It’s a subset of Pere Ubu dedicated to generating new songs. Venues chosen are generally smaller, intimate spaces. Two or three members of the Pere Ubu band join David. Sometimes guests are invited. Recently, Duffy from Primal Scream sat in at the Brunswick Pub in Hove.
"Here comes trouble on Big Beat Street," David Thomas says. "The beginning of the next Pere Ubu adventure. The Pere Ubu Moon Unit makes songs that never existed before and will never exist again, songs orchestrated by the subconscious, and liberated from the cult of personality."
Pere Ubu is a pirate ship, an entity comprised of equals dedicated to expediting the ship’s purpose. “Land ahoy! Loot, pillage!” Once the job is done, share out the spoils equally to every man, woman or boy onboard, regardless of race, age, sex or capability, and move on to the next destination. This ‘job’ was no different from the work of governments, merchant ships and privateers - in modern terms, corporations, unions and ‘rights’ organizations. “Ship ahoy! Loot, pillage!” A facade of laws and rhetoric legitimized fleets of galleons laden with the gold stripped from native peoples. Laws and rhetoric were contrived to funnel profits to fat cats. Pirate captains led by consensus and could be voted in or out. Sailors in the legitimate world, often kidnapped, received a pittance and were, effectively, slaves, harshly treated. Pirate flags, each unique, displayed coded messages - for example, 'Time is running out. We won't kill if you don't resist.''