The Pere Ubu Story with David Thomas
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- čas přidán 12. 09. 2024
- Pere Ubu is a rock group formed in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1975. Despite a variety of long-term band members, singer David Thomas is the only constant member. Describing their sound as "avant-garage," David Thomas gives a rare and fascinating insight in to his life and music so far. Pere Ub's new album 20 Years In A Montana Missile Silo is out now. Find out more here: found.ee/iYvw5
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Glad I watched to the end. The last five minutes where he explained his thought process for making music, and how songs are like stories and interpreted differently by each unique person. Thus when creating music all he can do is the best he can do since we are all the same "schlubs". Very intelligent man and conversation.
agreed there
March 22, 1988…Pere Ubu at The Venue in Edinburgh, Scotland. I’m there with some mates in this packed venue, bootlegging the gig with a Sony Professional Walkman and a crappy little mic, trying to keep it hidden from the security. Chris Cutler was drumming alongside Scott Krauss and they’re f*cking slamming it!! This was one of the greatest gigs I’d ever seen!
David Thomas is doing his thing, being his brilliant self, when some girl jumps on the front of the small stage they’re all squeezed onto, and pulls her shirt off, flashing her all to the crowd….and David just slowly walks off, stage left from his perspective, and walks right out of the venue door!
And he didn’t come back on until she’d f*cked off!
It was one of the most perfect ripostes to a stage invader I’d ever seen! It was hilarious!
I’ll never forget that as long as I live. And fortunately I have it all on tape!
Only audio tape though, couldn’t afford a video recorder back then, and their size precluded any bootlegging, unfortunately!!
I was there -- one of my first gigs -- how can I hear this recording???
Dub Housing was my intro to Pere Ubu and it remains one of my favourite albums of any genre or any band.
I listen to it almost everyday
Thank you a million times for this.
He’s a total genius, one of the greatest musicians alive, easily.
Rocket from the Tombs....phenomenal!!!
I agree with David on New Picnic Time -- it's extremely underrated and one of the best albums ever. The Art of Walking is no slouch either!
Dub Housing
Brilliant stuff. A partial map of time travel. Combine with the right album by The Fall and you can time travel.
His early solo career is pure genius too
New Picnic Time is my favorite Ubu album after Modern Dance!
A gentleman who has accepted his inner cadence.
The Midwest is a culture in itself.
Northeasat Ohio has effected music like few other places
Damn straight mid west ftw gotta quick Q from MI is he blind now? I hope not but if he is rock on
Such as DEVO who along with Pere Ubu are two of the most innovative bands since around 75. Obviously I’m leaving dozens of bands that I’m ignorant about.
If anyone could recommend some contemporaries of Pere Ubu and DEVO (from Cleveland) LET ME KNOW:):):):)
Make some videos to put up on your channel. I can't carry our legacy by myself. There aren't many of us left. I've only made one kid and she probably won't carry our name into the future.
Totally awesome. The back third will tell you more about how Thomas sees life and music than anything the notoriously talk-averse guy has ever said. Kudos to the interviewer for putting him at ease and just getting him to talk.
It's odd I'll listen to a Pere Ubu and it will stick to me for a long time. Very few bands' can do this. The Tenement Year is my favorite but all of them are great.
Saw Pere Ubu in Chicago in I think it was in the late 70s, some little club in the wintertime, about 12 people in the audience at about 2 am. I already owned Dub Housing, for some reason. Great, very eccentric concert!😂
Best interview I've seen of any musician, great view points
Absolutely thrilled that *someone* finally agrees with me that their masterpiece is New Picnic Time! Don't necessarily agree they were better than the Talking Heads though, at this level there's no "better"
Yeah, like Talking Heads didn't practice as much as Pere Ubu. (Right.) Thomas has a problem with New York.
Pere Ubu to me had that Midwestern American weirdness that also informed David Lynch, The Stooges, Devo and to some extent Frank Black. They did New Wave before any kind of No Wave was even swelling up. I think they would have been an appropriate soundtrack to any Cleveland night or to the film Eraserhead. I don’t know how they got the nerve to go against the grain of Ohio so well but glad they exist. 390 Degrees of Simulated Stereo is one of the best live albums of all time.
The strangest occurrences in a field of corn.
