Reading sadly of David Thomas’s death at 71 of kidney failure it appears, the legendary founder of Pere Ubu.
Remembering how my hipper than thou postpunk mentor and now-famous game pundit Jeff Green told me about first seeing him before a show and wondering something like who the fat guy in the used car salesman suit was and then when the show started and he saw him up on stage realizing how much more punk Thomas was than the most flamboyantly pierced mohawk sporting leather and chains outfitted fan.
Another time I saw George Wendt grooving to the reformed (and recording again!) Pere Ubu from the back of Slim’s, almost a mirror of the frontman.
I wanted to create a band that Herman Melville, William Faulkner or Raymond Chandler would have wanted to be in.
Then the Guardian article mentioned Song of the Bailing Man and the latter-day rotating ensemble and it hit me hard how much the man influenced me directly, how one of the first improvised recordings I made with my brother in Greece was called “The Drowning Man” though it was really about the hanged man and our father, and how the whole more punk than you realize ethos inspired me.
Thank you, man.
Comments
4 responses to “More punk than you”
Pere Ubu at Slim’s was an all-time legendary show. I will talk about it on the radio tomorrow.
I hopped on a few Pete Ubu songs in (Non-Alignment Pact) – are your Slim’s comments at the top of the show? Will listen back today. I didn’t realize that show was anything unusual at the time!
Wow, that bit about the drowning man.
Did we ever play you that recording? Xourmas and I stayed up all night in Sofnos improvising blues songs on guitar and ukulele.