" data-load=\"false\" data-image-id=\"571642f8b09f95a12b468f08\" data-type=\"image\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" \/>\n          <\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n<h2><strong>M: Do you find yourself having to be a researcher in a lot of your songs, uncovering weighted history to a lot of these seemingly innocent children\u2019s songs?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<h2><span style=\"font-size:20px\">CB: They\u2019re all political cartoons. In the late 1700s, it was common for people to make fun of royalty, but it could be a dangerous affair if you stood on a box somewhere criticizing the king and queen. So people made up little rhymes in the form of children songs to make fun of royalty without them knowing it. Which makes me think that I should make a modern song making fun of Trump [laughs]. Mostly what I\u2019m doing is taking out the darkness of the historic intensity and reimagining the songs. I\u2019ve read a lot of great books on the secret history of nursery rhymes.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2><strong>M: Continuing this tradition of storytelling? In what way do you feel like you\u2019re adding something different to this lineage?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<h2><span style=\"font-size:20px\">CB: More than something different, I\u2019m thinking of a continuation. Music used to pass through society in a more plastic way than it does now. You\u2019d hear a song, a barn hoe-down, then bring it back and adapt it to play to your community and sing it for them and it kept repeating that process to the next community. I\u2019m fascinated with the songs that we still know from that time &#8212; they have integrity and survived that time when music was passed from hand to hand. It\u2019s just a natural way that music should flow in the world.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2><span style=\"font-size:20px\">There&#8217;re some people that do traditional songs very reverently, and I think it\u2019s a disservice to the lineage of how traditional music should be flowing, because it\u2019s public domain, and free to translate into your own vision.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2><span style=\"font-size:20px\">I stumbled into a bar in Boston in 1991 and this guy [\u201cSpider\u201d John Koerner] is playing in the back of the bar &#8212; basically being ignored &#8212; but playing these old songs about animals. I used to think songs about animals weren\u2019t as important and deep as what I was trying to write about human relationships. Then I walk in and I\u2019m like \u201cWhoa, he\u2019s playing these old songs with integrity, and they\u2019re about animals?!\u201d When it came time to write kids music, I returned to his interpretations of old songs. He gives them a groove with subtle updates. I use him as a benchmark for quality in my own music.<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>   <iframe data-src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Rw4btcjjh74?wmode=opaque&amp;enablejsapi=1\" height=\"480\" width=\"854\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" class=\"lazyload\" data-load-mode=\"1\"><br \/>\n<\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2><strong>M: So check out \u201cSpider\u201d John Koerner and dust off <em>Sgt. Pepper&#8217;s.<\/em> Done. <\/strong><\/h2>\n<h2>CB: Yes, there\u2019s your assignment.&nbsp;<\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"\n  summary-block-wrapper\n  summary-block-collection-type-blog\n  summary-block-setting-text-size-medium\n  summary-block-setting-text-align-left\n  summary-block-setting-design-carousel\n  summary-block-setting-design-list-thumbnail-left\n  summary-block-setting-metadata-position-below-content\n  summary-block-setting-primary-metadata-date\n  summary-block-setting-secondary-metadata-none\n  summary-block-setting-show-thumbnail\n  summary-block-setting-show-title\n  summary-block-setting-show-price\n  summary-block-setting-show-excerpt\n  sqs-gallery-design-carousel\n  \"\n><\/p>\n<div class=\"summary-item-list-container sqs-gallery-container\">\n<header class=\"summary-block-header\">\n      <!-- Collection Title --><\/p>\n<div class=\"summary-heading\" data-animation-role=\"content\">\n          <span class=\"summary-header-text\">You May Also 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--><\/p>\n<div class=\"\n          summary-item\n          summary-item-record-type-text\n          sqs-gallery-design-carousel-slide\n           summary-item-has-thumbnail\n          summary-item-has-cats\n          summary-item-has-tags\n          summary-item-has-author\n          summary-item-has-comments-enabled\n          \"\n          ><br \/>\n            <!-- Thumbnail --><\/p>\n<div class=\"summary-thumbnail-outer-container\">\n<div class=\"summary-thumbnail img-wrapper\" data-animation-role=\"image\">\n        <!-- Main Image --><br \/>\n        <img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/marmosetmusic.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/journal-01.jpg\" data-image=\"https:\/\/marmosetmusic.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/journal-01.jpg\" data-image-dimensions=\"2500x1250\" data-image-focal-point=\"0.5,0.5\" alt=\"Music for Non-Profit Projects: Optimistic Future Mixtape\"  data-load=\"false\" class=\"summary-thumbnail-image lazyload\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" \/>\n      <\/div>\n<p>    <!-- Products: Quick View -->\n  <\/div>\n<div class=\"summary-content sqs-gallery-meta-container\" data-animation-role=\"content\">\n            <!-- Metadata (Above Title) --><\/p>\n<div class=\"summary-metadata-container summary-metadata-container--above-title\">\n<div class=\"summary-metadata summary-metadata--primary\">\n\t<!-- Timestamp --><br \/>\n\t<time class=\"summary-metadata-item summary-metadata-item--date\" datetime=\"2020-05-15\">May 15, 2020<\/time>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"summary-metadata summary-metadata--secondary\">\n<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>              <!-- Title --><\/p>\n<div class=\"summary-title\">\n                Music for Non-Profit Projects: Optimistic Future Mixtape<\/div>\n<p>            <!-- Metadata (Below Title) --><\/p>\n<div class=\"summary-metadata-container summary-metadata-container--below-title\">\n<div class=\"summary-metadata summary-metadata--primary\">\n\t<!-- Timestamp --><br \/>\n\t<time class=\"summary-metadata-item summary-metadata-item--date\" datetime=\"2020-05-15\">May 15, 2020<\/time>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"summary-metadata summary-metadata--secondary\">\n<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>            <!-- Metadata (Below Content) --><\/p>\n<div class=\"summary-metadata-container summary-metadata-container--below-content\">\n<div class=\"summary-metadata summary-metadata--primary\">\n\t<!-- Timestamp --><br \/>\n\t<time class=\"summary-metadata-item summary-metadata-item--date\" datetime=\"2020-05-15\">May 15, 2020<\/time>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"summary-metadata summary-metadata--secondary\">\n<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> <!-- End .summary-content -->\n        <\/div>\n<p> <!-- End .summary-item -->\n    <\/div>\n<p> <!-- End .summary-item-list -->\n  <\/div>\n<p> <!-- End .summary-item-list-container -->\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Field Notes Interview #83: Chris Ballew (of Caspar Babypants &amp; Presidents of the United States&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[79],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-field-notes","has-excerpt"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marmosetmusic.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marmosetmusic.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marmosetmusic.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marmosetmusic.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marmosetmusic.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3623"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.marmosetmusic.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3623\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13519,"href":"https:\/\/www.marmosetmusic.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3623\/revisions\/13519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marmosetmusic.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marmosetmusic.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marmosetmusic.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}