Eraserhead
Sen them many times at the Cleveland Agora Ballroom. They were awesome.
I love Pere Ubu and The Fall.
I agree, both excellent.
you are describing Pere Ubu and David Thomas .
Thomas Andersen He seems a lot nicer than I'd have expected from his on stage persona
I love both bands too, and regarding great avant-garde rock bands I would include Cardiacs as well
Funny. I always seem to put them together as well. Along with Wire, The Fall and Pere Ubu were both amazing taking punk rock in a more experimental direction
Cloudland was their best. It's like bang in the middle between their early catalog and later catalog, it's colorful and beautiful, just like the 80s were and it was when Thomas and the band were at their creative peak. All their best Mtv videos came from that album too. Love it.
I'm a big fan of"cloudland"!
I've been a fan of Pere Ubu's music since the mid to late 70's, and I've seen them perform maybe about 12 times. This is such a strange interview to me. I live in Cleveland, and I knew several members of Pere Ubu back in the day. This interview is strange in that this is the most I can recall ever hearing Thomas talk. I've crossed his path several times over the years. The 1st time was in the early 80's. Their drummer, Scott, took me backstage once after a show. At 1st no one else was there, and then David entered the room. Scott tried introducing me to him. He came off as very standoffish, and he's been that way every other time I'd been around him. The last time I tried talking to him was to tell him about seeing him in the extras part of a video documentary on Brian Wilson. This scene in the video was in a hallway backstage after Brian Wilson performed at the Royal Albert Hall, where Brian was being interviewed and all of a sudden David walked past. David, as usual, gave me no response, so this video is highly unusual to me.
The fact that he rarely ever looked directly at the interviewer, makes me think that he is a shy guy. Especially the way he self deprecates his work.
@@markrlondon I never got the impression that he was/is shy at all.
My fave band. Delightfully odd abstractions that capture so much. Nick Cave cites Pere Ubu as an early influence. David Thomas creates stories that are child like yet sophisticated. Some schlub 😳
Interesting he said he admires John Lydon. Just discovered this band and Thomas' approach reminded me of him.
"Not a lot of difference between John Cage and John Lydon." Not sure if I agree but that is a mind blowing statement.
John Lydon was the Singer in Sex Pistols.
@@mariamalmquist9294 No shit.
Intelligent and avantgarde. Not many left now.
David Thomas: *says some really interesting stuff that gives lots of perspective to the motivations behind the music*
David Thomas: "Ok, you have to save this interview, it's going down the drain!"
The interviewer: *doesn't reassure David that the interview is going really well*
Haha, I felt like David could have been shown some more respect here.
Exactly he dont understand the impact he had up there with the stooges if i ever pick the guitar back up it will be for rftt or pere ubu
Thank you for capturing this.
Always down to hear more about Pere Ubu, one of the bands that without taking a moment to think, I describe as one of the bands that changed my life.
For the uninitiated, there ought to have been a few snippets of songs...
He carried certain people farther. He still does. Pere Ubu is still alive inour hearts. ♥
What do you mean? Pete ubu is still a band putting out music
I bought Pere Ubu Records at Drone Records and Chris's Warped Records in Lakewood Ohio
Record Revolution & The Record Exchange in Coventry.
yep...liked this interview of Dave Thomas aka Pere Ubu....and his likes of the original NYC proto punx,Tom Verlain's TeleVision(Marquee Moon was Lit AF...imo)...
a well as Talking Heads late 70s era..
Television is the best!
There's a (disputed) story that Peter Laughner was set to replace Richard Lloyd in Television the first time Lloyd quit. Could have been interesting....
Saw ubu it was great!
Thank you for this
The Tim Wright produced single, FINAL SOLUTION is as close to perfect as any song by any band.
Better than Good Vibrations, luckily David didn't think so and so we got his incredible artistic output.
Clever man
Anyone else always got the Beefheart vibe from David-Pere Ubu?
This was my 1st time hearing David speak and had my ears confirmed when it was mentioned he listened to Beef
Who hasn't?
This channel is fuckin wicked
Peace and love from Bristol England
Bristol--that's where David Thomas lives! Did you see him around (pre-covid of course)?
@@earinsound He lives in Brighton
Been hitting on this album all week, what a pleasure.
