Pere Ubu Individual Biographies

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Michele Temple

b. 1959 in Van Wert, Ohio. Former Clevelander, Michele now lives in New York City where she produces music, does session work, composes music for film and other events, performs, teaches, and engages in all manner of recording related activities as part of the Urban Iguana Music Production team. Michele is bass and guitar sideplayer and producer for various local artists including Marni Rice and Le Garage Cabaret featuring Ramones producer Daniel Ray, and Joni MItchell interpretive artist Hannah Reimann. She was also part of the hip hop production team the Jettsonz, producers of Nina Sky. Michele teaches at the Brooklyn Conservatory where she counts among her former students multi-Grammy winning artist Alicia Keys.

Michele is a guitar sub in the pit of the Broadway production of Wicked, and was also in the pit for a one night revival of the Broadway production of Once on This Island. She has appeared at Lincoln Center with Armenian vocalist Sophia Gazarian and at the Apollo Theatre with Sony recording artist Amel Larrieux. Michele received her Masters Degree in Musicology from Cleveland State University in 1997.

Academic publisher Edwin Mellon Press chose to release Michele's Master's Thesis, her first book, The Influence of Middle Eastern Music on Late Medieval Italian Dances, in the fall of 2001. The Dance Perspective Foundation awarded her book a prize the next year for the most original work on dance published in English in the year 2001.

While in Cleveland Michele worked with Scott Krauss, Jim Jones, and Robert Wheeler in the Pere Ubu spin-off Home and Garden, and with her own band The Vivians which included Scott Benedict, drummer on Raygun Suitcase, and Steve Mehlman, current drummer for Pere Ubu.

Michele has been playing with Pere Ubu since 1993 and has appeared on Raygun Suitcase, Pennsylvania, St. Arkansas, Why I Hate Women and its accompanying Why I Remix Women, "Long Live Pere Ubu!", Lady From Shanghai, Carnival of Souls, various other live cds and cd-roms, and in a whole bunch l(really I've lost count) of live shows. She is involved in the Pere Ubu Film Group providing live soundtrack music for films.

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Steven A. Mehlman

b. 1971 in Cleveland, Ohio. Began drumming at the age of ten. He started playing in local Cleveland bands in 1989. He was invited to drum for Pere Ubu in late 1995 ahead of the Raygun Suitcase tour. A short list of bands he has played in: The Vivians, The Heathers, Sissy, Chump, The Terminal Lovers, and Screwtractor. Other bands he currently plays in: Roué (also www.myspace.com/roue), Liquid and Rocket From The Tombs. Steven graduated from Cleveland State University in May 2001 with a B.S. in Chemistry (cum laude). He worked for some years as a research chemist, focusing on powdered metals and rechargeable battery cathodes. He is currently working as a handy-ish man, paper delivery boy, and bar-back. In addition to music, Steve also hates the phone, books, politics, and back pain. He loves snowboarding and watching lots of TV.

Steve quit the band in 2019.

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Keith D. Moliné

b. 1965 in Maidstone, England, of Catalan/English parentage. He was a founding member of David Thomas and the two pale boys in 1994, contributing to their three studio albums and touring extensively in Europe and the US. Before that he was involved with the semi-improvisatory trio Infidel with ex-Shrubs singer Nick Hobbs and ex-Nico/Ludus electronic percussionist Graham Dowdall. Though nominally a guitarist, Moliné used a MIDI pickup on his instrument to control a sampler and other devices.

In 2002 he was invited to become part of the Pere Ubu Film Group, which toured their live underscore to 'It Came From Outer Space.' The group went on to contribute live scores to 'X, The Man With X Ray Eyes' and most recently 'Carnival Of Souls.' He took over as 'official' Ubu guitarist following Tom Herman's depature in 2005, touring extensively and recording four studio albums as a member of the group. He uses a Roland VG guitar system which among other things allows him to set up non-standard microtonal tunings.

In addition to Ubu-related activity, Moliné records and performs electronic music and has made two albums for the Entr'acte label. He also writes for The Wire magazine and lectures in music. He lives in London with his partner and two children.

