Archived News from Ubu Projex

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3/20/22

Europe Is Gone!

European postal / customs authorities will not deliver mail orders from the rest of the world. We obeyed all the rules, did all the paperwork, and the mail disappeared. We can no longer take orders from European countries. If there is an international postal facility in your town, go down and check the dumpsters - you will find all sorts of cool stuff dumped. Remember, we - you and us - are normal men and women just trying to get on with our lives. Governments - along with Twitter, Facebook and others - can't abide that idea. We continue to work the problem. Like the pirates we are, we see the EU as a fat monkey waiting to be plundered.

PERE UBU’S CANTERBURY TALES

Pere Ubu are performing in a one-off night of wall-to-wall music and poems with their own version of ‘Canterbury Tales.’ David Thomas says, “Canterbury to California, Chaucer to Kerouac. The Road leads to Redemptionville.” He adds the advice, “Hang a left.”

Allen's EMLs to Studio G

Allen Ravenstine's EML synthesizers, the EML 101 and the EML 200, are going to live at Tony Maimone's Studio G Brooklyn.

Slideshow of EML pics. Click on arrows.

We've been going over Allen's synths with a fine tooth comb. Mike Rippe replaced the capacitors in both of the power supplies and the 200 is chirping away happily.

The 101 is getting additional TLC. I cleaned and lubricated all the keys which were sticking, now most of them are restored.

The 200 is one of the few synths out there that do not have a keyboard. If you want sounds from it you have to patch the various modules together with patch cords (which you see laying on top of the 101.)

These synths have a totally unique sound. Not Moog, not Roland not Sequential Circuits. Super special.

DPK Latest Episode Available For Public Viewing

The August 22 2021 DPK broadcast of its David Thomas Special is available for viewing on YouTube. Go to the DPK Page located on crocusbehemoth.com for access to past episodes - free to Patreon Fannatics and available at a nominal rental for others.

The Radio Shall Set You Free

It's a 'radio edit' of Dark (Saint Arkansas) from David Thomas. Download it from our page on Bandcamp. There's a video from Kiersty Boon available here. If you work in radio and want a download for airplay, write to us. Coming in September are remixes of the Pennsylvania and St Arkansas albums on cd and colored vinyl.

Pennsylvania Remix / Reissue Podcast With David Thomas

David talks about Pennsylvania. Hear the podcast here.

Hostile Takeover Bid

“For the last three months, Scott Krauss has been engaged in what I would describe as a hostile takeover bid for Ubu Projex,” David Thomas says. “It’s dependent on a publishing agreement with BMI signed by me when he was still a partner, along with myself and Jim Jones. That paperwork was never corrected by the manager at the time, who, in an email to BMI, fell on his sword taking responsibility for the oversight.” For more click on this link.

Videos Page Uploaded

A page has been added compiling, eventually, the Pere Ubu videos composed by Kiersty Boon, aka Communex.

Allen Ravenstine's Tyranny Of Fiction

The first two parts of Allen Raventine's Tyranny of Fiction series have been released, Electron Music / Shore Leave. Allen played the majority of the sampled instruments as well as piano, Moog theremin, a Roland Aerophone and a bevy of synthesizers including a Korg MS20, EML 200, a Doepfer Dark Energy and the Ondes Martenot. Recorded over the internet, collaborators from around the world contributed. Available on limited edition black or orange-colored vinyl, as two cd EPs or as digital download.

Rocket From The Tombs Becomes Pere Ubu

Nick Amster and Howard Kramer, formerly of the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame, facilitated the return of the multitrack tapes of the 30 Seconds Over Tokyo sessions at Audio Recording from 1975. We are very grateful. Sadly, Nick Amster passed away recently. He was a good friend of the band and of the Beachland Ballroom. Note the track sheet. 'Rocket From The Tombs' is crossed out and 'Pere Ubu' written in.

Allen Ravenstine's Tyranny Of Fiction

The first two parts of Allen Raventine’s Tyranny of Fiction series have been released, Electron Music / Shore Leave. Allen played the majority of the sampled instruments as well as piano, Moog theremin, a Roland Aerophone and a bevy of synthesizers including a Korg MS20, EML 200, a Doepfer Dark Energy and the Ondes Martenot. Recorded over the internet, collaborators from around the world contributed. Available on limited edition black or orange-colored vinyl, as two cd EPs or as digital download.

Rocket From The Tombs Becomes Pere Ubu

Nick Amster and Howard Kramer, formerly of the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame, facilitated the return of the multitrack tapes of the 30 Seconds Over Tokyo sessions at Audio Recording from 1975. We are very grateful. Sadly, Nick Amster passed away recently. He was a good friend of the band and of the Beachland Ballroom. Note the track sheet. 'Rocket From The Tombs' is crossed out and 'Pere Ubu' written in.

The Rules

For convenience sake, the fundamental band rules have been gathered together in one place under the heading of 'The Foundation.'

Tony Maimone Albums

Two albums featuring Tony are available: MRT and No Grave Like The Sea by Estelle.

David Cintron Rides Again

David Cintron was Pere Ubu guitarist for the Lady From Shanghai tour dates in the US / Canada in 2013. He served with distinction. He is looking to cover studio costs by participating in a collaborative project selling the 'Together We Are Stronger' t-shirt. His second solo album, Leroy Rides Again, is now available on Bandcamp.

11/1/19
Who's Who, What's What and Why's Why
Pere Ubu continues to expand. That's the plan. One of the goals of David's last Five Year Plan is The Pere Ubu Orchestra. As far as he's concerned the only limit is phynance. Cleveland guitar legend Gary Siperko is the latest recruit (well, almost - there is a new member lurking in the wings). That doesn't mean that Keith is replaced, or out. It means that David wants to expand the Guitar Corps of Pere Ubu, as he did with the Synth Brigade. Everything is to expand. David has been studying the life cycle of the slime mold for inspiration.

Rocket From The Tombs and Pere Ubu at Austin Jukebox, May 19th and 20th.
In the lead up to the West Coast Coed Jail tour in June of 2016, David Thomas told an interviewer that he'd like to play 'some town out in Texas.' Austin Jukebox approached Ubu Projex earlier this year and the date has been set for an (almost) unique weekend of back to back Avant Garage with both Rocket From The Tombs and Pere Ubu in one weekend.

On Friday, May 19th, Rocket From The Tombs will take the stage at Beerland in Austin, Texas, as part of the events organised by Austin Jukebox; a quarterly series of shows that provides a platform for local bands whilst showcasing one-off appearances of iconic bands and artists to produce "interesting, cool and, most of all, not boring shows." RFTT will play material from both the back catalog and the most recent album, 'Black Record' (Fire Records, 2015). The following night, Pere Ubu will take the stage with the 'Coed Jail' set of songs from 1975-82, which were recently issued in the two box sets 'Elitism for the People' and 'Architecture of Language' (Fire Records).

In 2003, Rocket From The Tombs played Houston but Pere Ubu have not visited the state of Texas in over twenty years. The RFTT/PU collaboration has only happened once before at Disastodrome at the UCLA in Los Angeles, 2003.

Formed in 1974, by August 1975 RFTT was burned out and gone. In less than a year it blew through four different drummers and never went into the studio. Left behind were live recordings of songs that would become anthems. Thomas and Laughner went on to form Pere Ubu, taking the songs 'Final Solution,' 'Life Stinks,' and '30 Seconds Over Tokyo;' songs that were to become iconic in the new wave that would influence many bands thereafter.

40 years and 40 albums later, the two bands are still recording and touring.

Austin Jukebox: https://m.facebook.com/AustinJukebox/

MonkeyNet Tour West Coast Cancellation
The West Coast portion of the MonkeyNet Tour (Nov. 30 to Dec. 8) had to be cancelled for medical reasons. One band member had a serious episode of the flu. This infected David Thomas, causing severe complications. He was hospitalized at the end of the East Coast portion of the tour. His doctors refused to okay his release and warned in the strongest terms that to continue the tour would have serious consequences. David relented.

11/1/16
'Irene' single release
'Irene,' the video for the first single from Pere Ubu's forthcoming album Carnival of Souls, complies with Ubu Projex Rule #2, 'Self Expression is Evil.' Clyde, a puppet from the Daisy Jordan Weebly Collection, hosts the song. "Singers should not be seen and not be heard" David Thomas says. The exclusive b-side 'Moonstruck' is a remix of the album track 'Drag the River' by Gagarin / Moliné.

The single can be purchased as a download.

Carnival of Souls sees Pere Ubu target Prog Rock in the continuation of their 'fixing things' manifesto; "a complex and sensual reaction to living in a world overrun with monkeys and strippers who tickle your ears, cajole you to join in with their cavorting and then become vindictive when you decline." The album is Pere Ubu's 18th album over a forty year career that has seen them break rules, confuse and continue to divide music critics globally.

Excerpt from the book 'Cogs, The Making of Carnival of Souls'
"The worst kind of musician is a singer. The dawning of wisdom for any singer is a healthy dread of singing. There are people who are in love with the sound of their own voice and evidently believe that their singing can add to others' joy and enlightenment. This is a bad attitude and a dangerous one. It feeds ego and self-esteem. It encourages paternalism.

"Don't feed the monkey!

"Far better that a singer should resent having to sing. Singing is a nasty social habit, like spitting in the street. Sometimes you gotta do it but you oughta be discreet."

Keith Moliné Solo Album
Keith Moliné has two electronic albums available on the Entr'acte label. The most recent of these is Crritic! (2013) It is themed around Moliné's work as a music journalist, and comprises two interlocking pieces carrying a dedication to Hans Keller, Desmond Leslie and Lester Bangs. 'I Only Asked' uses an interview recording - questions only - to modulate various sound parameters, and is a reworking of a piece first performed at Café OTO, London in March 2011. 'Hatchet Job' is based on a computer speech recording of all the negative reviews Moliné has penned for 'The Wire' magazine in the last ten years. These amount to around 50,000 words.

The album Ley (2012) is collaboration with trumpeter Andy Diagram from Two Pale Boys. It features acoustic improvisations recorded in Diagram's garden fed through Moliné's arcane modular software patches.

Both albums are available from the entracte.co.uk site following the respective links above. The following links might also be of interest:
Crritic! artwork
Crritic! video
Ley artwork
Ley video

Keith has a blog. 4/6/14
It's shipping now!
Although the release date to stores for Carnival of Souls is September 8/9, mail orders ship beginning August 18 from Ubutique and Fire Records. Cogs, The Making of Carnival of Souls, a 100 page paperback of 'liner notes' by David Thomas, is also now available from the same sources. The iTunes download release is available for pre-order now and doing so gets you an immediate copy of the song 'Road to Utah.'

Underscore to Carnival of Souls in Paris
The Pere Ubu Film Group (in this case, David Thomas, Keith Moliné, Gagarin and Darryl Boon) will perform a live underscore to Carnival of Souls as part of the L'Étrange Festival at Forum des Images, Paris, on Friday, September 12. This will be the original underscore that evolved into the music for the album. It will be subtitled in French. Tickets go on sale August 20. See Calendar page.

Lindsay Cooper Memorial Events
Lindsay Cooper died last year. She was a collaborator on many of the David Thomas solo projects of the mid 80s. Memorial evenings at the Barbican, London, and the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival are scheduled for November 21 and 22 2014, featuring Henry Cow, Music For Films, News From Babel and Oh Moscow. Below is a tribute Thomas wrote for the program:

Meet Darryl Boon
Darryl Boon is the newest member of the group. A clarinetist, he is an enthusiastic advocate of Dixieland. David met him while he was playing in a jazz group in a pub in Hove.