Had the pleasure of meeting one of the most unapproachable people ever, turns out he's super laid back, besides writing (with Laughner) most of the Dead Boys songs inFtT and wanted to talk baseball! Buffalo was the minor league affiliate of Cleveland Indians. Hee was in interested in the farm team and if we had any stand out players. Good thing I had been to a few games and was able to bullshit my way through the conversation. Good man.
While taping a random Saturday night radio show. They played Smoke the Barbecue, the song stuck with me& I had to hunt them down !
I’ve always suspected Pete Ubu must have been inspired by early Roxy Music; there’s a lot of similarities in sound, instrumentation, aesthetics, etc. I know Roxy toured the US around ‘73 , I wonder if they came through Cleveland?
Idol
Pere Ubu, my fucking best. Thanks.
Crocus -Behemoth- . pen name of Dave thomas
I have that exact same hat in the trunk of my car. I only wear it when it gets cold. It doesn't do that often here in southern California.
I remember our record store, used to go every week even though we could buy only once a month. Bought more than one album from its cover only (its how we discovered DumpTruck for example).
28:04 I agree, because the "sound" is both a blessing and a trap for a musician, sticking to one sound will dull out new ideas coming over time 34:24 "but" vs. "and" good explanation there
david thomas has a sharp outlook on life.
John Lydon must've heard Pere Ubu once or twice.
Mad mad man...
You know...
@NTRSN PI You know?
I know. Pretty much makes this unlistenable, for me anyway.
Que? WTF? Excellent interview, audio quality fine - I got the whole thing
Who knows big nose? Who cares purple flares?
Yeah, it pretty hard to unhear, you know
I did see you in Stockholm and you are my favourte. Still like "Modern dance"
"Whats the use of dog.
OH, Catherine.
Just short of getting slap echoes .You know,a body mic would've helped a tad...
Good.
It’s a bit weird- Peter Laughner doesn’t get mentioned by Thomas.
Actually, he does, in passing.
He mentioned that only Peter knew how to dress in the music scene .
Mike Houser
Yeah, he says that Peter was the only one of Pere Ubu who didn’t look drab.
He mentions Peter at about 6 min.
Well, really, by the time Pere Ubu came into existence as a touring and recording band Peter was in the last stages of his long flame out and was gone. RIP Peter. You are missed.
I am from the Mcnally family. My grandfather changed our name to Nalley to seem less Irish, but it didn't fool anyone.
I like David Thomas and I like Jim Dandy!
"That leads us to The Art Of Waking."
"Walking."
lol He's heard that one before, huh?
I love this guy. He’s the real deal. His albums are just as good as anything that Rock has ever produced. The only thing in which I don’t agree with him is that I think he made songs that are way better than Good Vibrations.
His music is very difficult for me to listen.
St. Arkansas impenetrable?
I always thought that was about the most wholly easy to listen to beginning to end album with nothing you even contemplate skipping over because each song you want to hear it once it starts.
I like Cloudland....FIGHT ME.
No need to. Cloudland is brilliant.
Great album
I freaking LOVE their Fontana albums
I never knew anyone who heard Cloudland and DIDN'T love it. Including Mr. Thomas.
Cloudland was their best. It's like bang in the middle between their early catalog and later catalog, it's colorful and beautiful, just like the 80s were and it was when Thomas and the band were at their creative peak. All their best Mtv videos came from that album too. Love it.
Can someone that has heard and perceived the bias fix on New Picnic Time comment as to its merits? I'm curious, but not sure that I want to grab yet another issue of the LP. Thanks.
Blacko Gurkinsaw. Sounds like a good name for a band. Too bad for me that somebody already did it.
The Talking Heads are not Pere Ubu and vice versa
57:23 that's one of the strangest things I've ever heard
DT likes Beach Boys and radical noise which says it all
The first record that the interviewer skips is my favorite, =Song of the Bailing Man=. Boooo!
There was was a music store in Cleveland downtown -Prospect/Euclid street arcade - was fab they had Everything. What was the name? Record Revolution? - not sure....
REPLY
Record Revolution was in Coventry.
I find St. Arkansas quite listenable.
I wish he would have talked more tom herman. aand cloud land.
35:55 That's a sufi story from Jalal Al din Rumi.
