Pere Ubu was an American rock band formed in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1975. The band had a variety of lineup changes, with frontman and leader David Thomas the sole constant member. In December 1975, they released their debut single "30 Seconds Over Tokyo"; their debut album The Modern Dance followed in 1978. They disbanded in 1982, but reformed in 1987 and remained active until Thomas' death on April 23, 2025.
Their work drew inspiration from avant-garde music, garage rock, musique concrète, performance art, and the environment of the Midwestern Rust Belt. Despite their association with art punk and post-punk, Thomas rejected the punk rock label, describing the band as "avant-garage" and "just a rock band".
Their single "Waiting for Mary" peaked at number 6 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart on June 17, 1989. The music video was played on MTV. Pere Ubu have been cited as an influence by artists such as Joy Division, Pixies, Hüsker Dü, the Breeders, Henry Rollins, Guided by Voices, R.E.M., Sisters of Mercy, Thomas Dolby, Julian Cope, Six Finger Satellite, Mission of Burma and Peter Murphy.
History 1970s After the short-lived Cleveland-based band Rocket from the Tombs disbanded in mid-1975, its members pursued separate projects. Guitarist Cheetah Chrome joined the Dead Boys, while other members joined the Saucers. Lead singer David Thomas and guitarist Peter Laughner formed a new band in September 1975 for the purpose of recording one Rocket from the Tombs song to release as a single, recruiting guitarist Tom Herman, bass guitarist Tim Wright, drummer Scott Krauss, and synthesist Allen Ravenstine. They named the band after Père Ubu, the main character in French writer Alfred Jarry's 1896 avant-garde play Ubu Roi.
The band lived at the Plaza Apartments, located at 3206 Prospect Avenue in Downtown Cleveland; then owned by Ravenstine, the Plaza was also home to many other local artists.
Pere Ubu drew influences from proto-punk and mid-1960s rock artists like the Velvet Underground, the Stooges and MC5; 1960s progressive pop such as the Beach Boys and Van Dyke Parks; early electronic artists Silver Apples and Beaver & Krause; krautrock bands Can and Neu!; English progressive rock band Van der Graaf Generator; and Captain Beefheart."Pere Ubu" in the Encyclopædia Britannica.
In December 1975, the band released the single "30 Seconds Over Tokyo", inspired by the Doolittle Raid and named after the film of the same name. The B-side was "Heart of Darkness", inspired by Joseph Conrad's 1899 novella of the same name. The single was initially supposed to be the band's only release. David Thomas said:
The band first performed live on December 31, 1975. On March 18, 1976, they released the single "Final Solution"/"Cloud 149." Guitarist Peter Laughner, who had been suffering from alcoholism and abusing other substances, left the group shortly after the release of the single. He would die of acute pancreatitis on June 22, 1977, aged 24.
"Street Waves" backed with "My Dark Ages (I Don't Get Around)" was released as a single on October 12, 1976. Mercury Records A&R representative Cliff Burnstein came across the single in a record store and persuaded the band to sign to Blank Records, a short-lived imprint of Mercury he was developing. Bassist Tim Wright left the band to join the New York-based no wave band DNA, and Tony Maimone was recruited as a replacement. On November 26, 1977, music journalist Jon Savage coined the term "post-punk" in Sounds magazine, to describe Ohio bands such as Devo and Pere Ubu alongside a variety of British groups.
Pere Ubu's debut album The Modern Dance was released in February 1978. The record featured a song by Peter Laughner and was recorded over several months between the band's early Hearpen singles. Most of the songs were written before work on the album began. The album sold poorly upon release, but was critically acclaimed and became influential on early alternative rock.
By late 1978, the band began recording their second album, Dub Housing, the title being inspired by a block of identical rowhouses in Baltimore as likened to the heavy use of delay in dub music. The album was recorded with the intention of creating a set of interconnected tracks that worked together as a cohesive whole. Dub Housing was released on November 17, 1978, through Chrysalis Records; it was ranked the thirteenth best album of 1978 by Sounds and later eighth by NME.
On September 19, 1979, Pere Ubu released New Picnic Time. Guitarist Tom Herman subsequently quit and the group briefly disbanded. It soon reformed with Mayo Thompson of Red Krayola, who had previously toured with the band in England in 1978.
1980s The Art of Walking (1980) featured Thompson on guitar and vocals and reportedly sold better than any other Pere Ubu release up to that point. According to Thomas, the record was conceived to be "defined by the thing that's not there". The title came about after someone had criticized the band for writing too many songs about driving. A performance of the song "Birdies" was featured in the 1982 film Urgh! A Music War. For their followup, Song of the Bailing Man (1982), Krauss was replaced by Anton Fier. The album's production was reportedly chaotic and led to the group disbanding again soon afterwards. Krauss and Maimone formed Home and Garden, while Thomas worked on a solo career, notably with Richard Thompson and former members of Henry Cow.
By the late 1980s, one of Thomas' solo projects eventually featured much of Pere Ubu, which led to the band reforming again in 1987 with guitarist Jim Jones and former Henry Cow drummer Chris Cutler joining. The Tenement Year (1988), the first album by the reformed band, was more pop-oriented than their previous work. The following year, the video for the single "Waiting for Mary" appeared on MTV briefly. After the recording of Cloudland, which continued the band's move in a more accessible direction, Cutler and Ravenstine departed; Ravenstine subsequently became an airline pilot. Eric Drew Feldman joined the band in time for the Cloudland tour and the recording of Worlds in Collision (1991), but left afterwards to work with former Pixies frontman Black Francis.
