Podcast now online, the live interview of half an hour with David Thomas is after about 1h20. Enjoy it
David Thomas, founding member of Pere Ubu and Rocket From The Thombs, is touring in Europe with his band Pere Ubu from the 27 Jan. until the 21 Feb. Tonight he will talk with us about this tour, Pere Ubu and some other David Thomas projects.
Below you can find all the dates for this tour.
Photo credit: Kiersty Boon
Formed August 1975, Cleveland Ohio.
David Thomas (b.1953), voc; Tom Herman (b.1949), gtr; Peter Laughner (b.1952, d.1977), gtr; Tim Wright (b.1950, d.2013), bass; Scott Krauss (b.1950), drums; Allen Ravenstine (b.1950), synth; Dave Taylor, synth; Tony Maimone (b.1952), bass; Anton Fier, drums; Mayo Thompson (b.1944), gtr; Jim Jones (b.1950, d.2008), gtr; Chris Cutler (b.1947), drums; Eric Drew Feldman, synth; Garo Yellin, cello; Michele Temple (b.1959), bass; Robert Wheeler (b.1957), EML synthesizers & theremin; Scott Benedict, drums; Steve Mehlman (b.1971), drums; Wayne Kramer, gtr; Andy Diagram (b.1959), trumpet; Keith Moliné (b.1965), guitar; Gagarin (b.1954) electronica; Sarah Jane Morris (b.1959), vocals; Darryl Boon (b. 1963), clarinet.
ALBUM RELEASES: 1978 - The Modern Dance (Blank/Mercury) (DT/TH/AR/TM/SK). Datapanik In The Year Zero (Radar), EP. Dub Housing (Chrysalis). 1979 - New Picnic Time (Chrysalis). 1980 - The Art of Walking (Rough Trade) (DT/MT/AR/TM/SK). 1981 - 390 Degrees of Simulated Stereo (Rough Trade), live anthology. 1982 - Song of The Bailing Man (Rough Trade) (DT/MT/AR/TM/AF). 1985 - Terminal Tower (Rough Trade), anthology; 1988 - The Tenement Year (Fontana/Enigma) (DT/JJ/AR/TM/SK/CC). 1989 -Cloudland (Fontana/Mercury). One Man Drives While The Other Man Screams (Rough Trade), live anthology. 1991 - Worlds In Collision (Fontana/Mercury) (DT/JJ/EF/TM/SK);1993 - Story Of My Life (Fontana/Imago) (DT/JJ/TM/SK). 1995 - Raygun Suitcase (Tim/Kerr & Cooking Vinyl) (DT/JJ/MT/RW/SB). 1996 - Datapanik In The Year Zero(Geffen & Cooking Vinyl), 5-cd box set. 1998 - Pennsylvania (Tim/Kerr & Cooking Vinyl) (DT/JJ/TH/MT/RW/SM). 1999 - Apocalypse Now (Thirsty Ear & Cooking Vinyl) (DT/JJ/EF/TM/SK). The Shape of Things (Hearpen) (DT/PL/TH/TW/DT/SK). 2002 - St Arkansas (Glitterhouse, spinART & Bomba) (DT/JJ/TH/MT/RW/SM). 2006 - Why I Hate Women (Glitterhouse & Smog Veil) (DT/KM/RW/MT/SM) - Why I Remix Women (Glitterhouse & Smog Veil) (DT/KM/RW/MT/SM). 2009 - "Long Live Père Ubu!" (Cooking Vinyl & Hearpen) (DT/SJM/KM/RW/MT/SM). 2013 - Lady From Shanghai (Fire Records) (DT/KM/RW/MT/SM/G). 2014 - Carnival of Souls (Fire Records) (DT/KM/RW/MT/SM/G/DB)
Andy Gill, in the New Musical Express, wrote,
Yet by 1978 they had achieved what no other group would even attempt, before or since, they had become the world's only expressionist Rock `n` Roll band, harnessing a range of rock and musique concrete elements together in a sound which drew its power from, and worked on, levels of consciousness previously untouched by popular music. The music Ubu made in 1978 was heart and soul, body and mind, in one.
Ian Penman, also in the NME, wrote:
It is obvious that (the history of) Pere Ubu should not be thought of in terms of a linear development - reducing its entire operation and presence to an exclusive concern for 'working and succeeding in' rock and roll. Unfortunately, most criticism - of Pere Ubu, of many other folks - assumes that words have one meaning, that desires point in a single direction, that ideas are logical; it ignores the fact that the world of language, noise and desire is one of lack, insecurity, interruption, struggle, blundering, disguises, ploys, embarrassed grins.
Greil Marcus, in the 2000 edition of his book Mystery Train, wrote:
Pere Ubu boards a train that passes through a modern nation as if it were an ancient land, all ruin and portent, prophecy and decay. Thus the terrain makes the familiar terrain strange, unseen - new.