That Talking Heads guy - those first couple records were Pere Ubu light.
Listen to Ubu & then listen to one of those first Talking Heads albums ... he just copped their sound.
Listen to Hamilton Bohannon , where they definitely copped the sound.
Talking Heads never sounded anything like Pere Ubu. WTF?
@@losttango well in this case - I am clearly right ... and you are clearly wrong. 😁
He sort of reminds me of Billy Corgan...
30 seconds över Tokyo.
I find David's comment about the "Music Machine" single he found @ 3:45 quite profound. If he is referring to the classic 60's seminal proto-punk smash hit "Talk Talk" then I say WTF. "If you don't dig this then you don't dig nuthin'"
I enjoyed the video but I would think that David Thomas of all people would refrain from using the term "You know"......11 "you knows" in one minute....
You expected an eccentric character/creative person to not have vocal ticks or speaking habits? We all have them. How odd to critique that. “Of all people” What? XD
Black Oak Jim Dandy to the rescue!
He really seems agitated. Tough interview to listen to.
I would have expected David Thomas to be much more articulate than this.
I have been a fan since Dub Housing landed in my lap as a college radio DJ. Saw Ubu on the Imago tour and the reformed RFTT many years later and he was very drunk both times...and not particular friendly on stage. Here, he really seems to want to be expansive in explaining things...but at the same time careful not to say things that will piss off former bandmates or other people who might be offended. Surprising self-aware IMO...there are several moments where he begins offering a thought and then catches himself and moves away from it..but I was surprised that he was so chatty and engaging even when given stupid questions that don't really dig into the content of a nearly 50 year career.
I thought he was very articulate for a rock muso. Not so many musicians would casually name check Archimedes (or name their band after an Alfred Jarry character, of course).
16:54 - It sounded like David Thomas was saying, "The Art Of *Wanking"* 😆
Oh, and he forgot his eye-patch.
You mean it's not an art? (ha, ha)
Dave has a heathy ego, I never would have guessed that.
@@slimyfisher1370 I don't have a problem with his confidence. I think he seems like a cool but odd guy. I've always respected his talents so that wasn't a rip, it was an observation.
Fantastic interview. Because David Thomas is brilliant. Interviewer was meh.
Thomas half full of crap (e.g., Stones an "ok" band; "Good Vibrations" IS a romance song; etc.) and half wisdom, but entertaining.
well waht's wrong with that? the stones are a very average band and incredibly unoriginal to the point of being rip off merchants. and good vibrations is a good feel pop song, and a romance i guess. he's being sincere.
like he said, he knew a thing or two about music.
@@TheHoneypot27 Sure now they are, but if the Stones were touring your neck of the woods in 1968 you'd be a fool to pass up that show for some great fucking music and a good time.
He is spot on with his sentiments. You are just a conventional thinker.
@Childe Harold you have to also take into account a few things he notes in the video, the dude began as a music journalist/critic, so in doing a job like that you get VERY opinionated, and on top of that he's got the punk roots so he has the attitude too. Its not like he's trying to say no one should like the stones, he just didnt see them as a band as good as their contemporaries at the time. I mean we all have our preferences. But him beginning as a music journalist/critic probably gives him a more open critique of bands because you get used to critiquing bands rather bluntly as a music critic. When he says it he isnt saying it from a place of malice, try not to take it personally. (Though I understand taking it personally, our favorite bands end up being personal to us)
@@dudeman5303 You mean Thomas is being polemical? Yeah, ok. Some of the greatest critics in history do that on occasion, and not just Lester Bangs and Greil Marcus but Coleridge and Eliot. But that doesn’t mean he’s not half full of crap (compare with Michael Stipe demoting the Beatles or Thomas in the concert I saw praising drinking and driving). I love him nonetheless or maybe because of.
I always thought Pere Ubu were a decent pub rock band fronted by a guy who thought he was great. I quite like the belief but lets be honest Pere Ubu are shite.
How are they EVEN a "pub rock" band? Fine, if you think they're "shite" but, a "pub rock band"? + Why be here to comment on a band you don't even care for? Here; let me go watch a Barry Manilow or, whatever you like interview and make sure to comment I think he's "shite." 💩
troll, great job
How can David Thomas have spent half his life in England without knowing about charity shops?