New Album Videos
A number of song videos have been produced for the new album. Released so far are:
Road to Utah
Pere Ubu Fixes Things
Self expression is evil

Q: So the album is about the movie...
A: No. The album is not about the movie. The album is 'about' a complex sensual response to living in a world overrun by monkeys and strippers who tickle your ears, cajole you to join in with their cavorting and then become vindictive when you decline. I got rid of my TV because I don't want them in my house. I got rid of my phone because I don't want them calling me. So if you understand that and add in several more keyframes and make at least two more intuitive jumps, then you can see what role the movie has as ambient background noise - in the same way that sun shining through the trees along the Yellowstone River has as a reference point to Kerouac's 'On The Road.'

Rat puppets and Pere Ubu
Recently come to light, Pere Ubu's appearance on the extremely popular BBC kids show of the 80s hosted by a rat puppet. The fellow who was Roland The Rat was a big Pere Ubu fan and insisted that they be invited to play the show. The band was in Athens on the Saturday, flew into London on the Sunday to tape the show, and then flew back to Athens that day to do a second show. This was the Greasy Chicken Incident that had David checking into the hotel at 3am with a very large, leaking cardboard box filled with fried chickens. He left his shoes on the reception counter when the band went to the roof to consume said chicken and watch the sun rise over the Parthenon.

But, not just one rat puppet host. Here is a David Thomas appearance on a Chicago cable tv kids show.

Ubu Sings Ubu, April 9-26
The press release:
Actor/director Tony Torn and Julie Atlas Muz star in Ubu Sings Ubu, an immersive theatrical mash up of Alfred Jarry's Ubu Roi and the songs of experimental cult band Pere Ubu. Adapted from a version of the original French text, and run through the Google Translate™ engine, Torn and company are fueled by the giddy, angular new wave rock of Pere Ubu, the cult band whose name and style were inspired by the play. Torn, who co-directs with Dan Safer of Witness Relocation, plays Pere Ubu while Muz is Mere Ubu, in a bizarre parody of Shakespeare's Macbeth, set in Poland instead of Scotland.

"I first fell in love with the band Pere Ubu in high school, when my brother Jon brought the song 'The Modern Dance' over to our friend Daniel Pinchbeck's house and we threw it on the turntable," says Torn. "The music led me to the insanely scatological play Ubu Roi, and from thence into a career in experimental theater. I first thought of doing a production like this over thirty years ago. And now it's time to put up or shut up."

Torn's adaptation process is as irreverent as Jarry's text. "Jarry's script is a scatological school boy prank," Torn explains. "He wrote the play to make fun of his high school physics teacher. The stupidity of Google Translate™ matches the intentional stupidity of the play - which is super exciting to me." In adapting the sprawling original text for a more intimate production, Torn (in collaboration with co-director Safer and poet Nicole Peyrafitte, who earned the unique title of "Merdreturge" for her work) feels he has discovered something hidden inside the famously scatological epic. "It's a love story - a disturbing and outlandish one, but very real."

Location: Abrons Art Center: 466 Grand Street (at Pitt Street) New York, NY
URL: http://www.abronsartscenter.org/performances/ubu-sings-ubu.html

Interviewer: Why was there no bass player for the 'Visions of the Moon' tour in Italy & the UK?
DT: Circumstances forced a range of scenarios. At the same time I became obsessed with the new material we had been developing since July following the 'Carnival of Souls' performance. The LFS project, as I have noted elsewhere, was the culmination of a 20 year project designed to integrate improvisation into the compositional process in a particular way. The new material suggested the beginning of a new long-term project and I was anxious to get on with it rather than repeat LFS in the UK and Italy. This suggested a 'shock troops' orientation for the Pere Ubu line-up since much of the performance would be improvised from night to night as ideas were explored. Having both a drummer and a bass player in the band would constrain the process. Bass players and drummers have a foolish notion that they should play together and it's hard to shake them from their convictions. I went with a drummer - Michele had not been involved with the 'Carnival of Souls' because of scheduling conflicts but Steve had. We are now working on bringing in Michele in a particular way reminiscent of the Chinese Whispers method.

4/6/14
Utah Living Room Concert
David Thomas will give a Living Room Concert on December 10th in Farmington, Utah, near Salt Lake City.

WE HATE DAYS OFF, part 2
The last 'We Hate Days Off' appeal resulted in a very special evening in Troyes, France. We are now offering another Pere Ubu Living Room Concert opportunity Dec 15/16 for locations south of Portland and north of San Francisco. Imagine the possibilities - David Thomas himself rummaging thru your frigerator. Contact directors@ubuprojex.com

West Coast Tour
Dates for the West Coast tour of Lady From Shanghai have been announced on the Calendar page.

Update 8/21/13: Visa Rejected
Ubu Projex, the art and business directorate of the American band Pere Ubu, can confirm that notice has been received this weekend from the United States Customs & Immigration Service (USCIS) rejecting the visa petition for British band members Keith Moliné and Graham Dowdall (aka Gagarin).



We Fought the Faceless Government Clerk
and the Faceless Government Clerk Lost
Following on from press release dated 8/11/13, Pere Ubu announce revised line-up and revolutionary remote performance from the two British group members.

Tim Wright
Tim Wright died Sunday, August 4 2013, reports longtime partner Mary Ann Livchak. He was an original member of Pere Ubu and, as a member of DNA and other bands, a contributor to the No Wave scene of New York City. He was 63 years old when he died of cancer.

Pere Ubu at Camber Sands
Ubu will play the Deerhunter-curated ATP festival at Camber Sands, England, on Sunday June 23.

Coal Tattoo
The March release on hearpen.com is The Kidney Brothers studio album, Coal Tattoo. This is an important album.

Ask not what Pere Ubu can do for you
Rather, ask what you can do for Pere Ubu!

Bring Me The Head Chamber Version
David Thomas and Gagarin perform a Chamber Version of Bring Me The Head of Ubu Roi on March 8 in Lodz, Poland. They will be accompanied by British poet Kiersty Boon and Polish artist Malgosia Sady. It is the premiere of the work, which is a condensed version of the theatrical version and musical in nature. The Quay Brothers animations will feature.

Living Room Concert in Norway
David Thomas will perform a Living Room Concert April 27 in Sirevåg, Norway (approx 65km from Stavanger). The host is willing to accept 'strangers' into his home for this event. All arrangements are private with him.

Free White
National Public Radio (NPR) is currently premiering a track from the upcoming Pere Ubu album Lady From Shanghai. It can be played online.

Kevin Coyne
A book about Kevin Coyne by Pascal Regis is posted online at http://kevincoynebook.tk/. The 2pbs did a short UK tour with him some years ago. It was a privilege and an honor. Buy everything he ever recorded and treasure it.

Download Excerpts from Book of Hieroglyphs
For a limited time a PDF of excerpts from The Book of Hieroglyphs can be downloaded. Click here.


The Book of Hieroglyphs
The Book of Hieroglyphs by David Thomas goes on sale to readers of ubuprojex.com on Friday, June 8 in its hardback edition. The official launch is scheduled for September, when a paperback edition will also be available. The hardback is a limited edition, 268 pages with a color dust jacket.

Bob Holman (Bowery Poetry Club) reports, "I'm having the pleasure of previewing David (Pere Ubu) Thomas' book of nonpoems called The Book of Hieroglyphs. Thomas refuses to call the pieces in this book poetry, says they are not the songs. I really don't care what you call them, and it's true that they are unlike anything you've ever read before, but what they are are zings, stings, word bullets that tell stories so condensed that your mind changes on every syllable."

Allen, Robert and the EML
Allen Ravenstine and Robert Wheeler are interviewed and play the EML together in this video, Dream Of Wires, produced by Bill Blakeney. Recorded at Grant Avenue studio in Hamilton, Ontario. A must-see.

12/31/12
Disastohouse, Brighton
David Thomas and two pale boys appear in Brighton December 15 at Disastohouse. This is a private venue. Admission is limited to 30 people.

David in Milan (I)
David Thomas gives a spoken word performance Friday, Nov. 9, in Milan in conjunction with a showing of the film 'ZZYZX,' which features music and poetry by David Thomas. Admission is free.

Rocket From The Tombs on Tour
It's time for Americans to hear what the fuss was about during the European Tour. Rocket From The Tombs plays the Beachland Ballroom Friday, October 12. Other regional dates are confirmed in Rochester NY, Buffalo NY, Hamilton ON and Athens OH.

Book Launch Performance
David Thomas will be launching his first book, The Book of Hieroglyphs at Cafe Oto, London, on Saturday, September 15, from 3-5pm. Entry is free. The Book of Hieroglyphs is essentially a journey through America, with a blend of poetry and prose pieces that lead through the "Ghost Towns that you don't know you know." David Thomas will be presenting a selection of these, with a book signing after the performance.

Rocket From The Tombs European Tour
David Thomas was hospitalized May 5 in Brighton and spent almost a week in Intensive Care and then the High Dependency Unit with complications brought on by a severe infection. An ambulance crew had to resuscitate him for ten minutes. Craig Bell, Steve Mehlman, Gary Siperko and Buddy Akita, who had already arrived in Europe, and the band's agent, Berthold Seliger, urged Thomas to cancel the tour. Days of uncertainty followed with Thomas insistent on getting out of the hospital and on the road for at least some of the dates. The band found accommodation in Berlin and waited. The first eight shows were cancelled. Thomas was released in the afternoon of May 10. Against the advice of his doctors he rejoined the band in Paris on May 18 and performed five shows in Paris, Lyon, Nancy, Zurich, Stuttgart and Munich. The last two concerts in Treviso and Zagreb were cancelled.

The shows were exceptional and received enthusiastically. The band apologise to all fans who had tickets for the dates that had to be cancelled. Thomas is close to being fully recovered and he thanks all of the promotors and their production staffs for being so accommodating during his illness and he especially thanks the band, soundman Nadan Rojnic and Berthold Seliger for their loyalty, perseverance and patience through the chaos.

It should be noted, as well, that the server for ubuprojex.com was experiencing a breakdown during the crisis and though updates were being posted on the Calendar Page they were overwritten quickly with older out of date pages. The fault wasn't discovered until well after the tour ended and has only recently (June 8th) been corrected.

Animations
Four animations by the Brothers Quay to Pere Ubu songs that featured in Bring Me The Head of Ubu Roi will be part of an exhibition of their work at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City opening in August 2012.

Rocket From The Tombs
The new album, Barfly, is scheduled for release September 13 on Fire Records and Smog Veil. The eleven new songs, produced by David Thomas at Suma, are: I Sell Soul, Birth Day, Anna, Butcherhouse 4, Romeo & Juliet, Sister Love Train, Love Train Express, Good Times Never Roll, Six And Two, Maelstrom, and Pretty. The band remains: David Thomas, Cheetah Chrome, Richard Lloyd, Craig Bell and Steve Mehlman.


The Archimedes Quartet
The Archimedes Quartet is a project driven by method, mystery and miasma. Five years ago David Thomas described a bath tub epiphany to Peter Blegvad at a chance meeting outside an architectural college in Oxford. "Edison, Einstein, Eisenhower and Elvis - The Four 'E's Who Invented The 20th Century." This evolved, in the way of these sorts of conversations, into a Big Idea - a lecture / symposium slamdown to be refereed by Chris Cutler. A few emails were exchanged, words beginning with "E" were accumulated but, in the way of these things, the Big Idea withered on the vine.




6/3/12
Living Room Concerts
The first three Living Room Concerts on the west coast were successful on all levels and so the series will continue. Those who have expressed interest will be contacted soon. Thanks to the hosts for enjoyable and well-organized events: Dan Carbone, Duane Capizzi and Pierre Gonzalez.

Living Room Concerts
Based on the delightful experience of Lilley Live in Copenhagen recently David Thomas is offering a new product, Living Room Concerts, wherein he gives a solo performance in... your living room. Click here for more details. Changes In RFTT Clarified
Cheetah Chrome, a founding member of the legendary Cleveland pre-punk band Rocket From The Tombs, announced his retirement in dramatic fashion recently.

"I was half way down the steps to the dressing room at the last show of the tour after our set at Maxwell's in Hoboken," singer David Thomas said. "'Wait! Wait! I have something to say,' Cheetah told us. 'This is my last show.'"