Robert Palmer, in the New York Times, wrote:
Pere Ubu was either ahead of its time or out of step altogether; the band's earliest music sounds as if it could have been recorded yesterday, and is likely to keep sounding that way for some time.
Joe Cushley, in Mojo, wrote:
Ubu are generally regarded as the missing link between the Velvets and punk. From the beginning they obviously understood the nuts and bolts of popular music, and then loosened them.
Edwin Pouncey, in The Wire, wrote:
They're the greatest out-rock 'n' roll group of this millennium, and probably the next.
Pere Ubu is a rock band that considers itself to be working within the mainstream of the genre.
Pere Ubu make a music that is a disorienting mix of midwestern groove rock, "found" sound, analog synthesizers, falling-apart song structures and careening vocals. It is a mix that has mesmerized critics, musicians and fans for decades.
The Pere Ubu project was supposed to be an end, not a beginning. Assembled in August 1975 to be the Crosby Stills Nash & Young of the Cleveland music underground, the plan was to record one, maybe two singles and exist no more. Within months, however, those first self-produced records were being snapped up in London, Paris, Manchester, New York and Minneapolis. Pere Ubu was changing the face of rock music. Over the next four decades they defined the art of cult; refined the voice of the outsider; and inspired the likes of Joy Division, Pixies, Husker Du, Henry Rollins, REM, Sisters of Mercy, Thomas Dolby, Bauhaus, Julian Cope and countless others.
Singer David Thomas named the band after the protagonist of Ubu Roi, a play by Frenchman Alfred Jarry. The single, "30 Seconds Over Tokyo" b/w "Heart of Darkness," released in 1975, was the first of four independent releases on Hearpen Records and, along with Television's "Little Johnny Jewel," signaled the beginning of the New Wave. In the early to mid-70s the musicians who were to form Pere Ubu were part of a fertile rock scene that also produced 15-60-75, The Mirrors, The Electric Eels, Rocket From The Tombs, Tin Huey, and Devo.
The group's first album, The Modern Dance (1978) was a startling work that influenced an entire generation of bands. Its follow-up, Dub Housing(1978), was the masterpiece, "an incomparable work of American genius." Pere Ubu toured Europe extensively in 1978, supported by the likes of The Pop Group, Nico, Human League, The Soft Boys and Red Crayola. Late in 1979 Tom Herman left and was replaced by Mayo Thompson, the guitarist from 60s Texas psychedelic-rock legends The Red Krayola. The Art Of Walking (1980) followed, a challenging stew of inside-out song structures. Anton Fier (The Feelies, Peter Laughner's Friction, The Golden Palominos) replaced Scott Krauss in the middle of 1981 and recorded Song Of The Bailing Man (1982). At the end of an American tour in December 1981, and after months of growing friction between two members of the group, the band ceased to exist as a functioning unit.
In 1981, Thomas recorded the first of two albums with British folk-rock guitarist Richard Thompson. Three more solo albums featured members of the dormant Ubu. The last of these, 1987's Ubu-like Blame The Messenger (by David Thomas and the Wooden Birds), led to the reanimation of the Pere Ubu projex. The line-up had been Thomas, Allen Ravenstine, Tony Maimone, Chris Cutler and Jim Jones. Jones was a stalwart on the Cleveland scene and a member of nearly every good band to come from it, at one time or another. Cutler, drummer in English prog-rock outfits Henry Cow and Art Bears, was an early advocate of Ubu and subsequently became a friend of the band. At a Wooden Birds appearance in Cleveland, Krauss sat in with the band. The two drummers line-up sounded good. Later, at the beginning of a European tour, in the lobby of a hotel in Ijmuiden, Holland, Pere Ubu was reactivated. Krauss was asked to join as a second drummer. The clattering Tenement Year, recorded for a British label (Fontana) headed by Ubu fanatic Dave Bates, followed in March 1988.
Teamed with another Ubu fan, producer Stephen Hague (Pet Shop Boys, New Order, etc.), Ubu shifted gears for 1989's Cloudland, an epic journey across the landscape of America. Tired of touring and the grind of it all, Ravenstine retired to take up a career as an airline pilot for Northwest Airlines. He was replaced by Eric Drew Feldman (Captain Beefheart, Snakefinger) who appeared on Stereo Review's Record of The Year, Worlds In Collision (1991), produced by Gil Norton (The Pixies). Cutler, unable to juggle all the demands of his many musical projects, had to leave. The Pixies invited Ubu to support them on an extensive tour of America in 1991. Feldman, subsequently, joined The Pixies as a sideman and worked on Frank Black's solo projects. When Feldman was unable to record with Ubu because of these commitments the band decided to record what would be the last Fontana album, Story Of My Life (1993), as a four-piece.
