Pere Ubu is not exactly a household word, but their art has influenced decades of popular and influential acts like the Pixies, Joy Division, REM, Bauhaus and others.  The songs on their new album make up the backbone of a theatrical production, “Bring Me The Head Of Ubu Roi”, that premiered in 2008 at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall. Based on the play “Ubu Roi” which premiered in Paris in 1896 provoking riots, the story is a re-telling of “Macbeth,” as a ruthless satire of the bloated and corrupt state of pre-World War I Europe. The new piece is “Brutal, lacking charm, and without redeeming values, an album for our times,” boasts Pere Ubu’s founder David Thomas, “It is, in fact, the only punk record that’s been made in the last 30 years.” Quite a statement, yet one that a man with his credentials can make, when the music and text is this far outside of the norm. Entertaining, scathing, and very funny work.

Pere Ubu
“Act 2 Scene 1″ (mp3)
from “Bring Me The Head Of Ubu Roi”
(Smog Veil Records)

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