"We were all not a little bit upset," Thomas said. "Pissed-off would be a good description."

"Thinking back on it," Mr Chrome said, "My advice to others is that it's not a good time to make the announcement, just before the encore of your last show."

Mr Chrome intends to retire from the road by the year's end in order to devote more time to his family and the responsibilities of raising his young son. Not wanting to leave the band in the lurch he promised to fulfill road obligations for the year.

"I know how seriously Cheetah takes his family obligations," Mr Thomas said. "All things considered we thought it best to re-configure the band sooner rather than later."

Buddy Akita will join Rocket From The Tombs in the 'Cheetah Position.' He's a member of This Moment In Black History, considered by many to be the best Cleveland band of the last five years. He will pair with the other recent addition to the band, guitarist Gary Siperko.

"I really enjoyed playing with Gary for the short time we had," Mr Chrome said. "He's really done his homework, and I think he's going to add a lot to the band's future."

"There was alot of pressure to resolve the situation," Mr Thomas said. "I try not to do things too fast on the basis that time reveals the best solution."

The best solution came in what's called the Jim Jones Model. In the mid-90s Pere Ubu guitarist Jim Jones told Mr Thomas that the state of his health would not allow him to tour anymore and he'd have to quit the band. Don't quit, don't tour, Thomas told him. Mr Jones remained a non-touring member of Pere Ubu until his death in 2008, contributing material, recording, and occasionally appearing on stage.

"I'm happy to be able to remain in RFTT as a non touring member," Mr Chrome said. "I've never meant it to be taken as I'm retiring, I mean, writing and recording are things that you don't just quit doing, they're in my DNA. I look forward to contributing in that capacity; and I'll definitely be popping up for gigs now and again."

Update to eBook of "Bring Me The Head"
The illustrated eBook has been updated to version 9.0 with more background text, format fixes, and additional dialog from a wider range of the many iterations of the script. Those who bought version 8.1 from hearpen.com, or who bought the dropcard, have been sent free download codes for the update, as is the policy at hearpen.com. Those who bought the Kindle version need to contact Amazon for a free update.

Best of 2010
The UK's The Independent selected Pere Ubu's "The First & Last" concert (Feb 25, The Garage, London) as one of the best of 2010 .
eBook of Bring Me The Head Of Ubu Roi
Hearpen publishes its first iBook/eBook, the illustrated script to Bring Me The Head of Ubu Roi. It's available at hearpen.com in both iBook/ePUB and PDF formats. Also available thru Amazon's Kindle server.

Jane Scott is gone
The icon of Cleveland rock music, Jane Scott, died early on July 4 2011. She was 92.

1/6/12
RFTT Tour Update
The tour dates are set for the first exploratory US tour. Hopefully a longer US tour will follow after the worst of the winter. A European tour is in the works for May. No plans for the UK - too much trouble, no money and little interest.

The touring band lineup is:
David Thomas
Cheetah Chrome
Gary Siperko
Craig Bell
Steve Mehlman

Gary Siperko is a Cleveland guitarist who has toured extensively throughout Europe and the US with the Progressive Instrumental Garage / Punk Trio "MOFOS," and the Cleveland based Cow-Punk band "The Whiskey Daredevils."

The tour dates are:
Dec 7 Chicago, The Empty Bottle
Dec 8 Newport KY, The Southgate House
Dec 9 Cleveland, Beachland Ballroom
Dec 10 Pittsburgh, Thunderbird Cafe
Dec 11 Philadelphia, Kungfu Necktie
Dec 12 Brooklyn, The Bell House
Dec 13 Hoboken, Maxwell's

9/5/11
Lady From Shanghai (Demos)
The working title for the next Pere Ubu album is "Lady From Shanghai." Three demos from the early sessions are available at hearpen.com. The initial aim for the project is to "fix" dance, as "Long Live Pere Ubu!" was conceived as a project to "fix" theater. People ask, Well, what kind of dance are you talking about: classical, ballet, pop, Broadway? The answer is, All of it. Dance encourages the body to move without permission. That's a fundamental flaw. It must be solved. These songs are somewhere between demos and works-in-progress. They are far from completed. They are at the place where the ideas are coalescing. They will continue to evolve as instruments, parts and ideas are added and fleshed out. The titles are working titles and so they may or may not change. People ask, How do you write songs? Here is a glimpse at one methodology.

4/23/11
Cleveland Confidential Book Tour
David Thomas is appearing in a panel discussion with Cheetah Chrome, Bob Pfeiffer and Mike Hudson at the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame (April 11) and at the Grammy Museum at LA Live in Los Angeles (April 14).

3/29/11
The Modern Dance & More
Pere Ubu with Tom Herman playing guitar repeat last year's performance of The Modern Dance in its entirety (plus added related songs) at The Beachland Ballroom, Cleveland, on Saturday March 19.

Sisters Of Mercy
SoM have again invited David Thomas and two pale boys to support them for their Leeds hometown show on Feb. 17.

Carnival Of Souls
David Thomas and two pale boys will perform a live underscore to the 1962 cult classic film "Carnival Of Souls" at Cafe Oto, Saturday, 12 February 2011. This "world premiere" work-in-progress is by way of a scouting expedition for the Pere Ubu Film Group which has previously toured in the USA and UK with the 3D version of "It Came From Outer Space" and "X, The Man With X-Ray Eyes."

"I grew up addicted to Friday Night sci fi flicks," Pere Ubu's David Thomas said. "The genre had an incalculable effect on the third generation of Young Rock Giants who emerged in the 70s. Now it's time to honor that debt.

"The amateurish enthusiasm and naive intention, as well as lack of budget, of the B-movie encourages a kind of communal abstraction that approaches folk culture, and the frequent lack of a coherent agenda leaves lots of wiggle room for whatever personalized context or agenda an audience or band chooses to overlay. Wiggle room is good."

Time Out described David Thomas and two pale boys as, "A gloriously garrulous, diffidently divine, pumping, wheezy, melodeon-driven, contemporised avant-folk... Twisted and inspired, it is like everything and nothing you've ever heard, [they] are now creating a whole new kind of strange and affecting beauty."

Glenn Max, musical director at the Royal Festival Hall, noted of the Film Group's previous underscores, "(They) have raised the standard for live soundtracks."

7-Nov-10
Cleveland... uh, Rocks
WKYC, Channel 3, in Cleveland broadcasts "The Story Of Rock And Roll Capitol Of The World" Friday, September 3. Robert Wheeler and David Thomas were interviewed for it.

The Annotated Modern Dance
The latest hearpen.com release is The Annotated Modern Dance, a live recording of Pere Ubu, featuring Tom Herman on guitar, performing The Modern Dance in its entirety from the 10th Anniversary of the Beachland Ballroom, Cleveland OH, March 5 2010.

Robert Wheeler Makes it To The Grammies
Robert Wheeler appeared on The Grammies accepting the Technical Grammy Award for Thomas Alva Edison. Pictures can be found on Robert's Facebook page.

Raygun, Bailing and Art Redux
Cooking Vinyl released Raygun Suitcase and The Art of Walking in Director's Cut versions in the UK in March 2010 and anywhere else it distributes. Song Of The Bailing Man has also been released in the 2008 Master version. Cooking Vinyl USA issued Raygun Suitcase in The Director's Cut in 2005.

Ubu Dance Party Update
Charlie Dontsurf has updated the documents section of the only complete Ubu reference site out there, www.ubudance.com.

The Radio Play
The entirety of "Bring Me The Head Of Ubu Roi - The Radio Play" is now available at hearpen.com for download.

Robert appointed Grocery Police Officer
Recently there has been a change of policy as regards YouTube. This is due to the appointment of Robert Wheeler as Grocery Police Officer, now in charge of internet activities. He advocates a more liberal approach to uploading videos of the band, though he will continue to censor and instruct the removal of not-approved uploads. David remains opposed but acknowledges Robert's authority in this matter. For related matters email Robert.

London Texas
Chris Cutler's RERMegacorp label has released a live Pere Ubu cd of tracks selected from the hearpen.com download audio releases Waltz Across Texas and Waltz By The Sea. The cd is called London Texas (ReR U01).

3-Feb-10
David Thomas in Oz
Following an appearance at the Sydney Opera House on Jan 28 in the Rogue's Gallery concert, David Thomas will appear with the backing of The Holy Soul on Jan 31 in Sydney. The work visa has been approved. See the Calendar Page.


Charlie Dontsurf freaks out...
Charlie from Ubu Dance Party, the authoritative site for Pere Ubu facts, reacts to "Long Live Père Ubu!" thusly (I'm afraid his enthusiasm has freaked out the translator program so we can't get it all): R. Stevie Moore
The indefatigable R. Stevie Moore has recorded his version of Non-alignment Pact which can be heard here.

"Long Live Père Ubu!"
Cooking Vinyl will release the album September 14 in the UK, Europe and elsewhere. A US release has yet to be determined. The album is studio versions of the songs from Bring Me The Head of Ubu Roi. The album was recorded at Suma over the period of January to September 2008. David Thomas produced and the augmented version of Pere Ubu recorded it: Keith Moliné, Robert Wheeler, Michele Temple, Steve Mehlman, Sarah Jane Morris and Gagarin.

12-Dec-09
Podcast
The podcast series of 8 episodes from Pere Ubu's ground-breaking project "Bring Me The Head Of Ubu Roi" is up and running at www.hearpen.com, the band's own audio download web site. It can be subscribed to thru iTunes.

23-Oct-09
3 Generations
Photo of three generations of Ubu synth players.

Michael Gerzon
Robert Charles Alexander has published a biography of the audio pioneer Michael Gerzon called Beyond Psychoacoustics. For an outline of Gerzon's work go to this site.

From the early days...
Miriam Linna, proto-Cle fixture and early member of The Cramps, has started a blog about the early days in Cle at http://www.kicksville66.blogspot.com.

More from Charlie Dontsurf
Charlie has updated the exhaustively complete www.ubudance.com with a new section called "Documents" that posts pdf files of historical Ubu press-kits, flyers, promo postcards, etc.

Ghoulardi
The NPR Ghoulardi program with a David Thomas interview is available as a stream or download at:
http://studio360.org/episodes/2009/04/24.

hearpen.com
Cooking Vinyl has kindly allowed hearpen.com to offer top quality MP3 downloads of the Dub Housing 2008 remaster (see below). It will become available in November. We prefer you buy the cd but recognize there's also a demand for the download. If you are unfamiliar with the hearpen.com site be aware that not only is it the only source for a range of live recordings, it also offers the best quality audio downloads of Pere Ubu (and related) recordings. If you are in the market for an Ubu Projex-related download this should be your first stop. Not only does your money go directly to the bands involved, but you are also assured of the best quality audio reproduction possible. There is a new release monthly (usually on the first Tuesday). Downloadable artwork is offered on all releases since August and we are gradually moving all album releases possible to the site.

Dub Housing Raves
The re-mastered Cooking Vinyl reissue of Dub Housing is getting rave reviews. Cooking Vinyl released a re-mastered issue of Pere Ubu's second album on November 17 2008, the 30th anniversary of its first release. The original 2-track quarter-inch analog mix tape was baked in an oven to dry it out and re-digitized at 192hz / 24 bit resolution, the best quality resolution currently available. The detailing is significantly improved. The result was then mastered for cd audio in the control room in which it was recorded and mixed in 1978. The text "2008 Master" located on the tray card identifies the reissue.

hearpen.com is the best source for MP3s of the new Dub Housing master. Nowhere on the web will you find audio quality as good.

Earlier this year Cooking Vinyl issued a similarly re-digitized and mastered version of The Modern Dance, Pere Ubu's first album, released in February 1978. It can be identified by the text "2005 Master" on the tray card.

11-Mar-09
Dave Robinson
Dave Robinson, drummer for 15-60-75 during the 70s and 80s, died recently.

