PERE UBU & SIMPLY SAUCER
Good Day Hamilton!
Hope this finds you well.
As
I mentioned earlier in a previous post, Pere Ubu
will be visiting Hamilton on Monday October 1st 2007. They will be performing at Club Absinthe, and this show promises to be one of those galas that you will not forget.
will be visiting Hamilton on Monday October 1st 2007. They will be performing at Club Absinthe, and this show promises to be one of those galas that you will not forget.
Remember, these posts pertain
to subjective and personal views from yours truly. So, anytime that
you disagree, feel free to slam your computer and yell out "That's
Wrong!!!" But I doubt that will happen....(sorry....just ego-ing out
for a bit!)
Pere Ubu defines Art and Music
perfectly. The birth of INDIE ROCK can be definitely credited to the
Ubu(s). After the demise of the seminally charged Rocket From The
Tombs in the mid 70s, David Thomas embarked on a voyage that became
the foundation for a real DO IT YOURSELF attitude in music.
Just
as an artist would splash various colours on a canvas to project
originality, David has been the collector and creator of colours that
have been cleverly assembled in the form of music. The more that his
imagination becomes vivid, the more that we get to appreciate
musically.
When I was first introduced to
Pere Ubu, I could honestly say that they were probably the hardest band
to describe to my friends. You have to remember that most of the music
that I was listening to back then was power riffing music like the
Dictators, Johnny Thunders, Ramones, Teenage Head, and The Pistols.
Afterwards, when Punk was going into the New Wave direction, I was
lucky to find bands like Pere Ubu. My first introduction to Pere Ubu
was Dub Housing.
Dub
Housing was an avant garde record, in my opinion. The only reason why I
state this is because I did not understand it. It was freaky, and I
remember being drawn to the record, and I tried hard to really grasp
the sense of the music. This commitment led me to buying a whole bunch
more of their music, and then I started to realize that these guys were
musical innovators.
I went to see Pere Ubu
for the first time in the mid 80s and I was thoroughly impressed by
their chaotic, yet controlled live music performance. David Thomas was
definitely the most unique front person that I had seen, and his vocal
deliveries were re-defining the phonetics of the English language.
This
show led me to see them a few more times, and from the mid 90s to
current, I heard so many bands that were expressing their musical
freedom. All these more current bands were claiming that they were the
groundbreakers for open honest musical expressions. Unfortunately, all
these bands forgot that Pere Ubu actually designed the musical format
for free artistic expression, as well as perfecting longevity through
these musical means.
Once
the new millennium hit, Rock N Roll music seemed to dig back to its
roots - almost in a way to fundamentally solidify its existence. From
the few digs of the shovel, Rocket From The Tombs came back into the
forefront. It gave fans like myself a chance to appreciate the
proto-type sensation of REAL Punk Rock, but it also made more sense to
me as fan of Pere Ubu. RFTT were as much volatile as they were
musical. They were the band the lit the torch for so many great
American dreams. However, after its demise, David Thomas almost went
into an existentualist musical direction.
Where does Simply Saucer fit into all of this?
During
the infancy of Rocket From The Tombs and Simply Saucer, Edgar Breau was
communicating with Craig Bell, bass player from RFTT. Edgar and Craig
both belonged to a Syd Barrett fan club. Back in the early 70's these
2 gents would keep in touch via the old fashioned mail service. Lick a
stamp and send it off!
During these bouts of
communication, Ed was informed about the Cleveland music scene. He
would literally be one of the first people in Canada to hear about
Rocket From The Tombs, The Mirrors, The Saucers, (funny eh?) and later
Pere Ubu.
A few years later, Pere Ubu would
visit Toronto thanks to the Garys, and Simply Saucer would be on the
same bill with them in 1978 at the Horseshoe Tavern.
Even though there
are so many musical parallels between Simply Saucer and Pere Ubu, the
real connection is their fond musical foundations. Bands like the
Velvet Underground, The Stooges, and Syd Barrett put these 2 acts in a
seperate genre.
Close to 30 years later,
Simply Saucer and Pere Ubu will be re-acquainted. Lots has obviously
changed in the lives of Edgar Breau, and David Thomas. Now they have
the chance to speak and trade stories, if you will.
These
2 dynamic musical acts truly define the term CULT STATUS. In my
personal opinion, its the CULT STATUS representatives that find
longevity. There are 7 trillion flavours of the week, but there are
only a minimal amount of flavours for life.
It is such a HUGE honour to present to you Pere Ubu and Simply Saucer. Monday October 1st
2007 at Club Absinthe. Tix are available at Cheapies and Club Absinthe.
Lou Molinaro
