Masked Mystery Band President Drop First Song, Fans Know Singer

After months of speculation, we have the first new song from the masked mystery band President and it not only has fans hyped for their upcoming live debut at Download, but universally seemingly identifying the singer of the group as well.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a new President and they were blowing up the internet Thursday night (May 15) with the release of the new song “In the Name of the Father.”

The first tease of the band came earlier this year coinciding with the reveal that they had landed a coveted spot on the Download Festival. Immediately gathering context clues from the sound, the masks, the video and all things associated with the teaser, fans started to formulate ideas about who might be taking part in President.

Much of the early speculation centered on it being a spinoff of some kind of Download headliners Sleep Token given the nature of the snippet of the music and finding a tie between the bands in the production company that created their website and their respective management.

Others noted a similarity to Deftones and the Chino Moreno-led side band Crosses given the illuminated signage within the teaser. But perhaps neither of those guesses was correct.

Either way, the anticipation for President’s first song has been building since the first teaser dropped and social media was in a frenzy to weigh in on the new band.

Check out their first song, “In the Name of the Father,” below.

President, “In the Name of the Father”

What People Are Saying about President’s “In the Name of the Father”

It appears that fans are jumping on the President bandwagon early. A majority of the comments are not only positive, but also filled with promise that the group could become one of the biggest things in music.

In the YouTube comments for the video, one person posted, “IN 10 years from now. I can say i was here. I started at the beginning. Join me with a thumbs up. Well done gents this is amazing.” Another offered, “I don’t think there’s been this many people for the literal first release of a band.”

READ MORE: The ‘Big 4’ of Masked Rock + Metal Bands

Elsewhere in the YouTube comments, one listener noted, “It’s a mixture of Deftones, Sleep Token, Northlane and 2010s pop music. This is insane combo and they really pulled it off. Damn. This is going to be huge.”

Another added, “Okay, if this is the type of music we will be getting from this band then I’m completely in! This blew me away,” while a third commented, “His pop sensibilities when he sings are going to make for some incredible choruses later on, I can already see it.”

On the X social media platform, fans were equally impressed. “The band “President” is going to be huge in the metal world, mark my words,” noted one person. “So did we all just find our new favorite band,” asked another.

“I don’t care what people are saying but @president_band go fucking hard brought a tshirt already can’t wait to hear what else comes from them,” added yet another listener. “I HAVE FUCKING GOOSE BUMPS. YALL I FOUND MY NEW FAVORITE BAND,” concluded another.

But not everyone was on board. “Listen I don’t care if you enjoy a certain band or song or not but what I’ll tell you is that president song is probably the worst song I’ve ever listened to,” shared one person on X.

“Not going to lie…. still reeling from the disappointment of President last night. Not as big as I’d hoped. Was really thinking the whole band would be talented icons but all electronic with a very, although good – recognisable voice. Just image and hype,” remarked another person.

A third offered, “Call me a negative nancy but, that president band isn’t even great. can we let go of the masked singer gimmick? its so corny.”

President Listeners Are Pretty Sure They Recognize the Singer

Though he’s been masked throughout all the teasers and the new music video for “In the Name of the Father,” a large portion of those commenting on social media are pretty certain they’ve identified Charlie Simpson as the vocalist for President.

“I get President is supposed to be an anonymous band, but the vocals give it away,” remarked one person on the X platform.

“@CharlieSimpson did you really think we would get that it’s you from the moment you sang #presidentband,” added another person.

“Holy shit the singer of President is Charlie Simpson. I can recognize that voice anywhere,” added a third, revealing, “For those who don’t know, he was in a band called Fightstar and he won a season of Masked Singer.”

“I knew it was gonna be Charlie Simpson. I was never in doubt baby,” added a fourth.”

Meanwhile, in the YouTube video comments, one person offered, “It’s so good to hear Charlie’s voice in a heavy setting again, long time Fightstar fan so this is a dream for me!” Another added, “First Busted, Then Fightstar and now President, you just keep bringing us the goodies.”

“Good to see Charlie has still got it. He must have saw the PR genius of sleep token and thought to himself ‘I need me a piece of that.’ Good song though,” added another.

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For those not familiar, Charlie Simpson has been a member of the U.K. pop-punk outfit Busted. The band’s self-titled debut was issued in 2002 and they’ve released four studio albums with the most recent being 2019’s Half Way There.

Simpson has also been a longtime member of the U.K. post-hardcore band Fightstar. They got started with 2006’s Grand Unification album and have also issued four albums in total with 2015’s Behind the Devil’s Back being their most recent offering.

In 2023, Simpson competed in the fourth season of the U.K. version of The Masked Singer. Following the show, he issued the Kitaru EP consisting of songs he sang during the competition.

The next step in the reveal of President will be the band making their live concert debut at the 2025 Download Festival. The group is set to play the Dogtooth Stage at 4:25PM on June 15.