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Alex Ward

b. 1974 in Great Yarmouth, England. Alex's interest in music was initially inspired by his parents' record collection, the presence within which of the likes of Ornette Coleman and Frank Zappa pointed him towards the more dissonant and uncompromising ends of the musical spectrum. He became involved in the world of freely improvised music as a teenager at the encouragement of the guitarist Derek Bailey. Alex's debut album, a duo with drummer Steve Noble (still to this day one of his primary musical collaborators) entitled 'Ya Boo, Reel & Rumble', was released on Bailey's Incus label in 1991. It featured several tracks recorded in 1989, the same year that Alex bought his first Pere Ubu album ('Terminal Tower'). At this point, his public performances were primarily on clarinet and alto sax, but home experiments with guitar and primitive multitracking reflected the more rock-related sides of his musical interests.

His activities continued to be split between the worlds of free improvisation and avant-rock over the ensuing decades. In the former category, his collaborators included Steve Beresford, Lol Coxhill, Simon H. Fell, Joe Morris and Pat Thomas. His interests in the rock form were pursued through such groups as Camp Blackfoot (1996-2001), Dead Days Beyond Help (2007-present), and his 2004 solo songs album 'Hapless Days'. A point of crossover between the two came with the formation of the improv power trio N.E.W. with John Edwards and Steve Noble, the first group in which Alex started playing guitar in a freely improvised context.

Starting in 2009, Alex began leading a number of groups designed to combine his compositional ideas with group improvisation, including Predicate, Forebrace, the Alex Ward Quintet/Sextet, and his current Item Series (iterations of which have to date included Items 4, 6, 7 & 10). Concurrently, he has maintained a diverse schedule as a sideman with the likes of Eugene Chadbourne, This Is Not This Heat, Thurston Moore's Galaxies/New Noise Guitar Explorations, and the European touring version of the Flying Luttenbachers. During the first year of the Covid-19 lockdown, Alex devoted himself to making the most ambitious album of his life, the solo overdubbing/midi extravaganza 'Gated', which was released in July 2021. The following month, he submitted a cover version of David Thomas's 'The Long Rain' to DPK-TV, which led to him being asked to join Pere Ubu.

An extensive discography for Alex can be found here. Back to Previous Page

Thomas E. Herman

b. 1949 in Buffalo, New York. Graduated Cathedral Preparatory School For Boys and the U.S. Army. Tom is happily married to Linda, and has four wonderful children: Avery, Sally, Irreverence, and Echo.

Tom has worked in a steel mill, a fish factory, on an oil rig, in an a.m./pm., a car wash, a couple restaurants, a couple hospitals.

Pops, as he insists on being called, started on electric bass in '66, guitar in '68. He can also play tenor sax, and synthesizer, and has some knowledge of piano. He studied music theory and composition at the D'Angelo School of Music, Mercyhurst University for a short time. Otherwise, he is mostly self taught.

Tom is a founding member of Pere Ubu. He left the band in 1979. He returned to Pere Ubu in 1995. He also played in other bands, notably Tripod Jimmie, with three independently released albums. In the early '80s, Tom created music for several San Francisco Bay Area performance artists.

Tom left the band again in 2016.

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James E. Jones

b. 1950 in Cleveland, Ohio. Died of a heart attack Feb 18 2008. Graduated from Mayfield High School in 1968. He played baritone sax in the MHS Marching Band, alto sax in the concert band, and discovered an affinity for tape manipulation while in charge of the high school language lab. Jim attempted two quarters at Cuyahoga Community College in '69, but his interest in music won out. He formed the short-lived band, Lazarus, and worked as a clerk/buyer for Leo Mintz's Record Rendezvous retail chain for the next fifteen years. Jim started his own record shop, Platter-Puss Records, in '84. He sold the business in '87 after joining Pere Ubu. Jim got his first guitar in 1965, and taught himself to play in a self-devised open tuning. He was profoundly moved by music in nearly all forms, especially Indian music (thanks to George Harrison), 20th century classical and experimental, 50s thru 60s pop and mood music, and of course 'rock' in it's many forms. Jim joined local 'underground' band, Mirrors, in '74 as bass player. Mirrors shared gigs with Rocket From The Tombs and The Electric Eels (whom he later recorded with), and later transformed into The Styrenes. In '77 Jim quit The Styrenes and took some time off from work to become a member of the Pere Ubu road crew, doing the infamous 'Co-Ed Jail Tours' of the US and Europe in support of 'The Modern Dance' lp. Back from the tours Jim and fellow roadie, Pat Ryan, started a two-man experimental rock band called Foreign Bodies, which released a single. The next few years saw Jim honing his skills as a studio producer for a number of local Cleveland artists and bands, recording his own music, and composing electronic pieces for local theatre and dance companies. In 1980 Jim formed the raucous Easter Monkeys, and concomitantly became a member of Scott Krauss And Tony Maimone's project, Home & Garden. Gigs were played and recordings were released by both bands. Having worked with David Thomas And The Pedestrians On The 'Variations On A Theme' album in '84, Jim was asked to join David's latest project, The Wooden Birds, in 1986. A year later that group (with the addition of Scott Krauss) became the revived Pere Ubu. Jim continued recording with the band after retiring from the road. Until his death in 2008, he performed and recorded with local bands Speaker\Cranker, Noble Rot, and KNG NXN as mainly a keyboardist. Click here for an interview with Jim Jones.