Garo Yellin, playing an electrified cello, and veteran of The Ordinaires and several of Thomas' solo projects, was recruited to fill the "synthesizer" slot. They Might Be Giants invited Ubu to support them on a tour of America in 1993. Subsequently, Maimone left to work in the They Might Be Giants band. He was replaced by Michele Temple who had previously replaced him in the Jones/Krauss 80s side project, Home & Garden.
In January 1994, again without a major label, the band recorded demos for a projected album, Songs From The Lost LP, intended to be a tribute to Smile. Krauss left... again. Yellin, busy with his quartet in NYC, was replaced by Robert Wheeler, organic farmer, Ravenstine-protegé, and president of the Thomas Alva Edison Birthplace Foundation. Thomas announced that he was now ready to become the producer for Pere Ubu and that was what he was going to do. Raygun Suitcase (1995), awarded CD Review's Editors' Choice Award, was recorded to a click track in the hope that Krauss would change his mind. When he didn't, Scott Benedict, the drummer in Temple's group, The Vivians, came in over a weekend, the last weekend of production, and recorded all the drum parts in one of the most magnificent displays of studio-craft the band had ever experienced. The next week he retired to take up landscape gardening. Steve Mehlman, Benedict's replacement in The Vivians, replaced him in Ubu.
In August 1995 Jones retired from the road for health reasons. Herman rejoined the group for the Raygun Suitcase tours, and together with Jim Jones recorded Pennsylvania (1998), a highly acclaimed album nominated by one of America's preeminent rock critics, Greil Marcus, as the best of 1998. In 1999 the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame promoted a special event, "55 Years of Pain," honoring Pere Ubu and the grand-daddies of the Cleveland scene, 15-60-75. The event was repeated at the Royal Festival Hall in London later in the year, and at the "Fall of The Magnetic Empire Festival," curated by Thomas and staged at New York City's Knitting Factory, and during which Wayne Kramer of the MC5 joined the group as guitarist for one show.
The release of St Arkansas (2006) was celebrated by The Mighty Road Tour. A "splinter" group within the band, referred to as The Pere Ubu Film Group, premiered a live underscore to a rare 3-D screening of Ray Bradbury's "It Came From Outer Space" at the Royal Festival Hall, London, in October 2002. A highly successful 6-date tour of the underscore in the United Kingdom followed in November 2004. The group premiered its underscore to Roger Corman's "X, the Man With X-Ray Eyes" at 'Celebrate Brooklyn' (New York City) in 2004.
After a decade of perfecting a "hyper-naturalistic" recording method (junk-o-phonics), Thomas produced Why I Hate Women (2006). It was recorded, for the most part, without the use of 'professional' microphones. Instead an array of 'junk-o-phones' designed by long-time engineer Paul Hamann were used. These included an array of speakers salvaged from broken devices, wooden boxes, metal horns, panes of glass, even doors, wired into specialized electronics.
The band's most ambitious project, which would culminate in the release of "Long Live Père Ubu!" (2009), began in July 2007. It was an adaptation of Alfred Jarry's Ubu Roi, recorded, again, using junk-o-phonics in such a way that the acoustic quality of the sound itself becomes a narrative voice. A theatrical production, Bring Me The Head Of Ubu Roi, and a radio play of the theatrical production became part of the project. British singer Sarah Jane Morris joined the group for the project. Cult filmmakers, The Brothers Quay, created animations for the theatrical production. On April 24 and 25, 2008, "Bring Me The Head Of Ubu Roi" premiered at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, and was subsequently staged in its full theatrical state at the Animator Festival in Poznan, Poland, July 11 2009, and at the Festival Scènes d'Europe in Reims, France, on Dec. 16 2009. A concert version called "Long Live Père" toured in Europe and the USA.
Lady From Shanghai (2013) marked the fulfillment of a twenty year project working out the Chinese Whispers methodology. A book of the same name, written by David Thomas, accompanied the release. (It was his second book; the first was called The Book of Hieroglyphs.) In July of 2013, an underscore to the 60s cult film 'Carnival of Souls' was premiered at the East End Film Festival in London. Songs and musical pieces written for the underscore were developed over the course of a tour of the United Kingdom, Italy, Croatia and Ireland, in November 2013, undertaken by a 'shock troops' version of the band. Each night ideas were improvised from scratch. The album Carnival of Souls (release date September 8 2014) resulted. Clarinetist Darryl Boon had contributed to a couple songs on 'Lady From Shanghai.' Over the course of the making of 'Carnival of Souls' he was fully integrated into the group.