Laura Kennedy (Bush Tetras) Benefit
Laura Kennedy, one of the old Cleveland gang, and founder member of the Bush Tetras, has undergone a liver transplant and is in need of financial assistance. There is a benefit concert for her at Nick & Eddie, 1612 Harmon Place, Minneapolis, on January 17. The Bush Tetras, Suicide Commandos and Skoal Kodiak will play. Read Laura's candid and informative blog - and make sorely-needed Paypal donations, if you are able, here. More is also available at the Bush Tetras MySpace page.

Discography Update
Charlie Dontsurf has updated the only extensive Ubu discography out there. It's at ubudance.com. Charlie notes: Charlie refers to recording drum parts without electricity. David Thomas recently finished the mix to the "original cast album" of Bring Me The Head Of Ubu Roi: Bring Me The Head of Ubu Roi
Pere Ubu premiered its musical adaptation of the theater of Ubu Roi, Alfred Jarry's groundbreaking 1896 play and the theatrical precursor to the Absurdist, Dada and Surrealist art movements, at Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, on April 24 and 25. The adaptation, Bring Me The Head Of Ubu Roi, written by David Thomas, features 14 new songs as well as various musical "interludes." Independent film-makers The Brothers Quay devised a unique visual staging in the form of animated wide-screen projections. Sarah Jane Morris (ex-Communards, Happy End, etc) features as Mère Ubu, partnering David Thomas as Père Ubu. Gagarin adds an atmospheric soundtrack by means of electronica. Band members perform minor cast roles, as well as performing in their usual musical roles.
Click Bring Me The Head of Ubu Roi for more information.

Mark Price
Mark Price, bass player from Akron band Tin Huey, died November 6 after a bout with cancer. Tin Huey, in the early 70s, was far out ahead of the rest of us and was the standard by which we all measured ourselves. An example of the inspiration that was Mark Price can be found in the spoken word Water Piece.

Ubuspotting 2
This from Frank Mauceri:
"Single greatest 45RPM record of all time..."

Ubuspotting
This from John Minkoff:
"Was it of interest to you when painter Dana Schutz quoted your "Meadville" stage banter (if that's the right term), naming her recent show at Zach Feuer Gallery "Stand by Earth Man" and quoting your "fortean times" soliloquy in the show's press release?"

Pennsylvania
The Director's Cut is now on release everywhere by Cooking Vinyl. Up til recently it was only available in the USA / Canada. The Director's Cut of Raygun Suitcase is still only on release in the USA / Canada.
Pennsylvania
Raygun Suitcase

The Modern Dance 2005 Master
At some point in July 2008 Cooking Vinyl will be releasing the 2005 Master of The Modern Dance, replacing the 1994 Master. The catalog number remains COOK CD 141 but the new release is identifiable by the phrase "2005 Master" located below the catalog number on the back tray card. Cooking Vinyl distributes it everywhere but the USA/Canada. Discography Questions
Charlie Dontsurf, webmaster of the exhaustive discography at ubudance.com, asks the following questions:

Please contact us if you have any answers.

21-Oct-08
Bring Me The Head Of Ubu Roi
Pere Ubu premiered its musical adaptation of the theater of Ubu Roi, Alfred Jarry's groundbreaking 1896 play and the theatrical precursor to the Absurdist, Dada and Surrealist art movements, at Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, on April 24 and 25. The adaptation, written by David Thomas, features 14 new songs as well as various musical "interludes." Independent film-makers The Brothers Quay have devised a unique visual staging in the form of animated projections. Sarah-Jane Morris (ex-Communards, Happy End, etc) features as Mere Ubu, partnering David Thomas as Pere Ubu. Gagarin adds an atmospheric soundtrack by means of electronica. Band members perform various minor roles.
Click Bring Me The Head of Ubu Roi for more information.
Click here for background press fodder and interview questions.


Report from David Thomas: Jim Jones
Jim Jones died of a heart attack at his home in Cleveland on Monday, February 18. He was 57. Mike DeCapite posted a tribute.

hearpen.com
On December 11 hearpen.com went on line. It is a web site dedicated to sales of Ubu and Ubu-related downloads. It offers live recordings from across the decades, going all the way back to the Pirate's Cove days. As well there will be, from time to time, studio recordings that for one reason or another were not deemed "worthy" of a commercial release or that have become unavailable through commercial channels. A limited number of video releases will also be available. The plan is for new releases, music or video, to go online the first Tuesday of every month. We have hesitated to get involved in the download marketplace. We did not want to cede control of our productivity to others. Still, times change. The market changes. And though we do not (change) it's better that something of quality be heard than not heard, seen than not seen. We will therefore own and operate the download site ourselves ensuring editorial control and that musicians get paid. In any case there is a full-ish explanation of the aesthetic and technical issues involved. The site is run in conjunction with Smog Veil Records. They are Clevelanders.

New Shirts
The new shirts are in. All John Thompson designs. Two of our most popular designs - Return To The Avant Garage (black) and Modern Dance In French (white) - have been revised. The MDF shirt features the corrected French translation on the back (thanks to Charlie Dontsurf). We've also printed a trial run of a pink Why I Hate Women. Some of us are skeptical. Johnny is convinced. This is a consequence of allowing Johnny to establish pink as the official Pere Ubu color all those years ago. In any case it sports our new corporate slogan on the back: Ars longa, spectatores fugaces. (Thanks to Adrian Burns for his research.)

Pere Ubu Radio
Alexandre Horn, one of the cadre of French ultra-fans that includes Philippe Mury (Charlie Dontsurf), has posted Pere Ubu Radio on the dreaded MySpace. Though not official, it is an approved site. Mr Mury's site, BTW, ubudance.com is home to the most extensive discography available.

European Taxes
We have added a page summarizing the punitive taxes levied on musicians by various nation states. It is not comprehensive. Any contributions are welcome.

Why I Remix Women
Smog Veil, due to demand from distributors, has released Why I Remix Women commercially. The cd had only been previously available at concerts as a merch item.

Cage-Fest and Wheeler
Robert Wheeler recently appeared in Toronto, June 11, at the Ontario College Of Art And Design in a performance of John Cage's HPSCHD.



1-Oct-08
Comments on the MT9 Format
Yet another example that the oriental mind seems to be fundamentally incapable of grasping the nature of sound.

Fontana Reissues
The four Fontana Years albums, The Tenement Year, Cloudland, Worlds In Collision, and Story Of My Life, have reissued as individual cds by Mercury Records, April 16 2007. The changes are:



8-Jun-08
Modern Dance in Surround Sound release RELEASED.
Somewhat delayed, the 5.1 surround-sound disk of THE MODERN DANCE was released July 31 2006 in England and Europe on Silverline (catalog 284402-2). It is unlikely at this point to have a US release. (Amazon is selling it as an import for $27.99.) Glitterhouse is also selling it.

The format is DualDisc. We do not have a copy of the production release at this point. One side of the DualDisc is a DVD featuring a 5.1 surround sound remix of the entire album, a 30 minute interview with David Thomas, as well as a new mastering of the original stereo album mix at DVD audio quality (96khz/24 bit). The other side of the disk is a cd audio format of the new mastering of the original stereo album (44khz/16 bit) playable on standard audio cd players.

David Thomas, who attended the remix session by Chris Haynes, reports: "This is the way we heard The Modern Dance in the studio... no, it's better than that, it's the way we heard it when we were playing it. The detailing is fantastic. The space reveals everything while still retaining the album's intensity and original intention. And the best thing is, if you want to hear something louder or quieter you just move your head a foot. Everything is there!"

Fan reaction:
Michael Trotier: "Nothing but praises for the Modern Dance dual disc. It is brilliant! Words cannot describe the beauty of the 5.1 mix."

31-Oct-07

Theremin Demo
On Monday, October 29th at 7:00 pm, Robert Wheeler will demonstrate the mysteries of the theremin at the Avon Lake (OH) Public Library.

Red Apple Boy
David Thomas contributes lyrics and vocals to a track called Red Apple Boy on the recently released The Book of Knots album, Traineater (Anti 86853-2). It's a project Tony Maimone is involved in and also features performances by Tom Waits, Mike Watt and John Langford, among others.

David Does Disney
David Thomas sang four songs for "Forest of No Return," Hal Willner's two act production of songs from Disney films, on June 17 2006 at the Royal Festival Hall, London. The four were "I'm Late, I'm Late," "Heigh-ho" as a duet with Nick Cave, "When I See An Elephant Fly," and "Pink Elephants On Parade." Keith Moliné played noise guitar. Other participants were Grace Jones, Jarvis Cocker, Baba Malle, Shane MacGowan, Beth Orton, Roger McGough, Chris Spedding and Marshall Allen.

Erewhon Cereals
Michael Frantz reports: Unknown Instructors
David Thomas sings 3 songs on Dan McGuire's Unknown Instructors album ("Master's Voice," Smog Veil SV66, released March 2007). In the band are Mike Watt, Joe Baiza and George Hurley. The David Thomas songs are: This Black Hat is Rage, Tar Baby & the Rising Sun, and Doghouse Riley.

Digital Downloads
Tracks from the following releases are available from eMusic: Jimmy Bell (search for The Numbers Band), Folly of Youth Seedee+, Beach Boys Seedee+, One Man Drives..., and Shape of Things. Available via iTunes are The Day The Earth Met The Rocket From The Tombs, Rocket Redux and 18 Monkeys on a Dead Man's Chest, as well as most of the Ubu albums.

25-May-07

Ubu Tour Dates
European dates in late April / early May have been announced. London date is confirmed. See Calendar Page.

Experimentations: Robert Wheeler will not do the April 2007 European dates. He is still a full and functioning member of the band - have no fear - but he will be replaced on synth duties by Dids of Gagarin, long-time Ubu and 2pbs soundman. Robert will return for the 2nd leg of European dates in May. Andy Diagram will join Dids and Ubu for the London show.

The Harry Smith Project
David Thomas contributes 2 songs to "The Harry Smith Project, Anthology of American Folk Music Revisited" (Shout! Factory). It's a 2-cd and 2-DVD release box set. On "Fishing Blues" he performs with The Mondrian String Quartet, Percy Heath and Van Dyke Parks to a VDP arrangement. On "Way Down The Old Plank Road" he performs with a band featuring Steve Earle, Eric Mingus, David Johansen, Philip Glass, and Bill Frisell, among others. His performance of "Fishing Blues" also features in video form on one of the DVDs.

Ubu on French TV
A short documentary including an interview with David Thomas airs tonight in France, Nov 14.

The Shape of Things To Come
There is a chapter in Greil Marcus' new book, "The Shape of Things To Come - Prophecy and the American Voice" (Farrar, Straus And Giroux) pages 201-259, devoted to David Thomas. The chapter is titled "Crank Prophet Bestride America, Grinning: David Thomas."

Trivia
Please note new addition to Protocols Page: Trivia Questions. We provide this heads-up to our loyal fans to give them an advantage (not that they would need one) during any Pere Ubu promotional giveaway contest on the radio. We care.

Pirates & Drunken Sailors
David Thomas sings two songs, "Dan Dan" & "The Drunken Sailor," on Hal Willner's Rogue's Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs & Shanteys, due for release Aug 22. Other contributors include Bono, Sting, Lou Reed, Bryan Ferry, Richard Thompson, Van Dyke Parks, Nick Cave, Eliza Carthy, and Waterson/Carthy. Interview answers:

Sea shanteys are a form/idiom we have visited over the decades, the most obvious example being "Caligari's Mirror," which is actually based on "Drunken Sailor." When you want a metaphor for the condition of humanity you can't do better than reference drunken sailors, mad ship captains, etc. It certainly worked for Herman Melville!

I didn't set out to do radical, simply to properly interpret the song, not as a museum piece but as contemporary folk music. And, uh, drunkards don't sing that I've ever noticed in neat musical syntax. Not down at my local anyway...

Dan Dan was easy, dictated by the lyric-- hard fast punk. Get in, hit hard and get out before anybody notices the mess. Mayhem R Us.