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Andy Diagram

b. 1959 in London, England, has been a unique voice on the trumpet for more than 18 years. He developed his own style over that time in a variety of very different projects. Creating large soundscapes of brass with the use of electronics, looping his trumpet in multiple echo machines, and with the ingenious use of harmonizers he builds not just luscious washes of sound but also pulsating and infectious rhythms. Spending much of the 1980s in Manchester, he recorded and toured with a range of bands on the rock, pop and jazz scenes, from Diagram Brothers and Dislocation Dance to James. Moving to London in 1992 he became a founder member of The Honkies which stormed the London improvised music scene of the early 90s. He now records and tours the world with his own, much acclaimed band The Spaceheads, where his unique sound and melodic sense are complimented by the emotive rhythms of drummer Richard Harrison. He has also been recording and touring with David Thomas as a member of the two pale boys since 1996, and became an associate member of Pere Ubu in 1999.

• Discography:
  • Dislocation Dance
    Slip That Disc (New Hormones ORG10, 1981).
    Midnight Shift (Rough Trade Rough 63, 1983.)
  • Diagram Brothers
    Some Marvels Of Modern Science (New Hormones ORG17, 1981).
  • Pale Fountains
    Pacific Street (Virgin Records V2274, 1983).
  • James
    Gold Mother (Phonogram 846 189-1, 1990).
    Seven (Phonogram 866 495-1, 1992).
  • Honkies
    All My Screws Fell Out (Megaphone 006, 1992).
    Who Eats? (Megaphone 015, 1993).
  • Spaceheads
    Spaceheads (Dark Beloved Cloud DBC204 or Red Note REDNOTE3 1995).
    Round The Outside (Space Records SPACE01, 1997).
    Ho! Fat Wallet (Dark Beloved Cloud DBC212, US, 1998).
    Angel Station (Pandemonium PAN032 or Merge Records MRG157 1999).
    The Time Of The Ancient Astronaut (Bip Hop Bleep 04, cd, 2001).
    Low Pressure (Bip Hop Bleep14 and Merge MRG183, cd, 2002).
    A Very Long Way From Anywhere Else (Bip Hop Bleep 35, cd, 2007).

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Gagarin

(Graham Dowdall), b. 1954 in Lewisham, England, is a percussionist, composer, sound designer / mixer. He started out as drummer in Manchester cult band Ludus in the 80s then went on to work with the legendary Nico (Velvet Underground) for a sustained period - touring the world and making several albums with her. He also recorded and played with John Cale as well as being part of numerous other bands and projects. He was one of the pioneers of electronic rhythm in the United Kingdom and has a wide experience of writing music for theatre and dance and remixing. Dowdall regularly performs and records under the alias Gagarin. His music is characterised by a sophisticated and subtle touch allied to tough beats and complex yet spacious and fluid programming, creating atmospheric sound and beatscapes. Over recent years he has worked with David Thomas and Pere Ubu, initially as a creative sound mixer but becoming more and more involved as a band member over the last three albums, joining the band live and on records providing digital synthesis, and sample manipulation via drum pads and other hardware.

Dowdall teaches at Goldsmiths College and runs community music workshops for a variety of groups.

Gagarin's solo work continues to attract acclaim . His latest album, 'Biophila,' was described in 'Mojo' as "electronica in its rawest sense" and in 'Musicweek' as "deeply beautiful glitchy electronica - stunning."

