Artist Biography by Jason Ankeny

Pere Ubu emerged from the urban wastelands of mid-'70s Cleveland to impact
the American underground for generations to follow; led by hulking
frontman David Thomas, whose absurdist warble and rapturously demented
lyrics remained the band's creative focus throughout their long, convoluted
career, Ubu's protean art punk sound harnessed self-destructing melodies,
scattershot rhythms, and industrial-strength dissonance to capture the angst
and chaos of their times with both apocalyptic fervor and surprising humanity.
Named in honor of Alfred Jarry's surrealist play Ubu Roi, Pere Ubu was
formed in the autumn of 1975 from the ashes of local cult favorite Rocket from
the Tombs, reuniting Thomas (aka Crocus Behemoth) with guitarist Peter
Laughner; adding guitarist Tom Herman, bassist Tim Wright,
keyboardist Allen Ravenstine, and drummer Scott Krauss, the group soon
issued their debut single, "30 Seconds Over Tokyo," on Thomas' Hearthan
label. The follow-up, "Final Solution," appeared on the renamed Hearpen in
early 1976, and resulted in a series of live dates at the famed New York City
club Max's Kansas City.

Laughner's longstanding battles with drugs and alcohol forced his exit
from Pere Ubu in June of 1976; within a year, he was dead. The group
continued on as a quintet, with bassist Tony Maimone signing on in the wake
of Wright's move to New York, where he joined the pioneering no wave
band DNA. In the wake of their third single, "Street Waves," Thomas was
approached by Mercury label A&R exec Cliff Burnstein, who convinced the
label to form a new imprint, Blank Records, for the express purposes of
signing Pere Ubu; their debut LP, The Modern Dance, was issued in early
1978, and although the record made little commercial impact at home or
abroad, its manic intensity and dark impenetrability proved profoundly influential
on countless post-punk acts on both sides of the Atlantic. The follow-up, Dub
Housing, was even better, pushing the band to further extremes of
otherworldliness, but already the cracks were beginning to show, and upon

completing 1979's New Picnic Time (working title: "Goodbye"), Ubu disbanded.
Although the group re-formed months later, Herman opted not to return and was
replaced by Red Krayola mastermind Mayo Thompson.

The Art of Walking followed in 1980, with subsequent tours in support of the
record heralding the increasingly pop-centric sound that would distinguish
later Ubu projects; a live record, 390 of Simulated Stereo, appeared a year
later. Krausswas replaced by drummer Anton Fier for 1982's Song of the
Bailing Man, but as before personal and creative differences began taking their
toll and Ubu again disbanded; while Maimone and Krauss reunited in the
group Home and Garden, Thomas continued the solo career he'd begun with
the 1981 effort The Sound of the Sand (And Other Songs of the
Pedestrians), a collaboration with guitar virtuoso Richard Thompson. He
recorded 1987's Blame the Messenger with the Wooden Birds, a backing
band including fellow Ubu alums Ravenstine and Maimone; after Krauss sat
in for a Cleveland live date, the decision was made to begin working as Pere
Ubu again. Guitarist Jim Jones and drummer Chris Cutler were also recruited
for 1988's comeback effort The Tenement Year, a vividly idiosyncratic pop
album far more accessible than anything in the band's back catalog.

1989's Stephen Hague-produced Cloudland further refined the approach, with

the video for the single "Waiting for Mary" even earning limited MTV airplay;
after both Ravenstine and Cutler exited Pere Ubu (the former becoming a
commercial airline pilot), one-time Captain Beefheart sideman Eric Drew

Feldman was installed for 1991's Worlds in Collision. Feldman soon departed
as well to join Frank Black, and the remaining quartet recorded 1993's Story of
My Life for the short-lived Imago label; Maimone was the next to go, with
bassist Michele Temple and keyboardist Garo Yellinstepping in for 1995's
planned swan song, Ray Gun Suitcase. As Ubu again slipped into limbo, the
band's massive influence was celebrated in 1996 with the release of the fivedisc box set Datapanik in the Year Zero; the renewed interest
spurred Thomasback into action, and he reunited with Tom Herman for the first
time in two decades to record 1998's sprawling Pennsylvania (also featuring
holdovers Jones and Temple in addition to keyboardist Robert Wheeler and
drummer Steve Mehlman). Four years later, Pere Ubu captured some of their
darkest and most theatrical work to date with St. Arkansas. With Pere
Ubu once again going strong, Thomas unexpectedly reassembled Rocket
from the Tombs for a short run of shows in 2003.
(Former Television guitarist Richard Lloyd sat in for the late Peter Laughner.)
What was expected to be a short-term revival unexpectedly evolved into a
second career with RFTT, following the release of an archival album of old
recordings and a set of re-interpretations by the new lineup. In
2006, Thomasreturned his attentions to Pere Ubu, releasing the provocatively
titled Why I Hate Women. A remix album also arrived that year.

In 2009, the band returned with Long Live Pere Ubu!, which featured songs
from a musical adaptation of the band's namesake play Ubu Roi and included
contributions from Communards' Sarah Jane Morris and Gagarin. Pere
Ubu's next album, 2013's Lady from Shanghai, was nearly as ambitious;
described as "an album of dance music fixed," it commemorated the 35th
anniversary of The Modern Dancewith abrasive, industrial-tinged rhythms and
an accompanying book, Chinese Whispers: The Making of Pere Ubu's Lady
from Shanghai. Also in 2013, the band performed their underscore for the cult
classic horror film Carnival of Souls; several pieces from the score became the
basis for 2014's Carnival of Souls, which arrived in different CD and vinyl
versions. In 2015, as Thomas was releasing a new album with a new lineup

of Rocket from the Tombs, he looked back at Pere Ubu's past with a pair of
archival vinyl-only box sets. Elitism for the People 1975-1978 featured new
pressings of The Modern Dance and Dub Housing, along with an LP of early
singles and a live concert from 1977. The companion set, Architecture of
Language 1979-1982 included New Picnic Time, The Art of Walking,
and Song of the Bailing Man, as well as an LP of Ubu rarities.