I actually haven't heard mixes of my tracks yet, never mind the album. I've worked with Hal on 4-5 projects over the last few years (Harry Smith, Firesign Theater, Nino Rota/Fellini) and when he calls I first say Yes and then ask what the project is. It was a great evening in the studio. Norma Waterson, Martin Carthy, Eliza Carthy, Ralph Steadman, Ed Harcourt, Keith Moline (Pere Ubu), among others, were there and everybody was vibing on the chaos and spontaneity which is the modus operandi of a Willner session. Real seat of the pants stuff, playing with the best people. Dan Dan was the 2nd run thru. Drunken Sailor was the 1st or 3rd, I can't remember. It takes a special kind of musician to be able to deliver the goods that way and Hal knows all their phone numbers.

Ghoulardi
The text of David Thomas' multimedia presentation on Ghoulardi is now posted.

EREWHON Revisited
Cooking Vinyl has re-issued the first David Thomas and two pale boys cd as an audio only cd in a jewel-case. The original release was as a digipak and in the Enhanced CD format with a multimedia side. The audio only cd was remastered by David Thomas and Paul Hamann at Suma in 2005. The digipak/enhanced cd format was impractical to keep in stock.

On the subject of YouTube
We have informed YouTube they are infringing our copyrights by posting certain Ubu videos and YouTube has removed them from their site. Our policy as regards this can be found here.

Remix
A cd of WIHW remixes called WHY I REMIX WOMEN will be sold as a concert merch item and by mail order only. The remixes are by Keith Moline, Michele Temple, and Gagarin, as well as an album alternative mix by David Thomas. Release will be simultaneous with the Pere Ubu tour of Europe.

Reactions to advance copies of WHY I HATE WOMEN, the new Pere Ubu album:

Neal, the Ubu accountant reports:
"Flows like a river. Cool textures."

Charliedontsurf (webmaster at Ubudance.com) says,
"Well ... it looks like ... it seems that ... i have to say : forthcoming album is the ******* BEST ALBUM OF THE BAND, EVER!"
He has posted a review (in French) at his website.

Zouba, moderator at Pere Ubu Foundation, says,
"I've been mum on this so far, but um: Charlie is completely correct. This is clearly far and away the best piece of any of the 'modern' ubu era releases. Stellar."

Robert Wheeler reports,
"what a wonderful record. I put it away for a while and played it this last week. as good as MD or RGS but all love songs...
I like the proposed title."

27-Nov-06

Pere Ubu On The Air
Pere Ubu will be on Sound Opinions, the "world's only rock and roll talk show," hosted by Jim DeRogatis of the Chicago Sun-Times and Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune.

Saturday November 18th at 7 p.m CST on Chicago Public Radio. WBEZ 91.5 FM Chicago or www.chicagopublicradio.org

Saturday November 18th at 9 a.m. CST on The Current 89.3 FM, 88.7 FM Minneapolis

Sunday November 19th at 5 p.m. EST on WFUV 90.7 FM New York City

Wednesday November 22nd at 4pm AST on KIAL 1450 AM, Dutch Harbor, Unalaska, Alaska

The podcast will be available at SoundOpinions.org the Monday after it airs.

Pere Ubu Tour Dates
Dates are now finalized for the October European tour. We are disappointed to have a day off on October 20. We hate days off. They make us weak. Available on that date for private parties. See Calendar Page for state of play. A return to Southern Europe is under discussion for early in 2007.

British dates are at this point limited to Brighton & London. Special guest at the London show will be Stan Ridgway. See Calendar Page for state of play. More dates are hoped for in early 2007.

The first USA date will be a special all-Ubu double bill at UCLA's Royce Hall in Los Angeles on Oct 29. The first set will be a live underscore performance of X, The Man With X-Ray Eyes followed by a concert set. All other dates at this point will be concert sets. Dates in San Francisco, Chicago and New York City are now confirmed. Old friends The Bush Tetras (the ORIGINAL Nerve Gas Dancers) will be special guests in New York City. Two or three more confirmations are expected soon for the end of November. See Calendar Page for state of play. A second tour is hoped for early 2007.

Pale Gagarins
A very special one-off concert by David Thomas and pale gagarins will be performed Oct 4 in Madrid at the experimenta club. It's a partnership of David Thomas, Keith Moliné and Dids. Dids is the 2pbs and Pere Ubu soundman (Europe) who performs as Gagarin. Many of the European Pere Ubu dates will be supported by Gagarin.

12-Aug-06

David Thomas and Rodolphe Burger.
David Thomas and French guitarist Rodolphe Burger appear together again June 9 at the "C'est dans la Vallée" Festival in Ste Marie aux Mines (Alsace), France.

Ubu Lounges?!?!
They'll be sorry...

Director's Cut releases of RGS & PA
Cooking Vinyl USA celebrates the Pere Ubu's 30th year anniversary with the release of The Director's Cut versions of their highly praised and seminal albums of the 90s, Raygun Suitcase and Pennsylvania on Sep 6.

"The point of doing a Director's Cut is to benefit from that older and wiser thing," David Thomas explains. "We reviewed all alternate mixes from the session, sometimes discovering that an earlier mix turned out to be superior to the chosen mix. As well, 10 years later, we have access to improved mastering technology. Consequently, there is a greater clarity and cohesion to the Director's Cuts."

Reaction from the Pere Ubu Foundation newsgroup (Mr Eyesbleed): "I thought I'd get RGS first, since that's my personal fave Ubu. I've only played it thru 3 times so far, but wow..... big improvement! The overall sound is hotter & crispier & crunchier. And the extremely wacky guitar playing is more out front.... along with all the bleeps & blurps. I noticed more abrasive guitar & general wackiness than before.... MAJOR plus for me! All the guitar stuff is more out front.... I guess I never paid that much attention to it before, but RGS is the perfect mix of avant-guitar & surf-guitar..... & the directors cut seems to make it all sound that much better. So....I say HIGHLY recommended. Now I must get Penn."

Mr Gustav121 reports of the Amazon site, "You'll find the "Director's Cut" versions on the second page (of three) of listings. The originals are listed on the first page."

Charlie Dontsurf reports in:
"I recommend both Director's Cut Perfect sound, clearer ... you will discover again the songs On RGS, I particulary like the Robert Wheeler's work ... To buy them, I recommend www.cduniverse.com they are cheaper than amazon.com the albums price is 10.95 USD each at the moment (9.09 a month ago !!!) the shipping cost to Europe is about 8.20 USD for both albums Fast delivery!

24-May-06

New Pere Ubu Album
The recording of the new Pere Ubu album is finished as of Feb 6 2006. The title will not be announced yet mainly because David has made a possibly controversial choice and doesn't want to be bothered by reaction until he has to be. The song titles are Two Girls (One Bar), Babylonian Warehouses, Blue Velvet, Caroleen, Flames Over Nebraska, Love Song, Mona, My Boyfriend's Back, Stolen Cadillac, Synth Farm, and Texas Overture. The album represents a new branch of Pere Ubu song cycles. Release is scheduled for September 19 2006. Guest musicians include Rodolphe Burger, Jack Kidney, Robert Kidney, and Andy Diagram. Michele Temple contributes a lead vocal.

Cloudland on Demand
Philippe Murry (Charlie Dontsurf, webmaster of the very classy French-language website ubudance.com), reports:

I was on Holidays in Wales and found in a second hand record shop a "strange" Cloudland re-release (2004) by Universal via a Made-on-Demand service! It's a cd-r with poor artwork (no booklet) with some info on the cd (in fact: a html file with the poor artwork...)

Phillipe goes on to note that though the disk sounded like a good quality reproduction there were pops and clicks on some tracks. It is the only Pere Ubu album on offer and it is the only known (seemingly) legal outlet for those wanting a copy of the record.

11-May-06

New Ubu
Tom Herman has left Pere Ubu. He has been replaced by Keith Moliné of David Thomas and the two pale boys. Keith has been performing as part of the Pere Ubu Film Group and made his debut as a member of the Pere Ubu Concert Group at the recent Moers New Jazz Festival in Germany. Tom, meanwhile, is moving his family back to Cleveland from the Oakland area.

Review of Pere Ubu live from the September UK tour.

More MOJO madness
The Cooking Vinyl (UK) press officer reports, "Just to let you know, MOJO will be using "30 Seconds Over Tokyo" on their July cover mount (out 1st June). The CD will feature U2's favourite tracks, both old and new - basically tracks they would put on if they were at home for the evening. The Edge chose your song.

18-Dec-05

Ghoulardi
David Thomas delivered a presentation on the influence of Cleveland monster-movie host Ghoulardi (1963-66) at the Experience Music Project Pop Conference 2005 in Seattle April 15. "A major hit" of the conference reports the Village Voice's Robert Christgau. A transcript may be posted at some point.

Greatest Hits
The Greatest Hits poll has closed. Very interesting results. We asked for 35 songs. No surprise that the top vote getter was Final Solution. The most popular album was Dub Housing. The top songs in alphabetical order are:

30 Seconds Over Tokyo, Beach Boys, Birdies, Breath, Bus Called Happiness, Busman's Honeymoon, Caligari's Mirror, Chinese Radiation, Codex, Come Home, Dark, Dub Housing, Fabulous Sequel, Final Solution, Folly Of Youth, George Had A Hat, Go, Goodbye, Heart of Darkness, Heaven, Humor Me, I Will Wait, Laughing, Misery Goats, Modern Dance, My Dark Ages, Navvy, Nonalignment Pact, Oh Catherine, On The Surface, SAD.TXT, Slow Walking Daddy, Small Was Fast, Street Waves, Ubu Dance Party, Waiting for Mary, Wasted, We Have The Technology, Woolie Bullie, and Worlds In Collision.

That's 40 songs - not 35 - because the difference in counts was negligible for many of the songs. Many respondents pleaded passionately that this song or that song simply had to be included and inevitably these were not top vote getters - Postcard probably featured most often in that category. A total of 167 songs received votes. Every album is represented except for Song of the Bailing Man. It's top vote getter was Big Ed's Used Farms.

In the bubbling under category are: Big Ed's Used Farms, Cloud 149, Fevered Dream of Hernando deSoto, Goodnite Irene, Kathleen, Kingdom Come, Life Stinks, Smoke The BBQ, Vacuum In My Head, and Winter In The Firelands.

Jim Jones
Jim Jones would like to pass along his heartfelt thanks for the out-pouring of support (the Jim Jones Benefit). Unfortunately, a computer foul-up means that the list of donors and their email addresses has been lost so personal responses have not been possible. Jim is currently feeling a little better but he is facing 3 major operations. After a couple years of misdiagnosis it has been determined that he is suffering from spondylosis. Along the way he has suffered two strokes and undergone bypass surgery. On the up side he is being treated at The Cleveland Clinic and he has been approved for Disability Benefit and Medicaid. His medical bills will be paid. It can't be stressed enough how important the many donations have been as an interim, bridging mechanism. Thank you all.

Pere Ubu at CBGB's
Linda Dawn Hammond has posted a series of photos of Pere Ubu taken Nov 11 1978 at http://www.indyfoto.com/pereubu.html

Mojo NAP
This from the Cooking Vinyl press office: "MOJO magazine is celebrating the redefining and retooling of the punk ethic both in 1977 and today by compiling a unique CD focusing on the off-kilter collision of punk, funk and industrial malevolence.   They are going to include 'Non Alignment Pact'. The issue will be on sale on 2nd March (cover date April 05). Other artists on the CD include Wire, A Certain Ratio and The Fall with Radio 4, Interpol and The Futureheads."

ICFOS Hit!
The Pere Ubu tour of the 3-D version of "It Came From Outer Space" was a big hit. If Universal allows the print out again we hope to repeat the effort.

"Pere Ubu have created a sympathetic and subtle soundtrack which works with the film rather than stamping their distinctive mark on it." -- Lilly Peel, The Argus, 11/13/04.

