(TV) Verlaine on Pere Ubu, 1978

["Joe Thornton" <joe.thornton@gmx.net>]

>From a major interview in UK magazine Melody Maker, 15 April 1978:

Tom Verlaine:

"I think a lot of the rock that's happening in the States right now is just
sickening. Really sickening. Like, the main trend on the radio is to play a
softer kind of music...

"No, there's no radical music in the States that I'm aware of, except maybe in
the jazz communities. There're a few what you might call new wave bands, but
all of them are Ramones imitators and I would guess that maybe half of them
have disappeared already.

"Pere Ubu are an interesting band. A friend of mine used to play in Pere Ubu.
I forget his name. He died last year. I haven't heard their album yet, but I
used to talk to that guy -- what is it? Crocus Behemoth, the singer. He calls
himself David Thomas now, which seems more sensible. He's interesting.

"They used to come to New York once in a while and I used to talk to him.
He's, like, one of a kind, which is something I got a weakness for."


There's an awful lot more in this interview. Sorry, I don't have the OCR
software installed for my scanner; don't know when I can send it all. I'll do
what I can...

I also have a shorter but equally fascinating interview with Tom from the
Irish magazine Hot Press in September 1984, just as Cover was being released.
Sample extract: "I took two songs off this record -- one was eight minutes
long, the other six and a half. There was something about 'em, they needed
more work..."


--JoeT
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