1990s In 1993, Story of My Life was released. Maimone left again to join They Might Be Giants, and Michele Temple and Garo Yellin joined the band for the Story of My Life tour and the 1995 album Ray Gun Suitcase. In 1994, Robert Wheeler joined, filling Ravenstine's previous role. Krauss left the band during the Ray Gun Suitcase sessions. For the Ray Gun Suitcase tour, guitarist Jim Jones departed as a touring member (although he continued to contribute to recordings), founding guitarist Tom Herman replaced him for the tour.
Concurrent with the 1996 release of the Datapanik in Year Zero box set, Jim Jones retired due to health problems. Tom Herman returned to the band after a twenty-year absence to tour with the band in 1995, and went on to record Pennsylvania (1998), which also featured guitar contributions from Jones. Guitarist Wayne Kramer of MC5 joined the band for their 1998 summer tour.
2000–2010 While much of 2000 was given over to live performances by Thomas's side projects – David Thomas and Two Pale Boys (Andy Diagram and Keith Moliné) and The Pale Orchestra – Pere Ubu played a gig bannered '55 Years of Pain' in June at the Cleveland Rock and Roll Hall of Fame alongside 15-60-75. The band then teamed up in September 2000 with Kramer for another performance of '55 Years of Pain' at the Royal Festival Hall at Southbank Centre, London.
Although Pere Ubu took a break from touring in 2001, they worked on material for a new album. Thomas also devoted himself for much of the year to live performance. This included his theatrical project 'Mirror Man (A Geography of Sound in Two Acts)' as well as an extensive David Thomas and Two Pale Boys European and US tour. In February, The trio were also asked to support English gothic rock band the Sisters of Mercy at five concerts in England. Founding member Andrew Eldritch had long cited Pere Ubu and David Thomas as a key musical influence.Speaking in 2016, Eldritch said: "I remember seeing the best gig I ever saw in my life which was Pere Ubu supported by the Human League on the tiny stage of the F Club in Leeds [December 7, 1978]."
2002 saw the first official release of pre-Ubu group Rocket From the Tombs' recordings from 1974. While bootlegs of varying quality had long circulated The Day The Earth Met The Rocket From the Tombs''' drew on original rehearsal and concert masters, and was released by Smog Veil Records in February. The Pere Ubu album St. Arkansas followed in May on Glitterhouse Records with David Thomas, Tom Herman, Robert Wheeler, Michele Temple and Steve Mehlman comprising the band, plus Jim Jones again contributing guitar parts. In September 2002, the band undertook the 11-date “Mighty Road Tour” in the U.S. and Canada, after which Tom Herman left again and was replaced by Keith Moliné of Two Pale Boys. In October, Thomas and Moliné were joined by Robert Wheeler, Michele Temple and Cutler to score a live soundtrack for a 3-D screening of It Came from Outer Space at London's Royal Festival Hall. This performance direction reflected a formative influence on Pere Ubu and Thomas's long-held affection for B-Movies.
Pere Ubu's 'Mighty Road' tour resumed in February 2003 with 10 dates in the US. 2003 was also notable for performances in the summer and winter across the US and Canada by a revived Rocket From the Tombs. The band comprised David Thomas, Cheetah Chrome, Craig Bell, Richard Lloyd of Television, and Steve Mehlman. Of the 33 dates, one at the Beachland Ballroom in Cleveland was a benefit for an increasingly ill Jim Jones. Richard Lloyd recorded and engineered live in the studio performances of the original Rockets' songs. Originally, 'Rocket Redux' was sold as gig-only merchandise until it was commercially released the following year by Smog Veil Records.
Live film accompaniment came to the fore again for Pere Ubu in 2004. Firstly, the group premiered its underscore to Roger Corman's X, the Man With X-Ray Eyes at the 'Celebrate Brooklyn' festival on 22 July. The winter of that year also saw a UK tour that revived the band's live underscoring of 'It Came from Outer Space'. American music producer Hal Willner also invited David Thomas to join two shows. The first took place on April 1 in Los Angeles, 'Let's Eat – Feasting on The Firesign Theatre', a celebration of the anarchic comedy outfit of that name. The cast included George Wendt, John Goodman, Todd Rundgren, Chloe Webb and Loudon Wainwright among others.
Just over three weeks later Thomas, partnered by the Paleboys, joined Hal Willner's tribute to director Federico Fellini and composer Nino Rota. 'Perfect Partners' took place at London's Barbican Theatre and the production also featured Carla Bley, Roy Nathanson, Roger Eno, Kate St John, Beth Orton and Geri Allen. 2004 also saw Pere Ubu support Spiritualized at London's Royal Festival Hall on 1 August, Rocket From The Tombs played Kassel in Germany on 25 September and David Thomas and Two Pale Boys performed extensively in Europe and America with the release in April of 18 Monkeys On A Dead Man's Chest (Smog Veil Records and Glitterhouse Records).
During 2005, Pere Ubu toured a show dubbed 'Live Free or Diet', as well as other concerts across America and Europe. Additionally, the band performed their live underscore to screenings of Roger Corman's 'X, the Man With X-Ray Eyes: April 9 at the Byrd Theatre, Richmond Virginia; August 12 at the Museum of Contemporary Art in North Adams, Massachusetts and November 5 at the Regent Square Theater in Pittsburgh.