Chris Ballew Got Famous Singing About Peaches and Froggies. Now He Makes Music for Children.

Ballew, who you may remember from his days with Seattle post-grunge power-pop act the Presidents of the United States of America, sees his life as a quest to be, as the kids say, “#authentic.”

IMAGE: Brian Kasnyik.

To hear Chris Ballew tell it, Caspar Babypants is a sacred undertaking.

Ballew, who you may remember from his days with Seattle post-grunge power-pop act the Presidents of the United States of America, sees his life as a quest to be, as the kids say, "#authentic."

"The real search in my life has been for transparency," he says. "Transparency between who I really am inside myself and how I express that outwardly. The most transparent, clear, sustainable, relaxing, cozy place for me to live is Caspar Babypants."

Caspar Babypants is Ballew's kindie-rock project, which features songs like "Jellyfish Jones," about what a jellyfish would do if he had bones; "The Stump Hotel," about all the bugs that live in a stump; and breakout hit "Stompy the Bear," which has 850,000 views on YouTube.

Ballew, 51, says he knew shortly after signing a big label deal with the Presidents that the project was "like a metaphorical suit that was way too small." The band stuck together through 23 years and a triple-platinum album, finally calling it quits in July 2015 after playing occasional shows for the previous few years.

"I knew the Presidents wasn't quite right for me immediately when we hit," he says. "It was like, 'This is a wobbly platform that I'm standing on. It's not solid, at all. I have to get off this.' But when the pony is pooping gold, you hang onto the pony and ride it as far as you can, until the gold poop stops coming out of it."

All along, he felt a cosmic nudge to "keep digging, keep searching."

And search he did.

Ballew's side projects are many and varied, ranging from the solo instrumental act Sampladelic, consisting of sliced-up breakbeats, to the electro-rap-rock outfit the Feelings Hijackers.

My personal favorite—and the thing that convinced me Ballew is an underappreciated genius of fractured pop—was an obscure indie project called the Giraffes, which released two records, in 1998 and 2000. (For the other six Giraffes fans out there, Ballew posted a 33-song double album hours before we chatted last week on chrisballew.org.)

"I'm releasing all these old records because at the time they were kinda frustrating—it was like, 'Oh, that's great but it's not it,'" he says. "And now I found the 'it,' so I'm like, 'OK, this is going to make somebody happy somewhere.' Even if one person downloads an album for free, that's one more than zero. And it's just gathering dust on my hard drive."

After a half-dozen projects, the answer finally came to Ballew through the art of his second wife, Kate Endle, who does the twee, animal-focused illustrations for his records.

"I saw her artwork and I thought to myself, 'The music I'm trying to make comes from the same planet as that artwork,'" he says. "I really honed it toward that vibe, which is really innocent, folksy, bright, full of animals. Obviously, when I listened back, it was kids' music. It's like this giant search was over."

Related: "Portland's Best Kindie Musicians."

That, he says, has made him happier than ever, allowing him to connect with fans in a way he couldn't even when he was playing The Tonight Show and headlining Crystal Ballroom.

"My intention with music has always been, really, to help people," he says. "Specifically now, I'm helping families reduce stress, which is a huge deal to me. Especially first-time parents of little, tiny children. They're so stressed out. I get tearful parents coming up to me thanking me for saving their family."

That, of course, requires making music that works for everyone, from age 3 to 30. So far, Ballew has found regional success, including a standing weekly showcase at Top Pot Doughnuts, Seattle's answer to Pip's Original in Northeast Portland.

"I have to like it," he says. "It has to be interesting enough for me to want to work on the song, and record it and mix it and master it and then potentially play it live hundreds of times. I'm an adult with refined musical taste, so if I can tweak aspects of a Caspar Babypants song so that I'm satisfied, [listeners are] probably going to be satisfied."

Ballew will play a double matinee at Portland's Village Ballroom on Sunday. The 4 pm Caspar Babypants show is sold out, but tickets remain for the 2 pm show, with plenty of room at the bar afterward.

"We have a routine when we go down to Portland: We play the Village Ballroom doubleheader, then we go to Tin Shed for jalapeño vodka to celebrate," he says. "If any parents want to come down and party, we'll be there."

SEE IT: Caspar Babypants plays the Village Ballroom, 704 NE Dekum St., on Sunday, April 23. 2 and 4 pm (sold out). $7, children under 2 free. All ages.

Willamette Week’s reporting has concrete impacts that change laws, force action from civic leaders, and drive compromised politicians from public office. Support WW's journalism today.