"They turned a B-movie into a series of menacing peaks and troughs and the overall art experiment was very much a success." -- The Scotsman, 11/10/04.

"Ubu's driving industrial rhythm are pulled back into moody atmospherics and primitive electronic squiggles." -- The Herald, 11/10/04.

David Thomas, Monster
The Monster box has been reconfigured for re-release. Instead of a box it will be packaged in a 4-cd multiway jewel case with a slip cover designed by John Thompson. The Meadville disk of live David Thomas and two pale boys will not be included.

The re-packaging will make it easier to keep the box in stock by reducing the complexity and stock costs of the previous fabrication. The Meadville disk was dropped because (1) the 5-cd multiway jewel case is flimsy and unpleasing, and (2) Meadville was always meant to be a bonus disk. (In answer to the inevitable complaints-- you had 7 years to buy it...!)

Meadville will be re-released in some way at some point in the near future. Ubutique has a few of the original Monster boxes (with Meadville) left.

The Variations On A Theme disk has been reconfigured, partially in response to some fan requests. Some of the original 1983 mixes have been included and the remixes have been re-mastered.

The UK release of the Monster reissue was Nov 1 2004, the US release was Nov 11.

Wait For It
Tom Herman's first solo album for many years, Wait For It, has been released in Germany and is available via mail order from Glitterhouse and from Ubutique. Addresses in Europe should order from Glitterhouse.

29-Apr-05

"I Quit!" Shock
David Thomas has retired from singing because of punitive, racist taxes imposed on foreign musicians by Germany, Holland and Belgium.

"I will no longer tolerate the injustice whereby should you create music you are hounded and penalized by racist do-gooders," Mr Thomas said. "Whereas if you simply suck on the teat of the musical welfare state, i.e. if you DJ, you are not. Henceforth I shall suck the teat of the musical welfare state. I have become a DJ."

NOW JAPAN
Japan has joined the ranks of foreigner-haters and are surcharging musicians as well. All Japanese customers of Ubutique will have to pay a 20% surcharge on purchases.

German, Dutch, Spanish, Japanese and Belgian Surcharge
Now Spain and Japan have joined the governments of Germany, Holland and Belgium to impose anti-foreigner taxes on non-native musicians playing in their countries. Note that these taxes do not apply to DJs only actual creative musicians who might have something to say. They are designed to exclude non-white and non-native culture. In America we call this bush-league, podunk... uh, déclassé. Racist also comes to mind. Penny-ante. Oh all sorts of things. In any case, because it is an illegal tax the tax authority of England does not recognize it and, therefore, will not give credit for it. Consequently, in order to claw back the tax, Ubutique orders from individuals in these countries will be surcharged, 20% on German orders, 25% on Spanish and Japanese, 15% on Dutch orders and 18% on Belgian orders.

The Rose & The Briar
David Thomas contributed a chapter to the Greil Marcus and Sean Wilentz edited book on the American ballad called "The Rose & The Briar" to be published in November by W. W. Norton & Co. The book's sub-title is "Death, Love and Liberty in the American Ballad." David's chapter is entitled "Destiny In My Right Hand: 'The Wreck of Old 97' and 'Dead Man's Curve'"

The books is 320 pages with contributions from R. Crumb, Dave marsh, Joyce Carol Oates, Jon Langford, John Rockwell, and others. A companion cd will be released by Columbia.

BBC Album of the Week
18 Monkeys was the BBC's Album of the Week for April 5 2004. "Strange, compelling, terrifying and great," Nick Reynolds wrote. The US release on Smog Veil is scheduled for Oct 19. In the meantime it can be downloaded from iTunes. See below.

iTUNES
Both Rocket From the Tombs cds are now available as MP3 downloads from iTunes, as are Pere Ubu's St Arkansas and Terminal Tower. The 2pbs' first album, Erewhon, is available from eMusic.

18 Monkeys, etc.
The new David Thomas and two pale boys album, 18 Monkeys on a Dead Man's Chest, is available in the UK & Europe as of March 29 on Glitterhouse. UK and European tour dates are coming together for May - June - July. See the Calendar Page. The US release date on Smog Veil Records is October 19. In the meantime it is available as an MP3 download from iTunes. A US tour is scheduled for October.

One Man Drives, etc.
One Man Drives While The Other Man Screams, Pere Ubu Live Volume 2 has been re-issued on Hearpen (April 5 2004) and is distributed in the US by Morphius Records. The 1989 release has been edited and re-mastered. It features tracks from the legendary 1978 London Electric Ballroom show as well as shows from Cleveland and Germany. Some day we will explain why there are, seemingly, any number of Ubu Live Volume Two's out there-- each correctly titled. None of this material appears on the Datapanik box.

Rocket Redux 2
The Rocket From The Tombs non-reunion continues to roll on in its inimitable non way. An album of studio recordings of the live set will be released on Smog Veil Records, Feb 24 2004, in the USA, on Glitterhouse in Europe and on Bomba, Jan 25 2004, in Japan. It's called Rocket Redux and features the following songs: Frustration, So Cold, What Love Is, Ain't It Fun, Muckraker, 30 Seconds Over Tokyo, Sonic Reducer RFTT, Never Gonna Kill Myself Again, Amphetamine, Down In Flames, Final Solution RFTT, and Life Stinks.

The genesis is as follows. Following the hugely successful June tour we decided to undertake a tour out west to complete a circuit of the country. In order to satisfy a stream of requests after every show, we decided to record the current set of material with the new band and sell it as a concert merchandise only item. Richard Lloyd engineered, produced and mixed the new recordings at his studio over a couple lost weekends. Along the way we got excited about the outcome and decided to release it commercially.

Clearly, credibility is stretched now on the official line that this is not a reunion. Nevertheless, it continues to be the case. Here are the unadulterated facts: (1) We really like playing these songs with each other-- it is satisfying; (2) The mix of personalities is about as stable as nitroglycerine; (3) We actually like each other as people and enjoy each other's company so the 8 flaming rows that erupt each day we are together in the same place at the same time are quickly forgiven; (4) It will not be a "real" band until we start writing new material; (5) This group of people may not be able to write new material together; (6) If we can't write new material of proper quality and nature we don't want to feel like we're stuck together-- we simply part our ways and say to each other, "It's been fun."

Describing the recent shows, David Fricke, editor of Rolling Stone, wrote, "No on else in American rock, underground or over, in 1974 and '75, was writing and playing songs this hard and graphic about being f**ked over and fighting mad. No one else is doing it now."

Greg Kot in the Chicago Tribune wrote, "Rocket From the Tombs is not just the great lost proto-punk band of the '70s. It's one of the best bands of the 21st Century too."

Shape of Things
Morphius Records is now distributing the increasingly popular Shape of Things "official bootleg" cd. It should be showing up in the more discerning record shops in your neighborhood.

2-Mar-05

MC5 & Sun Ra Arkestra
David Thomas will make a guest appearance in the MC5 lineup that plays the Royal Festival Hall, London, on Friday, February 25, along with Handsome Dick Manitoba, Billy Duffy and Lisa Kekaula. The Sun Ra Arkestra will also be on the bill.

Gary Lupico passes away
A great friend of the band from the very earliest days and a talented songwriter / musician, Gary Lupico, died suddenly in Austin TX on Saturday, December 18 2004. A burst aortic aneurysm killed him. There was a memorial at the Beachland Ballroom in Cleveland Dec 22.

16-Feb-05

Greatest Hits
We have invited members of the newsgroup to participate (with very interesting results). Now we extend the invitation. As a long-term project we are looking at compiling a 2-cd Greatest Hits package. We'd like it to be a fan-driven thing as much as possible. (Since we actually have nothing like a "hit" in our catalog we will rely on the hit parade that lies in each one of your hearts... sigh...) If you'd like to participate please submit 35 Pere Ubu songs to directors@ubuprojex.com. The project will encompass the entire history of Pere Ubu.

Rules: (1) Only 35 songs; (2) Only songs performed by Pere Ubu; (3) No covers. Please write in the "Subject:" line of your email the phrase "Greatest Hits Project".

We hope to license individual Fontana-era tracks so these should be included in your calculations. We are getting a number of suggestions for formats, etc. These are appreciated and we are considering all possibilities.

The Immortals
David Fricke, editor of Rolling Stone magazine, raves about 15-60-75's Jimmy Bell's Still In Town in a special edition of the magazine entitled "The Immortals." This recording is one of the great moments of our culture. If you don't have it, find it, buy it. It's been reissued on David Thomas' Hearpen Records and is distributed by Morphius. The review is available on the Numbers Band website, which is a pretty interesting place on its own. Visit it. Please.

Slow Walking Daddy
Smog Veil, with the cooperation of spinART, has released a 7-inch 45RPM vinyl version of Slow Walking Daddy, specially edited by David Thomas for the AM radio. On the B-side is a live version of SAD.TXT from the Pennsylvania tours of 1998. Expect it mid-September.

22-Nov-04

ICFOS at The Ocean, Hackney
Last Week The Ocean went into liquidation. Pere Ubu's performance of It Came From Outer Space was cancelled by the accountants who are now in control. Please note that fans calling to The Ocean have been told that they were not the ones who cancelled the show. This is not true.

Bowery Poetry Club
David Thomas will give a spoken word performance at Bob Holman's Bowery Poetry Club, 308 Bowery (across from CBGB's), in New York City at midnight Oct 28 following the appearance by him and the 2pbs earlier in the evening at the Knitting Factory.

It Came From Outer Space
Pere Ubu construct a live, often improvised, underscore to Ray Bradbury's critique of post-war racial isolationism. Director Jack Arnold's 1953 sci-fi classic, It Came From Outer Space, is presented in its rare red/green anaglyphic stereoscopic 3D print. (3-D glasses will be provided.) Performing to a dialog only format conceived and produced by Marek Pytel (of Reality Films), Pere Ubu adds a throbbing atmospheric underscore featuring dialog restored and voice-over descriptions from the film's original Ray Bradbury script. A tour of seven UK select venues runs from Nov 5 to Nov 13 2004. See the Calendar Page for information on dates in London, Liverpool, Glasgow, Brighton, Poole, Bristol and Warwick.

"1950s cold war paranoia with the dark vision of Pere Ubu" -- The Guardian

"The audience placed its red and green 3D spex upon its collective nose, and ducked and dived as shards of rock and laser beams poured out of the screen. David Thomas, old daddy Ubu himself, added some witty touches to the dialogue. This live band/3D movie thing could catch on." -- The Evening Standard

"Pere Ubu have raised the standard for live soundtracks." -- Glenn Max, Musical Director Contemporary Culture, The South Bank, London.

31-Aug-04

New web site
You might want to note the URL of the new Ubu Projex website-- the very place you find yourself now-- which is www.ubuprojex.com. The Suburban Home of Ubu Projex at www.projex.net has been abandoned and its contents transported in Big Black Boxes to this site and dumped into the Resources Page.

Summer Plans
As part of the "Celebrate Brooklyn" series, Pere Ubu will perform a live film soundtrack in Brooklyn on July 22 at the Prospect Park Bandshell to a screening of Roger Corman's "X, the Man With X-Ray Eyes." The band for this occasion will be David Thomas, Michele Temple, Tony Maimone, Robert Wheeler and Chris Cutler.

FLASH!
Pere Ubu will appear with Spiritualized in London at the Royal Festival Hall on August 1st as part of the "Heroes & Villains" concert series.

26-Apr-04

NINO ROTA
David Thomas, with the two pale boys, will perform in Hal Willner's production of "Perfect Partners: Nino Rota & Federico Fellini" featuring Carla Bley, Geri Allen, Roy Nathanson, Beth Orton, Roger Eno, and others on April 24 at the Barbican in London.

18-Apr-04

FIRESIGN THEATRE
David Thomas will be among those featuring in Hal Willner's tribute to Firesign Theatre, "Let's Eat-- Feasting on the Firesign Theatre," April 1, 2004, at UCLA in Los Angeles. The production also features Todd Rundgren, John Goodman, George Wendt, Loudon Wainwright, Howard Hesseman, Mark McKenney, Scott Wanio, Chloe Webb, and Stan Ridgeway, among others.

