They moved to the country, they ate a lot of peaches and now the members of the Presidents of the United States of America are ready to rock again after a nearly six-year hiatus.

"We are doing a few little ten-date tours," said Presidents singer Chris Ballew. "We learned that going out [on tour] for weeks and weeks isn't the way for us. There is a magic element there live that we just cannot reproduce every night without taking a break to have a life and regain the energy to make it magical again."

The self-proclaimed "leaders of buoyant, absurd rock" will bring "the magic" to its all-ages show along with State College band Katsu Tuesday night at Crowbar, 420 E. College Ave.

The Presidents released its debut self-titled album in 1995, which spawned the hits "Lump" and "Peaches." In 1996, the Presidents released II, and then offered up a b-sides and rarities compilation, 1998's Pure Frosting, as its farewell release. Pure Frosting included the band's cover of "Video Killed the Radio Star" and the popular Drew Carey Show theme song, a cover of Ian Hunter's "Cleveland Rocks."

"We were burned out and tired of being on the road," Ballew said. "I wasn't feeling the magic anymore, plus my son came along. I was just glad to be done with our major label contract and move on."

Ballew pursued numerous other musical ventures while away from the Presidents, but said none of the songs were ever as strong as the songs he writes for the band. He said that the Presidents' songs are designed to make a group of people feel good, and to have a maximum impact live to make a room full of people go nuts. He said his other projects had things that were good about them, but were never as fulfilling as the Presidents' material.

"While I wasn't doing it, I didn't miss it at all," Ballew said. "We did a recording project in 2000 called Freaked Out and Small, but we never intended it to bring the band back together."

The band flirted with the idea of a reunion for a while, and after former Nirvana bassist Chris Novoselic asked the Presidents to be his back-up band for an awards show performance, the feeling of reuniting on stage was too much for Ballew and his former band mates to deny, he said.

"We did a full-on reunion show on New Year's Eve, and that felt so good that we had to do another few shows," Ballew said. "Those shows felt so good that we decided to do a record, and the record came out so good that we wanted to tour again, so it was really just a chain reaction of good vibes."

With Love Everybody, the band's fourth proper album and fifth overall release, Ballew and company decided to adopt a do-it-yourself mentality by offering it on their own PUSA Music label.

"We had offers from major labels, but we decided that in order to make this work we need to be in charge of where and how and when we work," Ballew explained. "We didn't want to be in a position where we had to battle or convince anyone. We don't want to have to wait around for validation from the man. I guess what we learned from being on a major label was that we wanted to steer the ship ourselves."

"Some Postman," the first single from Love Everybody has already received much more radio play than Ballew expected, becoming one of the top-requested songs on Seattle's KNDD-FM after the station played an early demo version of the song last September, he said.

Ballew's range of musical influence, from the Beatles to the Sex Pistols to French synthesizer rock as well as his bizarre instrument of choice, the two-string basitar, contribute to the band's unique folk-punk-pop sound.

"I would be playing acoustic guitar and strings would break and I just wouldn't replace them," Ballew said.

"I was stuck in all of these six-string trite things, so eventually I busted it down to two [strings]. It wasn't really a conscious idea, but it was very liberating and easy and fun to play live. It's a guitar, but with one bass string and one guitar string."

Singer and guitarist Dennis Fallon is as excited to see the Presidents as he is for his band Katsu to serve as the evening's opening act.

"It's great that Crowbar is getting a band like the Presidents," Fallon said.

"They have a reputation for being a real fun band. If I wasn't playing the show, I would have bought a ticket for sure."

Fallon said Katsu will perform songs from its two albums, Gorgeous Mess and Disaster. He was also excited about the band's contribution to a compilation CD, Lit Riffs, the band's first national release, and its recent sponsorship by Coors Light.

"It's great to have national sponsorship because they give us tons of free posters for publicity and free T-shirts to throw out at the shows," Fallon said.

"The sponsorship and the MTV CD are good door openers for the band, and opening for national acts is the best way to get exposure in the music business."

Crowbar operations director Dave Wells said he had received several e-mail requests to book the Presidents and that Crowbar will be happy to add them to the list of bands that have graced its stage over the years.

"They are a great band with a strong fan following," Wells said. "We're really excited and looking forward to it."

Ballew said Presidents fans could expect to hear almost all their favorites from the first record, a few from the second one, five or six from Love Everybody and a few b-sides and cover tunes.

"We are a fun band," Ballew said.

"Our best scenario would be to play for a basement full of people having a party."