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The uncompromising David Thomas:
still defining the ecology of rock by Jed Novick
 To anyone into music who grew up
in the Seventies, the name David Thomas will forever hold a
special place. Thomas was leader of Pere Ubu, an avant garde art
rock band from Cleveland, Ohio, and Pere Ubu was like nothing
that anyone had ever heard. The period 1979 to 1981 was a time
of high creativity and bands like The Pop Group, A Certain Ratio
and Wire were pushing the envelope as far as they could.
Like Ken Kesey's bus, Pere Ubu
went further. Jagged guitars, discordant horns and a primitive
synthesiser created the noise while at the centre Thomas's
voice, that of a man at the end of his tether, a voice that
sounded like something out of a David Lynch film, sang words of
paranoia, love and politics. Without wanting to get all romantic
on you for this isn't some "weren't Spangles great"
nostalgia trip, Pere Ubu made you realise why you listened to
music. A series of classic albums: The Modern Dance, Dub
Housing, The Art Of Picnics left an indelible mark and Ubu did
what only they could do: implode.
That all seems a long time ago
now, and I guess it is. These days David Thomas can be found in
Hove, what must the neighbours think? and still makes music that
touches the soul. Most recently, he's recorded with The Two Pale
Boys - Andy Diagram and Keith Moline - and last year's album
Surf's Up comes highly recommended - just don't expect a cover
version of Pure & Simple. Thomas was a journalist before he
became a musician:"I thought to myself, 'If you're so smart
why don't you do it.' So I did."
He is bringing Mirror Man to the
Festival, which is a kind of music cum theatre cum storytelling
event, commissioned by the South Bank and first performed on
April 3 1998 at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, as part of his
Thomas's Disastodrome! festival. Inspired by Edgar Lee Master's
Spoon River Anthology, Mirror Man, nothing to do with the
Beefheart album of the same name, is and don't let this phrase
put you off: multi-media performance art where music sits side
by side with narrative. An update of Kerouac, it tells about a
lost America of motels and highways and that 'road' schtick.
Songs come and go, poet Bob
Holman rabbits about gas prices and small towns and theme parks,
Thomas plays the part of a salesman… more songs come and go.
It's a complex work, but one that's been described as "…surreal
and sensual … Thomas's visceral vision gives Mirror Man its
strength and warped beauty." Mind, the Melody Maker review
said "...A load of twats ranting/croaking/screaming
pretentious nonsense over some instruments halfway through
tuning up" - which in a curious way makes it sound just as
attractive.
However, ask Thomas to describe it and… "I don't have to
describe it and, more importantly, I don't get paid to describe
it. Mirror Man is rock music. I have ambitions for rock
music." But there's a bit of publicity blurb where you
describe it as "a novel written with a vocabulary of sound
and a grammar that is geographical." "That's a
meaningless bit of shiny paper I came up with that I can wave in
people's eyes to keep them amused. It's made of air. It's empty
yak."
Despite being so obviously arty
and how he'd hate being called that, rock music - the notional
idea of rock music - is something that Thomas feels for. "I
call what I do rock music because that's what it is. Rock music
is the native music at the heart of American culture. It was
said to me, 'The most ordinary rock band playing in a garage in
Nebraska has an authenticity and urgency that cannot be found in
even the best bands from England because they are playing their
own music.' "
"Rock music is in my blood.
It's not in yours. You presume too much to think it is. I do not
claim Tolstoy. You cannot claim Elvis. You presume that rock
music was never anything other than a youth phenomenon designed
to sell clothes and provide tight-jeaned boys to
chicken-hawkers. It assumes that what is popularly believed must
define the reality of any situation. The Beatles will be a
footnote in 50 years and forgotten totally in 100. Don Van Vliet,
Sky Saxon and Brian Wilson will still be honoured." If the
humour in the script doesn't come across, it may be because
Thomas missed out that journalism class where they teach you
that irony doesn't work in print.
Thomas tells of when Ubu had a
meeting with their manager after recording Dub Housing. Manager:
"If you record this album two or three more times you will
become stars."
Ubu: "What if we can't or we don't want to?"
Manager: "You'll be able to make a living in the business
doing what you want for as long as you want if you continue to
make artistic records but you will never be successful."
"To me that sounded like a
good deal . A fair deal. We were willing to pay the price to do
what we wanted. You call it freedom. We don't. We call it doing
what we want." Twenty-odd years later, the deal still
stands. "What choice do I have? I am not talented enough to
sell lots of records. I sell a few. I am not talented enough to
attract many people. I attract a few. In my profession I am a
failure. Many years ago I came to a separate peace. I am old now
and I am free." Old and free and at peace. If that's
failure, line it up.
Mirror Man is at Gardner Arts
Centre, Sunday May 27, 8pm. Tickets £12.
Surf's Up by David Thomas and The
Two Pale Boys (Glitterhouse) is out now. We have a copy to give
away - write in to : Surf's Up at our address to win.
copyright New Insight 2001
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