UBUDOLL
The extraordinary David Thomas and Jackie Leven duo, UBUDOLL, makes its long-delayed UK debut in March, having taken 5 years to play Paris, Amsterdam, Bergen and Oslo in the course of the slowest tour ever.

"An unbelievable evening of song, laughter, shouting and fear" -- Dag Bladet (Oslo).

For the London show Ubudoll will be joined on stage by long-time Jackie Leven sideman, Breton multi-instrumentalist Michael Cosgrave, adding keyboards and trumpet to their voices, guitar and melodeon. The material will be drawn from many points in their respective recording careers, and also from the Cooking Vinyl recording collaborations between the two men over the past 6 years: expect to hear (amongst others) Jackie singing 'Morbid Sky' from David's avant garage musical MIRROR MAN, and David perform the Rainer Maria Rilke prose poem 'Faces' from SHINING BROTHER SHINING SISTER, last year's studio album from Jackie.

3-Mar-04

Wasted
Monster.com, a headhunter net business, has been using bits of "Wasted" in their recent tv ads in America. We've had two requests asking for an explanation. Sample correspondence:

"I felt a shudder of disappointment, and then I chided myself for various presumptions. Then I determined to write to you and find out what's up with you letting your work be used in ads."

Thank you for your concern. I have to say I have a different take on the whole issue. Wasted appears very prominently in a 1994 Hollywood movie called SLEEP WITH ME. No one has ever voiced concerns about its use. The American corporation is held to a higher standard of accountability than the Hollywood producer and is more trustworthy. I am not claiming either to be paragons of virtue. I simply point out the relative standing of the two. We like selling things. We like the marketplace and we consider it a healthier environment than the realm, for example, of state-subsidized art. I really can't get excited about the track being used for a commercial. In any case, we don't own the copyright to that album.

Another fan weighs in: "If McDonald's were to give a free copy of Doc at the Radar Station with every Happy Meal, the fact that it's a great record wouldn't change."

And another: The juxtaposition of "Throwing time away..." and an advertisement telling me to "Get a new job" blooms very nicely, i.e., not always in the way Monster.com intends.

And another: It's true that if McDonald's gave away a free copy of Doc at the Radar Station with every Happy Meal, it wouldn't change the fact that it's a great record; it also wouldn't change the fact that it's a great product. I don't distinguish between Virgin Records and McDonalds; they would both be doing the same thing with that album. Similarly, the fact that Wasted is used in an advert makes no difference to its intrinsic value.

22-Feb-04

Sentimental Journey
"One Reason to Live" a show on London's Resonance radio (104.4 FM) on Sunday 22 Feb at 8:00 pm features David Cunningham, lecturer at the University of Westminster, discussing "Sentimental Journey" from The Modern Dance. The show can be listened to on the web at http://www.resonancefm.com.

16-Jan-04

Benefit for Jim Jones
Jim Jones is in the middle of several ongoing and serious health problems. As well, he is recovering from quadruple bypass heart surgery on October 21. To ease the financial burden on him and to give him some comfort his friends are promoting a benefit. All proceeds go to a trust set up for him. The benefit is Sunday, November 30, at the Beachland Ballroom in Cleveland. Rocket From The Tombs will be playing. Doors are at 7pm and the show starts promptly at 8pm.

We have had a number of requests to contribute to the benefit. There is a form to give by PayPal at the Suburban Home of Ubu Projex.

The New Salem Witch Hunters are re-uniting for the night to open the show

17-Dec-03

Saint Arkansas
The new Pere Ubu album is already gathering an extra special dose of rave reviews. Release date is late May (UK & Europe) and mid-June (USA & Canada). The title is St Arkansas. The band is David Thomas, Tom Herman, Jim Jones, Robert Wheeler, Michele Temple & Steve Mehlman. The titles are The Fevered Dream of Hernando DeSoto, Slow Walking Daddy, Michele, 333, Hell, Lisbon, Steve, Phone Home Jonah, Where's the truth and Dark. John Thompson is the art designer. David Thomas produced it at Suma and Paul Hamann engineered.

A St Arkansas Resources page summarizes the important links.

Read the incoming comments from our consumer family.

The Mighty Road Tour begins in the midwest in September. A west coast tour will be booked early in 2003. No European dates are on the horizon yet. The tour t-shirt designs can be found at Ubutique.

David Thomas and the foreigners
A new foreigners band tours in Denmark and Sweden in September. The group is David Thomas, Peter Ole, Jurgen Teller and new member Mads (bass, guitar, trombone). Dates are posted on the Calendar Page.

New Speaker/Cranker
The latest Speaker/Cranker live in the studio cd, PLUGS INTO THE AMPS, featuring Jim Jones, among others, is out and available from Ubutique.

St Arkansas Centerfold
"We enjoyed your choice of V-M the Voice of Music equipment for your new centerfold! It was built by hard working people who really enjoyed what they were doing and it has earned a reputation for quality, reliability, and serviceability! As the jingle goes - The Voice of Music - is the Choice for Music!" --Gary Stork www.thevoiceofmusic.com

17-Jun-03

Mirror Man: A Reading
David Thomas and Bob Holman give a two man spoken performance of the improvisational opera Mirror Man at the Bowery Poetry Club on June 13. See Calendar Page.

Ken Hamann
Ken Hamann, the engineer/producer for Pere Ubu's early singles as well as the Modern Dance and Dub Housing albums, died Friday, Jan 10.

"Ken Hamann, the Suma Recording Studio owner and engineer who died Friday, engineered some of the biggest rock 'n' roll hits to come out of Cleveland in the 1960s and '70s, from The Outsiders' "Time Won't Let Me," recorded in 1965, to Wild Cherry's "Play That Funky Music" in 1976. During his years with Cleveland Recording Co., he worked on the Lemon Pipers' gold single, "Green Tambourine," and the Human Beinz' hit, "Nobody But Me," both of which rocked the Billboard charts in 1968. Hamann also played a key role in engineering Grand Funk Railroad's first seven albums.

"The 74-year-old Willoughby resident experimented with cutting-edge and sometimes untried recording techniques, often creating his own equipment to achieve the peculiar sounds that artists, like the James Gang and Pere Ubu, wanted." -- The Plain Dealer, 1/13/03

Rocket From The Tombs
The definitive and official Rocket From The Tombs has been released in the US by Smog Veil/Hearpen and in Europe by Glitterhouse/Hearpen. The UK release is scheduled for March 16. The US release will be as cd and as a double album. The official title is The Day The Earth Met The Rocket From The Tombs. John Thompson is the art designer.

And exactly why is it that you don't...
"But really we should be in the business of selling high quality records with decent packaging not in the business of selling crappy MP3s and thereby devaluing the primary product." --Nick Hobbs, Ubu Projex

17-Mar-03

The Mighty Road Tour West
Dates have now been posted for the Pere Ubu western tour, Feb 24 to Mar 8. See the Calendar Page for dates in San Diego, Tucson, Albuquerque, Denver, Salt Lake City, Reno, Portland, Seattle and San Francisco.

There will be two shows in Seattle-- a concert of songs at the Crocodile Club and the other a live soundtrack performance to a 3-D screening of It Came From Outer Space.

Disastodrome 2003
The full Disastodrome 3-day festival is coming to Los Angeles Feb 21-23, 2003. It is organized by David Thomas and produced by UCLA Performing Arts. Highlights of the festival include the American premiere of David Thomas' "rogue opera" Mirror Man, a one-time reunion of Rocket From The Tombs, David Thomas and two pale boys (with guests), The Kidney Brothers, Pere Ubu, Foyerdrome, datapanik options, and a number of special guests. Johnny Dromette will be on hand to take the blame for everything.

The Mirror Man cast is David Thomas, Frank Black, Robert Kidney, Syd Straw, Bob Holman, Van Dyke Parks, Keith Moliné, Andy Diagram, Georgia Hubley, George Wendt and Jack Kidney.

Rocket From The Tombs is David Thomas, Cheetah Chrome, Craig Bell, Richard Lloyd & Steve Mehlman.

Complete Disastodrome Information, of interest to journalists especially, is available as an Adobe Acrobat PDF file.

2-Dec-02

Surf's Up In Bay City
David Thomas performs his theatrical "work in progress" in an intimate setting (capacity 45), Studio 1 at Battersea Arts Centre, London, for 2 nights Nov 26 and Nov 28. See Calendar Page for details.

10-Oct-02

Mind Your Head
Pere Ubu performs the live soundtrack to a 3-D screening of Ray Bradbury's "It Came From Outer Space" October 9th at the Royal Festival Hall, London. The band will be David Thomas, Keith Moline, Robert Wheeler, Michele Temple and Chris Cutler. The headliners are The Electric Prunes.

25-Jun-02

What, No Solution?
In the Oct 2001 issue of MOJO there's a big feature on the 100 Best Singles of Punk ("100 Punk Scorchers"). 30 Seconds Over Tokyo is Number 35 and Street Waves is number 27. Sonic Reducer (written by Thomas and Gene O'Connor) shows up as well.

Wilson Shute Bridge
They put up a sign about what they had done...

Ubutique International
Customers outside (or inside for that matter!) the US & UK can pay for orders with credit cards over the web using the PayPal system. See the Ubutique page.

Mirror Man pix
Images captured from videos courtesy of Danny Grace and Bob Teagan of the tour of Mirror Man. More to come. Given the time we will also put up some streaming video.

18-Jun-02

West End Boys
David Thomas and two pale boys are appearing in Shockheaded Peter in the West End of London until June 16 at The Albery Theatre, St Martins Lane, London WC2-- eight shows a week, matinees on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday and a 10pm late show on Thursday (at which all tickets are £15 regardless of location). The production consists of 10 "cautionary" tales adapted from Heinrich Hoffman's The Struwwelpeter.

The Guardian (4/13/02) gave it 5 out of 5 stars.

"Imagine an early-19th-century toy playhouse with fantasy figures dreamt up by a Victorian David Lynch. Other influences might include The Goon Show, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Monty Python, Goethe's Faust, Freud on obsessional neurosis and early Chaplin movies. I think that should cover everything and reassure the serious-minded that they can have a wonderful time with an untroubled conscience. A brilliantly funny evening." -- John Peter, The Sunday Times, 4/28/2.

"Thomas' voice defied convention, rumbling and swooping as trumpeter Andy Diagram and guitarist Keith Moliné employ a series of effects to warp and enhance each melody... He [Thomas] is a huge presence, dominating the toy box set and contrasting comically with wiry Julian Bleach, with whom Thomas appears to be curiously furious throughout. There are some terrifyingly volatile moments, particularly during Johnny Head-In-Air when it seems Thomas will actually attack Bleach. This crackling tension, Thomas' dark intonations and the Two Pale Boys' creepy creaks and chords render the show far scarier than in previous productions." -- Maddy Costa, Time Out, 4/17/2.

4-Mar-02

Harry Smith Project
David Thomas appeared April 25 & 26, 2001, in Hal Wilner's Harry Smith Project at Royce Hall, UCLA, Los Angeles. He sang Van Dyke Parks' arrangement of "Fishin Blues" accompanied by Van Dyke Parks on piano with Percy Heath and the Richard Greene String Quartet. He sang "Way Down The Old Plank Road" accompanied by Smokey Hormel, Steve Hodges, DJ Bonebreaker, Eric Mingus, Larry Taylor, Van Dyke Parks, Richard Greene and Ralph Carney. He sang "Kassie Jones" along with David Johansen and Steve Earle, accompanied by Philip Glass, Adam Dorn, and Bill Frisell, along with members of the above listed band.

28-Oct-01

Surf's Up!
The raves continue to come in. Time Out goes bananas, "It is harrowing and haunting, beautiful and haunted stuff in which to both lose and find yourself." The Guardian rates it as "CD of The Week." The Independent is every bit as keen. "Amazing" is what The Wire concludes.

