Pere Ubu Thomas was a copy editor and writer / columnist for a weekly tabloid called The Scene, before he co-founded the band
Rocket from the Tombs. He played in the band under the name "Crocus Behemoth"; it disbanded after about a year. Along with Rocket from the Tombs soundman
Tim Wright and guitarist
Peter Laughner, he formed
Pere Ubu, which was originally active from 1975 to 1982. Afterwards, Thomas worked with a variety of musicians including guitarists
Richard Thompson and
Philip Moxham, and
Henry Cow bassoonist/oboist
Lindsay Cooper, drummer
Chris Cutler and bassist
John Greaves. Initially, his solo recordings eschewed Pere Ubu's "rock" focus. Cooper's bassoon was often prominent, and, when Thompson's guitar was not featured, the guitar would be absent (such as the entirety of 1985's
More Places Forever). Thomas's lyrics became increasingly whimsical, and birds became a common theme: Eventually, several former members of Pere Ubu gravitated into Thomas's group, and by the time of 1987's
Blame the Messenger, were sporting a sound distinctly similar to the former band. This fact along with other considerations led directly into the official reformation of Pere Ubu in 1987, and remained active until Thomas' death. Thomas was briefly a
Jehovah's Witness in the late 1970s, an affiliation that was reflected lyrically in the final song of Pere Ubu's 1979 album
New Picnic Time, originally titled "Jehovah's Kingdom Come!" In subsequent releases of the album, the song was renamed "Hand A Face A Feeling" and then "Kingdom Come"; in the album's lyric sheet, maintained by Thomas on Pere Ubu's official website, the titular line was changed to "God's Kingdom Come"; the song was also edited for their compilation
Architecture of Language 1979-1982.
Solo career Thomas's solo activities were diminished, though not extinguished, by the reformation of Pere Ubu. Throughout the 1980s, Thomas maintained a rotating trio dubbed the Accordion Club, which at various times included
John Kirkpatrick,
Chris Cutler,
Garo Yellin, and
Ira Kaplan. While these groupings tended to share a repertoire with Pere Ubu, the focus was smaller. Thomas stated: "I often use the same songs in both projects ... I can explore the stories behind the songs. I can extend/expand/interpolate those stories." Though the Accordion Club never recorded any albums, two songs appeared on
Rē Records Quarterly Vol.2 No.1, and it led to the formation of Thomas's next "solo" project, the Two Pale Boys. Devoted to "spontaneous song generation", they feature
Keith Moliné on guitar and
Andy Diagram on "trumpet through electronics." Both make frequent use of
MIDI, giving them a broader tonal palette than might be expected from two instruments. In addition to singing, Thomas frequently played
melodeon. Said Thomas: Pere Ubu is a big rock experience, often overwhelming in its power and intensity of dataflow. It's a Hollywood
blockbuster on a
CinemaScope screen. Projects like the
Two Pale Boys are intended as indie arthouse films. Thomas typically had a large number of ongoing projects at any one time. He performed in theatrical productions, including several productions by
Hal Willner, and a London West End production of
Shockheaded Peter. He delivered his lecture "The Geography of Sound in the Magnetic Age" at
Clark University and
UCLA. He staged his "improvisational opera"
Mirror Man at venues in Europe and North America, featuring at various times contributions from many of his previous collaborators, as well as
Linda Thompson,
Bob Holman, Robert Kidney,
Van Dyke Parks,
Frank Black,
George Wendt, and
Syd Straw. In 2010, he performed with the backing of Australian band
The Holy Soul. In the 2020s he alternated recording and performances primarily between iterations of Pere Ubu, David Thomas and Two Pale Boys, and the reunited Rocket from the Tombs. ==Discography==