Press Resources

While they can obviously never hope to write as well as they did when they penned their first Pere Ubu reviews, the critics tackling the new album have done a far better job than you might expect from writers that have reviewed as many Pere Ubu albums as they have. At the risk of sounding patronising, or moronic, the sprightliness of their prose is impressive considering their advanced years; one might have been forgiven for assuming their fingers to be too ridden with arthritis to be capable of pressing the keys of their laptops. Of course, these being Pere Ubu critics, their work is essentially incomprehensible. But stick with it and you soon realise that these are possibly the most well-written Pere Ubu reviews since the last time a new Pere Ubu album was declared their best since a Pere Ubu album released some time before that, a particularly impressive feat when one takes into account the fact that the writers' transparently obvious lack of familiarity with anything other than the first Pere Ubu album has clearly necessitated a high level of creativity and imagination in fashioning their critiques. What's doubly amazing is that they have achieved this despite working for editors who, rather like The Fall's Mark E. Smith, have a revolving door policy towards their Pere Ubu reviewers; indeed, in many cases they are the only original Pere Ubu reviewers left, beavering away in the face of their readers' total indifference, producing Ubu review after Ubu review, all of which are, to paraphrase legendary DJ Simon Bates, "always different, always the same." (Except without the "different" bit.) His original post.

Pere Ubu and The Pere Ubu Film Group perform a live underscore to the 1963 Roger Corman classic.

The Pere Ubu Film Group and David Thomas and two pale boys perform a live underscore to the 1962 cult B-movie Carnival Of Souls (Dir. Herk Harvey, 1962, B&W).

Pere Ubu performs a live underscore to the Ray Bradbury-scripted 3-D version of the film

This is the concert version of Bring Me The Head Of Ubu Roi. In many ways it is even more of a radical interpretation and performance than the theatrical. Some scenes are deleted, the script is re-written to interpret the character of Mère Ubu differently, and it is the most up-to-date version of the script. It also incorporates the animations by The Brothers Quay. It is, as Der Tagesspiegel (Berlin) notes, "beyond theater". All characters and choreography are undertaken by members of the band. Click here for more.

Pere Ubu presents 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. The adaptation, written by David Thomas, features ten 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 video 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. The premiere was Thursday, April 24th, and Friday, April 25th at Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, as part of the Ether Festival. It was repeated July 11 2009 at the Animator Festival, Poznan, Poland.
Press photos, click here .

David Thomas and the pale orchestra perform Reflections In A Mirror Man, a concentrated dose of David Thomas' music theater piece, Mirror Man , presented in concert format and augmented by specifically contrived movie and image projections. The pale orchestra is Andy Diagram (electrified trumpet), Keith Moliné (midi-guitar) and Dids (drums & electronics). Celtic Soul singer and former Doll By Doll frontman Jackie Leven and David Thomas assume the various characters contained in this anthology of tales about places that don't exist and the people who live in them. The piece premiered at the prestigious Moers Jazz Festival in 2004.

A program of songs, stories and visual imagery written and performed by David Thomas and master Danish percussionist P.O. Jørgens. It's an avant-Texas atmosphere, bowl of beans folk roots via Harry Partch and one more blasted dawn looking for a three meat platter with a broken song in your heart kinda thing.

Written and compiled by Pere Ubu founder David Thomas, Mirror Man is a hybrid of neo-Beat opera and tent meeting testimony. It is an oratorio. Or maybe it is theatre vague. Or a rogue opera. Or a song-cycle of haunted geographical presences. Or a roll call of voices retrieved from all those ghost towns that lie just over the horizon. Mirror Man is about places that don't exist and a collection of stories about the people who live there - abandoned by the future, forbidden access to the past, and set adrift in a mirage-like Now. It is represented by three albums : Act 1, Jack & The General, Bay City, and Act 2, Bay City.

Disastodrome is a three day festival of voice and vision designed to test the reputations of 18 avant-garage heroes. These boundary breakers, forever outside the world of music-by-numbers, are led by one of rock's great prodigies and Pere Ubu founder, David Thomas. Produced by UCLA Performing Arts, Disastodrome's most recent incarnation came to Los Angeles Feb 21-23, 2003.