Gagarin works as part of 'Roshi featuring Pars Radio' whose Welsh-Iranian Folktronica is attracting increasing attention and praise both live and on record. Under his given name Graham he has just released an experimental cassette through Touch's Tapeworm imprint which is based on sounds sourced from analogue radios and is a eulogy to that dying format. He gigs regularly with bands in the United Kingdom and Eorope and contributes his unique soundworld to a variety of other projects.

• Selected Discography:
  • Ludus
    Pickpocket (New Hormones, ep, 1981).
    The Seduction (New Hormones, lp, 1982).
  • Eric Random & Bedlamites, Timesplice (Double Vision, 1984).
  • Nico and the Faction, Camera Obscura (Beggars Banquet, lp, 1986).
  • John Cale, Artificial Intelligence (Beggars Banquet, lp, 1987).
  • Faction
    Listen Buddy (Crook, 45rpm, 1987).
    Bag (Thirdmind, lp, 1989).
    Heaven (Thirdmind, lp, 1991).
  • Sonexuno, Alchemy (Slaughterback, 12", 1992).
  • Gagarin
    Gagarin (Geo, cd, 1996).
    Earthling (Geo, cd, 2002).
    Ard Nev (U-cover/Geo, cd, 2006).
    Agrichem (Smallfish, ep, 2007).
    Adaptogen (Geo, cd, 2009).
    Biophilia (Geo, cd, 2011)
  • Graham Dowdall
    Outside Broadcast (Tapeworm, cassette, 2014).
  • Roshi feat. Pars Radio
    The Sky & the Caspian Sea (Geo, cd, 2010).
    Don't Breathe it to a Soul (Geo, 7", 2013 - with remix from David Thomas}.
    3 Almonds and a Walnut (Geo, cd, 2013).

Jack Jones

David met Jack (theremin) at the pub. Back to Previous Page


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Robert Keen Lamb Wheeler

b. 1957 in Cleveland, Ohio. Plays electronics - an EML-101 synthesizer and homemade Theremin. He has played in Pere Ubu since 1994.

Years ago Robert dropped in at Hideo's Discodrome and owner John Thompson steered him to the '30 Seconds over Tokyo' single that had come out that day. John said, "The record is $1.95 plus tax, but you can see a whole set and another band for only $1.50 at the Pirates Cove." Robert saw Peter Laughner's Friction and Pere Ubu play their first night at Pirates Cove Nov. 11, 1976. Changed his life.

Bought an EML-101 synth, started a band Savage Tractors that lasted 5 years, then played with Dr. Bloodmoney (after Tony Maimone left), and then joined Home & Garden (after Tony Maimone left). Home & Garden at the time was Scott Krauss, Jim Jones, Jeff Morrison (vocals).

Happily married to Linda since 1987, they have one delightful daughter, Kathleen Alexis.

Fun facts:

Robert attended K-11 with David's younger brother Alan, and lived a block away from the Thomas's in Cleveland Heights.

Robert has been President of the Edison Birthplace Association in Milan, Ohio, since early 1980s. A great-great-grand nephew of Thomas Alva Edison, he lives with his family on Thomas Edison's sister's farm in Milan, Ohio. They board horses, raise chickens and grow corn, hay and trees.

Robert worked for Digital Equipment Corporation (now Hewlett-Packard) for 18.696 years repairing computers, and was a System Manager for Digital Alphas and an IBM AS/400 at a local hospital for 7.5 years. He got outsourced and is currently unemployed.

Robert and Michele Temple joined Home & Garden the same night.

Tony Maimone introduced Robert to Linda, who also plays keyboards.

A Mac Evangelist since W95 (Thanx to John Thompson and David Thomas), "My Mac can do everything your windows can, except get viruses."

Robert got a 'B' on his handmade theremin in electronic school because he couldn't play America the Beautiful. "It's not a musical instrument," said the teacher. It took months to learn how to tune and work it, considering he'd never seen one before.

Side music project is Lonely Crowd.

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Darryl Boon

b. 1963 in Hastings, England, plays clarinet, saxophone, piano and guitar. He joined Pere Ubu in 2012. He lives in Hove, England.