The Ubu Projex diary for 2015
Pere UbuFor links to European concert tickets, click here Tue, Jan 27Paris (F), La Maroquinerie
23 Rue Boyer, 75020 Paris
Tel: 33 (0) 140 333 505
Doors: 7:30pm
The Pere Ubu Moon Unit: 8:30pm
Pere Ubu: 9:15pm
Ticket URL: https://www.weezevent.com/pere-ubu-guests
Wed, Jan 28Amsterdam (NL), Paradiso
Weteringschans 6-8, Amsterdam
Doors: 7pm The Pere Ubu Moon Unit: 8:30pm
Pere Ubu 9:15pm
Venue URL: http://www.paradiso.nl
Ticket URL: http://www.ticketmaster.nl/event/139237
Thu, Jan 29Lille (F), l'Aeronef Club
168 Avenue Willy Brandt 59777 Euralille
Venue URL: http://www.aeronef-spectacles.com/
Fri, Jan 30Eeklo (B), near Gent, N9 Villa
Molenstraat 165, 9900 Eeklo, Belgium
Info/box office tel : 0032 9 377 93 94
Doors: 8pm
Pere Ubu Moon Unit: 9pm
Pere Ubu: 9:50pm
Venue URL : www.n9.be
Tickets: 14€ presale/ 17€ at the door
Concert URL : http://www.n9.be/nl/concerten/concert/pere-ubu-us
Ticket URL: click here
Sat, Jan 31Hengelo (NL), Metropool
Indutrieplein 10, Hengelo
Doors: 8pm
Local Support: Nairobi Golf Kid
Showtime: 8:30pm
Venue URL: http://metropool.nl
Ticket URL: http://metropool.nl/nl/agenda/pere-ubu
Sun, Feb 1Den Haag (NL), Paard van Troje
Prinsegracht 12, Den Haag
EARLY SHOW!!
Doors: 3pm
Show: 4pm
Venue URL: http://www.paard.nl
Ticket URL: click here
Tue, Feb 3Rennes (F), l'Ubu Club
1 Rue Saint-Helier 35000 Rennes
Venue URL: http://www.ubu-rennes.com
Wed, Feb 4Dudelange (L), Centre Culturel
1a, rue du Centenaire L-3475 Dudelange, Luxembourg
Doors: 7:30pm
Showtime: 8pm
URL: www.opderschmelz.lu
Thu, Feb 5Winterthur (CH), Salzhaus
Untere Vogelsangstrasse 6. 8400 Winterthur, Switzerland
Doors: 8pm
Showtime: 9pm
Venue URL: www.salzhaus.ch
Ticket URL: click here
Fri, Feb 6Geneva (CH), Cave 12
Rue de la Prairie 4, CH-1202 Geneva
Festival Antigel
Doors: 9:30pm
Showtime: 10:30pm
URL: http://www.antigel.ch
Sat, Feb 7Bern (CH), Dachstock, Reitschule Bern
Doors: 9pm
Showtime: 10pm
Neubrückstrasse 8, 3001 Bern
Venue URL: www.dachstock.ch/
Sun, Feb 8Frankfurt (D), Das Bett
Schmidtstr. 12, 60326 Frankfurt
Venue Tel: 069/60629873
Venue URL: http://www.bett-club.de/
Mon, Feb 9Duisburg (D), Grammatikoff
Am Dellplatz 16 A 47051 Duisburg
Doors: 7:30pm
Showtime: 8:30pm
Venue URL: www.grammatikoff.de
Tickets URL: click here
Tue, Feb 10Hamburg (D), Fabrik
Barnerstraße 36 22765 Hamburg
Doors: 8pm
Showtime: 9pm
Tickets URL: click here
Wed, Feb 11Berlin (D), Quasimodo
Kantstraße 12a 10623 Berlin
Ticket URL: click here
Thu, Feb 12Leipzig (D), Werk 2, Kulturfabrik Leipzig
Kochstraße 132 04277 Leipzig
Tickets URL: click here
Fri, Feb 13Dresden (D), Beatpol
Altbriesnitz 2a 01157 Dresden
Tickets link: click here
Sat, Feb 14Ebensee (A), Kino
Schulgasse 6, 4802 Ebensee, Austria
Tel: +43 (0)6133 6308
Ticket URL: click here
Sun, Feb 15Vienna (A), Szene Wiem
Hauffgasse 26, 1110 Vienna
Ticket URL: click here
Tue, Feb 17Rome (I), Orion Club
Venue URL: http://www.orionliveclub.com/
Ticket URL: click here
Wed, Feb 18Perugia (I), Urban Club
Venue URL: http://www.urbanclub.it/
Ticket URL: click here
Thu, Feb 19Turin (I), Spazio 211
Venue URL: http://www.spazio211.com/
Ticket URL: click here
Fri, Feb 20Verona (I), Interzona
Venue URL: http://www.izona.it/
Ticket URL: click here
Sat, Feb 21Ravenna (I), Bronson Club
Venue URL: http://www.bronsonproduzioni.com/
Ticket URL: click here