World Leader Pretend was a five-person rock band from New Orleans, featuring Keith Ferguson (vocals/guitar/keyboards), Parker Hutchinson (keyboards), Matt Martin (guitar), Arthur Mintz (drums), and Alex Smith (bass). The band formed in 2000, and their name came from the 5th track of the album Green by R.E.M..
Their first album, Fit For Faded was released in 2003 on Renaissance Records, a New Orleans label. In 2004, they were signed to Warner Bros. Records. An appearance at the first annual CMJ Cleveland and other North American tour dates coincided with the June 28, 2005 release of their major label debut, Punches.
The band broke up in early 2008, shortly after traveling to Seattle, Washington, to record their 2nd major release, due to "artistic differences" within the band.
Famous quotes containing the words world, leader and/or pretend:
“In our world of big names, curiously, our true heroes tend to be anonymous. In this life of illusion and quasi-illusion, the person of solid virtues who can be admired for something more substantial than his well-knownness often proves to be the unsung hero: the teacher, the nurse, the mother, the honest cop, the hard worker at lonely, underpaid, unglamorous, unpublicized jobs.”
—Daniel J. Boorstin (b. 1914)
“The exile is a singular, whereas refugees tend to be thought of in the mass. Armenian refugees, Jewish refugees, refugees from Franco Spain. But a political leader or artistic figure is an exile. Thomas Mann yesterday, Theodorakis today. Exile is the noble and dignified term, while a refugee is more hapless.... What is implied in these nuances of social standing is the respect we pay to choice. The exile appears to have made a decision, while the refugee is the very image of helplessness.”
—Mary McCarthy (1912–1989)
“You want to win him over to your side? Then pretend to be embarrassed in his presence.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)