Darryl was given a clarinet at the age of nine, a decision inspired by his grandparents' extensive collection of Acker Bilk LPs. As a teenager, he wanted to be John Helliwell of Supertramp and picked up the sax, but also learned piano and guitar in case he became Roger Hodgson. He studied Performance on clarinet, saxophone and piano at Trinity College of Music, London, and after graduating with a Fellowship, played in wind ensembles, orchestras, and jazz with clarinettist Wally Fawkes. After the Berlin Wall came down, he travelled to Eastern Europe and subsequently made a career as a business English trainer, working in Europe and the Middle East. On returning to England, he ran open jazz jams where he first performed with David Thomas. This led to him being asked to make a contribution on the 'Lady from Shanghai' album, and the two pale boys' 'Disastohouse 001.' He featured in Pere Ubu's 2013 tour, and he was one of the 'shock troops' of the largely improvised 'Visions of the Moon' tour in late 2013.

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David Cintron

b. Cleveland OH. David Cintron was Pere Ubu guitarist for the Lady From Shanghai tour dates in the US / Canada in 2013. He has recorded in Burning Lesbians (1991), led dimbulb and The Downside Special, played in Jim Jones' Speaker/Cranker, Disengage and appeared with Rhys Chatham, Jimmy Zero, Craig Bell and Cobra Verde. His current band is Terminal Lovers. He is a graphic designer.

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Gary Siperko

b. 1969 in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, Gary grew up in Worthington, Ohio and began playing guitar at the age of twelve after seeing The Who documentary film 'The Kids Are Alright.' He studied Mathematics and Experimental film at SUNY Buffalo and SUNY Binghamton (Harpur College) before transferring to Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA where he received his B.Mus in Production/Engineering. A multi-instrumentalist, he composes music for film and Acoustic Guitar, in addition to writing, performing and touring. He has done session work with various artists, including Mary Lorson (Madder Rose/St. Low).

Now living in Cleveland Heights, he has earned a reputation as a virtuosic live performer and highly sought after professional guitar instructor. In 2011, he joined Rocket from the Tombs for the USA 'Barfly' Tour . He has since toured regularly with Rocket From The Tombs throughout the United States and Europe, as well as co-writing and recording songs for 'Black Record' (2015, Fire Records). In 2016, he joined Pere Ubu and toured with them on the 'Coed Jail' Tour, followed by recording on the '20 Years in a Montana Missile Silo' album (to be released 2017).

For Selected Discography and more information: http://www.garysiperkomusic.com

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P.O. Jørgens

b. Peter Ole Jørgensen / Pere Oliver Jørgens in 1958 in Sorgenfri, Denmark, he is a Danish composer and multi percussionist who also invents his own instruments.

Was taught classical percussion by Suzanne Ibstrup from he was 12 till he graduated from High School in 1977. Started to play with John Tchicai in 1974, when only 16 years old. Formed the Punk-jazz group Cockpit Music in 1978 and the multi-authentic group Global Guaranty Orchestra in 1983. Both groups are still active today.

Released more than 50 albums, mainly with his groups, Global Guaranty Orchestra, Cockpit Music, The Wild Mans Band (Peter Brötzmann) Torden Kvartetten (Mats Gustafsson), Sweethearts in a Drugstore, Volume, Mokuto (Herb Robrtson), Ghost in The Machine (Evan Parker) and with David Thomas in both David Thomas & Foreigners and David Thomas & P.O. Jørgens which released 'Live Free Or Die' in 2017. Jørgens also performs as sideman and / or studio musician on many recordings, using countless variations of his aliases and other names.

Since 1992, Peter Ole has constructed a wide variaty of string and percussion instruments. In 2016 he started the ongoing soundart / visual performance series Strange Sounds / Strange Visuals involving other composers, visual artists, authors and other highly specialised humans.

Composed scores for more than 40 ballets, performances & short films. Awarded 3 year Composing Grant in 1989 from The Danish Arts Council. Was house composer at the National Thearter in Accra, Ghana from 1998 to 2000. Awarded prizes of honor from Danish composer union DJBFA in 2003 and Danish Musicians Union in 2012.

Started the lable Ninth World Music in 1983 and build his first Ninth World Studio in Elsinore same year. The label was taken over by Voices of Wonder in1996 (now DME) while the studio moved to Humlebæk in 1994, where it still excist on an old farm.

In 2016 Jørgens started to play the marimba after nearly 30 years break. Since then he played numerous solo concerts in mostly odd venues, churches and a couple of festivals. New bands include trio with Tim Hodgkinson and Martin Klapper and the trio LUBB with Pat Thomas and Adam Pultz Melbye

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