Just in from Daved Hild!! The verdict we've been waiting for!!

A FAQ page for Surf's Up! has been added with some interesting insights into the recording of the album.

Surf's Up!, the new album from David Thomas and two pale boys, is scheduled for release Feb 20 2001 on Thirsty Ear (USA), Glitterhouse (Europe) and Bomba (Japan). The Glitterhouse UK release will be March 5. The song titles are: Runaway, Man In The Dark, Night Driving, Surf's Up, River, Ghosts, Spider In My Stew & Come Home / Green River.

2-Jul-01

Glitterhouse takes over Jimmy Bell
Glitterhouse fell deeply and madly in love with 15-60-75's Jimmy Bell's Still In Town (Hearpen HR112) and have taken over distribution in Europe (except for Benelux) and the UK. Bomba have released it in Japan.

1-Jul-01

Mixing It
There's a short video interview with David Thomas for the BBC's Mixing It radio program.

DT on TV
Dutch tv channel VPRO broadcast a 40 minute documentary on David Thomas March 22. The series is called Lola da Musica. The crew followed David around Brighton for a week.

UBUDOLL on the web
The David Thomas-Jackie Leven partnership, UBUDOLL, can be heard on the web in a radio concert recorded for Dutch radio station VPRO on May 19 2000. The songs are Morbid Sky, Bus Called Happiness, Brunswick Parking Lot, Extremely Violent Man and Stranger on the Square.

French site
Charlie Dontsurf is the webmaster of a new site, in the French language, devoted to Pere Ubu. It is www.ubudance.com. There is, as well, a french language discussion group at www.egroups.fr/group/ubudance

Royal Festival Hall
On May 12 BBC-2 tv broadcast two David Thomas and two pale boys songs recorded May 4 for the 50th Anniversary of the Royal Festival Hall, London.

End of tour clearance
The Mirror Man Tour was a great success. Thanks to all who came. Some of you have noticed that a regular feature of end of US tours is a clearance sale of selected cd titles. Rather than return over-stock items to the record companies we try to blow them out at stooopid prices.

Therefore, until July 1 2001 and for those in the UK ONLY the following titles are offered at clearance prices while supplies last:
DUB HOUSING, £5.50
ART OF WALKING, £5.50
SONG OF THE BAILING MAN, £5.50

6-Jun-01

Mirror Man Dates Announced for UK!
The Contemporary Music Network is presenting a tour of Mirror Man (A Geography of Sound in 2 Acts) performed by David Thomas with The Pale Orchestra. It is a full theatrical production with an all new staging and new 2nd Act featuring David Thomas, Linda Thompson, Jackie Leven, Robert Kidney, Bob Holman, Daved Hild, Andy Diagram, Chris Cutler, Keith Moliné and Jack Kidney.

The Kidney Brothers (Robert & Jack Kidney of 15-60-75) play The 12-Bar Club in London, Saturday, May 19th, 10pm. The address is 22-23 Denmark Place (near Leicester Square). The phone is 020 7916-6989. Highly recommended.

Moers Jazz Festival
David Thomas and two pale boys play Moers, Germany, on June 4.

6-May-01

Double Trouble
There's a chapter on Pere Ubu's Pennsylvania (pgs. 163-69) and most of a chapter on David Thomas and the two pale boys' Meadville (pgs. 141-145) in Greil Marcus' new book, "Double Trouble." It's published by Faber & Faber (2000) in the UK and by Henry Holt (2000) in the US.

Rough Trade Days
Geoff Travis, founder of Rough Trade Records, was heard on London radio station XFM recently on a program celebrating the 25 years of Rough Trade. "If I had to play one single which summed up what we were about when we started," he said, "It'd be this one." He then played 30 Seconds Over Tokyo. "The first 3 singles on Hearpen were probably the best 3 singles ever released on an independent label," he said.

30 Seconds Over Tokyo is included in the box set "25 Years of Rough Trade Shops" (Mute CDSTUMM 191).

Total Meltdown
David Thomas and two pale boys appear with Elvis Costello, Nick Cave and Laurie Anderson in concert Friday June 4 at the Royal Festival Hall in London as part of the RFH's 50th Year Celebrations. The bill features the curators of the RFH's previous meltdown festivals. John Peel and Daniel Miller (of Mute) will emcee and dj.

24-Feb-01

Sisters of Mercy
Andrew Eldritch personally invited David Thomas and two pale boys to be the special guests of the Sisters of Mercy on a short tour in England in February. The 2pbs will play a 40 minute set starting promptly 30 minutes after doors open (usually at 7pm) except at the London shows where it will be a 30 minute set.

30-Jan-01

2pbs on Mixing It
Excerpts from the David Thomas and two pale boys show at Dingwalls in London will be aired on Mixing It, BBC Radio 3, Saturday Jan 27 at 10:50pm, frequency 91 - 93 FM.

10-Dec-00

End of tour overstock DEALS!
We have overstocked cds of various releases left over from the US tour. Rather than return them to Thirsty Ear for credit we'd prefer to blow them out at a special low price. Until stocks are gone and subject to availability, we will sell each of the following releases at $8 plus p+p to US customers ONLY: Apocalypse Now, Mirror Man, Song of The Bailing Man, Art of Walking, Bay City, and New Picnic Time. If you order more than 2 then each item over that number is only $7. Because stock is limited you must reserve your order by emailing with your name and order before sending money.

6-Dec-00

Wasteland
Wasteland, the track Pere Ubu recorded for the Wayne Kramer project, is available as a free MP3 download. MusicBlitz commissioned the recording, owns the copyright and has exclusive distribution of it. The recording is, therefore, unlikely to ever appear on an Ubu album.

David Thomas writes:
I can't download Wasteland. I click the button and nothing happens. Any luck your end?
Rhodri responds:
"seems to work OK eventually - but something is up with the MIME type of the file, normally mp3s would download straight to disk as per yr browser preferences, but I have to force it to do so by holding down the mouse on the link and choosing 'download link to disk'".

Steve Mehlman reports:
i didn't download the whole song, there's an option to just get a sample which sounds horrible. it sounds as if the songs being played in a room down the hall with the treble cranked....

3-Dec-00

Kindness Of Strangers Update
Thor Lindsay has contacted us and agrees to complete the paperwork required to notify the record retailing industry that the albums in question have been deleted and rights have reverted to Ubu Projex.

13-Nov-00

David Thomas and two pale boys return to the best & oddest venue in England-- The Shed, Brawby, N. Yorks-- on Saturday, November 11, which is Bowl Day meaning something about feeding all who come... or something. Brawby being a no horse town in the middle of Utter Nowhere this is seen as a Good Thing food-wise.

27-Oct-00

Pere Ubu go home
Pere Ubu play a week of American dates beginning Oct 7 in Los Angeles. The touring group is David Thomas, Tom Herman, Michele Temple, Robert Wheeler & Steve Mehlman. See the Calendar Page for details.

Ubu appear in Lisbon for the first time Sep 26 at Aula Magna.

Wayne Kramer (formerly of the MC5 and Pere Ubu), and his band, join Pere Ubu and 15-60-75 at the Royal Festival Hall, South Bank, London, on Wednesday, Sep 27, for 55 Years of Pain. Wayne will undoubtedly stand in with Pere Ubu on the songs he remembers from his (brief) stint in the group. 15-60-75 is the grand-daddy of the Cleveland scene. They changed the lives of everyone who's seen them. Do not miss this opportunity. Robert Kidney and his brother Jack appeared at Disastodrome a couple years ago. Now they bring their entire band.

As well, David Thomas broadcasts late nite radio to no one at all across a lost continent in the premiere of his one man show, "Surf's up in Bay City" at Beyond Baroque in Los Angeles on Oct 6. "Based on stories found, or not, in his acclaimed opera, Mirror Man, Thomas evokes surreal, sensual and visceral visions of the troubled space between memory and reality."

9-Sep-00

Audio stream "Black Coffee Dawn" at Terra Soundtralis Incognita.

4-Aug-00

Kindness Of Strangers
Pere Ubu and David Thomas are in dispute with Thor Lindsay, owner of Tim/Kerr Records, Portland OR. He has been in breach of contract for two years. We are owed significant sums of money. We have not received accounts for at least two years. He continues to do business. He continues to sell our albums but he does not respond to our phone calls, emails, faxes, etc. We have exhausted every means of mediating a friendly, compassionate solution.

As much as we'd like to simply walk away from the situation we can't. Because of the way the system works, effectively, we cannot reissue Raygun Suitcase, EREWHON, Monster or Pennsylvania in the US until Mr Lindsay issues a notice of deletion. It is an absurdity yet there it is. Consequently we look to call once more on the kindness of strangers. If you are an attorney based in Oregon, or if you know of one who would be interested in helping us, please contact Nick Hobbs, charmenko@atlas.co.uk or +44-020-7274-6618

12-Jun-00

Jimmy Bell's Still In Town by 15-60-75 is available on cd for the first time. Recorded in May 1975 and unavailable for decades, Reedurban Records is producing handmade copies. Note that this is the only good album ever recorded by anyone. The rest of us have just been putting in our time on the planet.

David's comments from the booklet:
Jimmy Bell's Still In Town is among the albums that changed the face of music. I don't know how many people have heard it. Ten thousand? Surely not more than twenty. Irrelevant. Culture happens in secret. It is conceived within a brotherhood, masonic and eternally closed to the uninitiated. Brother passes on to brother. Iron sharpens iron. Civilians are awed by cold ashes and dead embers. They rarely experience sparks and fire. Jimmy Bell has more sparks & fire showing than lots of us ever accomplish across an entire career. Treasure it.

Found this note at the Ubu newsgroup in re the Italian vinyl pressings:

"The new vinyl pressing of "Dub Housing" on Get Back Records sounds great! The source tape for this pressing is the remastered version that was used for the CD reissue on Thirsty Ear. As an added bonus the sleeve is gatefold and the inside photo is the same skyline shot used in the CD reissue only a heck of alot bigger. Looks very impressive in 12" x 24". The outer sleeve remains visually unchanged from the original."

The Modern Dance and New Picnic Time have been reissued on vinyl by the same company. Vinyl reissues of> The Art of Walking, Song of The Bailing Man and Terminal Tower are in the works.

A theatrical production of both acts of Mirror Man has been booked for the Victoriaville Festival, May 21 2000, in Victoriaville, Quebec. Appearing are David Thomas, Linda Thompson, Bob Holman, Andy Diagram, Robert Kidney, Jack Kidney, Chris Cutler and Keith Molinè. Scenic & lighting design: Danny Grace. Sound: Paul Hamann.

Pere Ubu have recorded a track called "Wasteland" for a compilation that Wayne Kramer is producing.

24-Apr-00

Ubu Projex has signed a non-exclusive deal with ATRecordings allowing them to market certain releases on the internet. The first such release will be Bay City by David Thomas and foreigners. A credit card facility for mail order sales of cd releases, free streaming and the sales of individual MP3 files will be provided. In time we hope to make the entire Ubu catalog available and to distribute internet only releases of a number of hitherto unreleased live albums. All such internet releases will be available as mail order cds and MP3 files. When the page is up we'll email details.

4-Apr-00

We have finally responded to questions about the vinyl pressings of The Modern Dance. The Bug Report, "1975-2000: 25 years of error... & bravely beyond!", has been updated with our Notes on Vinyl Pressings.

28-Mar-00

Christopher Bryant is advertizing Pere Ubu in his Autumn 2000 Inertia Tour lineup in spite of repeated statements from us that we were not interested in appearing. No, we are not appearing on the bill.

25-Mar-00

David Thomas duets with Jackie Leven twice on Jackie's new cd, DEFENDING ANCIENT SPRINGS (Cooking Vinyl CookCD 191). One of the songs is "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling."

Peter Murphy's version of Final Solution appears on his best of compilation, Wild Birds, on Beggars Banquet.

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